The Demonizing of Petrochemical Surfactants

Surface active agents, synthetic detergents, or just plain soaps are chemically manufactured cleaning compounds. They never existed before in nature.  People have created thousands of these ever since we learned how to manipulate atoms into unique molecular structures.  Ever since we learned that the benzene molecule has a cyclic structure.  Of course the saponification of animal fatty acids with lye has been going on for thousands of years.  

The consequences of making new chemicals that never existed before and heaving them out into the environment, is that we have absolutely no idea in advance the kind of evil they might cause.  But that never stopped people from doing it.

One of the consequences of this kind of behavior is our bodies have become loaded with all kinds of chemicals.  Molecules that it has no use for which it must filter out in some way.  How do they get inside?  Well;...we eat them, breath them, and they actually move right through our skin straight to our blood.  Not to mention they get inside by catching a ride on the backs of or inside the bellies of bacteria as these invade our bodies by crawling inside through every orifice.  Also if such toxic chemicals happen to make it past the protective city walls (cellular membranes) they cause all kinds of havoc.  This is because our cells are highly complex active organizations of molecules. In other words 'molecular machines'.  Once we mess with this molecular machinery the cell dies.  Kill enough cells and the result is tissue necrosis.  Kill enough tissue in a particular organ and we take out that organ.  Knock out the right organ like a heart and WE die. Check out this animated video of the kind of molecular activity that goes on all the time inside of everyone of our trillions of cells.

If you think this video is fascinating I have more.  Check out my other blog www.molecularhealthmedia.com  So yeah.  We now have teflon in our blood, methyl groups that shouldn't be there, and even some hard hitters like 1, 4 dioxane that are left over from the manufacture of the main surfactants in Dawn and many other dish soaps.  So certain dish soaps have 1, 4 dioxane in them?  Yep!  Look at the MSDS for this chemical.  

https://www.nwmissouri.edu/naturalsciences/sds/0-9/1%204-Dioxane.pdf

Now if I haven't made my point at this point that petrochemical surfactants should be demonized (not to mention those based on fluorine chemistry) then check out this fantastic article written by a young woman named Faye.  She went on a safari to locate a few dish soaps that were eco and human friendly.  

http://fromfaye.com/2013/05/04/the-best-eco-friendly-dish-soaps/

Also as most of you know I have a Facebook Group called Glass Smart Products.  The link for it is at the top of this blog. Just click on the Glass Smart logo. I would like to include a recent post from that FB Group by a man named Ewing Sharp.  He is both a Window Cleaner and a sales rep for a company called Young Living that sells essential oils.  Some of these naturally occurring oils (from plants) are actually capable of moving through the cell membrane where they remove toxins, thereby saving our cells from certain death.  Ewing was concerned about the toxic potential of various cleaning products that Window Cleaners use.  Products like Dawn.  So he posted this;...

Henry I stopped using Dawn dish soap for window cleaning this year. The reason is health related, but here's some background on me.

I have worked as a window cleaner for 10 years during college and then for some time after spending a decade teaching science and math to Middle Schoolers. Recently, I found that supporting my own health using essential oils has been a big win. I also started looking at petrochemicals found in common household products to see if there were things I could replace and reduce risks to my health.

I downloaded an App called Think Dirty, which rated Dawn dish soap as a 9 out of 10 on a scale of dirty ingredients. I have some skepticism about this app, but honestly if you research the ingredients in most cleaners they're not without risk. Now I know risk is a part of window cleaning, but my thought was, "if I'm having this on my skin for most of the day and my skin is the bodies biggest organ, why wouldn't I use a product with less risk? But is Dawn or a similar product really a greater health risk? Are petrochemicals being demonized for no good reason?

I know that chemicals are all around us and are frankly found commonly in nature. Are soaps like Dawn being unfairly characterized as unhealthy because they're petrochemically based? I think they likely are to some degree. My hope is to find and use the products that make me feel better when I'm using them. I'll describe what I use and differences I've noticed.

First off I have done mostly residential window cleaning and some large commercial projects using these products. I add a cleaner from Young Living with the following ingredients:

Water, Alkyl Polyglucoside, Sodium Methyl 2-Sulfolaurate, Disodium 2-Sulfolaurate, Thieves [Eugenia Caryophyllus† (Clove) Bud Oil, Citrus Limon† (Lemon) Peel Oil, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum† (Cinnamon) Bark Oil, Eucalyptus Radiata† Leaf Oil, and Rosmarinus Officinalis† (Rosemary) Leaf Oil], and Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate.
†100% pure, therapeutic-grade essential oil

I use a Thieves soap from Young Living with the following ingredients.

Water, Decyl glucoside, Sodium lauroyl lactylate, Lauryl glucoside, Sodium olate, Caprylyl glucoside, Sodium sesquicarbonate, Citrus Limon† (Jade lemon) peel oil, Citrus aurantium bergamia† (Bergamot) peel oil (Furocoumarin-free), Syzygium aromaticum† (Clove) bud oil, Citrus limon† (Lemon) peel oil, Cinnamomum zeylanicum† (Cinnamon) bark oil, Eucalyptus radiata† oil, Rosmarinus officinalis† (Rosemary) leaf oil
†100% pure, therapeutic-grade essential oil

Here's what I've found. The soap and cleaner smell great. I know that the essential oil ingredients are natures immune system for the plants they come from. The oils have many health benefits which I'm personally sold on. The soap does not have great "sudsing action" or glide. On residential work I've learned a few things about getting a polished finish from Joe Hiryak and Jesse Dauzat. I now keep a wad of 4 or 5 pieces of steel wool in my soapy water to scrub glass before squeegeeing. It is great to polish out dirt from exteriors and on interiors I like that I can feel resistance from say, stuck on food on a kitchen window or even smoke from interior glass. Additionally, it gets into corners much better than a mop. I used to use a Triumph 6 in razor on pretty much all residential glass. The steel wool is definitely safer for and hasn't had a downside that I'm aware of yet. So what about the glide and sudsing issue?

