The most common bactericide used in home laundering is liquid chlorine bleach. For situations where chlorine bleach cannot be used and disinfecting action beyond that supplied by the regular laundering process is needed (e.g., baby clothes, infectious illness), special disinfectants are available. Among these are quaternary and phenolic compounds and pine oil. Pine oil and phenolics can be added to either wash or rinse water. Quaternaries should be added only to the rinse to avoid interaction with detergent surfactants, which inactivate the quaternaries.
Glossary
Bactericide
11.16.21
A substance that kills bacteria.
