PRODUCT REPORT
Computer process control room at Lever Brothers Co. Dove/Caress bar soap plant in Hammond, Ind.
Consumer Preferences Spur Innovation in Detergents Stephen C. Stinson, C&EN New York
Today's unprecedented rate of innovation in U.S. household cleaning products stands in sharp contrast to their staid 2% annual volume growth rate. Manufacturers are responding to demographic changes in the American population with new product types, and their watchword is convenience. Among household cleaners, liquids are joining p o w d e r forms. There is a trend toward cleaning products that combine several functions. And researchers are working toward new concepts in delivering active ingredients.
Observers tell C&EN that firms that manufacture household cleaning products have increased both the amount and the quality of their technical expertise. Not only do they patent new concepts as in the past, but they bring more of these concepts to market. Researchers at these firms are interested as before in whether their products work, but now they're also interested in why the products work that way. Their research takes them into theories of how the ingredients function. Among environmental concerns of the industry, surfactants that are biodegradable and builders that replace phosphates effectively are old
issues that continue to get attention. And a new issue of "hazardous household wastes" looms on the horizon. All of these developments in household cleaning products were highlighted at the Second World Conference on Detergents in Montreux, Switzerland, last October. Sponsored by the American Oil Chemists' Society, the Soap & Detergent Association, and the Association Internationale de la Savonnerie et de la Détergence, the conference presentations provided a worldwide survey of the current state of the industry. The U.S. household cleaning and January 26, 1987 C&EN
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Product Report
Japan: the watchwords are environment, safety, energy r- replacing phosphates with zeolites beLike Americans, the Japanese deter e cause of inferior cost/performance, gent industry and its customers are conscious of product safety and envii- Murata says, the Japanese selected it zeolites as their preferred builder on ronmental acceptability. But different e the basis of environmental, safety, and conditions and ways of thinking have led to subtle nuances in product de 3- cost/performance considerations. The velopment in Japan. Moriyasu Murata ta Japanese have supplemented zeolites of Kao Corp.'s laboratories in Tochigi gi with increased amounts of alkaline elaborated on some of these at the ie builders and surfactants, plus prote Montreux detergent meeting. ases and polyacrylates. tJapanese housewives do laundry Environmental concerns surfaced lat e twice a day, six days a week, Murata er in Japan than in the U.S. But once is says. The Japanese change clothes they appeared, Japanese industry was able to meet them by consensus and id frequently, and wash waters tend to voluntary action. In about 1970, com ν be soft. Thus soil is light, which eases panies met concern over nonbiode »- demands on builders, gradable surfactants with an unevent tBut energy-conscious Japanese tend ful, voluntary switch to linear alkyl-I- to use unheated water, which may be benzenesulfonates (LAS). 25 ° C in summer and 5 ° C in winter. )f Some housewives use the water still With the appearance of the issue of in warm from the previous night's bath. phosphate eutrophication of waters in fo To save water, they do many small 1975, the industry adopted a 1 5 % limit, followed by a 1 2 % limit in 1976. 3. washes, reusing the water from lightly But in 1980, Shiga prefecture, site of )f soiled loads to wash more heavily Japan's largest lake, banned phosphate te soiled ones. This is possible because detergents. Stung by the symbolism of )f washing machines in 7 5 % of Japanese this action, the industry introduced id homes have spin extractors separate phosphate-free detergents in 19811 from washing compartments. These throughout Japan. By 1985, these e factors increase demands on builders. amounted to 9 4 % of all products sold. Detergents with fabric softeners are
