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Understanding Interactions of Surfactants and Enzymes: Impact of Individual Surfactants on Stability and Wash Performance of Protease Enzyme in Detergents

  • Hendrik Hellmuth and Michael Dreja
Published/Copyright: August 27, 2016
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Tenside Surfactants Detergents
From the journal Tenside Surfactants Detergents Volume 53 Issue 5

Abstract

Enzymes and surfactants are both essential ingredients that determine the performance of modern laundry detergents. We have conducted an investigation of the interaction of surfactants and enzymes under laundry detergent application conditions in order to understand the influence of individual ingredients and to optimize detergent performance. We can show that for a given protease enzyme, individual surfactants in a constant detergent matrix have a significant impact on relevant stability and performance parameter. While certain anionic surfactants like e.g. linear alkylbenzene sulfonate show strong protease inactivation, nonionic surfactants did only show slight inactivation over time. On the other hand, proteolytic performance of protease on test stains was most driven by fatty alcohol ether sulfate. Knowledge about the impact of individual surfactants on proteases will enable the best choice of ingredients for mixed surfactant systems with optimized enzyme performance and stability.

Kurzfassung

Enzyme und Tenside sind essentielle Bestandteile, die die Leistung moderner Waschmittel mitbestimmen. Es wurde eine Untersuchung der Wechselwirkungen von Tensiden und Enzymen unter den typischen Anwendungsbedingungen von Waschmitteln durchgeführt, um zu klären wie sich die individuellen Inhaltsstoffe auf die Waschleistung auswirken. Es zeigt sich, dass für eine gegebene Protease individuelle Tenside in einer konstanten Waschmittelmatrix einen deutlichen Einfluss auf relevante Stabilitäts- und Leistungsparameter haben. Während bestimmte anionische Tenside wie lineares Alkylbenzolsulfonat starke Inaktivierung der Protease bewirken, zeigen nichtionische Tenside im Laufe der Zeit nur geringe Inaktivierung. Die proteolytische Leistung der Protease auf Testflecken wird am stärksten von Fettalkoholethersulfat beeinflusst. Die Kenntnis der Effekte einzelner Tenside auf Protease ermöglicht die Auswahl der am besten geeigneten Inhaltstoffe gemischter Tensidsysteme mit optimaler Enzymstabilität und Waschleistung.

Key words: Detergents; surfactants; enzymes; stability; interaction
Stichwörter: Waschmittel; Tenside; Enzyme; Stabilität; Wechselwirkung
*Correspondence address, Dr. Michael Dreja, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Henkelstraße 67, 40589 Düsseldorf, Germany, Tel.: +49-2117975592, Fax: +49-21179815592, E-Mail:

Dr. Michael Dreja (born in 1970) studied chemistry at the University of Cologne, Germany and obtained his PhD in 1998 in physical chemistry with a thesis on polymerization in microemulsions. After postdoctoral research at the University of Washington, Seattle, he joined the Corporate Research department of Henkel KGaA in 1999. He worked in various positions in product development, including 2 years with the Dial Corporation – A Henkel Company in Scottsdale, AZ, USA. Since 2011, he is heading the International Research in Henkel's R&D Laundry & Home Care business. He is author of 50+ patents and a board member of the subgroup “Chemie des Waschens” in the German Chemical Society (GDCh).

Dr. Hendrik Hellmuth (born in 1978) studied biotechnology at the University of Braunschweig, Germany and obtained his PhD in 2008 with Prof. J. Seibel and Prof. K. Buchholz. He worked at Henkel AG & Co. KGaA in the Corporate Research department and later in the International Research group of the Laundry & Home Care department where he took care of enzyme design and characterization. Since late 2013, he was responsible for the development and performance testing of new surfactant raw materials for laundry and home care products. As of April 2016, he is employed with AB Enzymes GmbH in Darmstadt, Germany.

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Received: 2016-03-30
Revised: 2016-05-20
Published Online: 2016-08-27
Published in Print: 2016-09-15

© 2016, Carl Hanser Publisher, Munich

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Contents/Inhalt
  2. Contents
  3. Review
  4. Water and Energy Consumption in Domestic Laundering Worldwide – A Review
  5. Laundry Washing: New Learning and Global Relevance
  6. Stock Model Based Bottom-up Accounting for Washing Machines: Worldwide Energy, Water and Greenhouse Gas Saving Potentials 2010–2030
  7. Washing Expectations in Domestic Laundering – Consumer Behavior in Mexico
  8. Differentiated Evaluation of Washing Performance in Washing Machines of Test Stain Strips as a Function of Temperature, Washing Duration and Load Size
  9. Textile Quality Depletion due to Household Machine Wash – Ways to Measure and Impacts of Wash Duration and Temperature on Textiles
  10. New Evaluation Method of Cleaning Performance for Washing Machines
  11. Wool Wash
  12. Wool Wash: Technical Performance and Consumer Habits
  13. Dishwashing
  14. Potentials and Impacts of Low Temperature Electric Household Dishwashing
  15. Effects of Relevant Detergent Components on the Cleaning Performance in Low Temperature Electric Household Dishwashing
  16. Novel Measuring Methods
  17. Revealing Detergent Efficiency and Mechanism by Real-Time Measurement Using a Novel and Tailored QCM-D methodology
  18. Hygiene
  19. Microbicidal Action of Heat, Detergents and Active Oxygen Bleach as Components of Laundry Hygiene
  20. Detergents
  21. Understanding Interactions of Surfactants and Enzymes: Impact of Individual Surfactants on Stability and Wash Performance of Protease Enzyme in Detergents
https://doi.org/10.3139/113.110447
Keywords for this article
Detergents; surfactants; enzymes; stability; interaction

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Contents/Inhalt
  2. Contents
  3. Review
  4. Water and Energy Consumption in Domestic Laundering Worldwide – A Review
  5. Laundry Washing: New Learning and Global Relevance
  6. Stock Model Based Bottom-up Accounting for Washing Machines: Worldwide Energy, Water and Greenhouse Gas Saving Potentials 2010–2030
  7. Washing Expectations in Domestic Laundering – Consumer Behavior in Mexico
  8. Differentiated Evaluation of Washing Performance in Washing Machines of Test Stain Strips as a Function of Temperature, Washing Duration and Load Size
  9. Textile Quality Depletion due to Household Machine Wash – Ways to Measure and Impacts of Wash Duration and Temperature on Textiles
  10. New Evaluation Method of Cleaning Performance for Washing Machines
  11. Wool Wash
  12. Wool Wash: Technical Performance and Consumer Habits
  13. Dishwashing
  14. Potentials and Impacts of Low Temperature Electric Household Dishwashing
  15. Effects of Relevant Detergent Components on the Cleaning Performance in Low Temperature Electric Household Dishwashing
  16. Novel Measuring Methods
  17. Revealing Detergent Efficiency and Mechanism by Real-Time Measurement Using a Novel and Tailored QCM-D methodology
  18. Hygiene
  19. Microbicidal Action of Heat, Detergents and Active Oxygen Bleach as Components of Laundry Hygiene
  20. Detergents
  21. Understanding Interactions of Surfactants and Enzymes: Impact of Individual Surfactants on Stability and Wash Performance of Protease Enzyme in Detergents
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