TAIEX WORKSHOP ON PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY AND

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SYNTHETIC DETERGENTS

CAIRO, 27-28 FEBRUARY 2017 (26509/63648)

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SYNTHETIC DETERGENTS

István Murányi
Secretary general
Hungarian Cosmetic and
Home Care Association
Circular Economy – DG Environment

Full movie at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK00v_tzkCI

 Environmental impact of … what?
Detergent production, packaging and transport
- production: energy, water usage, etc.: sustainable production
- Packaging waste (refills, size of package), Transport carbon footprint
- Environmental impact of components
Consumer use
- Washing machine/washing method, dosing
- Applied temperature (EU average around 40 oC)
- Energy consumption (e.g. electricity , how is it produced?)
Wastewater
- Content of the wastewater (biodegradability, phosphate, important
ingredients,etc.)
- Sewage system, what technical level, what does finally get into surface waters.
Detergent production
Detergent factory uses
- Water (cleaned in/output)
- Energy (machinery, heating, etc.)
- CO2 footprint of transport of the ingredients and packaging to
the plant

Packaging
- Impact of the packaging used at production to packaging
waste (recycle, size, hazard category, etc.)

Transport CO2 footprint of finished product

Consumer use: washing
machine/wash programs (cycles)
Sinner’s circle: four parameters
-Washing chemistry
-Mechanical input,
-Wash temperature
-Time

Question: relative contributions of the

four wash parameters
-Wash liquor ratio (dry laundry/water)
-Wash cycles (e.g. energy saving
cycles)

Wash termination procedures:

-Drain and spin
-Drain, rinse and spin
-No spin, drip dry
Consumer use: laundry habits,
choosing temperature and dosing
Consumer use: laundry habits,
choosing temperature and dosing
Consumer use: energy consumption
Components: CLP environmental
hazards (1272/2008/EC CLP Regulation)
Components: determination of their
CLP environmental hazards
Products: CLP
environmental hazards
tiered approach
Environmental impact of … which detergent?
Public Laundry detergents
- Washing powders
- Liquid detergent
- Gelcapsules

Problems we face
very different
- Density
- Composition
- dosing, etc.)
even within the categories.
Main components of detergents
www.cleanright.eu
Information in Safety Data Sheet
In practice you usually get this:
Waste water: important ingredients
Washing process endpoints
Clean water + detergent to
Contaminated waste water with heat energy, soil and all
kinds of material (lint, dyes, finishing agent, detergent
residues)

The principal contaminants are surfactants and phosphates

Remaining detergent components normally less significant
because of their low concentrations, their biodegradability
and less environmental effect.
Waste water: important ingredients
Some facts

- Wastewater can vary in composition and concentration (also

public vs. commercial)

- Laundry wastewater must be treated before release

- General water consumption dilutes the laundry waste water

(plus pH, temperature)

- Biological treatment of wastewater is beneficiary (change!)

Waste water: important ingredients
Waste water: important ingredients
 Detergent components environmental
effects: solutions
EU legislation - 648/2004/EEC
- Ultimate aerobic biodegradation of surfactants
Level of mineralisation is at least 60 % within 28 days in one of the appointed tests

- Phosphate content limitation

Consumer laundry detergents: total phosphorus content ≤ 0,5 g in a washload
Consumer automatic dishwasher detergents: total phosphorus content ≤ 0,3 g in standard
dosage

Industry
Making the powder detergents more compact
AISE Compact detergent projects