Biodegradable microcapsules for blue dye of whitening laundry detergents

Identifier:  TFM:723

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFM723

Authors:  Tapusa, Diana

Abstract:
The use of microcapsules in home care products as detergents has drawn great attention because of their capacity to improve the properties of the products. In this work it is proposed an encapsulation method of the blue dye. By encapsulating the dye, the intense dark blue color of the detergent will be notably decreased or inexistent making the appearance of the solution cleaner and safer to the consumer’s eye. Hence, these detergents can expand and increase their market that now is dominated by fluorescent whitening agents (FWA), which have the same purpose but are considerably more expensive. Since these microcapsules would be produced at an industrial scale, it is important for them to be biodegradable and have a simple production process. A mixture of calcium alginate and polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) is proposed as shell materials of the core-shell microcapsules. To produce the microspheres, it is proposed to spray the core-shell plus dye mixture into a cross-linking medium. As an encapsulation process, it is proposed a complexation of alginate and photopolymerization of PEGDMA to harden the shell structure. FTIR analysis of the microcapsules can be done to follow the cross-linking reaction.