Cleaning Up

Sales of liquid tablet detergents, or liquitabs, grew by 23% in 2015, according to market analyst Euromonitor. While the debate over the safety of liquitabs in households with small children has continued to attract increasing media coverage on both sides of the Atlantic, their convenience has continued to outweigh any safety concerns.

In the US, laundry care sales remained flat in 2015; however, the continuing growth of other laundry boosters helped to drive up sales, although this was offset by the value decline of laundry detergents. Spot and stain removers posted a marginal decline in sales, while colour safe laundry bleach suffered a fall of 6% as many new laundry products feature various components such as bleach in their formulas. These products limit the appeal of standalone boosters and colour safe laundry bleach for many consumers who seek a simplified laundry process.

Liquid and powder detergents have continued to struggle. In 2015, they posted value declines of 2% and 10%, respectively, as popular concentrated formulae have reduced the number of available products. Very few US consumers wash clothing by hand. In 2015, bar detergents used to make homemade automatic detergents, or occasionally for outdoor cleaning, accounted for less than a 1% share of overall laundry detergent value sales.

Growth in individual product categories depends on demographics. As Jamie Rosenberg, global household and personal care analyst at Mintel, pointed out: ‘seniors want independence’, particularly in the developed markets of the US and UK, where just 3% of those over 60 want to live with their children, compared with 32% in India. In addition, more seniors are working, and therefore have less time for cleaning, and there is also a growing ‘grey divorce rate,’ creating more elderly one-person households, he added. Coupled with household tasks becoming harder with age, there is ‘an urgency to deliver ease of use’.

Generally, Rosenberg said, older consumers clean the most frequently and the most thoroughly of any demographic group, but despite the growth in the market, older consumers are less inclined to use wipes, for example. There is, however, a major opportunity for the developing smart appliance sector, particularly as regards ‘smart ordering’ of products as they run low.

Rosenberg also noted that self-cleaning surfaces are also a popular goal for this consumer segment, with a number of recently introduced products claiming to be both water and dirt repellent. Older European consumers want protective coatings the most, ‘but are reluctant to pay more’, he added.
Brands have a major opportunity to fill the needs of the elderly consumers, who represent 21% of the global population, he concluded.

Biological solutions
Quoting singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, Kristofer Friis Gleburg, Novozymes senior marketing director, household care, noted: ‘The times they are a-changing, and biological solutions are part of that change.’  He identified a new consumer group – the seekers – that represents what he described as ‘the conscious consumer’. This group is part of a general trend across generations and consumer segments globally, and their focus is on ‘thinking green’, and a new approach to consumer engagement is needed.

Consumers demand real-time information, and sustainability offered by biological solutions drives consumer engagement. Sustainability is good for business, Gleburg emphasised. Products with sustainable claims on their packaging see a 2% average sales increase, while 5% increases have been recorded for products marketed as sustainable.

The biological solutions Gleburg described are based on enzymes, which can reduce energy consumption, facilitating low-temperature washing; assist in reducing washing cycle times; and lower dosages for increased performance.

Other biological solutions include surfactants based on algal oil, a natural resources that doesn’t compete for food use, according to George Smith, a research fellow with Huntsman. Work at Huntsman has focused on the optimisation of the growth conditions for freshwater algae in laboratory photobioreactors (PBRs) at the company’s Houston facility. The algae selected included Scenedesumus, one of the most common freshwater species; Chlorella vulgaris; Nannochloropsis, which can grow in fresh and brackish water; and Texas Cut and Shoot, an algal species collected from a pond in Smith’s backyard!
This work involved varying the light frequencies and fertiliser concentrations to achieve optimum growth. In order to maximise yields of the required triglycerides, the algae were stressed and the oil extracted using hexane. The oil was used to produce surfactants using low temperature transesterification, a fast process that produced only trace amounts of dioxane and residual ethylene oxide.

Smith said the resulting products were light-coloured, low viscosity liquids with no gel phase on dilution in water. Their surface properties and detergency appear similar to conventional natural alcohol ethoxylates. Further work is aimed at optimising the molecular structures of the surfactants for different applications, including detergency, rheology and foam control.

Antimicrobial handwashes
No event concerning cleaning products would be complete without a look at antibacterial hand washes, which have been the subject of much controversy, especially in the US where the debate over the use of Triclosan has kept industry, NGOs and regulators occupied for a number of years.

In 2016, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) was trying to finalise controls for topical antiseptic drug products, noted Francis Kruszewski, from the American Cleaning Institute (ACI). A so-called ‘tentative final monograph’ (TFM) for consumer wash products was published in December 2013, and a final rule was published in September 2016, effective from September 2017. It lists 22 active ingredients that are permissible for hand and body washes used in homes, retail food outlets and non-healthcare institutions.

Further TFMs cover healthcare antiseptic hand wash and rub products, listing 28 permissible ingredients for healthcare applications like surgical hand scrubs and washes, published in April 2015, effective from January  2019; and consumer antiseptic rubs, listing just three ingredients for use in hand sanitisers and antibacterial wipes, published in June 2016, effective April 2020. Kruszewski also highlighted that a fourth TFM covering food handler antiseptic products is on the way. The ACI is working with stakeholders to engage with the FDA, he added, as well as pooling available information to fill data gaps covering safety and efficacy.

Kruszewski warned delegates in Washington that the result of these TFMs becoming effective could mean some antibacterial products would no longer be available to consumers over the counter.