Brief History of Defoamers

Foam has been troubling mankind for a long time. Foam began as a curious phenomena to our ancestors, and after the Industrial Revolution, a real problem to production efficiency and equipment maintenance. As competition became high for more and more goods to be produced, machine speeds and technological improvements increased the demand of foam controlling chemicals. As far as we know, there is no official record of defoamer history, but we have spoken to many experts and the story goes something like this.

<1950’s : Defoamer technology is non-existent and foam control was strictly related to asthetics and defoaming. Dangerous additives such as kerosene and light oils were used in several applications to control surface foam. Though it wasn’t understood at the time, the light oils relatively low surface tension were the driving factor for foam destruction.

1950-1960: Experimentation with silicone fluids began and exhibited some foam control properties. Technologies based on emulsifying silicone oils were coming to light and found to be good foam control agents. Early emulsion defoamers were based on food process emulsions, such as milk and cream. Silicone products often showed process incompatibility, leaving behind residue or undesirable surface defects.

1960-1970: Improving oil based emulsions was a key focus to getting ahead of the competition and patents were filed which included the addition of hydrophobic particles to the oil fluids. Common hydrophobic particles were silica, EBS, and waxes.

1970’s: The oil crisis of 1973 prioritized demand for emulsion technologies. Oil based water extended defoamers and water based oil emulsions were created to reduce the expensive cost of antifoam technologies. The transition from oil based concentrates to emulsions would have a profound effect on the industry in the coming years.

1990’s: Experimentation with silicone oils, hydrophobic particles, and emulsion technology yielded significant performance breakthroughs in antifoam technology. Improvements to the organosilicone emulsifiers and protections against degradation largely eliminated the surface defects which inhibited the use of silicones in the 1960’s.

2000’s: Silicone emulsions were implemented to replace oil in nearly all applications and sectors because of their low cost and high performance. Companies research and formulations were improving process conditions and return on investment via energy savings and recycle. Defoamer sales focused not only on raw material cost, but process savings as well. Organic chemistries for many applications were becoming more dominant in water based applications.

2010’s: Increasing demand for bio-degradation and environmental benefits are driving companies to invest in technologies outside of silicone based products, although silicones are still by far the most dominant technology in the world today. Research into environmentally friendly alternatives to silicone with less risk of market fluctuation may be the future of defoamer technology, building on the emulsion technology and antifoam principles studied in years past.

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