Comparative Studies on Phosphate and Non-phosphate Biodegradable Synthetic Detergent from Lokoja Quartzite

Surfactants and builders are the two most important ingredients in laundry, household and personal- care cleaning products. Based on the environmental consideration various detergent builders ranging from inorganic, organic and polymeric types have been developed Sodium metasilicate an inorganic builder is an effective and quick-dissolving non-phosphate builder in detergent formulation that can replace the sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) which is not environmentally friendly because phosphates are excellent fertilizer for algae, bacteria, and other flora and fauna in rivers, lakes and oceans, making them bloom at very rapid rates, exhausting the oxygen supply both in the surface and in the bottom layers of water bodies, and killing fish. This phenomenon is called eutrophication. In this studies sodium metasilicate produced from Lokoja quartzite was used as a non- phosphate builder in the formulation of detergents which comprised of a mixture of 20 wt.% surface active agent (LABS) was formulated using 50 wt.% and 80 wt.% sodium meatasilicate (builder) separately, and the results of the properties of phosphate and non-phosphate detergents were compared