cleaning supplies

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Various detergents

Cleaning agents are consumables that are used to clean a wide variety of items and objects. They cause or support the removal of contamination as a result of use or of residues and adhesions from the manufacturing process of the object.

Most cleaning agents are used in combination with water, which, as a polar solvent, can itself make a significant contribution to cleaning performance. At the same time, the dirt is carried away with the water. In the chemical cleaning of textiles, on the other hand, cleaning is carried out in non-aqueous solvents.

Detergents are used to clean textiles , their intermediate products and leather . Cleaning agents are also cleaning agents, but do not include detergents, for example.

Also, pharmaceutical or cosmetic agents for personal care can be allocated to cleaning agents.

Applications

Cleaning agents can be differentiated according to the intended area of ​​application or the active components they contain.

According to scope

Filling a car windshield washer with a cleaning agent

Different areas of application require different cleaning agents. These often consist of a combination of active washing substances and other components such as auxiliary substances and fragrances:

According to components

The respective ingredients can be found in the safety data sheets in accordance with EC Directive 91/155 / EEC.

Active component

Two bottles of washing-up liquid

Different components, which often appear in combination in cleaning agents, are suitable for removing different types of contamination:

  • Surfactants : dissolve z. B. from hydrophobic soiling such as grease and oil in aqueous washing liquor such as soap , various petrochemically (i.e. petroleum based) or oleochemically produced surfactants (i.e. vegetable oil based, usually palm oil ) or biosurfactants
  • Abrasives: Removal of solid soiling by abrasion
  • Acids : Removal of acid-soluble soiling such as B. lime (CaCO 3 ) by citric and acetic acid or by decomposition in carbonic acid and dissolved calcium
  • Bases : Removal of grease and oil (alkaline cleaners)
  • Bleach : to decolorize dirt and disinfect; z. B. oxygen-rich chlorine compounds such as hypochlorite in chlorine cleaners ; Compounds containing or releasing hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), such as percarbonate and sodium perborate , in oxygen cleaners
  • Enzymes : breaking down dirt into smaller, soluble parts, e.g. B. by amylases (starch), lipases (fats), proteases (protein) etc.

Other components

There may be other components in cleaning agents that enhance the effect of the active components or that are intended to achieve a subjectively perceived purity visually or through fragrances:

and many more

consumption

At the end of 2000, a total of around 54,000 detergents and cleaning agents from around 4,500 companies were on the German market. This year, more than 5,600 new detergents and cleaning agents or new compositions of existing brands were brought onto the market in Germany alone. In 1998, more than a million tons of detergents and cleaning agents were used in German households, of which 665,000 tons were detergents.

Environmental and health compatibility

The composition of cleaning agents is regulated in Germany by the Washing and Cleaning Agents Act (WRMG), among other things, in order to prevent the entry of environmentally hazardous substances into water . In particular, the biodegradability of the surfactants contained is regulated. Accordingly, detergents and cleaning agents may only be placed on the market in such a way that, as a result of their use, any avoidable damage to human health and the environment, in particular the nature of the water, especially with regard to the natural balance and the drinking water supply, and an impairment of the company of sewage systems are omitted. In Switzerland, detergents and cleaning agents are regulated in the ORRChem , Annexes 2.1 and 2.2.

For example, soap (a surfactant) was the main detergent until around the middle of the 20th century. This oleochemical product, based primarily on renewable raw materials , has increasingly been replaced by surfactants produced using petrochemicals . However, these were mostly poorly biodegradable and led to ecological problems. Due to requirements for biodegradability u. a. In the WRMG, surfactants made from renewable raw materials (e.g. sugar surfactants made from sugar and palm kernel oil) regained importance. Today they make up around 50 percent of the surfactants produced. The WRMG also called for a reduction in the use of phosphate , which was used as a water softener in cleaning agents. Phosphate also led to ecological problems ( eutrophication ) through its entry into water bodies . The formulations of detergents and cleaning agents must be reported to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in order to protect consumers from health risks.

According to a press release by the German Federal Environment Agency on October 14, 2011, there were 665 cases of poisoning by cleaning agents in 2009. Almost 10,000 such cases have been reported since 1990, around 90% of which are work-related. Accidents in private households could be reduced if the instructions for use were read better and cleaning agents were kept out of the reach of children.

According to a 2018 study, cleaners who regularly used cleaning sprays for 20 years have reduced lung function, comparable to that of people who smoked 20 cigarettes a day over the same period of time.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Data sheet collection ( Memento of the original dated November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on Jan 3, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sgl-gmbh.de
  2. ^ Heinrich Waldhoff, Rudiger Spilker: Handbook Of Detergents, Part C: Analysis , CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2004, page 26.
  3. ↑ Federal Environment Agency for Man and the Environment (Germany): Chemicals Policy and Pollutants, REACH, detergents and cleaning agents, information for consumers , as of August 10, 2010, last accessed in July 2012.
  4. ↑ a b Law on the Environmental Compatibility of Detergents and Cleaning Agents ( Memento of December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 210 kB), WRMG in full text, accessed on April 8, 2010.
  5. ↑ Detergents: Legal Basics
  6. ↑ Molecular Enzyme Technology: Environmentally Friendly Biosurfactants , March 11, 2010, accessed April 8, 2010.
  7. ↑ Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR): Detergent and cleaning agent formulations must be reported to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment , BfR press release on changes resulting from the amendment to the Washing and Cleaning Agents Act (WRMG), dated June 5, 2007, accessed on April 8, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Underestimated danger: cleaning agents are not harmless UBA press release of October 14, 2011, accessed on January 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ Kim E. Andreassen: Household cleaning can be as bad as smoking for lung function. University of Bergen, accessed February 25, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Øistein Svanes et al., Cleaning at Home and at Work in Relation to Lung Function Decline and Airway Obstruction , Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., February 2018. PMID 29451393 , doi: 10.1164 / rccm.201706-1311OC .

literature

  • Hermann G. Hauthal (Ed.): Cleaning and care products in the household. Chemistry, application, ecology and consumer safety . Verlag Ziolkowsky, Augsburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-87846-265-1
  • Klaus Henning: detergents and cleaning agents. Ingredients, properties and formulations . Verlag Ziolkowsky, Augsburg 2006, ISBN 3-87846-252-2
  • Heinrich Waldhoff, Rudiger Spilker: Handbook Of Detergents, Part C: Analysis , CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2004.

Web links

Wiktionary: cleaning agents  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : cleaning supplies  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files