Formulating Laundry Liquid Detergents
Formulating Laundry Liquid Detergents
Formulating Laundry Liquid Detergents
Laundry Detergents
Whether you’re creating a value or premium formula, here are the steps to take
to develop an effective detergent at the right price point.
A
major component of liquid laundry detergent is based on clothes. From here one can improve this basic formula to any de-
surfactants that remove soil from the fabric and clean it. sired level in order to enhance the performance and position it for
A combination of anionic and nonionic surfactants is various categories such as economical, mid tier, premium, ultra,
commonly used for optimum performance. In general, anionics and 2X, 3X, 4X etc. Some common additives include:
are good for particulate soil removal and nonionics are good for Builders: Remove the hardness ions so the surfactant can be
greasy soil removal. Other components of a liquid laundry deter- fully functional. Sodium citrate, tetrasodium EDTA and acrylic
gent formula are detailed in this article. polymers are commonly used in liquid laundry detergents.
Thus, a liquid laundry detergent formula can be as simple and Antiredeposition agents: Keeps the soil particles suspended
economical as say 5% active surfactant solution in water with in the wash liquor so they do not get deposited back on the fabric.
preservatives. The formula will foam and do some cleaning of the A variety of polymers can be used.
Dye transfer inhibitors: Help prevent dye from coming off
Thanks to ingredients such as one fabric and getting deposited on other. PVP K-30, Chromabond
enzymes and boosters, today’s S-100 (PVP with betaine functionality) Chromabond S-400 (PVP
laundry comes out whiter and with nitrogen oxide functionality) from ISP.
brighter than ever. Soil release polymer: Soil release polymers provide a bar-
rier to the fabric, which is removed during the wash, together
with the soil. Sorez 100 (polyethylene glycol polyester copoly-
mer) from ISP, Repel-O-Tex SRP-6 (polyethylene glycol polyes-
ter) from Rhodia and Texcare SRN 170 from Clariant.
Optical brighteners: Improve the apparent “whiteness” of
clothes by absorbing invisible UV light and giving off a blue fluo-
rescence. Tinopal CBS-X from BASF.
Enzymes: For tough stain removal, color and fabric care.
Enzymes help remove stains and soils like blood, grass and gravy
by breaking them down to smaller, easily removable components.
Lipase (0.2%) removes grease and oil; cellulase (0.1%) whitens
and brightens; amylase (0.5%) removes starch-based soils; and
protease (0.6%) removes protein stains. To stabilize the enzymes,
pH should be 7-9; water content (less than 60%), calcium chloride
(0.2%), sodium tetraborate (1-2%), propylene glycol (5-10%), so-
dium formate (1-2%), sodium citrate (3-5%) and monoethanol-
amine (1%)
pH control: Add citric acid or monoethanolamine to bring
pH to desired level.
Viscosity control: Increase or decrease viscosity to desired
level with the addition of propylene glycol, sodium xylene sulfo-
nate, polymers.
Suds control: Soap and silicones control excessive foaming.
Preservatives: Microbial control.
Perfume & Dye: Scent and appearance.
Premium Formulas on various kinds of soils including grease and protein. Enzymes
If we can dig a little deeper into our pockets, we can go all out to also help clothes look whiter and brighter. Enzymes are some-
develop the ultimate liquid laundry detergent, or in other words, what delicate materials, however, and must be treated with a
make a premium formula. Now we are talking about making a little TLC. That includes slow mixing when processing a batch,
formula with 30-40% solids containing all the ingredients listed avoiding hot temperatures, using less water and more actives
in the beginning of this article. Here we will use a combination of and, finally, adding enzyme stabilizers to the formula. Enzyme
three anionic surfactants, two nonionics and an amine oxide. stabilizers include propylene glycol, monoethanolamine, calcium
For builder we will stay with sodium citrate. We will use PVP chloride, borax, sodium citrate and sodium formate. Enzymes
NO (Chromabond S-400—ISP) and Texcare SRN 170 for dye used in our premium formula are included further in the article.
