Study on the Surface Activity of Rhamnolipid (RL) and Function of RL in Liquid Detergent

Abstract

Surface activities including CMC, surface tension, foaming power etc. of the rhamnolipid (RL), a biosurfactant fermented by microorganism were investigated. Both the RL and liquid detergent contained RL showed a good surface activity. For the detergency test, the liquid detergent with RL showed a slightly better performance than that of using an fatty acid. However for the foaming profile, the liquid detergent with RL exhibited a lot of foam volume and the suppression of the rinsing and foaming during rinsing cycles with the RL was not seen. Therefore it can be concluded that RL can be used as a main surfactant or co-surfactant in liquid detergents without functions of foaming suppression or rinse-aid.