Interaction of Chemistry and the Physics of the Washing Process on the Role of Fabric Cleaning Vectors

Formulation Engineering

University of Birmingham

Research at P&G into detergents is constantly yielding new improved chemical variations on existing detergent components as a function of the consumer habits for a specific region.As modern day economic and environmental constraints tighten, the need to quickly and cheaply determine the optimally performing detergent formulations is critical. Due to the large number of components, the use of experimental design or similar methods to efficiently determine an optimally performing formulation is impractical and expensive. This project will develop more predictive tools to assess detergent performance and lead to innovative formulas. The most relevant mechanical processes inside a washing machine will be investigated, namely type and magnitude of energies and forces and fluid mixing with the aim of understanding the interaction of these physical processes with the chemistry in order to optimise the composition of our detergents. More information here