Enzyme-based detergent formulas for fatty soils and hard surfaces in a continuous-flow device

Abstract

The present work analyzes the effect of incorporating a lipolytic enzyme (Lipolase® 100L) into detergent formulas for washing fatty soils on hard surfaces. The experimental device, which is called a “bath-substrate-flow” device, uses a continuous flow on a substrate (glass spheres) soiled with triolein. Washing tests were done using only the enzyme and changing both its concentration and the temperature of the process. The results showed that, in the presence of lipase, soil removal was achieved through three consecutive mechanisms: (i) fundamental removal of the soil by the bath flow through the experimental device; (ii) emulsion of the soil in the washing medium; and (iii) enzymatic hydrolysis of the dispersed soil. Different commercial surfactants were used, and detergency was evaluated in the absence and presence of lipase. The use of surfactant formulas with the lipolytic enzyme showed a positive effect of the enzyme on the detergency values registered with the fatty alcohol ethoxylate surfactants Findet® 10/15 and Findet 1214N/23, and with the anionic surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonate. The commercial surfactants Glucopon® 600, Glucopon 650, Findet 10/18, and Findet Q/21.5NF alone each presented high detergency values for fatty soils, and the effect of the incorporation of the lipase was not significant.