Washing powder has a history of more than 100 years. German Henkel invented washing powder for the first time in 1907 using borate and silicate as the main raw materials. Washing powder is an alkaline synthetic detergent. The main component of washing powder is anionic surfactant: sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, a small amount of non-ionic surfactant, plus some additives, phosphate, silicate, Fluorescent agents, enzymes, etc. Now most of the 4A fluorspar is used instead of phosphate.
When our clothes are stained with oil, sweat or blood, it is difficult to clean them with ordinary washing powder. To solve this problem, scientists have developed a more effective washing powder.
The ingredients of common washing powders can be briefly summarized as: surfactants, buffers, builders, synergists and auxiliary materials. Surfactants have hydrophilic and lipophilic groups, which can be aligned on the surface of the solution and weaken the adhesion between stains and clothes. Buffer is one of the most important raw materials of washing powder. The decontamination ability of washing powder will be improved in an alkaline environment, and the buffer can provide a proper alkaline washing environment. Commonly used buffers are: carbonate, silicate, etc. Washing powder generally contains a variety of builders, whose role is to meet different functional requirements, such as improving the decontamination ability and developing the anti-redeposition performance of the washing powder, which can enhance the comprehensive performance of the washing powder.
Ordinary washing powder has limited decontamination ability. For this reason, scientists have developed washing powder with biological enzymes. Enzyme washing powder is not only capable of decontamination, but also more environmentally friendly than ordinary washing powder.
Enzyme-added washing powder refers to washing powder containing enzyme preparations. It is a kinds of enzymes for household use. Currently, there are four types of enzyme preparations commonly used: protease, lipase, amylase and cellulase. Among them, alkaline protease and alkaline lipase are the most widely used and the best decontamination effect. Protease can hydrolyze macromolecular proteins in blood stains, milk stains and other stains into soluble amino acids or small molecular peptides, making them easy to fall off clothes. Lipase can hydrolyze macromolecular fat in oil stains into small molecular substances; amylase can hydrolyze macromolecular starch into small molecular substances; cellulase can hydrolyze cellulose into small molecular substances.
Enzyme-added detergent has stronger decontamination ability than ordinary detergent due to the presence of enzymes, but enzymes have higher environmental requirements, and temperature, pH and surfactants will all affect the decontamination effect of enzyme-added detergent. In order to make enzymes have better activity in washing powder, scientists have produced enzymes that can withstand acid, alkali and higher temperatures through genetic engineering, and use special chemicals to wrap the enzyme layer by layer and mix it with washing powder. The other components of the isolation layer are isolated, and this isolation layer will quickly dissolve after encountering water, and the enzymes wrapped in it can quickly play a catalytic role.