Sasol, one of the largest companies in the South African petrochemical industry, produces a variety of chemicals, including a series of unique, and currently underutilised α-olefins. Most of these α-olefins are exported, beneficiated elsewhere, and re-imported to South Africa. These α-olefins can typically be beneficiated to high value products such as surfactants and other valuable entities. Surfactants are molecules that lower the surface tension of a liquid, making it more likely to spread out as well as improve the miscibility of a biphasic system. Surfactants are used in a variety of industries and applications, including: Agricultural, Paints and coatings, Cleaning products, Oil and gas, Personal care and cosmetics, and Pharmaceutics. 

Commercial surfactants can be classified as anionic, cationic, non-ionic, and amphoteric surfactants (zwitterionic) and the classification is determined by the headgroup of the surfactant. There is currently extremely low manufacturing activity within South Africa and most of the activity within this sector is focused on the formulation to a commercial end-user product from imported enriched raw materials. This leads to overinflated prices as the products are imported and subjected to import tax. Ironically, South Africa manufacture all the needed raw materials to produce these value-added products locally. 

DST seeks to realise the full potential of science and technology (S&T) in social and economic development, through the development of human resources (HR), research and innovation. The primary focus is to implement the National Research and Development Strategy (NRDS), which provides an integrated approach to knowledge generation, investment in infrastructure, and improving the strategic management of the public S&T system. For the NRDS to succeed, considerably higher emphasis must be placed on the beneficiation of locally produced raw materials into enriched, high value end-user products. In-line with this strategy, our laboratory has synthesized and developed a unique library of surfactants that are not only produced from locally sourced raw materials, but also adds tremendous value to these otherwise low-valued underutilized α-olefins. 

Up to this point, the vital footwork has been done to establish the synthesis, methodology, and analysis needed for surfactant research with the application on the backburner. However, a pivotal point has been reached where the prominence of application and proof-of-concept must be investigated for further development and expanding of the repertoire from our research efforts as well as to strengthen and expand these inimitable surfactants.