Description

Toilet cleanser comes under the general classification of liquid detergent. A Detergent is a cleansing agent and a synthetic substance other than soap. A detergent contains an active agent (called surface active agent or surfactant) that wets the fabric, emulsifies oily metal soubise grime and keeps the soil in suspension.

A liquid detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with “cleaning properties in dilute solutions.”

These substances are usually alkyl benzene sulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are more soluble in hard water, because the polar sulfonate (of detergents) is less likely than the polar carboxyl (of soap) to bind to calcium and other ions found in hard water.

Liquid detergent finds extensive use in households, guest houses, hotels, canteens, hospitals, schools and higher institutions, offices, etc, as a general cleaning agent. It is used to wash hands, dishes, cooking and other household utensils, tiles, walls, kitchens, motor vehicles, furniture, clothes etc.

Industrially, liquid detergent is used in large quantities in manufacturing industries where conveyor belts are employed in the production lines in order to lubricate the rolling sections of the chains so as to allow easy and effective movement of the belts on these bearings. Such industries include but are not limited to breweries, food processing, pharmaceutical, beverage, chemical and allied industries, glass, etc.

Today, spray-dried, synthetic detergent powders have captured a large share of the soap powder market and the liquid detergents is now in general use for dish-washing. A vast range of new synthetic detergents are finding innumerable new applications.

Toilet Cleaner is a chemical mixture for removing dirt and stains on tiles, floor and for cleaning toilet. Its domestic use includes stains and dirt removal from toilet, bathroom and kitchen; it is also used for scrubbing.

Industrially, toilet cleaner is used for removing grease, stains and chemicals on the floor and for washing toilet and tools.
Toilet cleansers are items of daily necessity and essentially with large consumption at home, offices, restaurants, fast food outfits, hotels and so on. The national demand estimate for toilet cleanser is 51.8 million liters per annum while the national supply estimate is 16.7 million liters per annum. Based on these, there exists an obvious demand-supply gap of about 35.1 million liters.

The production capacity of the proposed plant is two thousand (2,000) L per day and would operate at eighty (80%) percent of the installed capacity and would operate for eight (8) hours per day in three hundred (300) working days per annum producing eighty thousand (80,000) litres of toilel cleaners bi-monthly.

The plat would comprise of Stainless Steel Reactor, Semi Automatic Filling Machine, Shrink Wrapper for Labels, Weighing Scale, accessories & Laboratory equipment, Generator, Project Vehicles and Wood Pallets.

The raw materials for production of toilet cleaner are sulphonic acid, caustic soda, soda ash, preservative, stabilizer, colourant, thickener, perfume, plastic bottle with label and printed carton.

The selling price of N 280 / l for toilet cleaners was assumed.

This report seeks to examine the financial viability or otherwise of establishing a toilet cleaner production plant in Lagos, Nigeria.