What are Optical Brighteners? What are its Terms, Trade Names, Common Uses & Environmental Effects?
What are optical brighteners?
Optical brighteners are synthetic chemicals which are added to the liquid and detergent powder to make clothing appear whiter, brighter and cleaner. They are the modern day replacements for the decades old method of bluing adding small amounts of blue dye to fabric to make it appear whiter.
What are the different terms for optical brighteners?
• Fluorescent Brighteners
• Fluorescent Optical Brighteners
• Fluorescent White Dyes
• Fluorescent Whitening Agents (FWAs)
• Optical Brightening Agents (OBAs)
• Optical Whiteners
• Fluorescent Brightening Agents
• Organic Fluorescent Dyes
What are the trade names for optical brighteners?
Blankophor
Dikaphor
DMS
Intrawite (textile use)
Kolocron
Optiblanc
Tinopal
Tuboblanc (textile use mostly)
Uvitex
How does optical brighteners work?
Optical brightener’s converts ultraviolet (UV) light waves to strengthen blue light and minimize the amount of yellow light to make the things appear whiter. So they do not get your clothes any cleaner, but make them appear whiter and brighter. What they do is stay on your clothes as they can withstand heat and even chemicals like bleach. You can detect optical brighteners using a special ultraviolet or black light and which will help you notice that your clothes glow.
Optical brighteners are also used in the manufacturing of papers, textiles, plastics, paints, printing inks and cosmetics. They are also been used to detect wastewater leakage, help with medical diagnostic procedures and to kill agricultural pests.
Regulation, Health, and Safety (Optical Brighteners)
As per Title 21, optical brighteners are managed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when they are used in materials that come into contact with food, such as plastic and paper packaging. When they are used for other things, such as in the cleaning industry, they are checked by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
According to the article "Key Characteristics of Laundry Detergents" by Design for the Environment (DFE), an EPA partnership program, optical brighteners can be potentially toxic to humans and "Aminotriazine or stilbene based whiteners can cause developmental and reproductive effects." However, the article also notes that further testing is needed to confirm these concerns.
What environmental effects do optical brighteners have?
A research study done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1975 raised doubts about the environmental and health effects of optical brighteners. They recorded that over 29,000,000 lbs. of U.S. produced optical brighteners went into laundry detergents in 1969, probably much more is getting dumped into laundry detergents today and ending up in our water.
Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA’s) DFE program invites laundry developers to partner with them to act as environmental representatives by making products that are more eco-friendly. For optical brighteners, the program motivates manufacturers to use those that pose "low toxicity to humans and the environment both as parent chemicals and degradation by products."
Optical brighteners are not readily biodegradable and can bio-accumulate, so they pose a potential hazard to aquatic life. Also, according to a 2011 report by the European Ecolabel Commission on criteria for laundry detergents, as optical brighteners undergo photo-degradation, numerous metabolites can be produced that are not yet identified, which means we may not know the true potential impacts upon the environment.
Given these questions regarding environmental effects and the huge amounts of these chemicals are being used today, it seems wise to cut back on our usage of them when we can.
What are the common uses of optical brighteners?
Optical Brighteners are commonly added to laundry detergents to make the clothes look cleaner. Usually cleaned laundry looks yellowish, which consumers do not like. Optical brighteners have replaced bluing which was previously used to produce the same effect.
Brighteners are used in many papers, especially high brightness papers, resulting in their strongly fluorescent appearance under Ultra Violet illumination. Paper brightness is generally measured at 457 nm, well within the fluorescent activity range of brighteners. Paper used for banknotes do not contain optical brighteners, so a common method for detecting counterfeit notes is to check for fluorescence.
Optical brighteners have also found use in cosmetics. One implementation is to formulas for washing and conditioning grey or blonde hair, where the brightener can not only increase the luminance and sparkle of the hair, but can also perfect dull, yellowish discoloration without darkening the hair. Some of the advanced face and eye powders contain optical brightener microspheres that brighten shadowed or dark areas of the skin, such as "tired eyes".
What are the end uses of optical brighteners?
Detergent whitener (as a substitute of bluing agents)
Paper brightening (inside or in a coating)
Fiber whitening (inside, added to polymer melts)
Textile whitening (outside, added to fabric finishes)
Color-correcting or brightening additive in advanced cosmetic formulas (shampoos, conditioners, eye makeup)
Are there any green alternatives for laundry whitening?
Soaking the clothes in lemon juice and water before laundering and then hanging them out to line dry in the sun works like a charm. Hydrogen peroxide and water solution may work too. Another eco-friendly solution is to purchase one of the many non-chlorine oxygen-based bleaches in the market.