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    Laundry Detergent

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    somiraghu
    Laundry detergent has evolved from ancient soap making methods to modern synthetic formulations. Early soaps were made by boiling fats and ashes as far back as 2800 BC. During the colonial period in America, most people made soap at home until manufacturing shifted to become an industry in the 1930s. Modern detergents contain surfactants that clean like soap but avoid the problem of soap scum from hard water. They are produced through either a blender process used by smaller companies or a continuous agglomeration process used by large manufacturers. Quality control testing assesses detergent effectiveness by measuring light reflected off fabrics before and after washing.

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    Laundry Detergent

    Uploaded by

    somiraghu
    666 views8 pages
    Laundry detergent has evolved from ancient soap making methods to modern synthetic formulations. Early soaps were made by boiling fats and ashes as far back as 2800 BC. During the colonial period in America, most people made soap at home until manufacturing shifted to become an industry in the 1930s. Modern detergents contain surfactants that clean like soap but avoid the problem of soap scum from hard water. They are produced through either a blender process used by smaller companies or a continuous agglomeration process used by large manufacturers. Quality control testing assesses detergent effectiveness by measuring light reflected off fabrics before and after washing.

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    Laundry Detergent

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    Laundry detergent has evolved from ancient soap making methods to modern synthetic formulations. Early soaps were made by boiling fats and ashes as far back as 2800 BC. During the colonial period in America, most people made soap at home until manufacturing shifted to become an industry in the 1930s. Modern detergents contain surfactants that clean like soap but avoid the problem of soap scum from hard water. They are produced through either a blender process used by smaller companies or a continuous agglomeration process used by large manufacturers. Quality control testing assesses detergent effectiveness by measuring light reflected off fabrics before and after washing.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    666 views8 pages

    Laundry Detergent

    Uploaded by

    somiraghu
    Laundry detergent has evolved from ancient soap making methods to modern synthetic formulations. Early soaps were made by boiling fats and ashes as far back as 2800 BC. During the colonial period in America, most people made soap at home until manufacturing shifted to become an industry in the 1930s. Modern detergents contain surfactants that clean like soap but avoid the problem of soap scum from hard water. They are produced through either a blender process used by smaller companies or a continuous agglomeration process used by large manufacturers. Quality control testing assesses detergent effectiveness by measuring light reflected off fabrics before and after washing.

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    Laundry Detergent

    The first soaps were manufactured in ancient times through a variety of


    methods, most commonly by boiling fats and ashes. Archeologists excavating
    sites in ancient Babylon have found evidence indicating that such soaps were
    used as far back as 2800 B.C. By the second century A.D., the Romans were
    regularly making soap, which they had probably begun to produce even
    earlier.

    In Europe, the use of soap declined during the Middle Ages. However, by the
    fifteenth century, its use and manufacture had resumed, and an olive-oil based
    soap produced in Castile, Spain, was being sold in many parts of the known
    world. Castile soap, which is still available today, has retained its reputation as
    a high-quality product.

    During the colonial period and the eighteenth century, Americans made their
    own soap at home, where most continued to produce it until soap
    manufacture shifted away from individual homes to become an industry
    during the 1930s. The first detergent, or artificial soap, was produced in
    Germany during World War I. In 1946, the first built detergent appeared,
    comprising a surfactant (a surface-acting agent or soap) and a builder (a
    chemical that enhances the performance of the surfactant as well as rendering
    the laundering process more effective in other ways). Pushed along by
    economic prosperity and the development of relatively inexpensive washing
    machines in the wake of World War II, detergent sales soared; by 1953, they
    had surpassed soap sales in the United States.

    Raw Materials

    Although people commonly refer to laundry detergent as "soap," it is actually


    a synthetic combination that functions much like soap, with certain major
    improvements. Soap cleans because each soap molecule consists of a
    hydrocarbon chain and a carboxylic group (fatty acids) that perform two
    important functions. The carboxylate end of the soap molecule is hydrophilic,
    meaning that it is attracted to water, while the hydrocarbon end of the
    molecule is both hydrophobic (repelled by water) and attracted to the oil and
    grease in dirt. While the hydrophobic end of a soap molecule attaches itself to
    dirt, the hydrophilic end attaches itself to water. The dirt attached to the
    carboxylate end of the molecule is chemically dragged away from the clothes
    being cleaned and into the wash water. Properly agitating and rinsing the
    clothes furthers the cleansing process.

    The major difficulty with using soap to clean laundry shows up when it is used
    in hard water—water that is rich in natural minerals such as calcium,
    magnesium, iron, and manganese. When these chemicals react with soap, they
    form an insoluble curd called a precipitate. Difficult to rinse out, the
    precipitate leaves visible deposits on clothing and makes fabric feel stiff. Even
    water that is not especially hard will eventually produce precipitates over a
    period of time.

