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EDTA vs citric acid as builder for laundry detergent
Citric acid is a much weaker chelating agent than EDTA. In a laundry detergent with 8% total surfactant, is citric acid enough to make hard water soft or should i use EDTA?
Formula
SLS 3.8% active
LABSA 1.5% active
Lauryl glucoside 3.5% active
EDTA 1% or citric acid 1-3%
CMC 0.5%
Water
pH 10 -
17 Replies
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Why not zeolite
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I agree with @PhilGeis. If I’m not mistaken, P&G replaced phosphates long time ago by zeolites in laundry detergents.
If you want to keep your system, at high pH, you’ll have the basic forms of both EDTA and Citric acid. Moreover, there’s a synergy between them (you can google some info about it), so you can match the performance of STPP (the gold standard before been baned) with a mixture of Na4EDTA and Na Citrate.
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Phosphate in household products was banned last century on the mistaken belief that source cause eutrophication of surface waters.
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eutrophication of surface waters? what’s mean of it?
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Eutrophication means a body of water has had nutrients (that normally occur in only small amounts), added to it. The increased nutrients result in algae now having so much nutrients, they grow like crazy & produce algal blooms. This leads to the water becoming depleted in oxygen (due to the algal blooms) and then fish & other life forms in the water suffocate & die from lack of oxygen.
Phosphorus was found to be a main cause of this eutrophication so it was banned in laundry detergents, BUT it seems nitrogen might also be a factor.
Here is more info. on eutrophication of bodies of water and WHY phosphorus was seen as the cause.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.6b02204
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but you said it is “mistaken belief”?
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I currently have only these available locally.
Tetra sodium EDTA
Citric acid
Sodium bicarbonateWhich one should i use or should i use a blend?
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@PhilGeis i have no restrictions on which ingredient should i not use.
I should import anything other than those mentioned above. So which one do you suggest i use in the future? -
Then use phosphate
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PhilGeis said:Then use phosphate
Do you mean STPP or any other phosphate?
And at what percentage should i use it?
We have hard water. ~700 TDS
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I don’t recall the levels. It’s been way too long - Sorry
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PhilGeis said:I don’t recall the levels. It’s been way too long - Sorry
Ok no problem
By phosphate did you mean STPP? -
Don;t recall the specific phosphate but figure that’ll work.
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PhilGeis said:Don;t recall the specific phosphate but figure that’ll work.
Thanks a lot
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Used pyrophosphate in cleaners
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PhilGeis said:Used pyrophosphate in cleaners
Thanks
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Hi there,
For phosphonate Briquest 543-25S, for readily biodegradable sequestering agent try Dissolvine GL 47. Why didn’t add enzymes to your laundry liquid?
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