Design and performance optimisation of detergent product containing binary mixture of anionic-nonionic surfactants

Abstract

The manufacture of detergent products such as laundry detergents, household cleaners and fabric softeners are of increasing interest to the consumer oriented chemical industry. Surfactants are the most important ingredient in detergent formulations, as they are responsible for the bulk of the cleaning power. In this research, a methodology has been developed to design a detergent product using computational tools. Different surfactant systems, such as single anionic, single nonionic, and binary mixtures of anionic-nonionic surfactants are covered in this work. Important surfactant properties such as critical micelle concentration (CMC), cloud point (CP), hydrophiliclipophilic balance (HLB) and molecular weight (MW) have been identified. A group contribution (GC) method with the aid of computer modelling was used to determine the CMC, CP, and MW of surfactant molecules. The design of a surfactant molecule can be formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem that tradeoffs between CMC, CP, HLB and MW. Consequently, a list of plausible nonionic surfactant structures has been developed with the selected surfactant being incorporated into a binary surfactant mixture. Additives such as antimicrobial agents, anti-redeposition agents, builders, enzymes, and fillers were also considered and incorporated into a hypothetical detergent formulation together with the binary surfactant mixture. The typical ingredients and their compositions in detergent formulations are presented in the final stage of the detergent product design.

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“…The critical micelle concentration (CMC) is defined as the concentration of surfactant needed for micelles to form. If the CMC is reached or exceeded, micelles form spontaneously and the majority of the surfactant is present in the micelles; if the concentration is below the CMC then no micelle formation occurs [24].…”

Physicochemical Upgrading of a Biodetergent for Application in the Industrial Energy Sector

“…However, after a week, the mixture started to destabilize (Figure 6D), indicating two possibilities: one can have an efficient but unstable product (with phase separation) or one can have a stable product but be unable to satisfactorily remove the oily contaminant. It should be remembered that HLB expresses the capacity of a surfactant to dissolve in oil or in water, leading to a water-in-oil or oil-in-water emulsion, and that small or high HLB values are typical of surfactants with a tendency to be more soluble in oil or in water, respectively [28]. Based on these considerations, the above results indicate that the Span 80/Tween 80 mixture (with an HLB of 5), despite having a higher average EI than the Span 80/Triton X-100 one (with an HLB of 9), showed a tendency to stabilize at TSC > 4%, while the other had a tendency to increase with an increasing TSC value.…”

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“…Anionic surfactants, in general, tend to generate more foam than other classes of surfactants. Anionic surfactants are used in greater volume than any group of surfactants due to their ease of production and low cost of manufacture [21].…”