Training on Liquid

Detergents
Mulugeta Yilma (PhD)
Tatek Temesgen (PhD)
 Part I
Basic Science on Detergent

2
Acid and Base

3
Objectives

• To determine the difference between Acids & Bases

• Discuss the importance of studying Acids & Bases

• Perform an experiment dealing with Acids & Bases

4
Definitions of Acids and Bases

• An acid is a substance that breaks

 
into H  ions in an aqueous solution.

• A Base (alkaline) is a substance that

breaks OH   into ions in an aqueous
solution.

• Note: aqueous solution is any solution

where H 2 O is the solvent.

5
What is the pH scale?

• The pH scale measures how Acidic

or Basic a solution is.

6
The pH scale

• The pH scale is the concentration of hydrogen ions

in a given substance.

pH   log H   

7
Identifying Acids and Bases

• Acids have a pH from 0-7

• Lower pH value indicates a
stronger acid.

• Bases have a pH from 7-14

• Higher pH value indicates
a stronger base.

8
Acids
• pH of 0 - 7
• React with metals and Bases
• Tend to taste sour
• Give off/ contribute H+ ions into a solution

• Ex.) HCl  H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

• (aq) stands for aqueous, which means it is a solution

in which the solvent is water (dissolved in water)
9
Bases
• pH of >7 - 14
• Do not react with metals
• React with acids
• Tend to taste bitter
• Give off/ contribute hydroxide ions ( OH- )to a solution

• ex.
NaOH  Na+(aq) + OH-(aq)

10
Did we Miss something??

• What happens when the pH of

a substance is 7?

• Answer:
• A pH level of 7 indicates a
Neutral Substance
• Water!

11
Neutral
• pH of 7

• Neither acidic nor basic

• Pure water

Neutralization
• We can neutralize an acid with a base, or neutralize a base
with an acid.
Ex.) There are bases secreted in our intestines that neutralize
the acid from our stomach.

12
Test Your Knowledge

• What is the range of an ACID on the pH scale?

Ans: 0-7

• What is the range of a BASE and what is another

name for a BASE?
Ans: 7-14, Alkaline

13
How to measure pH?
Litmus Paper pH Meter

14
Characteristics of Acids

Acids can be characterized by:

1. A sour taste.

• It tastes sour. Try drinking lemon

juice (citric acid)

2. It turns blue litmus paper red

15
Characteristics of Bases

A Base is characterized by:

1. A bitter taste. (Milk of Magnesia)

2. It feels slippery. (Soapy Water)

3. It turns Red Litmus Blue.

16
Why Learn about Acids & Bases?

• What do you think is the pH level of Debre birhan’s tap

water?

• The pH of a detergent must be checked at each batch.

Why?

• Is it important for production water to maintain a

certain pH?

17
Today’s Experiment

Test the pH of

• Pepsi,

• Mirinda,

• Tap water and

• Bottled water

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 Part II

Soaps & Detergents

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Contents

• What is detergent?

• Chemistry of Cleaning

• Liquid detergent ingredients

• Quality control parameters for Liquid detergents

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Detergent

• WHAT IS A DETERGENT?

• A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with

cleansing properties in dilute solutions.

• Detergents are the sodium or potassium salts of long chain

benzene sulphonic acids.

• Linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acid (LABSA)

21
Chemistry of Cleaning
• In the process of cleaning there are a lot of technical words and
terms used to describe the contents of the cleaning, chemical
formulations and their actions.

• Most detergents contain several different components

• The groups of chemicals used in detergent formulations are:

• SURFACTANTS - Wetting agents that help “wet” the surface.

• ACIDS & ALKALIS SEQUESTRANTS - Mop up hard water ions

and facilitate the surfactant.

• SOLVENTS - Dissolve oils & greases to help the surfactant

work. 22
Chemistry cont…
• SURFACTANTS

• The word “surfactant” is a shortened, easy to remember name

for “Surface Active Agent” - surfactants act on surfaces.

• SURFACTANT ACTIONS

• Wetting

• Emulsification

• Foaming / Defoaming

• Solubilization

• Dispersion 23
Surfactant structure
Surfactants have a chemical structure
comprising:

• an oil-loving “tail” and a water-loving “head”

and may be considered as looking something
like a tadpole.

