Assembly Line

How laundry detergent is made

Powdered detergent is sprayed as a hot slurry down a tower and lands as dry hollow beads.

stations
7
things upstream
62
raw sources
18
steps from the ground
10

The short version

Laundry detergent is a cleaning surfactant blended with builders that soften water, plus bleach, enzymes and fragrance. Powders start as a hot slurry that is sprayed from the top of a tall tower, where hot air dries the droplets into hollow beads. Liquids are simply mixed in tanks and bottled.

  1. Make the surfactant

    Oils or petrochemicals are turned into molecules with an oily end and a water-loving end, usually sulfonated or sulfated. These do most of the cleaning, lifting greasy dirt into the wash water.

    Goes in
    Vegetable oilCrude oilSulfuric acid

  2. Neutralize it

    The acid form of the surfactant is neutralized with caustic soda or soda ash. That makes it a stable salt that dissolves in water.

    Goes in
    Caustic sodaSoda ash

  3. Mix the slurry

    Surfactant, builder salts that tie up the minerals in hard water, and a filler are stirred with water into a thick, hot slurry.

    Goes in
    Water

  4. Spray into the tower

    A pump forces the slurry through nozzles at the top of a tall tower. Hot air rises through the falling spray and dries each droplet into a hollow bead.

  5. Dose the delicate parts

    Heat-sensitive ingredients such as enzymes, bleach and fragrance are added after drying. Spray-drying would destroy them.

  6. Mix the liquid kind

    For liquid detergent, the same ingredients are stirred into water in tanks. Thickeners and dyes are checked and the liquid is filtered.

  7. Fill and box

    Powder goes into cartons and liquid into plastic jugs on high-speed lines. Both are weighed and packed into cases.

    Goes in
    Cardboard boxPlastic bottle
End of the lineLaundry detergent

Worth repeating

  • Laundry detergents can contain about 50% builders by weight, 15% surfactants, 7% bleach and 2% enzymes.
  • By volume, powdered detergents sell about twice as much as liquids worldwide.
  • German chemical companies developed an alkyl sulfate surfactant in 1917 in response to shortages of soap ingredients during World War I.

Back to the ground

Follow every input upstream and laundry detergent starts as these 18 raw sources.

Crude oilWaterSoybeansRapeseedClaySulfurAirRock saltLimestoneTronaNatural gasCornTimberTitanium oreIron oreSugarcaneSugar beetCoal

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Keep walking

Ice cream 7 stations · 9 raw sources Vegetable oil 7 stations · 6 raw sources Sunscreen 8 stations · 17 raw sources Mezcal 6 stations · 12 raw sources Scotch whisky 7 stations · 19 raw sources Car battery 6 stations · 8 raw sources

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Sources

Cite this page: "How laundry detergent is made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/detergent

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