SIC 2841 Soap and Other Detergents, Except Specialty Cleaners

SIC 2841

This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the manufacture of soap and detergents. It includes companies who make crude and refined glycerin products from fats, or synthetic detergents such as laundry detergents, dishwashing compounds, and personal cleansing bars. Establishments primarily involved in the manufacture of specialty cleaning products are classified in SIC 2842: Specialty Cleaning, Polishing, and Sanitation Preparations. Establishments primarily involved in the manufacture of shampoos and shaving products are classified in SIC 2844: Perfumes, Cosmetics, and Other Toilet Preparations.

NAICS CODE(S)

325611

Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

The U.S. soap and detergents market—whose products were valued at $18 billion in 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics—faced increasing competition during the mid-2000s. Convenience was a major driver of growth in this mature market. With disposables, preventables, and aromatherapy products driving sales in 2005, the industry was increasing the likelihood that consumers would enjoy cleaning again, or at least not dread it.

Liquid detergents were outpacing powders, capturing nearly three-quarters of the overall market by 2003. Detergent modifications also were spurred by technical innovation, such as bleach additives, better optical brighteners, and improved technologies to release soils. Marketers packaged products differently to meet the needs of specialized users such as households with infants or with men performing tasks traditionally associated with women's roles. To meet the needs of various market segments, the industry introduced a proliferation of brands and varieties. For example, a typical large supermarket might contain more than forty varieties of laundry detergents, including both liquids and powders.

In addition to environmental and health questions, societal transformation propelled changes in the soap and detergent industry in the 2000s. Among the numerous factors presenting challenges to detergent formulators were the need for improved sanitation; the increasing number of women working outside the home; the development of time-saving appliances; the trend toward using less energy by lowering wash temperatures; the need to conserve water; and changes in textiles and other cleanable surfaces. Raw materials prices, coupled with downward price pressure, created a challenging environment. Those companies that continued to post positive numbers did so primarily by cutting costs and consolidating operations.

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

The soap and detergent industry's origins are obscured in antiquity. Michael C. Crossin, writing for Soap, Cosmetics, Chemical Specialties, stated "the caveman who fell into the river with his fur still on quickly learned that water is an excellent aid in the removal of soils and odors from garments." Crossin calls this find "the single most important discovery in laundry history."

As water alone was not sufficient for all cleaning needs, the development of soap was an important breakthrough. Different accounts place its invention between 2500 B.C. and 300 B.C. The word "soap" may have been derived from Mt. Sapo, near Rome, a place where burnt offerings were made to the gods. People discovered that the fat and ash residue from the offerings had cleaning properties.

By definition, soap is a cleansing product created through the chemical process of combining a fat or natural oil with an alkali (such as wood ashes or lye) under controlled conditions. Soap-producing factories developed in France and Italy, where olive oil was plentiful and used as the main ingredient throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. In the nineteenth century, palm oil began to replace olive oil in formulations. By the turn of the twentieth century, many people still made soap by boiling fats and lye to produce solid cakes.

In the United States, the soapmaking industry marks 1837 as an important year. In that year, William Procter and James Gamble established a candle and soapmaking business. Their company, Procter and Gamble, went on to become one of the foremost soap and detergent makers in the country. Procter and Gamble's famous Ivory soap bar was first introduced in 1882. Lever Brothers, another major soap and detergent company, offered Lifebouy and Sunlight soap bars in 1895.

Procter and Gamble introduced Oxydol, a flaked laundry soap, in 1924. Oxydol was followed in 1933 by Dreft, the nation's first synthetic household detergent. Instead of soap, Dreft's formula was based on alcohol sulfates. Alcohol sulfates were the first type of surfactants to make a significant impact in the formulation of cleaning products.

The term "surfactant" comes from shortening the phrase "surface active agent." A surfactant is a type of chemical capable of changing the surface properties of a liquid. As a result of their chemical nature, surfactants help wash-water wet the surface to be cleaned quickly and thoroughly. When water and mechanical action combine to remove soils from a surface, surfactants also help keep the soil suspended in the liquid so that it does not redeposit on the item being cleaned. Surfactants are basic ingredients in most products intended for use in washing clothes and dishes.

The first synthetic detergents based on sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate were developed in 1939. They were followed by detergents based on alkylbenzene sulfonate (ABS), which provided better cleaning and more suds than traditional soaps at lower prices. ABS grew in popularity, and its use expanded with the introduction of front-loading drum washing machines.

In addition to surfactant technology, the 1930s brought the introduction of "built" soap powders and detergents. "Builders" were materials used to enhance the efficiency of a cleaner. Although they had several purposes, such as providing alkalinity to aid cleaning, keeping removed soil from redepositing, and helping to emulsify oil and grease, one of their primary functions was to overcome problems associated with water hardness. Water hardness is a measurement of the soluble metal salts (primarily formed from calcium, magnesium, iron, or manganese) in the water supply. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, water is termed "soft" when it is relatively free of soluble metal salts. It is termed "moderately hard," "hard," or "very hard" based on the amount of hardness chemicals present.

When soap products were used in hard water, a substance called "soap curds" or "lime soap" formed. The lime soap precipitate, which would not dissolve, formed in the water and stuck to surfaces, causing films and deposits. Builders were used to help counteract these problems. Several types of builders were developed, and they worked in different ways. Sodium carbonate, a precipitating builder, caused the water hardness materials to precipitate from the wash solution. Sodium aluminosilicate, another type of builder, inactivated water hardness materials by a chemical process called ion exchange. The most commonly used builders, complex phosphates, worked by holding water hardness materials in the wash solution through a process called sequestration.

By the late 1930s, built soaps and soap in granular form had virtually replaced laundry bar soaps. A decade later, built detergents were becoming popular. The shift from soap to detergent formulations was driven primarily by efforts to overcome problems associated with water hardness.

Detergents, although similar in function to soaps, differed from them chemically. Detergents were made from other raw materials, including petroleum products and fatty acids. They often contained additional ingredients such as fluorescent whitening agents, antiredeposition agents, corrosion inhibitors, suds control agents, nonchlorine bleaches, colorants, fragrances, enzymes, blueing, and processing aids.

Built detergents, like built soaps, also contained builders to help improve cleaning efficiency. The first and most widely used builder was sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP). Formulators found STPP effective and relatively easy to process in granulated detergent. Although most built detergents were designed for laundry use, some were adapted for nonlaundry household chores. Typically, these adapted formulas were high...

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