Secondary Alkyl Sulfate - New-generation Cold-water washing ingredient

Abstract: Washing step contributes up to 70% of carbon footprint in the consumer laundry process, most of which is due to heating up washing and rinsing water to elevated temperature (e.g. 40-50C). Reducing washing and rinsing temperature (Cold-water washing) while maintaining equivalent detergency has been the holy grail of formulators for decades. Researchers have sucessfully incorporated existing commercial surfactants to tackle conventional dirts (e.g. carbon black, sebum, etc.) at cold temperatures,  however, greasy soil such as butter and bacon grease is hard to remove due to difficulties in wetting, solubilization and emulsification at low temperatures.
The presentation demonstrates a new-generation commercial anionic surfactant (Secondary Alkyl Sulfate) made from SO3 sulfation of C12-14 secondary alcohols. This molecular structure shows quick wetting and solubilization of greasy soil at low temperatures than conventional surfactants and provides promising potential as an ingredient in Cold-water laundry detergent formulations.