Ethylene oxide , laundry detergents

Water-Soluble Films. Water-soluble films can be produced from such polymers as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH), methylceUulose, poly(ethylene oxide), or starch (qv) (see Cellulose ethers Polyethers Vinyl polymers). Water-soluble films are used for packaging and dispensing portions of detergents, bleaches, and dyes. A principal market is disposable laundry bags for hospital use. Disposal packaging for herbicides and insecticides is an emerging use. 

Several cleaning formulations for specific uses contain unreacted polyamines. Examples include mixtures of ammonium alkylbenzenesulfonate, solvents, and PIP which give good cleaning and shine performance on mirrors and other hard surfaces without rinsing (305), and a hard-surface cleaner composed of a water-soluble vinyl acetate—vinyl alcohol copolymer, EDA, cyclohexanone [108-94-1] dimethyl sulfoxide [67-68-5] a surfactant, and water (306). TEPA, to which an average of 17 moles of ethylene oxide are added, improves the clay sod removal and sod antiredeposition properties of certain hquid laundry detergents (307). 

Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate is undoubtedly the anionic surfactant used in the greatest amount because it is the basic component in almost all laundry and dishwashing detergents in powder and liquid forms. However, alcohol and alcohol ether sulfates are the more versatile anionic surfactants because their properties vary, with the alkyl chain, with the number of moles of ethylene oxide added to the base alcohol and with the cation. Consequently, alcohol and alcohol ether sulfates are used in almost all scientific, consumer, and industrial applications. 

Many laundry and dish detergents as well as shampoos are made from chemicals based on ethylene oxide. 

Nonionic surfactants are also used in substantial amounts in laundry detergents and in automatic dishwashing detergents, both applications reflecting in particular their generally lower sudsing characteristics than the anionics. Commercially important examples uf the nonionics include the alkyl ethoxylates, the ethoxylated alkyl phenols, the fatly acid ethanol amides, and complex polymers of ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, and alcohols. 

Again, the optimum nonionic of choice for this application will depend upon the type of soil to be removed in the laundry process. For example, Figure 3 shows the optimum nonionic for removing typical sebum soil (body oil) in a nonbuilt heavy duty liquid. This figure shows that the optimum lies in the circle between and C., alcohol at an ethylene oxide level of 60 to oO percent. The peak of this optimum would be in the vicinity of a alcohol with 70 percent EO. This is considerably higher in EO content than the ethylene oxide optimum found for powdered laundry detergents. 

Ethoxylated alcohols are ingredients of detergents, particularly low-temperature laundry aids, and cleaners, ancillary agents in textile industry, wetting agents, dispersants, and solubilisers of lipophilic materials. The main applications of ethoxylated nonionics correlate with the HLB and the mean ethylene oxide content as shown in the Table 1.1. 

The second class includes polyethylene glycol alkyl esters, ethoxylated linear aliphatic alcohols, ethoxylated natural fatty acids and oils, and alkanolamides. These products, together with ethylene oxide block copolymers with propylene oxide, form a class of ethoxylate surfactants that are biodegradable. Linear alcohol ethoxylates find extensive use in heavy-duty laundry detergents. 

Nonionic surfactants are increasingly popular active ingredients for liquid heavy duty laundry detergent formulations. The majority of nonionic surfactants are polyoxyethylene or polyoxypropylene derivatives of alkyl-phenol, fatty acids, alcohols, and amides. It has been estimated that approximately one ethylene oxide unit is required to solubilize each methylene unit. Thus, by changing the ratio of ethylene oxide to fatty acid, the nature of the surfactant can be modified from an... 

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