ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Commercial liquid detergents are available to consumers as low-, moderate-, and high-viscosity Newtonian and non-Newtonian solutions, free flowing or thick, opaque dispersions, gels, and pastes. Despite the differences in composition and consistency of these diverse delivery systems, the manufacturing processes typically involve the same fundamental unit operations. Viscous non-Newtonian dental creams and low-viscosity Newtonian hard surface cleaners, for example, both require dispersive and distributive mixing, dissolution of various components, heat transfer for heating and cooling, solids and liquids conveying, pipeline transport, filtration, and filling. The primary differentiation in the processing of these various products lies in the industrial equipment that is required for each unit operation and the difficulty of each operation.
