Fluorescent whitening agent is a common chemical additive that is often heard by people. Some people may have a little understanding of it, and some people may have a little misunderstanding of it (think it is a carcinogen). So what is fluorescent whitening agent? In which industries? Will it cause harmful effects on the environment and human body? Let's explore it.
1、 First, look at the definition. What is a fluorescent whitening agent?
Scientific explanation: fluorescent brightener is a kind of fluorescent dye, or white dye, as well as a complex organic compound. Its characteristic is that it can stimulate the incident light to produce fluorescence, so that the dyed material can obtain a glittering effect similar to fluorite, making the material visible to the naked eye very white.
Generally speaking, in a certain sense, fluorescent brighteners absorb invisible ultraviolet light and emit visible blue light to whiten, brighten and brighten. Its effect is not limited to white. In fact, it can make the blue, black, yellow and red on some products bluer, blacker, yellower and redder.
2、 Classification:
Fluorescent whitening agents can be divided into five categories according to their chemical structures:
1. Stilbene type
2. Coumarin type
3. Pyrazoline type
4. Benzoxynitrogen type
5. Phthalimide type
3、 Application:
In fact, many industries are using fluorescent brighteners, such as paper, plastic, leather, detergent, etc. At the same time, fluorescent whitening agents are also used in many high-tech fields, such as fluorescence detection, dye laser, anti-counterfeit printing, etc., and even high sensitivity films for aerial photography can also use fluorescent whitening agents to improve the sensitivity of photosensitive latex.
In China, fluorescent whitening agent zui is first classified as printing and dyeing auxiliary products, and then as dye products. Due to its unique nature and large consumption demand, it has been separated from the above two industries and become a separate class of fine chemical products. The first major user of domestic fluorescent whitening agent di is detergent, the second largest user is paper, and the third largest user is textiles.
4、 Impact on human body and environment:
For human body:
(1) No skin irritation
After years of animal and human experiments, it has been shown that even if the skin directly contacts the pure CBS fluorescent whitening agent, it will not irritate the skin and will not cause skin allergy.
In the book Fluorescent Brighteners written by Professor Shen Yongjia and others, it is pointed out that fluorescent brighteners will not be absorbed by the skin. Even though a small amount of fluorescent whitening agent CBS may adhere to the skin during use, it will not react with human skin, and it is easy to be completely washed off through daily washing activities (such as washing hands, bathing, etc.), and will not be absorbed through the skin. Therefore, direct skin contact with CBS added laundry detergent will not cause harm.
(2) No adverse effect on wound healing
The article Toxicological Properties of Fluorescent Brighteners, published in the German Journal of Dermatology in 1994, pointed out that even direct contact with wounds with textile materials containing fluorescent brighteners would not have adverse effects on wound healing and would not cause pathological changes to human skin.
(3) Metabolism
Fluorescent whitening agent CBS is water-soluble and can be completely discharged from the body quickly through normal metabolism. The metabolic study in mice showed that after a large dose of fluorescent whitening agent CBS was fed to the detergent, most of the whitening agents would be rapidly discharged through the intestine and not be absorbed by the intestine. There is no residue of fluorescent whitening agent in blood, liver, kidney, brain, muscle and fat, that is, it will not cause accumulation in the body. Therefore, even if a small amount of fluorescent whitening agent CBS enters the human body in daily life, it will be quickly discharged from the body through the normal metabolic process.
(4) Fluorescent whitening agent CBS has no teratogenicity and carcinogenicity
Through the acute toxicity study on many animals and the chronic toxicological experiment on mice for two years, it is proved that CBS is non-toxic, non teratogenic, non carcinogenic and non mutagenic.
The toxicological study of fluorescent whitening agent CBS (also called FWA-5) in the test report of A.I.S.E., "Fluorescent Whitening Agent FWA-5 for Risk Assessment of the Effects of Household Detergent Components on Human Body and the Environment", shows that the fluorescent whitening agent CBS has no photo carcinogenic reaction. The German Ministry of Environment solemnly declared in 1983 that the fluorescent whitening agent CBS does not have any sensitization and teratogenicity.
