Soapnut: A replacement of synthetic surfactant for cosmetic and biomedical applications

Surfactants are organic amphiphilic compounds used for various applications such as preparation of soap, detergent, shampoo and in pharmaceutical industries. However, many synthetic surfactants illustrate detrimental effect due to the presence of anti-foaming characteristics, toxic and corrosive nature. The literature does not reveal information about any surfactant which does not depict the above stated disadvantages. Therefore, in the current work, by preparing surfactant from a natural resource, the abovementioned issues have been tried to address. The present investigation focus on the preparation of a natural surfactant derived from the soapnut (Sapindus mukorossi) for its potential application against synthetic surfactants. The physicochemical properties of the soapnut ensures it as a strong wetting agent. The chemical composition, surface topography and functional group analysis of the prepared surfactant were carried out by EDX, confocal microscope and SEM analysis, respectively. The characterization result reveals that the prepared surfactant is free from the element or functional group contributing toxicity or environmental issues. This analysis is further confirmed from the corrosion analysis. In addition to the above, the anti-microbial property of the developed surfactant has also been identified. The variation of foaming stability as a function of time are also performed and are compared with the synthetic surfactants. The comparison ascertains excellent foam stability in case of soapnut and this can be recommended as wetting agent in dropwise evaporative cooling. The current investigation also includes the examination of the successful applicability of soapnut added water in cosmetic industries, adsorbent preparation sector and pharmaceutical industries.