Inorganic builders offer limited choice. Certain sodium aluminum silicates may be used as laundry detergents in combination with sodium triphosphate (STP). Sodium aluminum silicates are available on an industrial scale. They are toxicologically and ecologically safe, and because of their inorganic nature, they do not cause any problems concerning biological degra dability; also, they do not contribute to eutrophication. In our experience binary builder systems have proven useful. These consist of STP and the sodium aluminum silicate, in which there is a balance between the chelating ability of STP and the ion exchanging ability of the sodium aluminum silicate. The technical manufacture of laundry detergents on this basis does not present any fundamental problems and does not require technological change.
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P. Berth (1978) studied this question.