• This structure gives surfactants the ability to

align themselves at surfaces between water
and oil and / or air

• The water-loving head protrudes into the

water phase and the oil-loving tail protrudes
into the oil phase or air (or even onto a solid
surface). 24
Surfactant type
The major types of surfactants used in detergents
are:
• Anionic (negatively charge) 90% Detergents
• Cationic (positively charge) 10% Polishes/Finishes
• Non-ionic
• The charges on the different surfactant types
place restrictions on blending of different
surfactant types in formulations.
• Opposite charges attract and, if anionic and
cationic surfactants are blended together -
neutralize one another.
• This results in no surface activity and no
cleaning ability.
• Balance of cost of cleaning versus cleaning
performance. Many products have a great cost
but don’t perform very well. 25
 Surfactant actions

Wetting
At water / air surfaces, the alignment of surfactants
with their oil-loving tails out of the water surface
breaks down the
• “surface tension” of the water
• the “skin” on the surface of water that allows
insects to walk on water and that pulls water
droplets into beads on oily surfaces.

• The ability of surfactants to reduce the surface

tension of water allows water droplets to spread
and “wet” oily surfaces, hence the other common
name for surfactants – “wetting agents”. 26
 Surfactant… Cont…
Emulsification
When oil droplets are dispersed in water the oil quickly
floats to the surface to form a continuous oil film.
• When surfactants are added to the water:
• the surfactants adsorb onto the surface of the oil
droplets with their oil-loving tails in the oil droplet
with their water-loving heads extending into the
water.
• This gives the surface of the oil droplets a water-
loving “skin” which allows the droplets to remain
dispersed in the water.
• This property of surfactants, to keep oil droplets
dispersed, is called “emulsification”
• The stable dispersion of oil droplets in the water is
called an “emulsion” When oil droplets are dispersed in
a continuous water phase, the emulsion formed is
called an “oil in water” emulsion.
27
Surfactant… Cont…
Saponification:

• When animal and vegetable fats and oils are reacted with a strong alkali
such as caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), the fatty acid groups are split off
and neutralized by the alkali to make soap (the salt of the fatty acid)
• NOTE: Animal and vegetable fats and oils all belong to the same chemical
family. The only “difference” between them are that at room temperature: fats
are solid oils are liquid

28
pH of soap
Alkalinity in cleaning
• The pH scale is a measure of the amount of acidity or alkalinity in
water.
• Due to the mathematical nature of the pH scale
• each one-unit decrease in pH, requires a tenfold increase in the
hydrogen ion concentration.
• each one-unit increase in pH, requires a tenfold decrease in the
hydrogen ion concentration, brought about by a tenfold increase
in the hydroxide ion concentration
In general detergents are formulated to be either:
• neutral or alkaline.
• Many soils will be acidic therefore alkalinity in the detergent assists
in their removal by neutralizing them to make soluble salts.
• Functions of the alkalinity in the detergent include : saponifying
fats and oils
• breaking down and solubilizing proteins
• neutralizing acids present in soils
• removal of acidic metal oxides from surfaces
• alkalinity also assists in wetting of surfaces and dispersing and
suspending solid soils
29
pH of soap
ACIDS IN CLEANING
Acids, in general will attack and dissolve many:
• metals, basic metal oxides and alkaline metal
salts
• concrete, mortar and grout.

• The most frequently encountered examples of

basic metal oxides and alkaline metal salts are:
• iron oxides “rust”
• calcium / magnesium carbonate “water scale”

• The specific type and concentration of acid used

and the presence of corrosion inhibitors and other
additives will all affect the degree of acidic
attack. 30
Builders/Sequestrants
Builders/Sequestrants: are special chemicals added to detergent
formulations to:
 prevent dissolved metal ions present in the cleaning solution
from causing scaling and
from reacting with, and inactivating, other cleaning
chemicals.
Builders enhance the quality of the water, thereby making the
detergents work in a more effective and efficient manner
• The major source of dissolved metal sequestrants do this by
preferentially reacting with the problem metal ions to prevent
their interaction with the other chemicals.
• The main metal ions in the water are: calcium and magnesium
hardness but can also contain iron, manganese, copper, and
minor levels of other metals ions. 31
Builders/Sequestrants
Depending on the type of builder, other benefits may be available,
such as –

• Buffering of washing water in the alkaline range

• Help prevent the re-deposition of soils after they have been

removed from the fabric by surfactants

• Typically improve the wetting and emulsification characteristics

of detergent

Common example: Sodium silicate

32
Water Hardness
• A detergent formulation to be used in hard water areas will
require higher levels of sequestrants than a similar detergent
for use in soft waters.

• These higher levels are necessary to handle the higher levels

of: calcium and magnesium present in the water.

