Detergents are the main ingredients for a wide range of cleaning products including, dish washers, shampoos, shower gels etc. And, the main component used for making these detergents is crude oil, a fossil fuel that has limited supply. Therefore, during these present times when the world is fighting to preserve non renewable resources; it is time to switch over to sustainable resource for the production of cleansers too. Researchers are already working with active cleaning substances or surfactants, obtained from plant oils and sugar to replace the fossil fuel ingredients.
These fat and dirt removers are currently being produced using a chemical process, and display limited structural diversity, which restricts their application to a handful of products only. Solving this problem is a task that scientists are grappling with.
Researchers from Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have finally come up with an appropriate solution. They have devised biotechnological methods for converting sugar and plant oil into detergents. Fungi and bacteria will be used for fermentation, which will help in mass production. Scientists are also iterating various combinations of oxygen supply, temperature, pH value, etc. for developing the right consistency, which will in turn determine the viability of commercial production.
What will make these products friendly to the environment is that these biological surfactants will be biodegradable, less toxic and yet as much effective in cleansing as any other synthetic detergents. They will also have an increased structural diversity and therefore will find application among a diverse range of products.
Via: Fraunhofer
