JANE MATHEWS, PAUL BAXTER
Lubrizol Advanced Materials, Inc., Holywell, United Kingdom

Abstract

Changes in European laundry washing practices are influencing the performance requirements of the bleach system contained in domestic laundry detergents. The bleach system in laundry detergents is historically present primarily to remove oxidisable bleachable stains. However, the secondary attributes of a bleach system are becoming increasingly important as there is more pressure to reduce wash temperatures and water usage through drives for increased sustainability and wash water volumes decrease globally. The impact of an activated bleach system on fabric hygiene, machine hygiene, preservation of the whiteness of articles and benefits in the destruction of allergens in the wash by the presence of peracetic acid has been explored and shows that use of tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) in combination with sodium percarbonate (PCS) can deliver effective performance benefits in these areas. The effects of activated bleach are also demonstrated in areas outside of Europe and data to demonstrate some of these performance benefits are highlighted in this paper.

INTRODUCTION 

Over recent years several changes have occurred in the laundry detergent market which have in turn driven changes in consumer washing practises in Europe. The heating of water in the washing machine cycle is widely recognised as the activity that consumes the most energy.  To address the needs of sustainability consumers are advised to wash at lower wash temperatures to deliver energy savings. This habit was re-enforced in 2006 by the ‘’turn to 30C’’ campaign of P&G in the UK. Additionally, the amount of water used in a European wash has decreased over the last 20 years.  Coupled with this, there are trends in consumer practise and behaviour which are affecting the marketplace and subsequently the design of laundry detergents today. In the USA, the introduction of top and front loading High Efficiency (HE) washing machines has decreased wash water volumes, improving sustainability. These changes have stimulated alterations to formulations and have also affected consumers’ washing habits.