Detergents developed countries

The first type of cleansing agent, used by humankind for centuries, was soap. Although it has now been supplemented by various synthetic detergents in advanced countries for laundry and household use, it is still preferred for personal hygiene. In less-developed countries it is preferred for laundry use. 

DDT was banned as an insecticide as early as 1974 by most industrial nations. But it is still widely used in many developing countries. The risks of eutrophication are perceived differently by governments, so that legislation applying to products for the production of detergents, like alkylbenzene sulfonate, tripolyphosphate, or nitriloacetic acid (NTA) differs from country to country. 

There is a worldwide tendency to replace conventional soaps (made from fats and oils derived from animals and plants) with synthetic detergents (syndets) from petroleum sources. In developed countries syndets have replaced soaps to the extent of 70-80%. In India, the situation is nearly the reverse the total estimated production of soaps exceeds 700,000 tons, while that of syndets is only 100,000 tons. With the increasing demand for soap, the import of oils and fats tends to increase tremendously, affecting not only the soap industry but also the edible oils industry which is closely linked to it and also is subject to an ever-increasing demand (based on the improving standards of living and the increase in population—625 million in 1977). 

The expected evolution over 5 years (up to the year 2003) is on average a moderate global growth in the order of 1 to 1.5 % per year approximately for catalysis, from 1 to 2 % for adsorbents and desiccators and, for detergents, a slight decrease on average (-1-2 % per year) in the major developed countries (lower queintities of zeolite in detergents). 

In the detergent industry sulphonation processes with sulphuric acid, oleum and SO3-complexes are essentially of historical significance, and are not any longer used in developed countries. In the production of white oils, however, sulphonation with concentrated sulphuric acid and oleum is still used. The sulphuric acid treatment of selected petroleum fractions lead to petroleum sulphonates the sodium or ammonium salts of which are used in tertiary oil recovery, metallurgy, froth flotation and concrete industry, while the magnesium, calcium and barium salts are used as dopes in fuels and lubricants. The sulphonation with chlorosulphonic acid continue to remain useful in batch processes, typically on a relatively small scale ... 

Soaps have now almost completely been replaced by synthetic surfactants in many fields of their former application, although they are still in use today in body care products and cosmetics. In Western Europe alone, production still exceeds 700000 t per year. In less developed countries, soap is still the most important surfactant in detergents and cleaners, as was always the case. 

Certain very stable species that penetrate the enviromnent and produce significant chemical modifications there are widely applied for domestic purposes in developed countries. Synthetic detergents have largely replaced soaps for cleaning and washing. A detergent consists of a surfactant, a chemical species that lowers the surface tension of... 

In most developed countries, laundry detergent powders comprise the bulk of the detergent market. Powders are used both for hand and machine washing, depending on the markets in which they serve. Powders basically fall into two categories, conventional and superconcentrates. 

In addition to the catching-up demand of the developing countries, a further future increase in the world-wide consumption of surfactants should also be expected. In general, a greater increase is expected in nonionics. This trend is perhaps further reinforced by the necessity of replacing a part of the phosphates in detergents. 

These trends are set to continue for at least another ten years, while the washing machine market is expanding into countries that have no significant home appliance industry. How the above-mentioned trends shape the current development of washing machines and what developments can be reasonably expected will be discussed in the following section. Attention should be paid at this point to those features of machines that are directly related to detergent. 

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