    While the hydrocarbons used in soap generally come from plants or animals,
    those used in detergent can be derived from crude oil. Adding sulfuric acid to
    the processed hydrocarbon produces a molecule similar to the fatty acids in
    soap. The addition of an alkali to the mixture creates a surfactant molecule

    In the blender method of making powder laundry detergent, the ingredients—


    surfactant, builders, antiredeposition agents, and perfumes—are simply
    blended together in a mixer, released onto a conveyor belt, and packaged
    accordingly. This method is favored by smaller companies.
    that will not bond with the minerals in hard water, thus avoiding the
    accumulation of precipitates.

    In addition to a surfactant, modern detergent contains several other


    ingredients. Among the most significant are builders, chemicals which serve
    several purposes. Most importantly, they increase the efficiency of the
    surfactant. They also sequester minerals in hard water, meaning that they
    hold them in solution, preventing them from precipitating out. Furthermore,
    builders can emulsify oil and grease into tiny globules that can be washed
    away. Some, like sodium silicate, inhibit corrosion and help assure that the
    detergent will not damage a washing machine. Still other builders contribute
    to the chemical balance of the wash water, making sure that it conduces to
    effective washing.

    Modern detergents have several other ingredients including antiredeposition


    agents, chemicals that help prevent soil from settling back on washed clothes.
    Fluorescent whitening agents are also common. By converting invisible
    ultraviolet light into visible blue light, these help to maintain brightness or
    whiteness. Oxygen bleaches such as sodium perborate improve the detergency
    of the mixture, especially in low-phosphate or no-phosphate products, as well
    as helping to remove some types of stains. Processing aids such as sodium
    sulfate are also used to prevent caking and to standardize product density.

    Enzymes and perfumes are also found in commercial detergents. Enzymes (a


    type of protein) break down some stains to make them easier to remove and
    are an essential ingredient in various pre-soak products used to treat heavily
    soiled clothes prior to laundering. Perfumes or fragrances cover the odor of
    the dirt and any chemical smell from the detergent itself. Suds control agents
    also have a role in detergents—too many suds can cause mechanical problems
    with a washing machine.

    The Manufacturing
    Process
    Although there are three ways of manufacturing dry laundry detergent, only
    two are commonly used today. In the blender process favored by smaller
    companies, the ingredients are mixed in large vats before being packaged. The
    machines used are very large: a common blender holds 4,000 pounds (1,816
    kilograms) of mixed material, but the blenders can accommodate loads
    ranging from 500 to 10,000 pounds (227 to 4,540 kilograms). By industry
    standards, these are small batches for which the blender process is ideal.
    While some settling may occur, the resulting detergent is of high quality and
    can compete with detergents made by other processes. The second commonly
    used method of production is called the agglomeration process. Unlike the
    blender process, it is continuous, which makes it the choice of very large
    detergent manufacturers. The agglomeration process can produce between
    15,000 and 50,000 pounds (6,800 and 22,700 kilograms) of detergent per
    hour. In the third method, dry ingredients are blended in water before being
    dried with hot air. Although the resulting product is of high quality, the fuel
    costs and engineering problems associated with venting, reheating, and
    reusing the air have led to this method being largely replaced by
    agglomeration.

    The blender process

    • 1 First, ingredients are loaded into one of two machines: a tumbling


    blender or a ribbon blender. The tumbling blender, shaped like a
    rectangular box, is turned and shaken from outside by a machine, while
    the ribbon blender is a cylinder fitted with blades to scrape and mix the
    ingredients. After the ingredients inside the blender have been mixed, a
    doorway at the bottom of the bowl is opened. With the blender still
    agitating the ingredients, the mix is allowed to run out onto a conveyor
    belt or other channeling device. The belt then moves the detergent to
    another area of the factory where it can be dropped into boxes or
    cartons for delivery to wholesalers or distributors.

    The agglomeration process

    • 2 In this method, dry ingredients for a detergent are first fed into a
    large machine known as a Shuggi agglomerator (Shuggi is the
    manufacturer). Inside the agglomerator, sharp, whirling blades mix the
    material to a fine consistency; the process resembles food being
    textured inside a food processor.
    • 3 After the dry ingredients have been blended, liquid ingredients are
    sprayed on the dry mix through nozzles fitted into the agglomerator's
    walls. The blending continues, causing an exothermic (heat-producing)
    reaction to occur. The resulting mixture is a hot, viscous liquid similar
    to gelatin that hasn't hardened.
    • 4 Next, the liquid is allowed to flow out of the agglomerator. As it leaves
    the machine, it collects on a drying belt where its own heat, exposure to
    air, and hot air blowers render it friable—easy to crush or crumble. The
    newly made detergent is then pulverized and pushed through sizing
    screens that ensure that no large lumps of unmixed product go out to
    the market. The result of this process is a dry detergent made up of
    granules of the mixed detergent.

