Hypochlorite Bleach Is Gentle On Cotton Fabric

US Patent No. 8,846,597 B2; LH Taylor Associates, Germantown, MD, has patented a method for reducing at least one damaging effect of a hypochlorite salt-containing solution on a soft fabric article. The method entails forming a hypochlorite salt-containing solution having 0.5 to 2.4 weight percent of a hypochlorite salt; adding an alkali metal hydroxide to the hypochlorite salt-containing solution, the amount of alkali metal hydroxide added being selected to produce a resulting solution with a pH of at least 11.8, and a weight concentration ratio (CR) of alkali metal hydroxide to hypochlorite salt of 1:5 to 1:1; and selecting the CR to provide to the resulting solution a quality of fabric safety that allows the resulting solution in its neat form to be in direct contact with the soft fabric article for at least one minute without damage to the soft fabric article.