CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a U.S. National-Stage entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 based on International Application No. PCT/EP2017/075199, filed Oct. 4, 2017, which was published under PCT Article 21(2) and which claims priority to European Application No. 16193125.8, filed Oct. 10, 2016, which are all hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

Defoamer agents play an important role in many industrial processes. Especially in thermal desalination processes for water the formation of foam may limit the efficiency of such processes. It is therefore of high importance to efficiently control the formation foam. On the other hand such thermal desalination pose especially high challenges to defoamer agents due to the technical complexity of such processes.

While many commercially available defoamers are available, there is a constant need for improved defoamers that can control the formation of foam effectively, efficiently and at low concentrations of defoamers. Also, the defoamer needs to be miscible with water.

M. H. Auerbach et al. (Desalination, 38 (1981), 159-168) disclose foam control agents based on polyglycol alkyl ethers.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed to formulations F comprisingA) from about 50 to about 90 parts by weight, based on the total weight of the formulation, of at least one block copolymer P of ethyleneoxide and propylene oxide,B) from about 0.5 to about 10 parts by weight, based on the total weight of the formulation, of at least one salt of an alkyl sulfate S,C) from about 0.05 to about 0.5 parts by weight, based on the total weight of the formulation, of a composition C comprisingC1) from about 5 to about 10 parts by weight, based on the total weight of the composition, of at least one polydimethylsiloxane bearing only terminal alkyl groups,C2) from about 1 to about 3 parts by weight, based on the total weight of the composition, of at least one polydimethylsiloxane bearing at least one alkoxylated hydroxy group,C3) at least one solvent,

wherein said formulation F is an aqueous formulation.

The present disclosure is further directed to the use of formulations F as defoamer agents, especially in thermal desalination processes.

