Fabric Softener Process

Uses Lubricant in polymer processing, metal rolling and forming emollient, lubricant for cosmetics defoamers intermediate for surfactants for cosmetic, household, and industrial use intermediate for esters for additives for plastics, rubber, metalworking, lubricants intermediate for quaternaries for germicides and fabric softeners process solvent... 

Laundering Conditions Around the World. Any laundeting process is an iaterplay between the equipment used the materials entering the process, ie, detergent, additional bleach, fabric softener, or water and the procedure followed. Equipment and procedures ia three principal geographical areas are summarised ia Table 3. 

Amines are important industrial chemicals which are involved in everyday life [3, 4]. Apart from the usual classification into primary, secondary, and tertiary amines, the distinction is often made between lighf amines (less than six-carbon substituents) and fatty amines. light amines are intermediates for the synthesis of drugs, herbicides, cosmetics, etc. [3]. They also find use as vulcanization accelerators and extraction agents. Fatty amines are involved in the synthesis of corrosion inhibitors and cationic surfactants, which are used in ore flotation processes and are good fabric softeners and antistatic agents [4—6],... 

Fragrance complexes can also be used in laundry products.102-104 Sheets for fabric softening with a complex of cyclodextrin and fragrance incorporated into them are placed into the clothes dryer, where the fragrance is released during the drying process. 

The final element of the hydrophobe which can be manipulated is the cis/trans ratio of the unsaturated hydrocarbon fragments. Natural tallow has a cis/trans ratio of about 8-20 [39]. Metal catalyzed hydrogenation of fats and oils results in the reduction of the cis/trans ratio and an increase in the melting point of the oil when compared to a material of similar iodine value and a higher cis/trans ratio [40]. For concentrated fabric softeners, high cis/trans ratios are preferred to reduce the likelihood of gel formation in the final product or during processing [24, 40-42]. 

Exhibits unique surfactant and lubricant properties resulting from the liquid, long-chain, saturated fatty acid from which it is made. It can be used as a component in fiber lubricants, textile fiber processing aids and concentrated liquid fabric softeners. 

The two largest end uses, which are household products and industrial processing aids, together account for 86 percent of the total production of surfactants [4, 22], Household products include heavy-duty powder and liquid detergents, light-duty liquids, and fabric softeners. 

After considering the justification for fabric softeners, the origins of the need and benefits delivered, this chapter reviews the technology of these products — chemistry and process — and the physical chemistry of fabric softening. 

From the beginning, the history of fabric softeners has been driven by innovation, by the producers voluntary commitment to propose more efficient or convenient products delivering additional benefits, by technical changes in the production processes and appliance technologies, and also by legal constraints. 

Considerable time, effort, and money are devoted to the development of a softener fragrance. Fabric softeners must be nicely perfumed in the bottle, and impart a typical and pleasant smell to the laundry that is immediately and repeatedly perceived by the user at various stages of the laundering process. These include when pouring the softener into the washing machine, when removing wet... 

Nonionic and even anionic surfactants have also been added in small amounts to DHTDMAC to boost a product s softening efficacy. For example, it was shown in the late 1970s that the performance of a 6% DHTDMAC composition is matched by a mixture of 4.4% DHTDMAC and 0.6% anionic [56] 1.6% DHTDMAC could then be replaced by 0.6% anionic, which is less expensive. That was quite unexpected, as it was generally accepted that fabric softeners must be introduced in the last rinse of the laundering process to avoid their neutralization by the anionic detergent residues on the fabric, which causes the formation of insoluble species. 

Electrical tumble dryers are much more popular in the U.S. than in Europe (see Section IV). Consequently the market penetration of dryer cycle fabric softeners is much more important in North America than anywhere else. They are usually based on the same types of actives as the rinse cycle fabric softeners [35], Two methods of delivery exist. Nonwoven sheets are impregnated with cationic softener that are incorporated in the wet load at the start of tumble drying or a fabric conditioner is sprayed from an aerosol onto the empty dryer drum before the drying process [16]. 

Fabric softeners are prepared either in a batch or in a continuous process. 

The importance of frictional properties largely exceeds the area of domestic fabric softeners. They are also key in the textile industry, as they condition the slipping of fibers over each other in all mechanical processes [20], Friction causes breakage of threads and generates static electricity. More generally, softened fabrics are pressed and sewed more easily, as there is less resistance to the metal movement. They also relax more quickly at the dry state since fibers slide over one another more easily. However, it is more difficult to cut fabrics with scissors as the blade slips over the fibers and fewer fibers are tom during cutting [20],... 

Accosoft [Stq>an] Diamidoamine quaternaries cationic fabric softeners far textile processing, household and industrial applies. 

Adol . [Sherex] Fatty alct ols coemulsifier, lubricant, foam control agent, cosolvent, plasticizer, stabilizer, emollient, intermediate for metal lubricants, inks, textiles, emulsions, paper, cosmetics, mineral processing, oil field chemicals, detergoits, fabric softeners. 

Arosurf . [Sherex] Alkoxylated fatty alcohols quats. emubifier, detergent, emollient, coupling agent, emulsion stabilizer for personal care prods. fabric softener for laundry and textile processing. 

---