ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with soil release brought about by surface modification and more specifically with surface-modifying agents delivered in powdered detergents. Soil release agents have increasingly been incorporated in detergents in recent years to enhance the cleaning benefits. An important distinction about delivering the soil release benefit through the laundry detergent is that soil release agent must be deposited on the fabric surface during the washing process. The central theme of development work on soil release agents for delivery from powdered detergents has been the question of how to deliver a strong soil release benefit without compromising other cleaning benefits. Cellulose ethers are attractive as potential soil release agents for powdered detergents because they are available with different levels and kinds of substitution at reasonable cost and they have good stability when incorporated in alkaline, powdered detergents. Terephthalate-based soil release agents are attractive because of the control of structure that is allowed by the condensation polymer approach.
