A detergent product is prepared using many substances which together, once formulated, create the final product.

Like the majority of substances formed by industries, every product has its main constituent; and the main element that creates and allows a detergent to be good at its function once applied is a surfactant. A surfactant is a material that generally contains a single molecule a lipophilic oil soluble tail and a hydrophobic head. The lipophilic oil soluble tail is usually in the form of a organic molecule which contain a c12-c14 carbon chains and the hydrophilic water soluble head is commonly found to be a anionic such as NA+. The process which these anionic surfactants commonly used can be summarised as follows: Thorough application of detergent to dirt; done to reduce water/substrate and water/dirt surface tension Removal of dirt from substrate Maintaining dirt so that it is kept in a stable suspension or solution

One of the most important and most commonly used anionic surfactants that is utilised as an active ingredient in many powder detergent producing industries is known as Linear Alkyl Sulphonate or its shorter abbreviation which is what it is commonly referred to as is LABS. This category of anionic is the most popular surfactants used especially amongst household detergent and even in heavy duty laundry applications as its formulation works well in combination with other anionic surfactants. Other advantages include: high detergency foam stability, good tolerance when mixed with hard water (water which contains high mineral content) and its high degreasing capacity. SO3 based sulphonation reaction There is a choice of several sulphonation reagents that could be used to carry out the sulphonation reaction to produce the desired surfactant. However the most common method used amongst industries is the SO3/air based sulphonation. A quick overview will be given of this process in this section. The air used in the process should first be dried as failure to do so would result in the formation of hazardous sulphuric acid mist. The process that creates dry air first involves filtering the ambient or surrounding air and then compressing it to around 0.6 bar gauge. Once this is complete the air is then chilled to a temperature of 5+oC which is done to remove some of the water through the process of condensation and is subsequently dried whereby the remaining water is removed to meet operating standards using a desiccant which acts as a drying agent such as silica gel or Alumina. These desiccants have the ability of absorbing the remaining water content of the air which has not been removed by condensation. The introduction of air to the desiccant has the advantage as the air arrives at a process dew point of about -60oC. Sulphur is first melted by heating it to a temperature of 150oC and is then pumped from the storage tank to the sulphur furnace where it is reacted with excess oxygen to create SO2. The outlet temperature varies and depends on the ratio of SO2 and air mixture, however the temperature is generally between 600-700oC which gives an indication to the strong exothermic nature of the reaction. This SO2 and air mixture is subsequently cooled to a temperature of around 420oC by using an indirect cooling air cooler.

The converter tower is the region in which the SO2 is converted into SO3. This tower is packed with 4 beds of V2O5 catalyst on a silica carrier. This reaction again is highly exothermic and for this reason requires immediate cooling while the process gas flows through the 4 sections of the converter tower using again a indirect air cooler system. Due to the low air due point used in the process, some sulphuric acid mist has been known to condense following the converter tower and cooling of process reactants and occurs at temperatures of around 45-50oc. This highly reactive sulphuric acid mist must be removed before the sulphonation reaction can continue as it affects the quality of the subsequent sulphonation reaction. The removal is done through a highly efficient demister which is introduced to the reaction process before the actual sulphonation reaction is progressed. After the process that occurs in the reactor is complete, the SO3 exhausted gas is separated from the organic acid. The gas which is produced and at this stage is referred to as the exhaust gas contains a mixture of un-reacted SO3, a small quantity of SO2 that failed to convert, and some entrained organic acid. This has to be purified before the following step can entail which is the emission to ambient atmosphere. The electrostatic precipitator is applied to separate the SO3/H2SO4 and organic aerosol from the exhaust gas flow. The depletion of un-reacted SO2 and traces of SO3 occurs using scrubbers that contain dilute caustic solution, thus producing a mixed sulphite and sulphate solution. This SO3-air mixture is then used to sulphonate linear alkylbenzne where sulphur trioxide acts as the sulphonating agent. For this process, commercially, both continuous and batch processes can be used depending on the quantity of the product that is required. One advantage the SO3-air route has over other methods is that it is easier to produce lightercolored sulfonic acids. it obvious that as cleaning products lighter coloured detergents would be preferred to be used. Also, fewer by-products such as sodium sulphates are produced by using this method. Sodium sulphates are a problem especially when it comes to liquid formulation as it reduces solubility. Industries that produce LABS prefer this method as their product can be sold for either use (powder or liquid form) therefore attracting a wider market and increasing sales chances. The SO3 is produced by the method mentioned earlier; this resultant 15% SO3 stream is then reacted with linear alkyl benzene stream. One variation of the batch process over other processes is that this process uses a SO3-SO2 mixture whereby the SO2 acts as a dilutent for the SO3. The SO2 also acts as a solvent for the reaction as well as a refrigerant so that the reaction can be carried out at low temperatures. This process requires to be mixed well, and also the heat requires to be removed constantly to avoid oxidation and charring of the reactant products which would result in dark-coloured products. The reaction mixture gets used up during the end of the reaction. The products are then separated from the air and the very small amount of remaining SO3 which are removed. Water is added to achieve the hydrolysis of any alkyl benzene sulfonic acid anhydrides that may be present in the product mixture. In the continuous reaction process the colour of the final product can be improved by creating a product with a lighter colour through carefully controlling and adjusting to a desired level, when required to do so, the reaction temperatures.