Modelling the whiteness of the textiles during the washing process

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Bueno Romo, Laura (2019). Modelling the whiteness of the textiles during the washing process. University of Birmingham. D.Eng.

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Abstract

Household appliances comprise a wide range of equipment such as cooling appliances (e.g. refrigerators, freezers), cleaning appliances (e.g. washing machines, dishwashers) or air conditioning appliances such as heaters or fans. The purpose of these appliances is to provide comfort and save domestic labour to the users. However, they have a very significant impact on the environment, consuming over 600 TWh of electricity per year in the European Union alone (Bertoldi et al., 2001). In an effort to reduce the environmental impact (reduced water, temperature, product dosage), while meeting cleaning standards, new molecules and improved ways to formulate them are being continuously developed. The present work aims at developing a model that predicts the whiteness of the fabrics at the end of the wash in order to enable the optimisation of detergent formulations under stressed washing conditions.

A mechanistic model for the whiteness of the fabrics, which combines both the physical and chemical transformations that take place during the wash, has been developed. The model takes into account the (i) removal of soils from the textiles structure during the wash, (ii) the soil suspension and redeposition processes on the textiles, as well as other non-molecular actives present in the wash liquor such as the fabric enhancer, and (iii) the deposition and retention of the molecular actives that promote the enhancement of the final whiteness of the textiles, such as the fluorescent whitening agents and hueing dyes.

For that purpose, new experimental techniques have been developed in parallel to the model in order to study each of these transformations individually and provide the required model inputs and outputs. More specifically, new methods to track stain removal and deposition of actives and soils in real time during the wash cycle have been developed. This allows to ultimately generate a mechanistic model able to predict the performance of each of the actives under consideration (chemical component) under different wash consumer habits (physical component) that determine the mechanical action and the transport of actives during the wash. Finally, all the different technology models are combined into an integrated model that predicts the cleaning and whiteness of the fabrics, which is validated across a range of real consumer conditions where all the key physico-chemical transformations take place simultaneously during the wash.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > D.Eng.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > D.Eng.

Supervisor(s):