New household detergent based on AOS

Abstract The synthetic detergent industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Japan. Its production, together with soap, is estimated to be almost 2 billion pounds in 1970. In addition to this increased production, quality modification in terms of biodegradability is now being undertaken. Alpha olefin sulfonate (AOS) has been known since the 1930's, but only within the last two years has it been highlighted for commercial interest as a detergent material due to progress in sulfonation technology as well as commercial availability of alpha olefins. To make use of AOS as an active ingredient for formulation of heavy duty household granules, several properties of AOS itself or of the built detergent were studied in comparison with linear alkylate sulfonate (LAS), alkylbenzene sulfonate (ABS) and alcohol sulfate (AS). AOS was proved to be a potentially economical detergent material having as good performance and better biological properties than LAS or AS and better biodegradability than LAS. It has been marketed since 1967 in Japan as the first AOS‐based household heavy duty granular detergent. It has been accepted by the housewives as the most efficient detergent and has become the best selling brand.