Reduction of synthetic surfactants Research and Development Department of Company V, a detergent manufacturer
Cleaning aids needed for the new eco-friendly cleaning agent
PEI ethoxylate boosts solubility and effect
Company V decided to develop a new product based on the concept of "a cleaning agent with high cleaning reliability and environmental friendliness." Sustainability and SDGs have been attracting attention within the industry, and the number of inquiries from clients has been increasing recently. However, during the development, the company ran into a problem.
Challenges
The two hurdles of reducing the amount of synthetic surfactants used and concentrating the detergent were higher than expected...
The challenge was how to reduce the amount of synthetic surfactants used and how to concentrate the cleaning agent. The development leader M（ hereafter, "M") , describes the situation at that time as follows:
"Because we are promoting environmental measures, we wanted to reduce the amount of synthetic surfactants, especially synthetic anionic surfactants, used in our detergents as much as possible. However, we were concerned from the start that reducing the amount used would result in a decrease in cleaning power."
In fact, they repeatedly evaluated various things, such as adjusting the blending ratio of each component in the cleaner and adding various cleaning aids, but they were unable to maintain the expected cleaning performance.
"Another challenge was to concentrate the detergent. We wanted to achieve this because it would make the container more compact while maintaining performance, which would help reduce CO2 emissions during product transportation." (M said)
What troubled M and her team was that, like adjusting the blend ratio, the ease of mixing the liquid and the stability of the blend could vary depending on the cleaning assistants added. Similarly, they made prototypes and repeatedly evaluated them, but the results were far from satisfactory.
M was completely at her wit's end, faced with two obstacles: reducing the amount of synthetic surfactant used and concentrating it. She was unable to find a cleaning agent that could achieve both effects, and was at a loss as to what to do in this situation.
Key Challenges
We wanted to reduce the amount of synthetic anionic surfactants used as much as possible, but it was difficult to select the blend ratio and cleaning aids that would maintain cleaning performance.
Regarding the concentration, depending on the cleaning aids added, the ease of mixing the liquid and the stability of the mixture may vary.