Nabion® car shampoo
Nabion® is an all-in-one and eco-friendly builder. It is a fully water-soluble mineral powder composed of white granules made from sodium carbonate and sodium silicate. It complies with the Ecocert standard for eco-detergents.
Nabion® product range was developed for laundry and automatic dishwashing detergents, to deliver in three key areas:
- Alkalinity to remove soil
- Cations (Ca and Mg) removal to reduce water hardness, thus enhancing the detergent efficiency and preventing from scale deposit
- Dispersing power (no re-deposition of scale or dirt particles)
Detergent efficiency of a car shampoo containing Nabion®
As Nabion® enhances soil removal from dishes or fabrics, it can be used for other cleaning application such as car shampoo. Its performances on dirt particles removal from car (body and rims) is evaluated with a powder formulation. A study is carried out to compare the detergent efficiency between a commercial car shampoo powder (benchmark) and a car shampoo powder containing Nabion® 15, F1 (table 1).
Protocol
The tests were done by an independent laboratory: IRFAQ (www.irfaq.com).
The equipment used is the Elcometer 1720 (Picture 1). Each formulation is tested on steel plates with dirt particles: gasoil, mineral oil and carbon black (Picture 2).
The test consists in 4 cycles back and forth with a length of 25cm. Then, the steel plates are rinsed with cold water and dried at room temperature. Each trial is repeated 3 times per formula.
For the benchmark (commercial car shampoo powder) and for F1 formula, an identical sponge is immersed in a water solution containing 2% of the product (water hardness: 35°TH, temperature: 20°C).
Results
The steel plates after cleaning with the formula F1 (Picture 4) are cleaner than steel plates after cleaning with the benchmark (Picture 3).
Conclusions
We notice that:
- Around 60-70% of dirt particles are removed from the steel plates after 4 cycles of cleaning with the benchmark.
- Around 80-90% of dirt particles are removed from the steel plates after 4 cycles of cleaning with the formula F1.
- Detergent efficiency of formula with NabionTM is better than the benchmark.
- There is no abrasion of the steel plates after cleaning.
The study shows that Nabion® is an efficient ingredient to formulate car shampoo powder. It is an alternative to conventional builders such as sodium-tripolyphosphate or soda ash while being eco-friendly.
