Introduction on the Standardization and Future Work of Surfactant and Detergent in China

Chenzhi Yao, Xiaohui Li

National Technical Committee on Surfactant and Detergent of Standardization Administration of China, China

Introduction

Recently, China’s economic growth declined slightly.In this situation, Standards have become increasingly prominent means in dealing with economic slowdown and in accelerating development. Chinese government has issued several important documents–“Plan for the Furtherance of Standardization Reform”, “National Standardization System Construction and Development Plan (2016-2020)” and “Guidance for the fostering and development of group standards”, to promote at a national level the implementation of standardization strategy to improve the standardization level. Chinese surfactant and detergent industry, as a traditional category, has established after years of construction the complete framework of standardization system, which,in turn, played a supporting role in the development of industry itself. The author introduced the present situation of industry standardization, and explored the future work under new development situation.

Standardization situation of surfactant and detergent industry

Standardization situation of International organization and developed countries

The technical committee of Internationl Standardization Organization (ISO) on surfactant is ISO/TC91, of which the subject is focused on the “Standardization on the classification,definition, terms, sampling, physical-chemical test or other test methods of surfactant, mixture containing one or more kinds of surfactant, products with/without traditional soap, detergent formulation”. There are 14 P members (China is P member)and 34 O members in ISO/TC91 technical committee. 80 ISO standards, which are general standards or test methods, have been published officially.

The technical organization of EU is the CEN / TC276-“surfactant”. The EU standards are implemented in 28 EU countries, such as France, Germany, UK (will quit EU according to schedule), Spain, etc.

Currently, CEN converted many ISO standards to its own ones by identical adoption. In addition, CEN developed by itself about 40 EU standards which, similarly to ISO standards, are also the general standards or test methods.Each country is responsible for the development of standards regarding to product based on its own situation.

ASTM (American Society of Testing Materials), as the most influential NGO with a long history in USA, developed about 100 standards concerning surfactant and detergent.As we know, all the standards are general standards or test methods. Moreover, federal government and military force of U.S.A. also developed several standards regarding to quality of detergents.

JISC (Japanese Industrial Standards Committee) is responsible for the development and approval of Japanese industrial standards. Japanese Detergent Association,Japanese Surfactant Association, Japanese Oil Association,some giant business and universities (professor) undertake the responsibility for study and preparation of standard procedure. Many important standards on the quality specification and test methods of synthetic detergent, kitchen cleaner, toilet soap and laundry soap have been already developed early in Japan.

Domestic standardization situation of S & D industry

There are 67 national standards and 79 industrial standards regarding to S & D industry in China. Of 146 standards, 79 are product related standards, 61 test methods and several general / administrative standards. The distribution of standard subject and application field are listed in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively.

The development of standard is not well balanced among different categories. Standards for food washing and disinfection and for industrial and institutional cleaning are severely insufficient. Furthermore, current standards are not satisfactory on product safety and marketing administration. These will be the focus of future work.

Domestic standardization platform and current situation

According to “The Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China”, Chinese standard system consists of 4 levels of standard: national standard, industrial standard,regional standard and manufacturer’s standard. National standard and industrial standard, as formal document to guide and regulate S & D industry, are developed by relevant technical organization, and approved and issued by National Administrative Authority. Presently, SAC/TC272(Technical Committee on Surfactant and Detergent of Standardization Administration of P.R.C.) and SAC/TC395(Technical Committee on Food Cleaning and Disinfection of Standardization Administration of P.R.C.) are two authorized professional organizations for the development of S & D standard. Two committees were established by and supervised under SAC. As organizations in national level, the expert members of these two committees are from various groups which engage in the production/sales/ quality supervision/ research and development(institutions/universities). The secretariat of two committees are located in China Research Institute of Daily Chemical Industry(RIDCI), undertaking the routine work of committees. A special website (www.sdcebter.cn) has been set up to announce draft, formal document and other information on Internet. Moreover, a public platform on Wechat (the most popular instant messaging app in China)has been registered and kept running publicly, helping secretariat publish standards, test methods and relevant information promptly and efficiently through mobile app.

Table 1. Situation of Chinese standards currently in effective

Table 2. Distribution of standard application in different fields

Besides, RIDCI, as Chinese counterpart of ISO/TC91 authorized by SAC, is responsible for organizing and participating the technical activities of ISO on behalf of China.

