Components of Detersive Systems

Surfactants. The most important components of detersive systems are, of course, the surfactants described elsewhere in the E,ntycIopedia. 

The most important components of detersive systems are the surfactants. Although a detailed discussion of surfactants and surfactant systems is beyond the scope of this chapter, and the reader is referred elsewhere for such (4), a limited discussion of oleochemicaUy derived surfactants is appropriate here. 

Adsorption of bath components is a necessary and possibly the most important and fundamental detergency effect. Adsorption (qv) is the mechanism whereby the interfacial free energy values between the bath and the soHd components (sofld soil and substrate) of the system are lowered, thereby increasing the tendency of the bath to separate the soHd components from one another. Furthermore, the soHd components acquire electrical charges that tend to keep them separated, or acquire a layer of strongly solvated radicals that have the same effect. If it were possible to foUow the adsorption effects in a detersive system, in all their complex ramifications and interactions, the molecular picture of soil removal would be greatly clarified. 

A certain part of some stains will also be removed by water or the detersive parts of the formulation and the degree of bleachable stain removal achieved is, to a first approximation, the sum of the contribution from the bleach system and that from the other components. The relative contributions depend on the nature and history of the stain. Test stains, whether produced in-house or purchased from a commercial supplier, that have not been aged realistically tend to be more easily removed via the action of components other than the bleaching system. 

---