    The slurry method

    • 5 In this process, ingredients are dissolved in water to create a slurry.


    With a pump, the slurry is blown through nozzles inside the top of a
    cone shaped container as hot, dry air is simultaneously forced into the
    bottom of the cone. As the slurry dries, "beads" of dry detergent fall to
    the bottom of the cone, where they can be collected for packaging.

    Liquid detergent

    • 6 If the detergent is to be liquid rather than powder, it is simply mixed


    back in—after all ingredients are blended—with a solution consisting of
    water and various chemicals known as solubilizers. The solubilizers
    help the water and detergent blend together more fully and evenly.

    Quality Control

    Manufacturers constantly monitor the quality of their detergents, and they


    utilize the same testing methods to assess the effectiveness of new products.
    In one method, light is shined onto a piece of fabric that has been soiled and
    then washed in the test detergent. The
    To make liquid detergent, the dry powder is simply mixed back in with a
    solution consisting of water and chemicals known as "solubilizers." These
    chemicals help the water and detergent blend together more evenly.
    amount of light reflected, compared to the amount reflected by a sample of the
    original fabric, is a measure of cleanliness. A reflection rate of 98 percent is
    considered quite good and indicates that the detergent has cleaned properly.

    Another method involves laboratory burning of a small amount of material


    that has been soiled and then laundered. The weight of the ashes, plus the
    weight of the gaseous results of the burning, reveal how much of the dirt
    remained in the fabric after laundering. A result that is much higher than a
    clean test sample indicates that a significant amount of dirt was retained in
    the laundered sample. Naturally, the goal is to come as close to the weight of a
    clean control sample as possible.

    Byproducts

    In recent years, the laundry detergent industry has been faced with two
    environmental challenges, both of which have seem to have been dealt with
    successfully. Environmentalists were concerned that phosphate builders
    added large amounts of phosphorous compounds to the nation's waterways.
    Acting as a fertilizer, the phosphorus stimulated the growth of algae, and these
    unnaturally large crops of algae significantly depleted the amount of dissolved
    oxygen in water. This decrease in free oxygen harmed other marine life, thus
    threatening to disrupt normal ecological patterns.
    This problem, and the environmental pressure and legislation it prompted in
    the late 1960s, led manufacturers to develop effective builders that did not
    contain phosphates. Today, detergents sold in many states are phosphate-free.
    Although this adjustment did not entail a change in the manufacturing
    process, it did require a research effort that took several months to devise a
    satisfactory alternative.

    An earlier environmental problem was that of excess detergent foam


    appearing in the nation's waterways. In the early 1950s, when home use of
    washing machines and laundry detergents grew at an explosive rate, there
    were several instances of large amounts of foam appearing in rivers and
    streams, although detergent may not have been the only cause of the foaming.
    Over a period of five years, from 1951 to 1956, it was found that a common
    surfactant, ABS (alkyl benzene sulfonate), the detergent ingredient that
    contributed to foaming, was responsible. ABS's complex molecular structure
    did not biodegrade rapidly enough to keep it from foaming once washing
    water was discharged. A proven replacement was not immediately available.
    Beginning in 1956, however, manufacturers replaced ABS with LAS (linear
    alkylate sulfonate), which biodegrades rapidly, and since that time, LAS has
    been the primary foaming agent in detergents.

    Where To Learn More

    Books

    De Groot, W. Herman. Sulphonation Technology in the Detergent Industry.


    Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.

    Periodicals and Pamphlets

    Marbach, William D. "Cleaner Clothes from Worms." Business Week.


    December 7, 1992, p. 123.

    Pinder, Jeanne B. "Laundry Detergent Takes Formula from Nature." New


    York Times. March 10, 1993, p. C3 (N).
    Smith, Emily T. "Fungus around the Collar Could Clean Up Lipstick Stains."
    Business Week. February 15, 1988, p. 107.

    Soaps and Detergents. The Soap and Detergent Association, 1981.

    — Lawrence H. Berlow

    Read more: How laundry detergent is made - material, manufacture, making,


    used, processing, parts, structure, product, industry, machine, Raw Materials,
    The Manufacturing Process of laundry detergent
    http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Laundry-
    Detergent.html#ixzz0lUKX2YHm

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