Correlations between the Type of Aggregates in the Bulk Phase and the Functionality and Safety of All-Purpose Cleaners

The article shows that the type and concentration of inorganic salt can be translated into the structure of the bulk phase and the performance properties of ecological all-purpose cleaners (APC). A base APC formulation was developed. Thereafter, two types of salt (sodium chloride and magnesium chloride) were added at various concentrations to obtain different structures in the bulk phase. The salt addition resulted in the formation of spherical micelles and—upon addition of more electrolyte—of aggregates having a lamellar structure. The formulations had constant viscosities (ab. 500 mPa·s), comparable to those of commercial products. Essential physical-chemical and performance properties of the four formulations varying in salt types and concentrations were evaluated. It was found that the addition of magnesium salt resulted in more favorable characteristics due to the surface activity of the formulations, which translated into adequately high wettability of the investigated hydrophobic surfaces, and their ability to emulsify fat. A decreasing relationship was observed in foaming properties: higher salt concentrations lead to worse foaming properties and foam stability of the solutions. For the magnesium chloride composition, the effect was significantly more pronounced, as compared to the sodium chloride-based formulations. As far as safety of use is concerned, the formulations in which magnesium salt was used caused a much lesser irritation compared with the other investigated formulations. The zein value was observed to decrease with increasing concentrations of the given type of salt in the composition.