Paper Title
A Study on the Laundry Powder Detergent Saving by Repetitive use of Active Detergent Components
Abstract
Soap which has been known with its cleaning activity since ancient times, has not been able to show the desired performance in hard water, so it has left its place in more complex chemical compounds such as laundry powder detergents [1]. Laundry powder detergents reduce the water hardness, remove soils and stains from the textile and keep them in the washing environment with their surfactants, builders, bleaches, enzymes and other additives [2].Regarding to the banning of phosphate-containing detergents causing eutrophication, zeolites were utilised preferably to eliminate the harmful effects of phosphate. However, chemical substances in the detergent adversely affect the aquatic creatures by destroying their mucous protecting membranes. Upon to degradation of the chemical substances, they are converted into harmful by-products which their existence continues in the environment [3,4].Water and laundry powder detergent consumptions have an increasing rate with the population growth rate[5].The use of excessive laundry powder detergent and water by consumers contributes significantly environmental pollution[6,7]. Consequently, several researches have been performed studies on the laundry powder detergent usage at a minimum level together with water consumption using the applications such as membrane filtration, active carbon, biological treatment and etc. [1,8].
Therefore, in the present study, the activity of laundry powder detergent components and their behaviour in repetitive washing cycles were investigated. Additionally, the percentages of detergent and water savings were determined depending on the number of times of repetitive washing. After evaluation of the experimental data obtained, it was found that the bleaching agents in laundry powder detergent lost their activities while surfactants were able to keep their activity during repetitive washings. Despite the lack of desired performance from stain removal perspective, it was concluded that the laundry powder detergent and water recovery could be achieved by applying repetitive washings for cleaning daily soils like sebum. As a result, the highest savings of laundry powder detergent and water were found as 60% and 28%, respectively, after five times of the repetitive washings.
Keywords - Laundry Powder Detergent Saving, Repetitive Washing, Stain Removal, Active Detergent Components