Benefits to Specific Surfactants in Cold Water Laundry

Abstract: There has been a significant increase in interest in the use of cold water in laundry detergency, primarily thanks to increased awareness of the huge amount of energy expended globally to heat the water in said laundry processes. The key component in laundry detergents is the surfactant that is relied upon to penetrate, release, and emulsify the soils present in goods being laundered and laundry performance often pivots on how well surfactancy is brought to bear.

Surfactants are often fickle when temperatures are significantly changed and cleaning benefits become more differentiated when there is less of a kinetic driver for surfactant performance. Furthermore, some soils require elevated temperatures to become receptive to removal from fabrics, which presents an even greater challenge. This presentation examines recent findings regarding how various surfactants are suited (or not suited) for use in cold water washing as a result of their interfacial properties and interactions with soil.
Furthermore, advances in surfactant technology have provided interesting candidates that seem to offer improved performance in cold water laundry. We will examine some of these newer surfactants and their underlying concepts and discuss how this information may be used to further improve surfactant based detergency within the limitations of cooler water temperatures.