Increased awareness of climate change is changing consumer perceptions. End-consumers now recognise that to significantly reduce damage to the environment we need to reconsider daily activities and the utilities that are used. Consequently, there is growing demand from consumers for laundry detergents that minimise energy and water consumption, and reduce damage to the environment caused by carbon emissions.
Anders Lund, global marketing director at Novozymes, explains: ”Consumers are demanding detergent products that save energy, water and electricity without compromising performance. Enzymes can provide these savings and present brand-building opportunities for our customers. Adding enzymes to a detergent can support five powerful brand claims:
- Lower wash temperatures
- Shorter wash cycles
- Reduced water consumption
- Reduced energy consumption
- Fewer chemical ingredients.“
A recent report by Euromonitor entitled Stimuli to Growth revealed that consumers are demanding ‘natural’ products that match the performance of known brands and have greater convenience.
Lower wash temperatures with better performance
By adding enzymes to detergents it is possible to reduce wash temperatures without compromising performance.
Novozymes conducted a study to investigate the additional benefits of adding further enzymes to a standard detergent. A European standard detergent containing 0.4% Savinase® 8 T was compared to the same detergent with an increased dosage of enzymes. Enzymes that were designed for cold-water washing, including a lipase, protease and amylase, were added to the standard European detergent at two dosages (0.2% Lipex® 100 T, 0.3% Stainzyme® 12 T, 0.5% Polarzyme® 12 T; and 0.6% Lipex 100 T, 0.8% Stainzyme 12 T, 1.1% Polarzyme 12 T). The comparisons took place at 30°C and 40°C on enzyme-sensitive stains. The detergent with the lower concentration of additional enzymes performed better at 30°C than the European standard detergent at both 30°C and 40°C (see figure). The addition of higher quantities of enzymes gave even better performance than the detergent with the lower dose of enzymes, and was significantly better than the standard detergent, even at 40°C. The study showed that the addition of extra enzymes can enhance the performance of an already high-performing enzyme detergent, even at a lower temperature, and that at higher enzyme concentrations the performance is even better.
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“Enzymes can replace expensive chemicals in detergents, allowing a reduction in washing temperatures without compromising detergent performance,“ says Anders Lund. |
Shorter wash cycles and reduced water consumption
Adding enzymes to detergents can improve washing performance, which means wash cycles can be shortened. A washing machine accounts for approximately 22% of total water consumption in the average household, and the average washing machine consumes between 45 and 49 litres of water for each wash cycle.
Switching to shorter wash cycles can also save valuable water as fewer rinses are used. Shorter cycles could save between 5 and 10 litres of water per wash. This in turn reduces the requirement for energy, as less water needs to be heated, providing another brand claim.
Reduced energy consumption
How much of a difference can adding enzymes to a detergent make to the amount of energy consumed when washing laundry? Heating water for the washing machine is one of the biggest uses of electricity in the average household. Approximately 80% of the electricity used for laundry is used in heating the washing water. If every European household washed their laundry at 30°C instead of 40°C, electricity bills would be reduced by 30%, which would contribute towards reducing carbon emissions. If this initiative was completed across Europe, savings would be made on electricity bills and two major power plants would become redundant. A minimal amount of energy is required to produce enzymes, and when this is compared to the amount of energy saved by washing at 30°C, carbon emissions are reduced by approximately 100 g per wash.
Novozymes has been conducting Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), which compare the environmental impact of an existing practice with an alternative practice that provides the same user benefits. The results from LCAs have shown that for every kilo of enzyme there is a net downstream reduction of 100 kilos of carbon emissions. With 130,000 tons of Novozymes enzymes reaching the market each year, this results in an annual total net reduction of 13 million tons of carbon. This reduction represents 100% of Denmark’s obligation to reduce carbon emissions to fulfil the requirements of the Kyoto agreement.
Fewer chemical ingredients
Government programmes are raising awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency. As initiatives to reduce carbon emissions are implemented, it will become more expensive to consume energy and continue practices that result in high carbon emissions. Detergent raw materials that are derived from oil have experienced large price increases recently. Raw materials that are not oil-derived have not experienced the same price increases. In addition, some products, such as chlorine bleach, are not perceived as environmentally friendly in many developed markets and are reducing in popularity.
Enzymes provide an alternative to oil-derived chemicals and other products that are not environmentally friendly. Enzymes can match these chemicals in terms of performance and convenience, and are kinder to the environment. A study conducted by an independent market research institute in Brazil, Laboratório do Consumidor, assessed consumer preferences of an existing detergent compared to the existing detergent reformulated with an enzyme. Not only did consumers prefer the enzyme-reformulated detergent, it was also cheaper to produce compared to the original detergent formulation, which contained oil-derived ingredients. Adding an enzyme to a detergent could save production costs by reducing the amount of expensive oil-derived chemicals, while potentially improving consumer perception of the product.
Brand-building opportunities
The Euromonitor report predicted that matching consumer demands for products that perform, are convenient to use and are kind to the environment would provide an opportunity for growth in the market.
Enzymes provide brand-building opportunities which match current consumer demands. If an existing detergent includes an enzyme, this one key ingredient can provide five powerful brand claims that can be passed on to the consumer.
The use of additional enzymes boosted the performance of a standard enzyme containing detergent on enzyme-sensitive stains so much that wash temperatures could be lowered by 10°C while maintaining and even enhancing performance.
