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Chemistry In Household Cleaning Products

March 8th, 2010

Household Cleaners - The Chemicals Within

household cleaners For many decades, the chemistry in household cleaning products was ignored. So long as the product did the job, the "chief domestic engineer" was satisfied. Then came reports from water treatment plants that groundwater was loaded with certain chemicals like lye, ammonia, phosphates and chlorine. The understanding of how the chemistry in household cleaning products affects the natural ecological balance has grown enormously in the past four or five decades. As an example, the simple act of using a cleanser to scour the kitchen sink may seem rather innocuous to most people. Check the ingredients in cleanser and in most cases, one of the main ingredients is chlorine. Chlorine contains sodium hydrochloride and parts peroxide. Chlorine has gaseous elements that can be lethal if large quantities are released into the atmosphere. In cleaning products, chlorine "bleaches" surfaces in order to remove stains. One household using a chlorine cleanser to clean a sink multiplied by millions adds up to heavy particulate of chlorine in water flushed to sewer systems that must be filtered out in a water treatment system to return it to safe levels for human contact or consumption.

Natural Cleaning Products

natural cleaning products Using the same hypothetical kitchen sink that is deeply pitted and stained with an eco-friendly cleanser like those containing natural ingredients, biodegradables with lower oxygen contents create less harm to ecological balance. Ironically, many of these eco-friendly ingredients have been in use prior to harmful chemicals in newer products. One well-known kitchen cleanser, no longer available, had a high content of simple ash that worked reliably and was safe to the environment. Still others, had natural bleaching ingredients such as lemon or other citrus-based components.