The science behind the Brand

Now for the technical bit! Don’t worry – you don’t need a degree in science to understand how our products work, but read carefully to understand why our products have strong cleaning ability yet are not harmful like aggressive alternatives.

Our products are based on something called ‘micelle technology’ and are known as ‘colloid cleaners’. The word ‘micelle’ is derived from the term ‘miscible cell’. This means a ‘cell that emulsifies’.

Micelle Technology

A ‘micelle’ is an aggregation of polymers that attract one another to form an organised structure. These polymers are amphilic, which means they have a hydrophilic (water seeking) pole and a hydrophobic (water repelling) pole within the same chain.

The hydrophobic poles attract each other, forming the interior of the micelle. This interior environment can carry lipophilic (fat loving) substances, while the hydrophilic poles can allow the micelles to disperse in water.

This whole process creates molecules in a microscopic field similar to a magnetic field, but in which the molecular attraction is between ‘like’ poles, not the usual attraction between positive and negative poles.

In this way, a micelle can be used to ‘solubilise’ materials which have little or no solubility in water, which enhances the overall usefulness of water.

Colloidal Chemistry

Liquids that are incapable of being mixed together (such as oil and water) can be dispersed to one another via the ‘colloidal state’. Colloidal action is caused by micelles (which are roughly one ten-millionth of a centimetre in size!)

Each end of a micelle has an opposite charge, which produces a random motion of micelles when in solution. Micelles continue to repel each other in a ceaseless, random movement, creating a micelle structure.

How Colloids Work

When a micelle comes into contact with hydrocarbon molecules (oil) or other highly viscous and sticky materials, it penetrates and locks the substance in colloidal suspension. This disrupts the attraction to the other hydrocarbons (or other sticky substances) and lifts it from the surface to which it is adhering.

This action is simultaneously multiplied by billions of other micelles so that the undesirable material is dispersed into individual particles that do not have the ability to deposit. When this reaction occurs, the dirt and oil particles become so diffused that it begins to take on characteristics of a water soluble solution.