Main content | back to top

Chemicals that make washing cool

Doing the laundry is part of everyday life for people across the globe, but detergent manufacturers, or ‘soapers’, are increasingly coming under pressure from consumers to demonstrate the environmental credentials of their products. They have responded by developing smarter, more complex formulations based on advanced surfactant chemicals, which have changed the way many people do the laundry.

Going from hot to warm water washing can cut energy use by up to half.

play

00:00

Length

Video transcript (PDF, 19 KB) - opens in new window

Press the play button to start the video.

The most visible change has been the switch from 'big box' powders to concentrated liquid detergents, gels or single dose tablets, but more important has been the technical ability of these new formulations to work at lower washing temperatures.

"In the total life-cycle of a laundry detergent, the energy used to heat water during the washing process has by far the greatest environmental impact, and so lowering the washing temperature has a significant effect on the energy efficiency of the process," explains Victoria Meyer, Business Development Manager for the Shell Chemicals Higher Olefins and Derivatives (HODer) business."Just going from hot to warm water washing can cut energy use by up to half."

As advanced new detergents have been developed, average wash temperatures have dropped from around 60° C to 30-40° C, and in some parts of the world to as low as 20°C. The concept of a 'boil' wash has virtually disappeared.

Shell's range of NEODOL surfactant intermediates is used by most of the world's leading detergent manufacturers, in some of the best-known brands. NEODOL products are produced via Shell's proprietary SHOP (Shell Higher Olefins Process) and SHF (Shell Hydroformylation) technology.

The SHOP process produces a unique molecular structure, or branching', that gives formulators more flexibility for developing low temperature formulations. "In order for detergents to work at lower wash temperatures, the soapers have had to develop more complex surfactant formulations, often using a carefully balanced blend of components," says Meyer.

"The molecular structure of NEODOL products makes them compatible with a wide range of other ingredients, including those derived from vegetable oils. This flexibility allows the soapers to optimise formulations to achieve the desired performance properties. The same properties would be difficult to achieve by using vegetable-based surfactants alone."

The heads and tails of surfactants

Surfactants are alcohol-based substances that dissolve and remove dirt or soil during washing processes. They have a water-loving (hydrophilic) 'head' and a fat-loving (hydrophobic) 'tail'. The tail binds to and mobilises soil particles, and the head carries the soil-surfactant couple away with the wastewater.

The move to compact powder or liquid detergents, which can be up to three times more concentrated, means formulators can use fewer materials overall. And because they are physically smaller, they also require less packaging and transport to ship them from the manufacturing plant to the retailers, which is an additional energy saving.

While the use of low temperature laundry detergents is well established in mature markets, the impact could be even more significant in major developing economies as personal ownership of washing machines increases.