How do I calculate the carbon footprint of detergent powder per kg?

Add the surfactants, builders and other ingredients from supplier or database factors, the fuel for the spray-drying tower if you use one, the electricity, the process CO2 released when LABSA is neutralised with soda ash, and the packaging. Divide by kilograms packed. Spray-dried powders use far more fuel than dry-mix powders.

Spray-dried or dry-mix

Spray-dried powders are made by pumping a slurry into a tower where hot air from a furnace evaporates the water. That furnace is often the largest single source in the plant. Dry-mix or non-tower powders blend dry ingredients with the acid slurry and need much less heat. Report which route each product uses.

Process CO2 from neutralisation

When linear alkyl benzene sulphonic acid (LABSA) is neutralised with soda ash, CO2 is released: two molecules of LABSA react with one of sodium carbonate and give off one CO2. For C12 LABSA, with a molar mass of about 326 g per mole, that is about 44 / 652 = 0.067 kg CO2 per kg of LABSA neutralised. Soda ash added beyond the reaction stays in the powder as a builder and releases nothing.

Ingredients

• LABSA or other surfactants: petrochemical, often a large share.
• Soda ash and sodium sulphate: bought-in minerals with their own production emissions.
• Zeolite, enzymes, optical brighteners and perfume.
• Packaging: laminated pouches, HDPE bags and cartons.

What buyers ask for

1. kg CO2e per kg of powder, cradle to gate, by product.
2. Process route: spray-dried or dry-mix.
3. Packaging weight per pack.

Worked example: a spray-dried powder plant (one month)

• LABSA neutralised: 150 t, so 150,000 x 0.067 = 10,050 kg CO2
• Furnace oil for the hot air generator: 60,000 litres x 2.97 = 178,200 kg CO2
• Electricity: 90,000 kWh x 0.710 = 63,900 kg CO2
• Powder packed: 1,000 t
• Plant total: (10,050 + 178,200 + 63,900) / 1,000,000 = 0.252 kg CO2 per kg
• Add ingredients and packaging for the full figure

Inputs are illustrative; use your own bills and production records.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.

• CO2 from soda ash neutralisation
• Soap footprint per kg
• Product carbon footprint calculator
• Chemical industry

Sources: GHG Protocol Product Standard, ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults), CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0

Last reviewed 2026-10-20.