Anyone Want To Try Making High Efficiency Detergent?

[Grandmotherbear]

High Effeciecy Laundry Deterergent Ingredients In Order Of Listing (Equator Brand)
1. SODIUM CARBONATE (washing soda)
2.SODIUM SULFATE (What is This an Analog To?)
3. SODIUM bORAX (Obviously- 20 mule Team Borax)
4. Sodium Alkyl aryl sulfonate (?) Is this something found in shampoos)
5. Linear acohol ethoxylate (?????)
6. Coconut diethanolamide (Ok, essential cocnut oil, maybe?)

Soapmakers and chemists- You are more than welcome to translate into regular speech!

So I have in the past made the homemade washing detergent. But this HE stuff is a challenge. I have the borax and the washing soda. Wa thinking about shaving a bar of coconut castile soap into it also, BUT WHAT is SODIUM SULFATE? Is that "Flowers" of Sulfur? Should have that from my hiking days as a leftover- somewhere.
The equator HE detergent costs $25 a box. Each box lasts about a year - longer in my case - but that is why I'm interested in seeing if this can be done homemade.

[sylvar]

SODIUM SULFATE - Glade carpet deoderizer is almost 100% sodium sulfate. Its a carrier for the perfume.

Edited to add: Sorry, I was ahead of myself...Hit the submit too quickly. Sodium Sulfate is a filler. It doesn't add anything useful.

[Cyngbaeld]

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/s5022.htm

Not sure I'd want to mess with it.

[Lawbag]

Now isn't this funny (not): "As part of good industrial and personal hygiene and safety procedure, avoid all unnecessary exposure to the chemical substance and ensure prompt removal from skin, eyes and clothing."

So why is it used in laundry detergent?

[Grandmotherbear]

Perhaps as a germicide/miteicide? Or perhaps to "bulk up" the contents of the box? Or perhaps to anhance deoderizer effects of Borax?

[dlangland]

My oldest daughter is a biochemist. I still have all her books upstairs. She is in Africa for 2 yrs. teaching and washing clothes in the river with rocks. She might get a kick out of me e-mailing her this list of ingredients, but African internet service runs irregularily, so I don't know when I will get an answer. Hey...I just did it. She'll get a kick out of it. She does like getting mail. I'll let you know when she responds.

[dlangland]

Ah, got my reply. Not a good day to be discussing anything to do with water, laundry, much less chemical soap ingredients with my budding chemist who replied she is just cranky because her area has been totally without water for over 4 days, and when they do laundry by hand with the rocks, they now carry water on their heads obtained from emergency storage tanks, they must boil drinking water, and their goats are drought-starved...best if we don't know anymore. She did say was if you don't get the ratios absolutely correct, you will be guaranteed not just health problems, but ruined laundry... Stick to lard which doesn't involve laypeople mixing and matching chemicals. I rather thought that is what she would say. But, she invites anyone who is into roughing it join her in drought-sticken Namibia.

[Grandmotherbear]

Thank you for the research! (Why don't you send your daughter a washboard from www.columbuswashboard.com?) I guess I will just try to do my regular homemade detergent with an increase in the borax and the washing (sal) soda...

Instructions
Grate 1/2 bar fels naptha os castile soap into a pot you will never again use for any other purpose Add 1 to 2 cups water, melt and stir frequently.

Turn into a bucket (I used the cat litter buckets once emptied)
Stir in 2 gallons VERY HOT water
Add 2 cups Borax and 2 cups Washing (sal) soda (also known as sodium carbonate)
Stir well let sit overnight
You will get a liquid and solid - needs to be stirred up prior to use.
I added a few drops lavender essential oil I had sitting around...

[dlangland]

Ooh, Grandma, you are good. I've been trying to think of Christmas ideas. It averages 8 wks. to get a package there. Thank you.