Reactions in Activated Peroxide Systems and their Influences on Bleaching Performance

Activated peroxide systems are formed by adding so-called bleach activators to an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide, developed in the seventies of the last century for use in the domestic laundry for their high energy efficiency and introduced at the beginning of the 21st century to the textile industry as an approach toward overcoming the extensive energy consumption in bleaching. In activated peroxide systems, bleach activators undergo perhydrolysis to generate more kinetically active peracids that enable bleaching under milder conditions while hydrolysis of bleach activators and decomposition of peracids may occur as side reactions to weaken the bleaching efficiency. This mini-review aims to summarize these competitive reactions in activated peroxide systems and their influence on bleaching performance.