transfer inhibition, soil release and antiredeposition effects. Also All right, let’s get to work and develop a nice premium 3X
let us add some oleic acid soap for suds control. For an optical liquid laundry detergent formula.
brightener, let us use Tinopal CBX (BASF) and for pH adjustment,
we will go with citric acid and monoethanolamine. Try propyl- How It Works
ene glycol and sodium diphenyloxide disulfonates (Calfax DB- For the surfactant part of the formula we need a well-rounded
45, Pilot) for viscosity control and coupling. The disulfonates are and balanced combination that can clean various kinds of soils.
excellent anionic surfactants as well as hydrotropes and couplers. I suggest we use a combination of linear alkyl benzene sulfonate
In premium 2X or 3X laundry detergent formulas, they increase (Pilot’s LAS-99 neutralized with potassium hydroxide), diphenyl
the activity of the formula, but at the same time, lower the viscos- ether disulfonate (Pilot’s Calfax DBA-70 neutralized with potas-
ity and also perform the coupling action. This is a unique benefit sium hydroxide), alkyl ether sulfate (Pilot’s Calfoam ES-603),
of disulfonates. Most surfactants will increase the viscosity of the alcohol ethoxylate (Air Products’ Tomadol 1-7) and amine oxide
formula and may even cause gelling. Disulfonates are also stable (Pilot’s Caloxamine LO).
in chlorine bleach, peroxide, alkalis and acids. That is why they Let us also use some builders like sodium citrate. For soil
can be used in a wide variety of HI&I cleaners. release, antiredeposition and dye transfer inhibition we will
Don’t forget the enzymes. They offer enhanced performance use a combination of PVPNO (Chromabond S-400 ISP) and
a modified polyester copolymer (Sorez 100 ISP). How about Caloxamine LO. Mix well at slow speed. Add 3.0% sodium ci-
Tinopal CBS-X from BASF as optical brightener? I know you trate, 1.0% sodium format, 0.2% calcium chloride, 1.0% borax,
would agree to use some silicone antifoam for suds control, 1.0% monoethanolamine, 0.6% Chromabond S-400, 0.6% Sorez
something like Dow Corning’s 1520 antifoam. For enzymes 100, 0.05% Tinopal CBS-X. Mix well and cool the batch down to
we will go with lipase (Novozyme’s Lipolase 100 L), protease room temperature if necessary before adding the enzymes. Add
(Novozyme’s Savinase 16 L), amylase (Termamyl 300 L) and 0.3% of Carezyme 4500 L, 0.5% Lipolase 100L, 1.5% Savinase
cellulase (Novozyme’s Carezyme 4500 L). The rest of the ingre- 16 L and 1.5% Termamyl 300L. Add preservatives, perfume and
dients listed below will act as enzyme stabilizer, viscosity modi- dye as required and mix well.•
fier, foam control agents and pH buffers. These include calcium
chloride, sodium formate, propylene glycol, borax, monoetha- About the Author:
nolamine and potassium oleate. SHOAIB ARIF is manager, home and per-
Let us go to the lab and prepare a sample of the premium sonal care applications at Pilot Chemical Co.,
3X liquid laundry detergent. First add deionized water (29.15%), Cincinnati, OH. Previously, he was manager
followed by potassium hydroxide 45% solution (6.1%) in an ap- of technology at Degussa Corp.
propriate beaker. Start mixing and slowly add Calsoft LAS-99 He has also worked for Noveon, Witco
(10%) and Calfax DBA-70 (5%). Mix slowly to avoid exces- and Olin Chemicals. Arif has more than 30
sive foaming for 10-15 minutes. Add oleic acid (3%) and mix years experience in surfactant applications,
well. Check the pH and adjust to 7-9, if necessary, with Calsoft technical service, product development and formulations involv-
LAS-99 or potassium hydroxide. With continuous mixing add ing personal care and HI&I products.
0.5% Dow Corning 1520 antifoam, 15% Tomadol 1-7 and 7% He can be reached at 513-939-6150 or via e-mail at sarif@
propylene glycol. Then add 10.0% Calfoam ES-603 and 3.0% pilotchemical.com.