Triethanolamine（TEA）

Product Applications

In cosmetics, including skin cleansers, eye gels, moisturizers, shampoos, and other products, triethanolamine is used as an emulsifier, humectant, moisturizing agent, thickener, and pH balancing agent.

In cosmetic formulations, it is used to neutralize fatty acids to form soaps and to neutralize sulfated fatty acids to form amine salts.

Triethanolamine is a commonly used emulsifier in cream formulations. Creams emulsified with triethanolamine are characterized by a fine texture and bright white appearance. In addition, colloidal phases formed by triethanolamine with higher fatty acids or higher fatty alcohols offer good stability, helping maintain stable product quality and allowing a relatively high proportion of additional ingredients to be incorporated.

Triethanolamine is also one of the most commonly used neutralizing agents for acidic polymer gels such as carbomer. By neutralizing the carboxyl groups of carbomer, triethanolamine helps form a stable polymer structure, providing thickening and moisturizing effects.

In the textile industry, triethanolamine is used as a good solvent and humectant, and it is also a raw material for fabric softeners.

Triethanolamine, also known as tris(2-hydroxyethyl)amine, is an organic compound that can be regarded as a trihydroxy-substituted derivative of triethylamine. Its chemical formula is C₆H₁₅NO₃.

Similar to other amine compounds, triethanolamine is weakly basic due to the presence of a lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atom. It can react with inorganic or organic acids to form salts.

Appearance: A colorless to pale yellow viscous liquid. At room temperature, it is a colorless, transparent, viscous liquid.