Cleaner Formulation: Surface Care

Manufacturers tend to change their product ingredients, labeling and formulations often. While older versions might still appear in your house or on store shelves, cleaner formulation on products tends to change. So, you need to read the label every time you go shopping. However, many labels won’t provide you complete information.

 

Ingredients in your cleaning products

 

The ingredients in your cleaning products fall under different categories. They provide different cleaning functions and characteristics. Every cleaner formulation is carefully balanced and works best on what you are cleaning.

 

Surfactants – They provide maximum power to cleaning. But other ingredients are needed to get the best results. It is important to know that not all surfactant chemicals give you better results. Many cleaning products come with two or more surfactants.

 

Builders – These are another group of ingredients that makes cleaning better. Builders in combination with surfactants produce great results. Builders are found in many products. However, you need them less compared to the surfactants.

 

Solvents – These types of ingredients stay mixed with the product and creates the right thickness to give ultimate results. Organic solvents prevent the liquid cleaning solutions from freezing in extremely cold climates.

 

Enzymes – These are strong stain removing agents. Enzymes break down hard stains. They work similarly to the human digestive system that breaks up the food. When enzymes are attached to a detergent formula, each of them attracts a specific stain. When the enzyme finds the stain, it breaks down into small pieces and flushes out from the surface.

 

pH adjusters – Every cleaning product has to be balanced so that it can work effectively and remain safe for the skin. To achieve that, pH levels need to be adjusted. The amount depends on the other ingredients of the cleaning formula. pH measures whether a solution is acidic or basic.

 

Disinfecting ingredients – While cleaning washes away germs along with dirt, further reduction of germs can be achieved by added ingredients. Disinfecting ingredients tend to kill germs in real. On most cleaning products you can find disinfecting ingredients. They help reducing germs from your hands or surfaces.

 

Household cleaning products

 

Most household cleaning products contain acids, abrasives, alkalies, detergents and spirit solvents.

 

Acids – It is beneficial for removing decolorization from several materials and hard-water deposits. Strong acids eat away the skin, leather, clothing, and certain metals. Also, they irritate your skin and eyes. Vinegar is a mild acid whereas oxalic acid is a very strong one.

 

Abrasives – These are the materials that remove dirt by rubbing. Silica, sandpaper, steel wool, marble, pumice and quartz are some examples of abrasives.

 

Alkalies – These are soluble salts that are quite effective with less rubbing. Alkalies are great for removing oily dirt. They can even remove oil from oil-based paint. Alkaline substances vary in strength.

 

Detergents – Certain types of laundry detergents are great for housecleaning tasks. Detergents loosen dirt. When you add them with phosphates, they remove oily dirt.

 

Spirit solvents – Most of the wax and polish used for floor and wooden furniture contain spirit solvents. They are quite similar to the liquid solutions that you use for dry cleaning purposes. They can remove oily dirt as well.

 

Chemical Products Industries Also Offers Following Services:

Degreaser Formulation

H2S Cleaning

Hydrogen Sulfide Scavengers

Mercaptan Smell Removal

Siloxane Wb Concentrate

Contact US:

Chemical Products Industries, Inc.
Address:  7649 SW 34th St, Oklahoma City, OK
Phone:  (800) 624-4356

Non-Toxic Surfactant – What Is It and How It Works

Surfactants are widely used in households, industrial purposes, and also in the food industry. The simple synonym of the surfactant is a surface-active agent. Basically, it is a substance which often also called as detergent. The property of surfactants is when they get mixed with water forms foaming substance. Its main work is to reduce its surface tension. Surfactants aka the amphiphilic molecule have absorbing nature and get classified based on charge in its head and tail group. Either they make a pair of oil-water or air-water which we are going to discuss in the blog later. It has multiple uses like cleansing material, insecticides, fungicides, and much more.

More than anything now surfactants are surfacing in markets because of its cleansing and hygiene property. People are looking for non-toxic surfactants because they are putting their safety and hygiene first. And looking for non-toxic surfactant which does not have any harmful effect seems rational. Not just this, people are demanding natural surfactants. The reason for switching towards natural and non-toxic surfactant are its properties. Many research conducted earlier had stated that surfactant has a harmful effect that can cause bacterial infection, cancer, etc among human beings. Not to forget, exposure to surfactants is also damaging to the environment.

On the other hand, a non-toxic surfactant which is also known as a natural surfactant consists of natural sources abundant with properties that won’t harm us. Prior surfactants were synthetically made which has some harmful effects like irritation and itching.

Types of Surfactant

Based on its properties, surfactants are categorized into four types which are as follows:

  • Anionic surfactant
  • Cationic surfactant
  • Nonionic surfactant
  • Zwitterionic surfactant

So, the anionic surfactant has repulsive nature and that’s why it is preferred for cleaning properties. Anionic surfactants are widely used as detergents and shampoos. Contrary to this, the nonionic surfactant has disjointing pressure which makes it skin-friendly but somehow lacks in a cleansing property. It is basically used as a wetting agent and also preferred in the food industry.

Whereas cationic surfactant are expensive and used as softeners in the textile industry and also used as anti-static additives. Moreover, zwitterionic surfactant widely used in cosmetics and way much expensive than all three.

Now, let’s understand how surfactants work in detail.

 

How does it work?

As you know it has amphiphilic nature, when they get mixed with air form hydrophobic interface and when get mixed with water form hydrogen sulfide scavengers.

So, the actual purpose of the surfactant is to minimize the surface and interfacial tension and preserve the interface. Just because of this only laundry is a cakewalk to all of us and our favorite food products like ice cream and mayonnaise exist. For better understanding, let’s take an example of the air-water interface, water molecules have a powerful cohesive force which eventually makes surface tension of water very high. The role of the surfactant is to lower the surface tension by breaking these interactions. Actually, the intermolecular force between the water-water molecule is higher than the surfactant- water molecule and that helps in lowering the surface tension.

So, We hope all your doubts about surfactants must be clear in this piece of writing.