Sustainable detergents

衣服和布料的洗涤是一项经常性的活动，原因很多，尤其是为了保持布料的卫生、社会礼仪、外观和使用寿命。在工业化国家，洗衣是使用隧道洗衣机或家用洗衣机等家用电器用洗涤剂洗的，温度远高于室温，使用经过处理/净化的水。在发展中国家，通常是用当地水源的水和某种形式的洗涤剂手洗。在这两种情况下，洗涤剂废物最终都会暴露在环境中。洗涤受到四个因素的影响，通常被称为辛纳尔因素：(A)化学品/洗涤剂(B)温度(C)时间/持续时间(D)机械。这是一个高耗能、高耗水的过程，而且表面活性剂往往会对生态系统造成污染。通过设计一种以上表面活性剂协同作用的洗涤剂，有可能(A)通过降低洗涤温度来降低能源消耗，(B)使用更少的水和(C)使用更少的洗涤剂--所有这三种都是可持续性的关键。

Laundering of clothing and fabric is a regular activity required for multitude of reasons, not least of which are maintaining hygiene, social decorum, appearance, and life time of the fabric. In industrialised countries, laundry is done with detergents using appliances such as tunnel washers or domestic washing machines, at temperatures well above room temperature using treated/purified water. In developing countries, often it is done by hand washing with water from local sources and some form of detergents. In both the cases, the detergent wastes are finally exposed to environment. Laundering is affected by four factors, often called Sinner's factors: (a) chemicals/detergents (b) temperature (c) time/duration (d) mechanical. It is an energy intensive and water consuming process, and the surfactants are often contaminative to ecosystem. By designing detergents with more than one surfactants, which acts synergistically, it is possible to (a) reduce the energy consumption by reducing washing temperature, (b) use less amount of water and (c) use less amount of detergent- all three are key for sustainability.