The paper will summarize the sulfonation/sulfation process used in the detergent industry, with particular emphasis on the modern techniques involving the use of diluted gaseous SO 3 as a sulfonating agent. The outstanding features of the commercially available SO3-air processes will be described, and the Ballestra, Berol, Allied, Chemithon, and Mazzoni reactors will be shown graphically in figures. The particular aspects of processing the various feedstocks, decomposition of the by-product anhydrides in sulfonation of alkylbenzene, hydrolysis of the sultones formed in sulfonation of alpha olefins, and their implication on the integrated sulfonation processes are also considered.

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