Detergency environmental issues

Because of their initial commercial success and the industry s growing awareness of environmental issues, soHd acid catalysts are expected to ultimately replace Hquid acid catalysts. Several pubHcations describe the use of soHd acid catalysts for the production of cumene and detergent alkylates (62,85-87,109). 

Tenside Surf. Deterge, journal carrying contributions on environmental issues on a regular basis. 

The wide spectrum of self-assembly phenomena can be categorized in various ways. In this entry, we discuss the similarities and the differences between two- and three-dimensional systems. The last section of this entry describes recent and possible future applications of self-assembly processes, mainly related to advanced materials, environmental issues, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. Emulsions, microemulsions, and foams are examples of important and common applications in which self-assembly plays a key role. These have a wide variety of industry applications from cosmetics, foods, detergents, oil recovery, drug formulation/delivery, petroleum refining, and mining. As these are the subjects of other topics in this encyclopedia, they are not covered here. 

The Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative (SDSI) addressed key environmental, economic, and product development issues in the surfactant world to drive change, especially in the cleaning products industry. Many companies were aware of the concerns for NPEs and with the growing number of alternatives that could offer equivalency in function and cost. Some had proactively switched to safer surfactants. 

The International Joint Commission (U.S.-Canada) under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement undertook a safety review of detergent builders which encompassed both human health and environmental aspects. The Task Force on the Health Effects of Non-NTA Detergent Builders of the IJC s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board concluded that "the use of sodium silicate in detergents poses no hazard to man" ( ). A separate Task Force on the Ecological Effects of Phosphate Replacements has not yet issued a report, but it is understood to have concluded that there is no cause for concern ( 5). 

This fifth part of the multi-volume Handbook of Detergents deals with the various multidimensional aspects and implications of the application of detergent formulations and/or surfactants domestically, institutionally, in industry, agriculture and environmental contamination problems. Thus, Part E constitutes a comprehensive treatise of the multidimensional issues involved, specifically emphasizing the alignment of scientific knowledge and well-established technological and technical know-how with the relevant contemporary applied practice. 

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