Abstract
Laundry industry has traditionally been considered an industry that generates large amounts of wastewater and Volatile Organic Compounds(VOCs). This is still the case until now. Household laundry detergents are produced and distributed within the safety regulations on the amount of harmful substances detected. While industrial laundry detergents are often distributed without safety regulations, and even laundry workers manufacture and use them on their own. This contaminates water and air and also threatens the safety of workers. This study is a basic study for distributing eco-friendly detergents(EFD-A) developed through previous studies to the laundry industry. Safety, washability and wastewater quality of EFD-A are evaluated. Three existing commercial detergents(PD1, PD2, LD4) are also evaluated to compare with EFD-A. The safety of detergents is confirmed by the content of optical brightener, VOCs, and arsenic. Washability is evaluated by the difference in reflectance of washed and unwashed artificial soiled fabrics according to detergent concentration, washing temperature, and washing time. TOC is used as the index of assessing the wastewater quality. The results are as follows; EFD-A doesn't contain the optical brighteners, VOCs, and arsenic. The optimal washing conditions for EFD-A are 3 g/L concentration, 40 ℃ washing temperature, and 30 min washing time. The soil removal efficiency is about 71 %, which was similar to or somewhat superior to that of PD1, PD2, and LD4. TOC is 63.5 %, which is about 15 % lower than the discharge limit. Through this study, the developed detergent EFD-A can be used as a safe and eco-friendly detergent for the human body and the environment.