Sodium chloride

One of the main advantages of salt in the detergent industry is that it can be used in an array of functions. For instance, in the soap industry and synthetic detergent industry, industrial salts, such as sodium alkali, sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfate, are used as thickeners and fillers.

Sodium chloride is a critical component in liquid detergent formulas, explicitly used as a cheap thickener to enhance viscosity and consistency. This is because the salt ions (such as sodium and chloride) interact with the hydrophilic head groups of the surfactant molecules, causing them to pack closer together. This results in stronger interactions between the surfactant molecules and a denser micelle network, leading to increased viscosity.

The objective of adding fillers like sodium chloride to detergents is to make detergents fluid or to turn the fluidized detergents in powder form. Sodium chloride has weaker performance in powder detergents in comparison of sodium sulfate.