Studies in Detergency: Influence of Different Factors for Removing Motor Oil Stain from the Cotton Fabric

Abstract

The ability of surfactants to remove a organic soil from the cotton fabric has been investigated using various parameters such as temperature and hardness of water. The surfactants such as alkylpolyglucosides (APG), sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), and alpha olefin sulphonate (AOS) have been taken to formulate the detergent as such and in mixtures to evaluate the detergency performance to remove motor oil from the 100% cotton fabric. In the past, the detergency of nonionic APG surfactants has not been well studied. The behavior of commercial APG surfactants and mixtures of APGs with other common surface cleaning agents (SLS & AOS) in laundry applications has been investigated. Motor oil is the toughest soil to remove as it contains nonpolar organic compounds. The performance of detergency was evaluated at different temperatures (30°C, 45°C, and 60°C) and in the presence of hard water (40, 100, and 300 ppm).

Keywords:

• Alkylpolyglucosides
• AOS
• cotton fabric
• hard water
• K/S detergency
• motor oil
• SLS
• temperature

The authors wish to acknowledge the support extended by Cognis Deutschland GmbH & Co. and BS international, Mumbai. Also, the authors would like to acknowledge the support given by Godrej Industries Ltd., and Galaxy Surfactants Ltd., Mumbai, India for providing surfactant samples.