Amylase is an enzyme that breaks down starch-based soils. It's in all three Pronounce powders.
Updated October 2026
About amylase
Amylase is an enzyme that breaks starch, a long chain of sugar units, into shorter pieces. Your own saliva contains an amylase; it's why bread tastes slightly sweet if you chew it for a while.
Amylases for detergents are made by fermentation, then purified and granulated so they mix evenly into a powder.
What amylase does in Pronounce
Starches show up in pasta, rice, potatoes, sauces and baked-on food. Amylase breaks those starches down into smaller pieces that rinse away. It's part of the enzyme blend in all three of our powders.
Lavender oil is an essential oil from lavender flowers. It's the only scent ingredient in Pronounce Lavender Laundry Powder.
Updated October 2026
About lavender oil
Lavender oil is an essential oil: the concentrated scent of the lavender plant. It's typically steam-distilled from the flowering tops.
Much of its familiar soft, floral smell comes from two compounds, linalool and linalyl acetate.
What lavender oil does in Pronounce
Each scented bag adds one essential oil, named on the front. Lavender is soft and floral. The base formula is the same in every scent; only the oil changes.
Lemon oil is an essential oil from lemon peel. It's the only scent ingredient in Pronounce Lemon Laundry Powder.
Updated October 2026
About lemon oil
Lemon oil is an essential oil: the concentrated scent of lemon peel. It's typically cold-pressed from the peel, the same oil you smell when you zest a lemon.
Most of it is a compound called limonene, which gives citrus its bright smell.
What lemon oil does in Pronounce
Each scented bag adds one essential oil, named on the front. Lemon is bright and fresh. The base formula is the same in every scent; only the oil changes.
Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, a mineral salt. In Pronounce Laundry Powder it's part of the mineral base the rest of the powder is built on.
Updated October 2026
About Epsom salt
Magnesium sulfate heptahydrate forms clear, colorless crystals. Each unit of magnesium sulfate holds seven molecules of water, which is what 'heptahydrate' means.
It takes its common name from Epsom, a town in England, where it was first drawn from a spring in the 1600s. Today it's mined from mineral deposits or made from magnesium-containing minerals.
What Epsom salt does in Pronounce
We use the heptahydrate form, the crystal that holds seven water molecules for each magnesium sulfate. It's the familiar Epsom salt crystal, and you'll find it in every bag of Laundry Powder.
Where else you’ll find Epsom salt
Bath salts
Gardening and farming, as a source of magnesium for plants
Mannanase is an enzyme that breaks down mannans, the plant gums used to thicken foods and many personal-care products. It's in Pronounce Laundry Powder and the Enzyme Oxygen Laundry Booster.
Updated October 2026
About mannanase
Mannanase is an enzyme that breaks down mannans, long chains of a sugar called mannose. Mannans make up plant gums such as guar gum and locust bean gum.
Those gums thicken a lot of everyday things, from ice cream and sauces to lotions and toothpaste. Mannanase for detergents is made by fermentation, then purified and granulated.
What mannanase does in Pronounce
Plant gums such as guar gum are common thickeners in sauces, ice cream and lotions. Mannanase breaks them down into smaller pieces that rinse away. It completes the three-enzyme blend in our laundry products: protein, starch and plant gums.
Peppermint oil is an essential oil from the peppermint plant. It's the only scent ingredient in Pronounce Peppermint Laundry Powder.
Updated October 2026
About peppermint oil
Peppermint oil is an essential oil: the concentrated scent of the peppermint plant. It's typically steam-distilled from the leaves.
Its cool, clean smell comes mostly from menthol, the same compound that gives mint gum its cool feeling.
What peppermint oil does in Pronounce
Each scented bag adds one essential oil, named on the front. Peppermint is clean and cool. The base formula is the same in every scent; only the oil changes.
Protease is an enzyme that breaks down protein-based soils. It's in all three Pronounce powders.
Updated October 2026
About protease
Enzymes are proteins that speed up one specific reaction without being used up. A protease speeds up the breakdown of other proteins, cutting them into smaller pieces.
Proteases for detergents are made by fermentation: specific microorganisms grow in large tanks and produce the enzyme, which is then purified and granulated. Enzymes have been used in laundry detergents since the 1960s.
What protease does in Pronounce
Each enzyme works on one kind of soil. Protease breaks down protein soils, the kind left by food and everyday wear, into smaller pieces that rinse away. It's part of the enzyme blend in our Laundry Powder, Dishwasher Detergent and Enzyme Oxygen Laundry Booster.
The silica in Pronounce is precipitated silica, an amorphous form of silicon dioxide. It keeps the powder free-flowing.
Updated October 2026
About silica
Silicon dioxide occurs in nature as crystalline quartz, the main part of sand. The silica in Pronounce is a different form: precipitated silica, an amorphous powder made from sodium silicate rather than mined.
The silica used in powders is a fine, light, amorphous form that absorbs moisture. That keeps granules from sticking together.
What silica does in Pronounce
A small amount of silica keeps the granules separate, so every scoop pours cleanly. It's in our Dishwasher Detergent and the Enzyme Oxygen Laundry Booster.
