A kinetic study of fabric detergency

The kinetics of soil removal were investigated under domestic laundry conditions by incorporating small swatches of four artificially soiled test fabrics into a standard load of clean cotton goods. This prevented soil redeposition from affecting the soil removal rate. Two runs were analyzed, one with an anionic and the other with a nonionic detergent. Assessment of the amount of soil remaining on the fabric was made by reflectivity measurements interpreted according to the Kubelka-Munk equation. First-order kinetics were found to prevail for periods ranging from the first 6 min of the wash cycle to the entire 20 min, depending upon test fabric and detergent. For these lengths of time, the rate of soil removal was directly proportional to the amount of soil remaining on the fabric. The 8 first-order rate constants had rather similar values, varying at most by a factor of 2.3. The average value, 0.109 min⁻¹, corresponds to a 6.4-min wash period for removing one-half of the soil and to a 21-min period for removing 90% of the soil from the soiled fabric. The magnitude of the response of the four artificially soiled test fabrics to the two detergents is compared and discussed in terms of the soiling materials. The nonionic detergent was more effective in cleaning a fabric soiled mainly with kaolin and wool fat, while the anionic detergent was more effective with a fabric containing large amounts of liquid oily soil plus carbon black and oleophilic bentonite.