Prediction of the surface tension of surfactant mixtures for detergent formulation using Design Expert software

Abstract  

The formulation of a detergent product is a complicated task which depends on many economical, ecological, and practical parameters. The goal is to achieve a product which will have optimal washing properties and significantly decrease the surface tension. Therefore, prediction of the minimal surface tension of a mixture of four different surfactants can be very beneficial for the industry. In this work this task was performed by using Stat-Ease Design Expert software. This program was successfully applied for prediction of the minimal surface tension and optimization of the composition of different surfactant mixtures. Predicted data were compared with experimental results, and very good correlation was achieved. For further application, more complex optimization procedures could be performed by adding additional parameters to the Design Expert software. Therefore, this program is extremely useful for the laundry industry and could be successfully applied in many other, more complex tasks.