Combination of Surfactant Action with Peroxide Activation for Room‐Temperature Cleaning of Textiles

Abstract

Room‐temperature cleaning of textiles is commonly practiced in many countries for energy saving as well as custom in daily life, but not very effective for removing colored contaminants. In this work, it was proposed to combine surfactant action (SA) with peroxide activation (PA) in a peroxide activator to enable cleaning of textiles at room temperature. N‐[4‐(alkyldimethylammoniomethyl)benzoyl]lactam chloride was designed and synthesized as a prototype of the proposed peroxide activator, in which the alkyl chain with a carbon atom number of n was responsible for surfactant action and the N‐benzoyllactam with a carbon atom number of m in the lactam ring was responsible for peroxide activation. Such a peroxide activator was hereby referred to as SAPAm‐n. The room‐temperature cleaning performance of SAPAm‐n was examined by cotton fabrics contaminated with morin and waste engine oil, respectively. It was found that SAPAm‐n was able to activate hydrogen peroxide released from sodium perborate so as to effectively bleach the morin‐contaminated cotton fabric at room temperature. Though extending the alkyl chain length of SAPAm‐n resulted in no apparent effect on the room‐temperature bleaching performance, it enhanced the surfactant action which contributed to removing oily contaminants from textiles. Color‐safe performance of SAPAm‐n was evaluated by cleaning a dyed cotton fabric at room temperature. It was found that the peroxide bleach activated by SAPAm‐n resulted in no apparent color change of the dyed cotton fabric. The results of this study provide new insights on textile cleaning at room temperature for the purpose of energy saving.

Highly efficient oil-fouling and foam removal achieved by surfactant mixed systems

“…20 Excessive consumption of surfactants causes environment chemical exposure and huge economic loss. With regard to this issue, many researchers have devoted their efforts in developing a wide range of novel surfactants by introducing more functional groups, [21][22][23][24] increasing the oligomerization degree, [25][26][27][28] and adjusting the length of the spacer or alkyl chain [29][30][31] so as to optimize the cleaning performance of surfactants and reduce their dosage by altering the static/dynamic surface tension, [32][33][34][35] adsorption kinetics, [36][37][38][39] aggregation ability, [40][41][42] etc. In parallel, mixing surfactants with additives (inorganic/organic salts, other surfactants, polymers, etc.)…”

“…[52][53][54] Coincidently, those aforementioned physicochemical properties facilitating the cleaning efficiency, such as low surface tension, strong aggregation ability and fast adsorption kinetics, often result in the strong foamability and foam stability in surfactant solution. [55][56][57][58] Therefore, the development of surfactant systems with high cleaning efficiency but adjustable foaming ability in different conditions encounters great technological hurdles although it is urgently desired in multiple fields.…”

Efficient catalysis of H2O2with ionic liquid molecules to generate hydroxyl radicals and application in green chemistry cotton processes

“…16,17 Scouring and bleaching are two important procedures in the pretreatment of cotton fabric, which can remove lignin from the cottonseed hulls, as well as natural pigments and other impurities, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent dyeing and finishing processes. [18][19][20] Chlorine-based and peroxide-based bleaches are two main classes of oxidizing bleaches of cellulose fabrics. 18 Although chlorine-based bleaches exhibited excellent bleaching properties, and the bleached fabrics could obtain good whiteness and wettability, they did not meet increasing environmental requirements due to the organic halide pollution.…”

“…[18][19][20] Chlorine-based and peroxide-based bleaches are two main classes of oxidizing bleaches of cellulose fabrics. 18 Although chlorine-based bleaches exhibited excellent bleaching properties, and the bleached fabrics could obtain good whiteness and wettability, they did not meet increasing environmental requirements due to the organic halide pollution. [21][22][23] So they were eventually replaced by chlorine-free bleaching reagents.…”

“…There have been some activators reported, such as the amide compound tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED), 26,27 (N-[4-triethylammoniomethyl]-benzoyl) caprolactam chloride (TBCC) and its analogues, phthalic anhydride compounds and metal complexes. 18,[28][29][30][31][32] They can catalyze H 2 O 2 to bleach cotton fabric at 70 °C. Metal complex catalysts are also widely studied, which can effectively catalyze the hydrogen peroxide activation at 70 °C or even a lower temperature.…”