New Developments in Detergents for Household Purposes

Abstract

Modem detergents are highly effective washing agents, with low level of hazard for environment pollution and highly economic in energy and water consumption. Development in detergent efficiency can be further achieved only by using highly efficient enzymes: protozoa, amylase, cellulase, and sometimes lipase, as raw materials constituting these new detergents. The type of surfactant used, as basic raw materials for detergents, is also changed, and contemporary trend is to use biodegradable products, obtained from natural raw materials, such as poly glycosides, present in detergent for hand washing dishes. Among bleaching agents included into detergents, the most popular in Europe is the combination of perborate/TAED, but percarbonates are increasingly being used, as ecologically more acceptable agents. Cationic esterquates are used recently as softeners, due to their biodegradability and the fact that they can be used in high concentrations. New detergents for dishwashing machines, due to their chemical composition, can also be produced in the form of practical tablets, which has proved to be a marketing success.