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elements32 evonik science newsletter
Grass bleach: when
damp laundry is spread
out on grass, the
moisture, sunlight and
chlorophyll create active
oxygen and ozone,
which have an oxidizing
and bleaching effect
c o A t i n G & B o n D i n G t e c H n o l o G i e S
energy crises and resource depletion, consumer
habits and environmental protection
drive researchers and developers to ever
greater achievements and improved products,
and the detergents market is no different.
the trendsetter is a granulated
percarbonate from evonik with especially
high stability. Because of its eco­toxicolo gical
superiority, percarbonate has already
largely replaced expensive perborate as
the bleaching component in detergents on
the european market. it has thus secured
the market leadership of detergent manufacturers
in europe and is also paving the
way for a secure and successful entry into
the growth markets.
facturer Henkel rocketed to prominence quite
suddenly. Henkel launched the first “self-acting”
laundry detergent under the trade name Persil®
on June 6, 1907, thereby rendering grass bleach
obsolete. In addition to 15 percent perborate by
weight as its main ingredient, Persil® also contained
85 percent silicate-based bleaching soda by
Henkel. Laundry boiled just once in Persil® became
clean and hygienic without the need for
rubbing or a separate bleaching step.
Whereas, in the early years, sodium perbo rate
tetrahydrate was produced by reacting electrochemically
generated sodium peroxide with boric
acid, a direct electrolysis process based on aqueous
borate solution developed at the Rheinfelden
works supplied the rising demand beginning in
1920. With the increased availability of hydrogen
peroxide—produced in Weißenstein (Austria) from
1910, and electrochemically via peroxodisulphuric
acid at Rheinfelden beginning in 1928—production
gradually shifted to the process of reacting sodium
metaborate with hydrogen peroxide, which is
used to this day. >>>
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