HAPPY DALE ONLINE SANITARIUM

Laundry Stain Removers

 

Most products we use accomplish the job through either dissolution, enzymatic action or oxidation. These natural and powerful processes are intensified through the contact application of these agents.

Removing set in stains on our toughest laundry disasters is a slow but worthwhile procedure that we endure to keep things clean and crisp at Happy Dale.

 

Dissolution:

Surfactants allow water to wet fabrics better, and they can surround molecules in a stain and carry them into solution.

Soap is a surfactant; so are the sulfonates listed in the ingredients for many spot removers and carpet cleaners. A surfactant molecule contains long hydrocarbon tail with a small polar head. The hydrocarbon tail of the soap molecules surround (dissolve) grease, while the polar ends dissolve in water; the net result is that the grease/soap complex is water soluble and gets washed away. This process is called 'emulsification'. You can see it working if you add soap to some oil-and-vinegar salad dressing. The vinegar layer of the dressing gets cloudy because the soap has surrounded little droplets of oil and prevents them from rejoining the oil layer.

Sulfonates are more often used than soap these days. They work better in 'hard' water, which causes soap molecules to precipitate from solution (forming bathtub rings and 'soap scum').

 

Oxidation:

Attack the stain directly. Oxidizing agents like chlorine bleach, peroxides, and borax attack the links that hold some long-chain organic molecules in stains together. The little fragments that are left are water-soluble, and they wash away.

Some cleaning agents contain enzymes that speed up reactions that digest proteins or fats in stains.

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Enzymatic:

Eat the stain. The use of enzymes for targeted stains is an established procedure here at Happy Dale. Their use is similar to lunch time here.  They simply eat the stains by targeting the organic matter and digesting it in their tiny stomachs.  The byproducts are washed down the drain. 

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