Why in detergents or cleaners need to add chelating agents?

Nearlly all detergents and cleaners produces are adding different chelating agents in their products currently. So why? Why chelating agents is a necessary and must material in these detergents or cleaners?

Because there are different metal ions in the water that the detergents used ! And these metal ions will place an adverse side effect on these cleaning product!

So how the metal ions in the water affect the formulation of the detergent?

Metal ions in water can significantly affect the stability of detergent formulas, mainly in the following aspects:

1. Degradation of surfactant performance:

Metal ions, especially calcium and magnesium ions in hard water, will combine with anionic surfactants to form insoluble metal salt precipitation, reduce the effective concentration of surfactants, and thus reduce the washing effect and foam generation.

Metal ions will also react with non-ionic surfactants, resulting in reduced solubility or even precipitation, affecting the overall stability of detergents. 

2. Destruction of detergent formula system:

Metal ions may react with certain components in detergents, such as phosphate chelating agents, reducing the effectiveness of chelating agents, making them unable to effectively soften water and affecting the removal of dirt.

Metal ions may cause turbidity, stratification, and even precipitation in detergent systems, reducing the appearance and use of detergents. 

3. Corrosion inhibitor failure:

In metal cleaning agents, the main function of corrosion inhibitors is to form a protective film on the metal surface to prevent metal corrosion. Metal ions may compete with corrosion inhibitors for adsorption on the metal surface, reducing the protective effect of corrosion inhibitors, thereby accelerating metal corrosion.

Some corrosion inhibitors may form complexes with metal ions, causing the corrosion inhibitor to fail and fail to effectively inhibit corrosion. 

4. Affecting the overall performance of detergents:

The above problems caused by metal ions will eventually lead to a decrease in the detergent's decontamination ability, foam performance, system stability and other aspects, affecting the washing effect.

So, in total, we can see the chelating agent really is an very important raw material in the detergent producing. Jining Yulian Chemical Co.,ltd. is a top manufacturer of various chelating agents, we can supply traditional: EDTA/ EDTA 2NA/ EDTA 4NA/ HEDP/ HEDP 2NA/ HEDP 4NA/ DTPA/ DTPA 5NA/ NTA, also we have eco-friendly chelating agents: IDS / GLDA/ MGDA etc for your choose! If have need, feel free to contact us!