Highly compatible multi-functional polymer (AQUALIC™ KL-001)
A special polymer that acts as both a dispersant and a solubilizer
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Dispersing multifunctional polymer Research Department of Company A, a detergent manufacturer
Polymer enhances cleaning performance
Prevents re-deposition of oil and protein soils
Daily Use Materials
Dispersion / Aggregation
Environmental Friendliness
Company A manufactures and sells cleaning agents for the restaurant industry and food factories. In the restaurant industry, the use of automatic dishwashers has become commonplace to ensure efficient operations, and environmentally conscious water-saving models are on the rise. As a result, various needs have arisen for dishwasher detergents, and Mr. K, a sales representative at Company A, was approached with the following inquiry:
Challenges
As menus become more diverse, there is a demand for cleaners that are more effective than existing cleaners...
One of Company A's clients, a hotel restaurant, has adopted a buffet-style menu to meet the diverse needs of its customers. As a result, the number of dishes to be washed has increased, and the number of dishes to be turned over has had to be increased. However, the dishwashing staff were perplexed, saying that some ingredients were difficult to remove.
Mr. K, a sales representative at Company A who regularly visits customers, receives the following consultation.
"The diversification of menu items has led to an increase in stains that are difficult to clean, and the types of stains that tend to remain are particularly oily and protein-based stains from egg dishes. The kitchen is always short-staffed, and the number of dishes to be washed has increased, so if the pre-washing is insufficient, the dishes sometimes end up with oily residue or protein re-adhering. They asked us to suggest a detergent that can clean more effectively and prevent stains from re-adhering." (Mr. K)
After hearing about customer needs from Mr. K, Mr. S from the research department immediately began considering ways to improve the formula. In order to increase cleaning power, the number of ingredients tends to increase, but there was a strong request from the manufacturing site to reduce the number of ingredients from the perspective of quality control during manufacturing and simplification of the manufacturing process, so he felt that this would be a difficult task.
"Since food and grease tend to stick to the dishes and these need to be removed quickly, detergents for commercial dishwashers generally use relatively strong alkaline cleaners that are effective at breaking down grease and protein stains," says Mr. S.
"The new dishwasher that our client recently purchased is a water-saving model, and it seems to have a high dirt load. In order to increase cleaning power, the theory goes that surfactants should be added, but highly alkaline detergents tend to cause surfactants to separate and precipitate, so we thought it would be necessary to add a solubilizer to dissolve the surfactants." (Mr. S)
In order to achieve effective cleaning of oils, greases and protein stains, we wanted to maintain a stable solution state in a highly alkaline detergent even when a surfactant was added, and if possible, to achieve this in a formulation that does not use a solubilizing agent from the perspective of the number of raw materials.We tried several detergent formulations, but we were unable to achieve the target performance.
Mr. S had almost given up, thinking that if things continued like this, it would lead to delays in the schedule, and that his only option was to come up with a prescription that used a solubilizing agent.
Key Challenges
With the diversification of menus and the introduction of water-saving commercial automatic dishwashers, detergents are required to have stronger cleaning power and prevent redeposition than ever before.
From the perspective of quality control and simplifying the manufacturing process, we want to minimize the number of raw materials used in our cleaning agents.
In highly alkaline cleaning agents, the addition of surfactants tends to cause precipitation and separation, and solubilizers are usually required to maintain a stable liquid state.
Solutions
Solution Summary
Nippon Shokubai 's highly compatible multifunctional polymer (AQUALIC™ KL-001) has two functions: dispersing ability and solubilizing ability.
By using AQUALIC™ KL-001, it became possible to stabilize the surfactant that was previously necessary to improve cleaning power, and the development of a product with sufficient cleaning power became possible.
Solving the problem with a polymer that combines the dual functions of dispersion and solubilization! Towards commercialization...
Mr. S was informed about Nippon Shokubai 's highly compatible multifunctional polymer (AQUALIC KL-001) at a team meeting. He immediately checked Nippon Shokubai 's website and found the following description:
"It's a unique polymer that functions both as a dispersant, suppressing scale and preventing the redeposition of dirt, and as a solubilizer. I intuitively felt that it might be possible to stably mix surfactants without using a solubilizer." (Mr. S)
"Furthermore, because it has anti-scaling and anti-re-soiling properties, I thought it would be a suitable polymer for dishwasher detergent, so I contacted Nippon Shokubai right away." (Mr. S)
I received a call from a sales representative at Nippon Shokubai and immediately requested a sample of AQUALIC KL-001. They also suggested that they could introduce products for other cleaning applications, so a meeting was set up.
Mr. S will evaluate AQUALIC KL-001. When he applied AQUALIC KL-001 to the formula he had been considering, he found that even though it contained a surfactant, it was able to maintain a stable liquid state without the need for a solubilizer, and it looked like he could design a product with sufficient cleaning power for oil and protein stains.
When we reported our progress at the research meeting, we received instructions from higher-ups to scale up the project and we decided to move forward with commercialization.
Mr. S is pleased that development is progressing smoothly, and is thinking about incorporating AQUALIC KL-001 into detergents for food factories, where it has not been possible to stabilize surfactants until now.
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