• Water hardness salts become less soluble as the alkalinity

level increases and start to precipitate at pH greater than 7.6
unless appropriate sequestrants are present in solution to
prevent this from occurring. 33
Solvents
• When the word “solvent” is mentioned, most people
immediately think of petroleum solvents like paraffin and
white spirit or chlorinated solvents like methylene chloride
and trichloroethylene.
• However, a solvent is simply a liquid that dissolves another
substance.
• Using this general definition water is the most common
solvent used in cleaning.
• The range of solvents that are employed in cleaning
processes is extensive. Some of the many types include:
• Hydrocarbons
• Chlorinated solvents
• Natural oils alcohols
• Ketones, esters, ethers, glycols and glycol ethers
34
Detergent Fillers
• Detergent fillers are the materials, which are added in
detergents to alter their physical characteristics and
properties.
• The objective of adding fillers to detergents is to make
detergents fluid or to turn the fluidized detergents in
powder form.
• Generally the fillers are bulk components in various
detergents with their primary role to modify and alter
the physical properties of the material.
• The other objective of Detergent fillers is to adjust cost.
• Stabilizer or anti-foaming agents
• Other Additives
• Bleaching/Brightening agent
• Perfume
35
Soil Types Soil Type How to remove

• Identifying the soils to be Animal & Vegetable fats & Surfactant; alkali “solvent”
removed is a major
oils

consideration in selecting an Petroleum (mineral) oils & Surfactant; :solvent”

appropriate detergent grease

formulation for a cleaning Protein Acid; alkali

application. Starch Acid Neutral
• Most soils tend to be Water-soluble salts Water
combinations of different soil Mineral deposits (incl. Acid
types and compromises are Water hardness)
often required in selecting an Metal oxides Typically acid (eg. For rust,
“optimum” formulation, based aluminum oxide) but alkali
on: can be used in some
• relative levels of soil types applications

present Metals (deposited, acid

• the type of surface being planting, etching)
cleaned and method of cleaning Paint “Solvent”; alkali
to be used 36
Mechanism of Detergents
MICELLES
A detergent molecule has two ends with
different properties-
• A long hydrocarbon part which is
hydrophobic (i.e. it dissolves in
hydrocarbon).
• A short ionic part containing COO-Na+
which is hydrophilic (i.e. it dissolves in
water).

37
Mechanism… cont…
• When a dirty cloth is put is put in water
containing detergent then
• the hydrocarbon ends of the detergent
molecule in the micelle attach to the oil
or grease particles present on the surface
of dirty cloth.
• In this way the detergent micelles
entraps the oily particles by using the
hydrocarbon ends.
• The ionic ends of the detergent
molecules remain attached to the water
when the dirty cloth is agitated in
detergent solution.
• The oily particles presents on its surface
gets dispersed in the water due to which
the cloth gets clean. 38
Quality control parameters for Liquid detergents

• The common quality control

parameters for liquid detergent
are:
• pH,
• Color,
• Active matter performance,
• Viscosity,
• Odor

39
DETERGENT PRODUCTION &
QUALITY CONTROL
Content

- Production

- Quality control
 What we need for Production & Selling

For production and selling

your products you need:

• Materials

• Production

• Marketing
 Major Activities
• In-putting (Charging) raw materials

• Reacting (Mixing)

• Quality Control (pH and Viscosity)

• Minor components

Dosing (perfume, colorants)

• Packing (jareecan, plastic film)

• Storing

• Dispatching
 In-putting (Charging) raw materials
Keep orders:

• Add acid to water (helps cool the reaction and avoid danger)

– Add LABSA to Water

• Add solid inputs after dissolving

with water (save water for

preparing solutions)

– Add NaCl after dissolving with water

• Add caustic soda last.

– Prior addition will make pH adjustment difficult

• Check pH at critical stages (before adding caustic soda)

Reacting (Mixing)

Use a gentle mixing for your production

• It can be a well designed reactor with a motorized agitator
(mobile or fixed)
• You can also agitate using a hand-held mixing rod
Reacting (Mixing)

Motorized hand held mixer

Series mixers
 Measurement
QUALITATIVE: observations without measuring

– changes in color and physical state.

NO NAKED NUMBERS
QUANTITATIVE: observations that involve
MEASUREMENTS with value and units.

 A value (this is the number)

 A unit of measure (this tells what you have)

 Example:
 200 meters; Length

 15 ml; Volume

 13.98 grams: mass

Quantities and Units
 Most Common Measurement
• Mass along with
volume is the most
common
measurements during
detergent production
Conversions
Quality Control (pH, Viscosity, Active matter)

Quality is checked:

- During production (weight measurement)

- Active matter (LABSA) %age.

