Detergent ingredients
In general, all detergents are created with the single mission of cleaning the object – clothes, dishes and various other surfaces - it is produced for. Thus, keeping this in mind, when selecting detergents it is not vital to only keep an eye on the brand, but also its basic ingredients. This is to ensure that that your specific end-purpose is met.
Here is a list of the commonly used detergent ingredients and their uses, so as to enable you to become familiar with the detergent terminologies, ensuring that you gain the appropriate washing and cleaning experience.
The following are the two basic ingredients used in every type of detergent:
Surfactant: Basically this is an agent that is essential for every detergent and is also known as the surface-active agent. It is used to improve the soaking process, release the dirt particles, emulsify, or suspend in the water-solution the unwanted deposits from the stain. This agent contains two types of organic compounds being the hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions. The former, which are water friendly compounds dissolve in water; whereas the latter gather around the stain, breaking it down so as to wash away the stain, and having the particles suspend in the soap solution. There are varied types of surfactants, which are:
Anionic surfactants that are effective for removing oil stains through the suspension method
Nonionic surfactants are effective for removing oil stains through the solubility method
Cationic surfactants are essentially used in fabric softening detergents
The other basic ingredients are:
Builder: This enhances the cleansing efficiency of the detergent by deactivating the minerals that cause hardness in water. The varied types of builder are:
Sequestering builders are those that hold the water minerals tightly after deactivating them
Precipitating builders remove the water minerals by creating a precipitate
Ion exchange builders gather the calcium hardness minerals in the water
Apart from the abovementioned essential ingredients are the following, which may or may not be used together; or rather are used as per their properties:
Anti-re-deposition agents help in preventing the dirt particles from gathering onto the cleaned object again
Corrosion inhibitor prevents corrosion of the part from which the stain has been removed part
Fluorescent whitening agents enhance the brightness or whiteness of the fabric
Fragrances they produce a pleasant after wash fragrance
Enzymes are used to breakdown the fat, protein and starch molecules
