Laundry detergent
The earliest recorded evidence of the production of soap-like materials dates back to around 2800 BC in ancient Babylon.
[2] German chemical companies developed an alkyl sulfate surfactant in 1917, in response to shortages of soap ingredients during the Allied Blockade of Germany during World War I.
By then, new developments and the later conversion of aviation fuel plants to produce tetrapropylene, used in household detergents production, caused a fast growth of domestic use in the late 1940s.
The metal cations present in these dissolved minerals, particularly calcium and magnesium ions, can react with surfactants to form soap scum which is much less effective for cleaning and can precipitate onto both fabric and washing machine components.
With hydrophilic fibers like cotton, wool, polyamide and polyacrylonitrile, sodium triphosphate removes soil more effectively than a surfactant alone.
It is expected that when washing hydrophobic fibers like polyesters and polyolefins, the effectiveness of the surfactant surpasses that of the builder, however this is not the case.
Cationic surfactants are normally incompatible with anionic detergents and have poor cleaning efficiency; they are employed only for certain special effects, as fabric softeners, antistatic agents, and biocides.
By the end of the 1950s so-called "synthetic detergents" (syndets) like branched alkylbenzene sulfonates had largely replaced soap in developed countries.
The main targets of bleaches are oxidisible organic stains, which are usually of vegetable origin (e.g. chlorophyll, anthocyanin dyes, tannins, humic acids, and carotenoid pigments).
These compounds, such as tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED), react with hydrogen peroxide to produce peracetic acid, which is an even more effective bleach, particularly at lower temperatures.
The perfumes are typically a mixture of many compounds, common classes include terpene alcohols (citronellol, geraniol, linalool, nerol) and their esters (linalyl acetate), aromatic aldehydes (helional, hexyl cinnamaldehyde, lilial) and synthetic musks (galaxolide).
Powders also hold significant market share in eastern Europe and in some western European countries due to their advantage over liquids in whitening clothes.
According to Desmet Ballestra, designer and builder of chemical plants and detergent-making equipment, powdered detergents have a 30–35% market share in western Europe.
[10] A 2013 academic study of fragranced laundry products found "more than 25 VOCs emitted from dryer vents, with the highest concentrations of acetaldehyde, acetone, and ethanol.
The phosphate content of detergents is regulated in many countries, e.g., Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Canada, and Japan.
