Alkyl glycoside (APG) uses, production processes and improvement plans

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The 25th National "Safety Production Month" in 2026, everyone pays attention to safety, and everyone will investigate and rectify potential risks in an emergency -------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction to Alkyl Polyglycoside (APG) Alkyl Polyglycoside, APG) is a type of green nonionic surfactant produced from natural renewable resources (starch, glucose) and fatty alcohols as raw materials through acetalization reaction under the action of an acidic catalyst. The hydrophilic group in the molecule is a sugar structure containing multiple hydroxyl groups, the hydrophobic group is a long carbon chain, and the average degree of polymerization is generally 1.2 to 1.8. APG has outstanding advantages such as high surface activity, good wettability, strong detergency, mildness and non-irritation, rapid biodegradation, and extremely low toxicity. It has the characteristics of both nonionic and anionic surfactants. It is internationally recognized as the preferred "green" functional surfactant and is widely used in detergents, cosmetics, food, textile printing and dyeing, pesticide emulsification, and oil exploration. As of June 6, 2026, the benchmark price of APG Y0814 (solid content ≥50%) announced by SunSirs is 9,000 yuan/ton, and the delivery place is Shandong/Jinan (Shandong Hanyue Chemical Co., Ltd.). 1. Alkyl glycoside (APG) production process At present, the alkyl glycoside production process that has achieved industrialization all adopts the Fischer synthesis method. This method is divided into one-step method (also called direct method) and two-step method (also called indirect method or transglycoside method). The two-step method first uses low-carbon alcohols to react with glucose, and then performs a transglycoside reaction between the generated low-carbon glycosides and higher fatty alcohols to prepare long-carbon chain alkyl glycosides. This process solves the problem of poor miscibility between glucose and higher fatty alcohols and reduces the difficulty of the reaction. It was the first to achieve industrialization. However, this process has problems such as long process, residual by-products, difficulty in handling low-carbon alcohols, and high safety protection requirements. The one-step method is currently the world's leading alkyl glycoside production process. Glucose and fatty alcohol directly undergo acetalization reaction under the action of an acidic catalyst to generate a crude alkyl glycoside product, which is then treated with alcohol removal to obtain the finished product. This method has a short process flow, low energy consumption, easy operation, and low cost. The production process does not need to be carried out in an explosion-proof environment. The reaction process parameters are strictly controlled. The alkyl glycoside product obtained is of good quality, light in color, and odorless. The alkyl glycosides produced using this process are of high quality and have a wide range of applications, and are in huge demand in the high-end market. 3. One-step innovative technical solution (1) Reaction process From the perspective of raw materials, the core of the synthesis of alkyl glycosides lies in the selection of sugar sources and alcohol sources. Technical solution 1 uses ethylene glycol and dodecanol to form a mixed alcohol, using glucose or starch as the sugar source, and the weight ratio of the mixed alcohol to glucose (or starch) is 20:1 to 1:1. This patent introduces phytic acid as a catalyst component, and uses phytic acid and aromatic sulfonic acid or inorganic acid to effectively avoid the agglomeration of sugar and starch during the reaction process, and improve the catalytic efficiency and reaction conversion rate. The second technical solution focuses on the physical pretreatment of glucose raw materials. It innovatively proposes ultra-micronization of anhydrous glucose or glucose containing crystal water (particle size is less than 250 μm, preferably 20-100 μm), and pre-dehydration under vacuum conditions of 30-80°C and 10-60 mmHg for 0.5-1 hour. This significantly improves the reactivity of the raw materials and allows the glycoside reaction to be completed at a lower temperature and in a shorter time. The third technical solution selected a p-toluenesulfonic acid/hypophosphite binary catalyst system. The mass ratio of the catalyst to glucose is 0.005-0.015:1, and the mass ratio of p-toluenesulfonic acid to hypophosphite is 2-4:1. In addition, Patent 3 uses tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) or magnesium oxide as a decolorization aid during the bleaching process, which effectively reduces the amount of hydrogen peroxide and improves the bleaching efficiency. (2) Separation process: Alcohol removal and product post-treatment After the glycolation reaction is completed, the crude product contains a large amount of excess fatty alcohol, which must be effectively removed to meet product quality requirements. The industrial separation process is: Two-stage scraped plate evaporator combination, falling film evaporator and short path evaporator combination, falling film evaporator and scraped plate evaporator combination, etc. In actual production, two solutions are generally used: the combination of falling film evaporator and short-range evaporator, and the combination of falling film evaporator and scraper evaporator. Technical solution 1 uses molecular distillation equipment to remove alcohol, controls the vacuum degree to 0.90~0.01kPa, steams off excess alcohol to obtain solid glycosides, dissolves the solid glycosides in water at 80°C, adjusts the pH to 11~12 and then bleaches it with 30% H₂O₂, the final product is APHA