Recent Development on Zero-Phosphate Spray Dried Detergent Powders Incorporated with Palm C16 Methyl Ester Sulfonates

Palm C16 methyl ester sulphonate （C16MES）is an anionic surfactant that has the potential as active ingredient in the production of laundry detergent powders. Although C16MES has been successfully applied in the production of high-density laundry detergent powders （HDDP）, it coulingd not be employed directly as it is in the spray drying process for the production of low-density laundry detergent powders （LDDP） without compromising the detergency and other significant properties. This research paper highlights the pilot-scale experimental study, which performed to produce phosphate-free laundry detergent （PFD） powders incorporated with binary anionic surfactants of C16MES and linear alkyl benzene sulphonic acid （LABSA）. Past laboratory experiments revealed that PFD powders resulted from C16MES/LABSA of 50：50 ratio and of pH 7-8 have good detergency stability upon one-week of continuous heating in an oven at 50~C with 85% relative humidity. Based on these laboratory results, subsequent experiments were carded in a 5 kg/hr capacity co-current pilot spray dryer using PFD formulations comprising six different ratios of C16MES/LABSA （0：100, 20：80, 40：60, 80：20 and 100：0） under the same pH condition. Three PFD formulations were selected for further evaluation based on their characteristics in the spray drying process. The cleaning properties and particle properties of the resulting spray dried detergent powders from these selected formulations were analyzed. Based on the overall evaluation, C16MES/LABSA in 40：60 ratio was selected as the ideal PFD formulation. Further tests confirmed that spray dried detergent powder （SDDP） from the ideal formulation has high level of biodegradability （60% in 13 d）, low eco-toxicity properties （LC50 of 11.3 mg/L） and moderate flowability charactedsUcs （Hausner ratio of 1.27 and Carr＇s index of 21.3）.

The flow behavior of powder stearin-based methyl ester sulfonates and the effect of glidant

The preparation and behavior of powder stearin-based methyl ester sulfonates(MES)with the addition of builder as a glidant agent was studied.MES is an anionic surfactant and its performance is equivalent to petroleum-based linear alkylbenzene sulfonates(LAS),the workhorses of the detergent industry.At the same time,zeolites or soda ash were the alternative builders for non-phosphate-based detergent.The behavior of powder MES properties was measured in terms of morphology,particle size,cohesion,caking,and compaction.Before that,these palm stearin-based MES of carbon chain 16–18 with ratios of 98:2,80:20,and 60:40 in flakes were ground using a high shear mixer by 23,000 rpm to produce powder particles.Decreasing the particle size of MES powder can reduce the powder's cohesion,caking,and compaction.The addition of zeolite or soda ash as a glidant in powdered MES can improve the caking behavior.The high stearic in MES greatly influenced getting fine particle powders and required more glidant agents.This powder MES with excellent powder characteristics can perform well as a bio-based cleaning product.

Ba(SO_(3)CH_(3))-(2):A Deep-Ultraviolet Transparent Crystal with Excellent Optical Nonlinearity Based on a New Polar Non-π-Conjugated NLO Building Unit SO_(3)CH_(3)^(−)

In this study,the first methyl sulfonate deepultraviolet(DUV)nonlinear optical(NLO)crystal,Ba(SO_(3)CH_(3))_(2),was successfully synthesized with the polar non-π-conjugated tetrahedron,SO_(3)CH_(3)^(−),as a novel DUV NLO building unit.Results showed that Ba(SO_(3)CH_(3))_(2)not only had a very short absorption edge of 159 nm,which is the shortest among reported phase-matchable sulfates or sulfonates,but also exhibited excellent optical properties.(Powder X-ray diffractionwas ca.1.5×KH_(2)PO_(4)and birefringence was 0.04 at 589.3 nm.)It also exhibited high thermal stability and remarkable stability against air and moisture.Additionally,bulk Ba(SO_(3)CH_(3))_(2)crystal could be obtained conveniently from a simple solution evaporation process.Therefore,Ba(SO_(3)CH_(3))_(2)should have great potential as a DUV NLO crystal in the near future.

Developing herbicide resistant Sri-lankan rice(Oryza sativa L.)varieties:An application of Self Organizing Map

Application of high concentrations of post-emergent broad spectrum systemic herbicide,glyphosate is prevalently used to control rice weeds in Asian countries including Sri Lanka.Off target movements of glyphosate adversely affect growth of the rice plant reducing the yield.Inducing herbicide resistance(HR)in cultivated rice is a novel approach to enhance selectivity and crop safety.Studies on induced HR in Sri Lankan rice varieties are limited and studies are required to include HR rice in a cropping program.Ethyl Methyl Sulfonate(EMS),a chemical mutagen is used for functional mutations.The present study is an attempt of raising HR rice lines through conventional breeding methods.A suitable glyphosate concentration was determined by a preliminary study using five rice varieties(Bg300,Bg352,At362,Bg379-2 and H4)and varying glyphosate concentrations(0.25 g/l,0.5 g/l,1 g/l,2 g/l and 3 g/l).Resistance percentage
50%was arbitrary considered as resistant varieties.Complete Randomized Design with three replicates was used in the experiment.Agromorphological characters were recorded for the survived plants.Twelve varieties(Bg359,At362,Bw364,Ld365,Bg366,Bg369,Bg379-2,Bg403,Bg454“Pachcha perumal”,“Kalu heenati”and“Kurulu thuda”)showed natural resistance to glyphosate and fourteen varieties have increased resistance after mutagenesis by EMS(S0-First generation).HR resistance percentage of S1(Second generation)plants was similar to S0 plants indicating HR was transferred to new generation.Conventional statistics was supplemented with Self-Organizing Maps(SOM)to visualize variation of agro-morphological characters under treatment.The result proved that EMS application is an effective method in breeding new rice germplasm with HR and SOM is an important tool for visualizing the multi-dimensional dataset in lower dimensions.