Detergent Bulider
Detergent builder - a substance added to soaps or detergents to enhance their cleansing action
　Detergent builders are materials, which can be used to bind cations (mainly calcium, Ca2+, and magnesium Mg2+) contained in wash solutions that results in water softening. Builders enhance the quality of the water, thereby making the detergents work in a more effective and efficient manner.Detergent builders soften water by holding free water ions, such as magnesium and calcium. This prevents these particles to react with other ingredients of detergent, which would have caused them to work less efficiently or precipitate from solution (soap scum). They can produce insoluble salts, which become beset in the clothes and deposit on solid surfaces inside the washing machine. In this manner, builders also help in extending the life of the washing machine. Soil molecules are sometimes bound to the clothes surface by calcium ion bridging, removal of hardness from the environment and therefore help in removal of stains. Sometimes more than one detergent builder is used in a product, to develop a builder system with more effective cleaning performance.
There are different types of builders and sometimes more than one type of molecule is involved, in which case we have a builder system. Builders are STPP, Zeolites, Carbonate, Citrate, SKS6, Silicate and they have 3 jobs to perform:
*Body soil like perspiration that needs neutralizing,*Help remove the calcium and magnesium salts found in hard water and this allows surfactant to get on with their job of cleaning,
*Finally they help to remove particulate soils made up of clay, dirty and fatty lipid stain.
STPP is the most effective builder available yet it is negatively perceived from an environmental stand point. Zeolite is more environmentally friendly yet it provides less efficiency. STPP are no longer used in our Western European laundry detergents since many years.
There are 3 types of builders:
*Sequestrating builders like STPP and citrate. They are soluble builders and form soluble complexes with hardness.
*Precipitating builders like carbonate and soap. They are soluble builders and form insoluble complexes with hardness
* Ion exchanger builders like Zeolite and SKS-6. They are insoluble builders and form insoluble complexes with hardness
In laundry detergent they are used at a range of 20-40 % while in hard surface cleaner only at 1-3%.
Properties
Builders are basically water softeners that are used to soften wash water by extracting and binding the magnesium and calcium ions. Due to the action of builder, the availability of these ions is removed from the wash-water solution, and as result the hardness of wash-water is removed. Depending on the type of builder, other benefits may be available, such as -
* Buffering of wash water in the alkaline range
* Help prevent the redeposition of soils after they have been removed from the fabric by surfactants
* Carry absorbed liquid components in the products, like surfactants so as to produce a dry and free flowing powder
* Typically improve the wetting and emulsification characteristics of detergent
Advantages
The prime function of detergent builders is to upgrade and prevent the cleaning efficiency of surfactants. Builders offer a number of advantages, including softening, buffering, and emulsifying. Some of the important advantages of using a builder in a wash solution are -
* Soften water by deactivating the hardness minerals (metal ions such as calcium and magnesium. The softening process is followed by two processes - one is sequestration (holding metal ions in solution) and another is precipitation (removing metal ions from solution as insoluble materials).
* In addition to softening, builders also provide a desirable level of alkalinity (increase pH) that improves cleaning performance. They also work as buffer to maintain suitable alkalinity in wash water.
* Help emulsify oily and greasy soil by breaking it up into small parts. Different builders in reality peptize or suspend loosened dirt and keep them from settling back on the cleaned surface.
Contact Us
On condition that you have any requirment of Sodium Metasilicate Anhydrous, Sodium Metasilicate Pentahydrate or Acrylic acid maleic acid copolymer, please contact us in no hesitation. We are honored to provide our best service to satisfy your need.