- Finally (pH, appearance and viscosity)

- Make sure your products meet requirements

of your customer
 Packing (Plastic film & Hot-gun)
For packing your products you need:

- Jarican

- Cap

- Inner fit

- Shrink film cover

 Consideration during Formulation

- Performance (Quality)

- Convenience

- Cost

- Technical suitability

- Customer need
Detergent Compositions: Liquid
Impact of Product Cost
Your product cost will affect:

- Profitability

- Customer base

Therefore you need to find a formulation that can satisfy:

• Product quality

• Competitiveness (customer & market based)

• Profitability
 Formulation – 1: Medium cost

Description Unit Value Percentage

Labsa Kg
1.1 4.0%
SLES Kg
0.15 0.5%
Silicate Kg
1.2 4.4%
NaOH Kg
0.05 0.2%
Salt Kg
0.12 0.4%
CMC Kg
0.7 2.6%
Water Kg
24 87.8%

Total 27.32 100%

 Procedure – 1 (Formulation 1)
First prepare 3 tanks A, B and C

Add water in tank A

Add the specified amount of LABSA and SLES in tank A and

mix well

Add silicate and dissolved NaCl in tank B and mix well.

Add tank B in tank A and mix well. Check pH

 Add NaOH
Procedure - 1

Add CMC and water in tank C and mix. Take aside

for 2 days with agitating at least 2x per day

Add a mixture of tank A and B on tank C and mix

very well

Check the PH

Add perfume and color and mix well

 Formulation – 2: Medium cost

Description Unit Value Percentage

Labsa Kg 25 11.0%
SLES Kg 5 2.2%
Silicate Kg 15 6.6%
NaOH Kg 1 0.4%
Salt Kg 2 0.9%
Water Kg 180 78.9%
Total 228 100.0%
Procedure - 2

- Prepare as big a container as your final product

volume or more

- Add water in your formulation

- Add salt to water and stir adequately

Procedure – 2 contd.

- Then add LABSA and SLES consecutively and stir well.

- Add sodium silicate and mix well and check pH.

- Add caustic slowly to turn pH of the detergent to neutral.

DETERGENT INDUSTRY PRODUCT
MARKETING &COST ANALYSIS
 Product Life Cycle
• The product life cycle is an important concept
in marketing

• It describes the stages a product goes

through from:
• when it was first thought of until

• it finally is removed from the market.

• Not all products reach this final stage. Some

continue to grow and others rise and fall.
 Product Life Cycle
The main stages of the product
life cycle are:
• Research & development
• Introduction – launching the product into the
market
• Growth – when sales are increasing at their
fastest rate
• Maturity – sales are near their highest, but the
rate of growth is slowing down, e.g. new
competitors in market or saturation
• Decline – final stage of the cycle, when sales
begin to fall
Brand Revitalization in Business Life Cycle
Extending the Product Life Cycle
• For successful products, a business will want to do
all it can to:

• extend the growth and maturity phases of

the life cycle, and

• to delay the decline phase.

• What can businesses do to extend the product life

cycle?
 Examples of extension strategies
Advertising – try to gain a new audience or remind the current audience

Price reduction – more attractive to customers

Adding value – add new features to the current product, e.g. improving the
specifications on a detergent

Explore new markets – selling the product into new geographical areas or creating a
version targeted at different segments

New packaging – brightening up old packaging or subtle changes

 Cost Analysis
Your company needs cost analysis
for the following reasons:
- To know where your money is
going
- To reduce unnecessary cost
- To know and maximize your
profitability
- To become competitive

If you are not doing cost analysis, so you cannot tell

where your company is going.
 Cost Analysis with an example formulation

- 3 months raw material is

considered as a standard
in industries.
- Your monthly production
plan will help you
calculate your stock for
three months.
 Cost Analysis Example
Product Cost Analysis
DESCRIPION UM Qty/kg Unit cost Total Cost

LABSA kg 0.1 85 8.5

Perfume Kg 0.002 750 1.125

B/Kg
Monthly labor cost - Direct 30,000.00 Birr
Monthly Production 66000 Kg 0.45

B/Kg
Monthly labor cost - indirect 51900 Birr
Monthly Production 66000 Kg 0.79

Raw-material Cost Analysis

Quantity/ Kg of Monthly Production Total Monthly 3 months

product Unit of Detergent need: LABSA In Barrels requirement Cost
Labsa 0.1 Kg 66000 6600 29.3 88 1,683,000
71