Reaffirmed 2023

NATIONAL FOREWORD

This Indian Standard which is identical with ISO 16560 ‘Surface active agents — Determination of polyethylene glycol content in nonionic ethoxylated surfactants — HPLC method’ issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was adopted by the Bureau of Indian Standards on recommendation of the Soaps and other surface active agents Sectional Committee and approval of the Chemical Division Council.

The nonionic category of surfactants are chemical structures that contain active molecules with no electrical charge. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been widely used in detergents by virtue of its increasing solubility in water. Due to physicochemical characteristics of PEG, they can penetrate easily, increase the fluidity and solubilise lipid components. PEG is one of the important constituent in detergent based surfactants. While adopting ISO standards on different test methods, it is observed that there is no Indian standard on determination of polyethylene glycol content in nonionic ethoxylated surfactants. Considering the importance of test method for determination of PEG in surfactants and to follow the uniform practices globally, the Committee felt that it would be more convenient to prepare this standard method by adoption of ISO 16560 on dual number basis. This method is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method which is a technique to separate, identify and quantify each component in a mixture that has superior resolving power (the ability to distinguish between compounds) when separating mixtures. HPLC is distinguished from traditional liquid chromatography because operational pressures are significantly higher, while ordinary liquid chromatography typically relies on the force of gravity to pass the mobile phase through the column.

The text of ISO Standard has been approved as suitable for publication as an Indian Standard without deviations. Certain terminologies and conventions are, however, not identical to those used in Indian Standards. Attention is particularly drawn to the following:

a) Wherever the words ‘International Standard’ appear referring to this standard, they should be read as `Indian Standard’.

b) Comma (,) has been used as a decimal marker, while in Indian Standards, the current practice is to use a point (.) as the decimal marker.