For environments:
(1) High CBS degradability
The use of CBS in detergents is not high. After rinsing and dilution, the CBS of domestic sewage can be reduced by more than 95% after a general treatment. The amount of CBS entering the environment after zui is very small. Even if a small part enters the surface water (such as rivers), it will undergo photodegradation very quickly, and the products of photodegradation are also easy to undergo secondary degradation, that is, they will be eaten by microorganisms and decomposed into carbon dioxide and other substances that have no impact on the environment.
(2) No impact on the biological chain
CBS is a water-soluble fluorescent whitening agent, which will not stay in biological tissues and organs after being eaten by fish. Laboratory research shows that even if fish live under the condition of high concentration of CBS for a period of time and leave this environment for two days, CBS will not accumulate in fish.
Based on the long-term ecological research results, CBS has no harm to the environment.
5、 Working principle:
Fluorescent whitening agent is a kind of color conditioner with the function of brightening and brightening. Its principle is to absorb the invisible ultraviolet light in the light and emit visible blue light. After superposing with the yellow light emitted by the fabric, it will complement to form white light, so that the white light emitted by the fabric will increase. The naked eye can feel that the white fabric becomes obviously bright and white, which is the brightening effect. Fluorescent brighteners can absorb invisible ultraviolet light (the wavelength range is about 60-380 nm) and convert it into blue light or purple visible light with a longer wavelength, thus compensating for unwanted yellowish in the matrix, and reflecting more visible light than the original incident wavelength in the range of 400-600 nm, so that the products appear whiter, brighter and brighter.
6、 Expert opinion:
At 2 p.m. on August 2, 2011, the China Detergent Industry Association held an expert media meeting on "Safety of Fluorescent Brighteners for Detergents" at the China Science and Technology Hall in Beijing. The experts invited in this meeting are all well-known professors and researchers engaged in toxicology, medicine, fluorescent whitening agents, washing products, textiles and dyes research in China. Experts from all walks of life interpreted fluorescent whitening agents from their own professional point of view, and reached a consensus conclusion: fluorescent whitening agents for detergents are safe for humans, environmentally friendly, and irreplaceable functional additives in washing products.
Professor Shen Yongjia, a research expert on fluorescent brighteners and doctoral supervisor of East China University of Science and Technology, said that fluorescent brighteners are optical conditioners. Its principle is to convert the invisible ultraviolet light into the visible blue light, which is superimposed with the yellow light of the fabric itself to emit white light to achieve a soft and pleasing whitening effect. It has been widely used in many fields such as textiles, paper making, detergents, plastics, etc. Professor Shen believes that the statement that "fluorescent whitening agent is a layer of white things coated on clothes to cover stains" is ridiculous, because fluorescent whitening agent, like water, is transparent and colorless, and cannot cover stains at all. We add it to the laundry detergent because it has a color conditioning function that no product can replace.
Professor Wu Zhigang, a toxicologist and professor from the Department of Labor Hygiene and Environmental Hygiene of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, stressed that the acute toxicity level of fluorescent whitening agents for detergents is equivalent to that of table salt, without teratogenicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, skin irritation, skin hypersensitivity, percutaneous absorption, and adverse effects on wound healing. Even if ingested by mistake, it will not accumulate in the body, and can be completely discharged from the body quickly through normal metabolism. In addition, he also mentioned that fluorescent brighteners for detergents are harmless to the environment, easy to degrade and will not accumulate in organisms. Fluorescent brighteners for laundry detergents have also been used worldwide for more than 40 years, and their safety has been recognized by scientists, government departments and relevant institutions in various countries.
This is the reason why fluorescent brighteners need to be added to plastic products, paper making and washing. If the appearance and quality of products are improved, sales will not be worried. There are many types of fluorescent whitening agents, and there are many types of plastic products. The fluorescent whitening agents added to different products are also different.
Therefore, the selection of fluorescent whitening agent must not be blind, and professional fluorescent whitening agent manufacturers should be selected. Suzhou Jixin is a professional manufacturer of fluorescent whitening agents. It has been committed to the production and research and development of fluorescent whitening agents. It provides professional technical guidance. Welcome to consult and get samples for trial free!