Laundry detergent and its main components
Release Time:
2011-05-20 15:53
Source:
Henkel in Germany first invented laundry detergent powder in 1907 using borates and silicates as the main raw materials. Laundry detergent powder is an alkaline synthetic detergent, with the main component being anionic surfactants: sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, a small amount of nonionic surfactants, plus some auxiliaries, phosphates, silicates, sodium sulfate, fluorescent agents, enzymes, etc. It is made through mixing, spray drying, and other processes. Nowadays, most phosphates are replaced by 4A fluorite.
Synthetic detergents mainly consist of surfactants and are formulated with appropriate amounts of various washing auxiliaries. Laundry detergent powder refers to powdered (granular) synthetic detergents.
After the 1940s, with the development of the chemical industry, people used chemicals refined from petroleum—sodium tetrapropylbenzene sulfonate—to produce detergents with better performance than soap. Later, phosphates, which soften hard water and improve detergent cleaning efficiency, were added to detergents, making their performance more perfect. For convenience in use, carrying, storage, and transportation, detergents were made into laundry powder.
Because laundry detergent powder shows good cleaning effects in various water qualities such as well water, river water, tap water, spring water, and even seawater, and is widely used on various fabrics, its production and use developed rapidly. Now, laundry detergent powder is almost an essential cleaning product in every household.
Ingredients of Laundry Detergent Powder
Introduction
Laundry detergent powder consists of five major categories of ingredients: active ingredients, washing auxiliaries, buffering agents, performance enhancers, and auxiliary ingredients.
The main ingredients include: fabric fiber anti-scaling agents, anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, water softeners, soil suspending agents, enzymes, fluorescent agents, and fragrances; inferior laundry powders often contain harmful substances such as phosphorus, aluminum, and alkali. The role of surfactants in laundry powder is to provide solubility, emulsification, penetration, cleaning, sterilization, softening, foaming, and anti-static functions. Synthetic surfactants were found early on to cause side effects like rough hands and are now considered a major environmental pollutant. Additionally, phosphorus, aluminum alkali, especially phosphorus, have been banned in laundry powders in some developed countries. However, many chemical factories in our country still produce such products, especially some foreign-funded enterprises, which do not allow these harmful substances in their domestic products but boldly add them here, exploiting gaps in incomplete laws and weak environmental awareness.
Active Ingredients:
Active ingredients are the main functional components in detergents. Detergent active ingredients are substances called surfactants, which reduce the adhesion between stains and clothes. Under the mechanical action of washing water flow, hand rubbing, or washing machine agitation, stains detach from clothes, achieving the purpose of cleaning.
Note: 1. To achieve good cleaning effects, laundry powder should contain sufficient active ingredients. To ensure the washing effect, national authorities have set minimum content requirements for active ingredients in laundry powder. Depending on the type of surfactant and product category, the active ingredient content in laundry powder generally should not be less than 13%;
2. Because many surfactants have strong foaming ability, consumers can judge the quality of laundry powder based on the foam produced after dissolving it in water;
3. However, some laundry powders specially designed for front-loading washing machines have much lower foaming ability than ordinary laundry powders. This is because front-loading machines rely mainly on the mechanical force generated by clothes tumbling inside the drum to clean. Excessive foam in the washing solution greatly reduces this mechanical force, significantly diminishing cleaning effectiveness.
Washing Auxiliaries
Washing auxiliaries are the largest component in laundry powder, generally accounting for 15%-40% of the total composition. Their main function is to bind hardness ions in water to soften it, thereby protecting surfactants to maximize their effectiveness. Phosphorus-containing and phosphorus-free detergents refer to whether the auxiliaries used are phosphate-based or non-phosphate substances.
Note: 1. Some provinces and cities have enacted local regulations prohibiting or restricting the sale and use of phosphate-containing detergents.
2. Among non-phosphate auxiliaries, zeolite is widely recognized in the industry as a good substitute for phosphate components.
3. Besides, there are various "cheap" phosphate-free auxiliaries such as sodium carbonate (soda ash), sodium silicate (water glass), and their various compound ratios. Since these phosphate-free auxiliaries ultimately form water-insoluble precipitates, if they cannot be effectively suspended in water, they will settle on clothes. Long-term use of such phosphate-free detergents will make clothes hard and yellowed. To prevent this, well-designed phosphate-free detergents use effective dispersants in their formulas to prevent insoluble particles from depositing on clothes.
Buffering Agents
Common stains on clothes are generally organic, such as sweat, food, and dust. Organic stains are usually acidic, so maintaining the washing solution in an alkaline state helps remove these stains. Therefore, laundry powders contain a considerable amount of alkaline substances, commonly soda ash and water glass.
Note: 1. Although alkalinity helps with washing clothes, excessive alkaline substances can harm clothes and skin. Therefore, the country has set corresponding regulations on the alkalinity of laundry powder. Qualified laundry powders should meet these requirements.
2. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, these alkaline substances react with hard water to form precipitates. Excessive alkaline substances cause large amounts of precipitates during washing, which actually reduce cleaning effectiveness.
Performance Enhancers
In order to give detergents better and more washing-related effects, an increasing number of detergents contain special functional ingredients that can effectively enhance and improve the washing performance of detergents.
According to functional requirements, the enhancing ingredients used in detergents fall into several categories: those that improve cleaning effects, such as enzyme preparations (protease, lipase, amylase, etc.), bleaches, bleach activators; those that improve whiteness retention, such as anti-redeposition agents, soil dispersants, enzyme preparations (cellulase), fluorescent whitening agents, anti-dyeing agents; and those that protect fabrics and improve fabric hand feel, such as softeners, cellulase, antistatic agents, color protectors, etc.
Note: 1. In fact, many brands of detergents are quite similar in their main ingredients, and the secret of each product often lies in these enhancing ingredients. The use of various enzyme preparations can greatly enhance the detergent's ability to clean special and difficult stains, such as blood stains, sweat stains, food oil stains, vegetable and fruit stains, etc.; bleaches can decompose and remove pigment stains; anti-redeposition agents ensure that clothes do not turn gray or yellow after multiple washes.
Auxiliary Ingredients
These ingredients generally do not improve the washing ability of detergents, but they play a significant role in the product's processing and sensory indicators, such as making washing powder color white, granules uniform, non-caking, and pleasantly fragrant.
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