Sylvester Keal Product Brief

TV adverts try to sell us many different types and brands of laundry detergent, both powder and liquid. Here we seek to cut through the marketing to identify what makes up an effective laundry detergent system.


Q: What is in a laundry detergent?
A: Many different components, and it varies from product to product, but some of the key elements are described below.

1. Surfactants remove dirt from fabrics and help to suspend it in the water.
2. Alkalis are used to improve soil and stain removal but need to be well controlled and are generally not welcome in domestic or care home environments where health and safety is a priority.
3. Enzymes are present in ‘Bio’ products and are very effective at breaking down food, blood and similar stains at low temperatures. This makes them very valuable in the care home environment where these types of stain are common.
4. Phosphates are used as an efficient way to improve soil removal and suspension. Seen as environmentally unfriendly in some countries they can actually be used perfectly safely in areas covered by mains sewage, modern effluent plants a designed to cope with them.
5. Optical brightening agents (OBAs) are used to make whites look brighter and whiter.

With the exception of alkalis, all the above are contained in Sylvester Keal Aquazime Biological  Laundry Detergent  which is specially formulated to be highly effective in the modern OPL environment.

Q: What do other laundry products do?
A: They serve various purposes which are described below.

Destainers (also called bleaches) are used to removed stains from laundry, they generally do this by releasing oxygen in the wash process but their use must be well controlled so consult your Sylvester Keal representative for advice. Used incorrectly they can cause fabric damage. Ask for Aquaboost Destainer.

Fabric Conditioners (or softeners) like Aquasoft Laundry Softener are used in the final rinse of the laundry process to impart a soft feel and pleasant perfume to the linen. Overuse can result in a loss of absorbency in towels.