Question

What is MOA-7 (AEO-7)? What are its main uses?

Answer
2026-06-06 官方文档 MOA-7(AEO-7)

MOA-7 (AEO-7) is C12-14 fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (7) ether, a nonionic surfactant, widely used in industrial and household cleaning, textile printing and dyeing, leather processing, personal care, pesticide formulations, and many other fields due to its excellent emulsifying, wetting, penetrating, and detergency properties.

Product Overview

MOA-7 (AEO-7), chemical name fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (7) ether (CAS No.: 68439-50-9), is a nonionic surfactant formed by condensation of C12-14 fatty alcohols with 7 moles of ethylene oxide. The product appears as a colorless to slightly yellow transparent liquid or white paste (state varies with temperature), also known as laureth-7, polyoxyethylene (7) lauryl ether, etc. Its molecular structure, combining hydrophilic polyoxyethylene chains and hydrophobic long-chain alkyl groups, endows the product with excellent versatility.

Core Performance Characteristics

MOA-7 offers four key advantages in applications:

  • Excellent emulsifying ability: Effectively reduces oil-water interfacial tension, forming stable emulsions, making it an ideal choice for preparing high-quality emulsion products.
  • Superior wetting and penetrating properties: Significantly improves liquid spreading and penetration efficiency on solid surfaces, especially suitable for textile and hard surface cleaning scenarios.
  • High detergency: Shows strong removal and dispersion capabilities for various soils, especially oil stains.
  • Outstanding chemical stability: Maintains stable performance in a wide range of acidic and alkaline environments and has good tolerance to hard water, ensuring compatibility and reliability in complex formulations.

Main Application Areas

1. Industrial and Household Cleaning

As an efficient nonionic surfactant, MOA-7 is a key active component in household laundry liquids, dishwashing detergents, and industrial heavy-duty cleaners, providing excellent detergency, emulsification, and dispersion.

2. Textile Printing and Dyeing

With outstanding wetting and penetrating abilities, MOA-7 is used as a leveling agent and penetrating agent, ensuring uniform dye diffusion within fibers, preventing uneven dyeing, and improving dye uptake and dyeing quality.

3. Leather Industry

As an efficient leather degreasing agent, MOA-7 effectively removes natural oils and dirt from raw hides, accelerates the soaking process, and provides a clean fiber environment for subsequent tanning and fatliquoring processes.

4. Metal Surface Treatment

In metal hard surface cleaners, MOA-7 strongly removes mineral oils, polishing waxes, and cutting fluids from metal parts, while also offering anti-rust and corrosion inhibition functions, suitable for spray and immersion industrial cleaning.

5. Personal Care and Cosmetics

As an emulsifier and solubilizer, MOA-7 is used in creams, lotions, cleansing oils, etc., to build stable oil-in-water emulsions, and effectively solubilizes oil-soluble ingredients such as fragrances and essential oils.

6. Pesticide Formulations

MOA-7 acts as a pesticide emulsifier, dispersing hydrophobic pesticide technical materials uniformly in an aqueous medium to form highly stable emulsion or microemulsion formulations, enhancing the wetting and spreading of the spray on plant leaves, thus improving efficacy.

7. Emulsion Polymerization

In the synthesis of acrylate or styrene-butadiene latex, MOA-7 serves as an emulsifier providing micellar nucleation sites, controlling polymerization rate, and ensuring mechanical and storage stability of the final latex.

8. Paper Industry

In the deinking process of waste paper, MOA-7, through its penetrating and emulsifying action, quickly separates and suspends ink particles from waste paper, preventing re-deposition of ink, and improving the whiteness and yield of recycled pulp.

9. Oilfield Chemicals

In drilling fluids and produced fluid treatment, MOA-7 acts as an emulsifier, viscosity reducer, or paraffin inhibitor, improving oil-water interfacial tension and enhancing oil recovery and transportation efficiency.

Precautions

MOA-7 is classified as a low-toxicity substance, but appropriate protective measures should be taken during handling:

  • Skin irritation (H315): Wear protective gloves to avoid direct skin contact.
  • Serious eye irritation (H319): Wear chemical safety goggles.
  • Harmful if swallowed (H302): Do not eat, drink, or smoke in work areas to prevent accidental ingestion.
  • Harmful to aquatic life (H402): Do not discharge into drains or surface waters.

It is recommended to operate in well-ventilated areas, store in a cool, dry, well-ventilated warehouse, keep containers tightly closed, and keep away from strong oxidizing agents and strong acids/bases. For detailed safety information, please refer to the Safety Data Sheet (SDS).