ABSTRACT
Introduction Making fabrics brighter has been one of the ultimate goals for the user of heavy-duty detergents. Historically, this was accomplished by consumers themselves when they bleached washed goods using sunlight and natural oxygen, “lawn bleaching.” At the beginning of the 20th century, bleach-containing detergents were developed in Europe. These contained perborate, which developed active oxygen during the washing process. At the time, washing was conducted at 95C, at or near the boiling point.
