Energy-saving growing focus for detergents

16 April 2008 19:41  [Source: ICIS news]

ORLANDO, Florida (ICIS news)--Consumer demand for energy-saving detergents continues to drive the need for process improvements and product reformulation, industry officials said on Wednesday.

“Currently there is a strong emphasis being placed on environmentally-sensitive positioning of detergent products,” said Joel Houston, president of market information provider Colin A. Houston & Associates. “Products such as Procter & Gamble’s Tide Coldwater and new compacted liquid laundry detergents emerging in the US market are some of the initial efforts to move into this direction.”

Houston spoke at the Soaps, Detergents, Oleochemicals and Personal Care (SODEOPEC) conference in Orlando.

Oliver Spangenberg, manager of technical service and application development for enzymes producer Genencor, echoed the same sentiment towards low-temperature washing trend.

“Formulating cold-water detergent, however, is a particular challenge for detergent producers because the stain-fighting power of the ingredients in conventional detergent formulations decreases significantly when lowering the temperature,” he said.

The use of enzymes, said Genencor, will help manufacturers meet the low-temperature detergent formulation challenge.

“These superior protease enzymes are active across a broad range of washing conditions and show highly beneficial results at lower wash temperatures for a broad spectrum of consumer relevant stains,” Spangenberg said.

Most of the new energy-saving technologies have been targeting the liquid laundry sector but energy savings can also be achieved for detergent powders, said Icilio Adami, research and development (R&D) director at technology and engineering company Desmet Ballestra

Recent technical improvements, particularly in the spray drying and agglomeration process in powdered detergent manufacturing, have resulted in optimised manufacturing costs, Adami said.

The market for powdered detergents is still large in countries such as Western Europe, China, Japan and India, he said.

Detergent powder in Western Europe accounted for 55% of the overall sales volume last year, according to Desmet. Detergent powders hold 60% of the market in China, 75% in Japan and 100% in India.

The three-day conference, which is hosted by the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS), ends on Wednesday.

By: Doris de Guzman
+1 713 525 2653

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