Abstract

Washing laundry at low temperature of only 30 °C or even 20 °C has big advantages: the significantly lower energy requirement benefits the consumer as well as the environment. In the meantime, single-dose liquid laundry detergents – so-called caps or pouches – are available that provide very good washing performances despite the low washing temperature. The sales growth for these products is especially large in the European market because caps are very easy and convenient to use by the consumer. The innovative caps contain highly concentrated formulations. This results in less weight, volume, and packaging, which is appealing to the consumer. All these properties are an excellent match for the e-commerce trend. In this context, BASF has formulated and tested laundry detergents that significantly improve the washing performance in the low temperature range. This article reviews Lavergy® Pro 104 L, an enzyme that belongs to the class of proteases, Sokalan® HP 20, a polymer that prevents graying and has a synergistic cleaning effect, as well as the rheological additive Rheovis® AT 120. With these products, BASF offers a system solution that achieves excellent results.