Comparison of Chinese standard with international standard

ISO / TC91 has published officially 80 ISO standards which are test methods and general standards. Among 80 standards, 64 have been converted to Chinese standards including 12 identical to and 52 modified from ISO original ones. The adoption rate reached 80%. In addition, 7 Chinese standards are adopted from advanced international standards such as ASTM,BS, JIS etc. In the other hand, 4 of Chinese standards –GB/T 28193-2011: Determination of Chloroacetic acids (acetate) in surfactants, GB/T 26388-2011:Determination of dioxane residues in surfactants–Gas chromatographic method and GB/T 17830-1999:Determination of polyethylene glycol in polyethoxylated nonionic surfactants by HPLC, reached advanced level and they have been adopted in recent years by International Standardization Organization as ISO standards, which are ISO 17293-1:2014 Surface active agents–Determination of chloroacetic acids(chloroacetates) in surfactants–Part 1: HPLC method;ISO 17293-2:2014 Surface active agents - Determination of chloroacetic acids (chloroacetates) in surfactants–Part 2: Ion chromatographic method; ISO 17280:2015 Surface active agents–Determination of 1,4-dioxan residues in surfactants obtained from epoxyethane by gas chromatography; and ISO 16560:2015 Surface active agents–Determination of polyethylene glycol content in nonionic ethoxylated surfactants–HPLC method.

Hence, it can be seen that Chinese standards for S & D industry are generally in keeping with that of international organization / advanced countries. Different systems intermingle with each other. This is consistent with Chinese economic situation, that the market developed quickly and industries were integrated into world economy completely.

Establishment of standard system and preparation of standards

Upon the demand of Standardization Administration of P.R.C. and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,relevant bodies established a standard framework system for S & D industry. The detailed information are listed in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Surfactants are divided into 7 categories, and detergents are divided into 5 categories. The preparation and revision of standards are supposed to follow this system.Presently, totally 37 projects: 3 ISO standards, 15 national standards and 19 industrial standards, are under preparation within this framework.

Figure 1. Architecture of standard system on surfactants

Figure 2. Architecture of standard system on detergents

Focus of future work

Guidance

Under the guidance of two files from State Council-“Plan for the Furtherance of Standardization Reform”and “National Standardization System Construction and Development Plan (2016-2020)”, to cooperate with the national “standardization plus” strategy, the future standardization work of surfactant industry will follow the four principals “creative reform, collaborative promotion, scientific management and serving development”.

Development direction

To support and promote the development of S & D industry, a multi-levels standard research mechanism,comprised of state government, industrial business and social organizations, has been establishedto build up the new standard system.

At the same time, a well-organized, highly-efficient standard management system, based on both the guideline from government bodies and market principle,is indispensable. A new work pattern—guideline from government, initiative from market, participation of enterprises and collaborative promotion is necessary to build up a uniform market and to boost the whole industry to a higher level.

Key points of future work

More and more modern technology tools, like the website and wechat platform, have been employed by secretariat of standardization committee to build up new procedure in information exchange, collection of standard proposal, seeking comments for draft and final voting for the improve of work efficiency. Moreover, more training to standardization professionals in S & D industry shall be held to help improve the standardization level of enterprises.Criteria and working procedure for the evaluation of standardization status of enterprise is going to be set up and ranking list for outstandingly performed business is expected after evaluation.

At the same time, along with the popular of product standards of S & D and increasing knowledge of public on this subject, enterprises are encouraged to increase the quality criteria for their products. This, in turn, will benefit both the manufacture as well as consumer.

On the other hand, in standard preparation procedure,measures will be taken to smooth the development of suchsteps asproposal, draft, review and approval. The secretariat calls for proposals on Internet at any time, and review will be conducted in schedule. Then, final voting by members of standard committee will be taken after the proposals being summed-up by secretariat. After proposal being approved, project leader is responsible for the preparation of draft and seeking comments. Finally, the secretariat takes the responsibility for the examination to all the projects which are supposed to be complete in the year. The examination and review are usually combined with annual meeting of standard committee.

In addition, following the national standardization reform plan, the committee will explore the work mechanism on subject, preparation and issue of group standard, to ensure the standards can meet the developmental demand of surfactant industry.

Important standards

According to the features and current situation of surfactant industry, the standards which will be prepared or reviewed in near future years are:

Standards on product quality

GB 9985-2000 Detergents for hand dishwashing;

GB/T 24691-2009 Cleaning agent for fruit and vegetables;

GB/T 13171.1-2009 Laundry powders (Phosphorous);

GB/T 13171.2-2009 Laundry powders (Phosphate free);

QB/T 2485-2008 Toilet soap;

GB 19877.1-2005 Special hand cleaner;

GB 19877.2-2005 Special bath agents and shower agents;

GB 19877.3-2005 Special toilet soaps.

Standards on test method

GB/T 13173-2008 Surface active agents–Detergents–Testing methods;

GB/T 13174-2008 Determination of detergency and cycle of washing property for laundry detergents;

GB/T 26398-2011 Evaluation guide of water costing and saving for laundry detergents.

Standards on management and regulation

So far, standards on the management and regulation are rather fewer than actually needed. According to the demand of industry and market, this series of standards which are in urgent need include “GB/T 26396-2011 technical specification for safety of soaps and detergents”,“Instruction for use of consumer products”, “Labeling of soaps and detergents”, “Guidance for the human health risk evaluation of detergent raw material”. These standards play a key role in health development of S &D industry and promoting the integration of Chinese industry with international community.