ABSTRACT
In Japan, Lion Corporation succeeded in 1967 in industrially producing AOS and began marketing the first AOS-based laundry detergent in the world [2]. Later, high-quality AOS requiring no bleaching treatment became available as the result of the development ofnew sulfonators [3-5] and high-quality Ziegler oletins. These were used in dishwashing detergents and shampoos. These pioneering efforts by Lion Corp. led to the annual consumption of 42 million pounds of AO in Japan in 1985. As shown in Table I, Japan represents the biggest AOS market in the world. Continued growth based on the development of new formulations is expected.
