History
The first defoamers were aimed at breaking down visible foam at the surface. Kerosene, fuel oil and other light oil products were used to break down foam. Other vegetable oils also found some use. Fatty alcohols (C7 - C22) were effective but expensive antifoams. They were added to oil products to boost the efficiency. Milk and cream were forbears for modern day emulsion type defoamers.
During the 1950s experiments with silicone based defoamers started. These were based on polydimethylsiloxane (silicone oil) dispersed in water or light oil. Silicone oils worked well, but caused surface disturbances in many applications like paints and papermaking. In 1963 the first antifoams with hydrophobic particles (hydrophobic silica) in light oil were patented. In the early 1970s, hydrophobic waxes like ethylene bis stearamide dispersed in oils developed. These types of defoamers were very efficient, but the oil crisis of 1973 made these too expensive and resulted in a push for reduction of the oil content. The solution was adding water. So water extended (water in oil emulsion) and water based (oil in water emulsion) defoamers appeared.
The development of silicone based defoamers has continued, using different emulsifiers and modified silicone oils. In the early 1990s, silicone emulsion defoamers that caused less surface disturbances were used in the wood pulping industry with great success. These caused better washing, reduced biological oxygen demand (BOD) in effluent and reduced deposits.
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