Now an integral part of all washing powders, optical brighteners are dyestuffs absorbed by textile fibres from solution but not subsequently removed in rinsing. They convert invisible ultraviolet light into visible light on the blue side of the spectrum, causing the fibre to reflect a greater proportion of visible light and making it appear brighter. Furthermore, since the tone of the extra light reflected is on the blue side of the spectrum, this blue-violet tinge will complement any yellowishness present on the fibre to make it look whiter as well as brighter. The chemical structures of optical brightening agents are complicated; many formulas are trade secrets.

Although the action of optical brighteners resembles old-style laundry blueing in some ways, the two methods must not be confused. In the old method, a blue dye or pigment is adsorbed onto the fibre; this blue tends to absorb yellow light falling on it, reflecting light richer in blue. With blueing, however, the fabric absorbs some of the light falling on it and hence reflects less light than it receives. Thus, the fabric looks whiter, not brighter.

Sequestering or chelating agents

EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) or its sodium salt has the property of combining with certain metal ions to form a molecular complex that locks up or chelates the calcium ion so that it no longer exhibits ionic properties. In hard water, calcium and magnesium ions are thus inactivated, and the water is effectively softened. EDTA can form similar complexes with other metallic ions.

Abrasives

Water-insoluble minerals such as talc, diatomaceous earth, silica, marble, volcanic ash (pumice), chalk, feldspar, quartz, and sand are often powdered and added to soap or synthetic detergent formulations. Abrasives of an organic nature, such as sawdust, are also used.

Boiling process

Still widely used by small and medium-sized producers is the classical boiling process. Its object is to produce neat soap in purified condition, free from glycerin. Neat soap is the starting material for making bars, flakes, beads, and powders. The boiling process is conducted in a series of steps called changes; these occur in the kettle (called the pan in Great Britain).

In the first step, melted fats are placed in the kettle, and caustic soda solution is added gradually. The whole mass is then boiled with open steam from perforated coils within the kettle. The saponification reaction now takes place; the mass gradually thickens or emulsifies as the caustic soda reacts with the fat to produce both soap and glycerin.

To separate the glycerin from the soap, the pasty boiling mass is treated with brine. Contents of the kettle salt out, or separate, into an upper layer that is a curdy mass of impure soap and a lower layer that consists of an aqueous salt solution with the glycerin dissolved in it. Thus the basis of glycerin removal is the solubility of glycerin and the insolubility of soap in salt solution. The slightly alkaline salt solution, termed spent lye, is extracted from the bottom of the pan or kettle and subsequently treated for glycerin recovery.

The grainy, curdy mass of soap remaining in the kettle after the spent lye has been removed contains any unsaponified fat (usually traces that escaped reaction during saponification) plus dirt and colouring matter present in the original oils. During the next step, called strong change, strong caustic solution is added to the mass, which is then boiled to remove the last of the free fat.

The final stage, called pitching and settling, transforms the mass into neat soap and removes dirt and colouring matter. After the strong change, the soap may be given one or more saltwater washes to remove free alkali, or it may be pitched directly. Pitching involves boiling the mass with added water until a concentration is attained that causes the kettle contents to separate into two layers. The upper layer is neat soap, sometimes called kettle soap, of almost constant composition for a given fat (about 70 percent soap, 30 percent water); the lower, called nigre, varies in soap content from 15 percent to 40 percent. Since colouring matter, dirt, salt, alkali, and metal soaps are soluble in nigre but relatively insoluble in neat soap, and since most of the impurities are dense and tend to settle, the nigre layer takes these from the neat soap.