Using components from plenty of renewable wood and corn, the researchers have created an environmentally friendly detergent. YilmazSavaskandag / iStock / Getty Images Plus
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In order to combat some of the most environmentally harmful chemicals in cleaning detergents, scientists have found a way to transform natural materials, including wood fibers and corn protein, into a more environmentally friendly cleaning agent.
Published in a study in Long muirScientists divided their results into a newly developed cleaning agent that uses easily available and renewable materials such as cellulose nanofibers and Zein, one of the primary proteins found in corn. These materials have been combined into an emulsion that can put on the materials together in a stain and trap oils, which makes them ideal for cleaning.
“Pickering particles can form a rigid barrier film on the oil water border area, which effectively inhibits the droplet unit and stabilizes the emulsion,” wrote the authors in the study.
As explained by Sciencedirect, a pickering emulsion uses solids for stabilization stability instead of using synthetic surfactants. The replacement of synthetic surfactants in cleaning agents can help minimize environmental damage, since these chemicals are difficult to break and can be toxic, especially in aquatic environments.
The authors of the study tested the ability of the environmentally friendly detergent, ink, chilli oil and tomato paste made of cotton fabrics and eating from different materials such as glass, ceramics, metal and plastic. For comparison, the team also tested the cleaner of commercial laundry powder and shoring soap on these materials and stains.
During their tests, the researchers found that their environmentally friendly detergent when cleaning cotton was only a little less effective than the laundry performance with the same dilution.
The team had similar results in cleaning dishes in which both cleaning products worked similarly to the same dilution. With slightly increased concentration of the environmentally friendly detergent, it had a greater cleaning performance than the commercial product.
The results showed a potentially sustainable alternative to cleaning agents that can contain environmentally harmful ingredients. Many cleaning agents today include alkylphenol -polyethoxylates (APEOS), which are associated with aquatic toxicity and endocrine disorder and phosphates, whereby pollution can lead to algae flowers in water bodies.
While alternative cleaning agents were proposed in previous studies, these alternatives were found either difficult and expensive in production, and it was difficult to rinse fabric and dishes, less effective in cleaning or potentially harmful substances.
In the newly published study, the researchers found that their cleaning agent showed no signs of damage to the cotton tissue based on microscopic observations. By using natural, renewable and widespread ingredients, you also expect that this wood fiber and tin basis could be effective and affordable both effective and affordable.
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