I cannot say the plant based soap and cleaner would work for a novice cleaner. Making a squeegee go where you want it to is something an experienced cleaner can do without soap at all. I enjoy the experience of the essential oil enhanced cleaning products such that I don't mind less glide. I keep a spray bottle loaded up with a soap and cleaner mix when I want to control how much water is in play. It is really a good solution.

So that's my take for now. I like it, the customers love the smell, (the Clove and Cinnamon oil make for a Thanksgiving sort of smell) and I enjoy the experience a great deal more than using Dawn dish soap.

The cost breakdown for the cleaner is less than 50 cents for my spray bottle. I'd estimate I'm using probably $1-$3 a day for solution between my bucket and spray bottles. For me, its an easy expense to justify. Clearer thinking and improved mood are a few of the things that I experience.

Henry I'd love to know what you're take on petrochemical risks in conventional detergents.
Thanks for your time reading all this. 

Ewing

If you want to contact Ewing for more information on Essential Oils his email is;...

ewingsharp@gmail.com

Written by Henry Grover Jr. 

henrygroverjr@gmail.com
Just send me an email request for a copy of the Glass Smart Insider.

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Atmospheric Surface Damage Explained

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Glass surfaces are seriously vulnerable to the chemistry of atmospheric conditions.  There are molecular contamanents in the air that can form various monolayers on the glass.  Some of these will  cause the surface to become more easily damaged by wear when for example two plates are slid past each other during storage.   Or certain other monolayers can actually “lubricate” the surface making the surface more resistant to wear or scratching.   The difference between whether such molecules cause a lubricating effect or what is called “interfacial wear”, depends on whether they are adsorbed to the surface or actually react with the surface.   Sometimes these monolayers will cover virtually the entire area of the glass plate, and sometimes only localized “patches” are covered. 
It is also true that water molecules are quite capable of changing the “mechanochemical” properties of glass surfaces. This can happen with liquid or vapor.  There is a chemical reaction involving ion exchange.  This involves the swapping of sodium atoms in the glass surface and the hydrogen atoms in water molecules.  This process is called “weathering” also “glass corrosion”.  It is greatly enhanced by temperature and time.  This condition can reveal subsurface damage or a change in the molecular matrix of the glass at that level.  It can also cause such a change in the molecular matrix including oxygen and silicon atoms.  As window cleaners in the great north east know, old storm windows are much more rough to the touch of a dry fingertip outside rather than inside.  This is the weathering effect.  What most do not know is this particular effect begins immediately when the glass comes off the bath of molten tin.  It also can become rather severe under the right atmospheric conditions.  When glass is stored for six months before installed on the building it should be kept in a very dry, cool environment.  The glass sheets should be kept separated from one another by what is called an interleaving system. 
The point that I am attempting to make here is that glass surfaces are certainly not chemically and physically inert and unchanging.  They are in fact quite alive with activity.  The chemistry of the surface can be so altered by atmospheric conditions that certain previously damaged “subsurfaces” are preferentially exposed to physical attack by whatever means. Also various monolayers of atmospheric pollutants form monolayers that will either enhance the likelihood of mechanical damage to the surface or actually lubricate it and actually protect it from such damage.  
I know from my own experience that when glass is polished with an optical silica based compound or a cerium oxide, it becomes rough to the touch.  It also becomes much more water loving.  This same exact condition can be caused by a very dilute solution of hydrofluoric acid.  Once it is created either physically , chemically, or both;...the glass surface takes on an alternate “microtexture”.  If this condition is measured on a level less than a micron it is called a “nanotexture”. Microtextured surfaces are much more prone to surface damage.  Whether that be interfacial shear,  stress cracks, or scratches.  It is also possible to apply certain “lubricating” monolayers to microtextured surfaces using silane chemistry. Once applied correctly the monolayer will not just adsorb but react with the nonbridging oxygen atoms and resist mechanical wear, and scratches.  Many years ago I discovered a product created by DuPont in Wilmington Deleware that did precisely this.  It was based on a highly concentrated water based alkyltrialkoxysilane and tetraalkylammonium chloride.  This product was so concentrated that I could actually reduce it by 100 times with pure water and get the same effect on glass.  If applied correctly that is, by first microtexturing the surface, and then rubbing the silane solution into the micropores so as to effect the maximum number of reactions with the nonbridging oxygens.  I also discovered by testing other glass sealants that they did not have the same effect.  So chemistry is very important and necessary to properly protect glass surfaces from mechanical wear or scratches. Protection from the weathering effect of humidity/water can be accomplished with a variety of glass sealants.
I have also learned by talking with “true” glass restoration professionals that window glass surfaces which are prone to scratches can be “fixed”.  This is done by means of a grinding and polishing process.  It follows then from what we have learned thus far that such surfaces can now be both “repaired” and protected from further scratches.  The surface and subsurface can be precisely re-engineered and then chemically sealed by a reactive silane chemistry.  You will find some of the gurus of this science/technology on the Glass Smart Facebook Group.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com
Just send me an email request for a copy of the Glass Smart Insider.

Please click on the Glass Smart logo at the top to join the Glass Smart Products Facebook group.  Also if you would like these posts to come into your inbox automatically just type your address in the box at the top right, "Follow by Email".