ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the mechanism of laundry detergency, particularly on how some of the innovations have lead to a better understanding of the operative cleaning mechanism. The control of hardness ions, especially calcium, is critical in delivering optium cleaning performance to the consumer. A number of "minor" cleaning actives play an important role in the overall detergency mechanism. Almost every major detergency active has undergone an improvement in the changeover to compact products: surfactants, bleaches, enzymes, builders, and soil release and dye transfer inhibition polymers. The removal of oily soil is best accomplished with detergents that contain high levels of surfactants. The use of cationic surfactants has been limited in laundry products for a variety of reasons. Surfactants aid significantly in the solubilization, dispersion, and emsulfication of soils from the fabric surface. The basic explanation for the observed removal profile is that many proteins have a high hydrophobic content, and removal of hydrophobic soils is best accomplished with surfactants.