Where else you’ll find silica
Foods, as an anti-caking agent in salt and spices
The small 'do not eat' packets that keep shoe boxes dry
Say it: SAP-in-dus try-foh-lee-AY-tus (Sapindus trifoliatus)
Soapberries are the dried fruit shells of the Sapindus trifoliatus tree. Their saponins help water lift dirt from fabric.
Updated November 2026
About soapberry
Soapberries are the fruit of Sapindus trifoliatus, a tree that grows in southern India and nearby parts of South Asia. The fruit dries into a brown, leathery shell around a hard black seed.
The shells hold saponins, plant compounds that work like a mild soap. In South Asia the shells have long been used for washing clothes and hair, which is where the names soapnut and soapberry come from.
What soapberry does in Pronounce
Saponins are surfactant compounds; they help water lift soil from fabric. In Pronounce Laundry Powder the soapberry works alongside the enzymes and the mineral base. It's a small part of the formula, so the wash doesn't fill with suds, and the powder works in HE and standard washers. The standard ingredient name is Sapindus trifoliatus powder.
Where else you’ll find soapberry
Traditional laundry washing, with whole shells in a cloth bag
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. In Pronounce Laundry Powder it helps hold the wash water at a steady pH through the cycle.
Updated October 2026
About baking soda
Sodium bicarbonate is a fine white powder, mildly alkaline and slightly salty. It's the same baking soda sold in grocery stores.
It's made from sodium carbonate: either refined from trona ore or produced from salt and limestone, then treated with carbon dioxide and water.
What baking soda does in Pronounce
A buffer keeps pH from swinging as the wash goes on. Baking soda pairs with washing soda: washing soda brings the alkalinity, and baking soda keeps it steady.
Where else you’ll find baking soda
Baking, where it reacts with acids to make batter rise
Washing soda, or sodium carbonate, is an alkaline mineral salt. In Pronounce it softens the water so the rest of the formula can do its job.
Updated October 2026
About washing soda
Sodium carbonate is a white, odorless powder made of sodium, carbon and oxygen. It dissolves easily in water and makes the water alkaline.
Most of the world's supply is made from salt and limestone, or mined from a mineral called trona, which has large deposits in Wyoming. Its older name, soda ash, comes from the way it was once made: by burning certain plants and collecting the ash.
What washing soda does in Pronounce
Hard water carries calcium and magnesium, which tie up cleaning ingredients. Washing soda binds those minerals and raises the pH of the wash water, which gives the other ingredients room to work. It's the first ingredient in all three of our powders.
Where else you’ll find washing soda
Glassmaking, its biggest use worldwide
Adjusting the pH of swimming pools
Traditional ramen noodles, where it gives the noodles their springy bite
No. Washing soda is sodium carbonate; baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Washing soda is more alkaline and does the water softening. Our Laundry Powder uses both.
How is sodium carbonate made?
Most sodium carbonate is made from salt and limestone, or mined from trona ore and refined.
Which Pronounce products contain sodium carbonate?
All three: Laundry Powder, Dishwasher Detergent and the Enzyme Oxygen Laundry Booster.
Sodium gluconate is the sodium salt of gluconic acid. In Pronounce it binds hard-water minerals.
Updated October 2026
About sodium gluconate
Sodium gluconate is a white powder, the sodium salt of gluconic acid. Gluconic acid comes from glucose, a simple sugar.
It's made by fermenting glucose into gluconic acid, then combining it with sodium. It's very good at holding onto metal ions like calcium and magnesium.
What sodium gluconate does in Pronounce
Like sodium citrate, it holds onto calcium and magnesium in the wash water so they don't get in the way of cleaning. It's in our Dishwasher Detergent and the Enzyme Oxygen Laundry Booster.
Sodium percarbonate is an oxygen booster: a dry powder that releases oxygen when it meets water. It's in Pronounce Dishwasher Detergent and the Enzyme Oxygen Laundry Booster.
Updated October 2026
About sodium percarbonate
Sodium percarbonate is a white, granular powder made by combining sodium carbonate (washing soda) with hydrogen peroxide. It's a dry, stable way to carry hydrogen peroxide.
When it dissolves, it separates back into washing soda and hydrogen peroxide, and the hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen. It's the main ingredient in most powdered oxygen boosters.
What sodium percarbonate does in Pronounce
In water it separates into sodium carbonate (washing soda) and hydrogen peroxide, which releases oxygen in the wash. It isn't chlorine bleach.
Where else you’ll find sodium percarbonate
Powdered oxygen boosters for laundry
Dishwasher detergents
Some outdoor deck and patio cleaners
Which Pronounce products contain sodium percarbonate
Sodium polyaspartate is a polymer made from aspartic acid, an amino acid. In Pronounce Dishwasher Detergent it keeps minerals from settling.
Updated October 2026
About sodium polyaspartate
Sodium polyaspartate is a polymer: a long chain made of many units of aspartic acid, one of the amino acids that make up proteins. It's sold as a powder or a clear liquid.
Its job is to keep minerals spread out in water. That's why it's used wherever hard water could leave scale.
What sodium polyaspartate does in Pronounce
During a dishwasher cycle, hard-water minerals can come out of the water and settle on glasses and dishes. Sodium polyaspartate keeps them spread through the water so they leave with the rinse.
Where else you’ll find sodium polyaspartate
Dishwasher and laundry detergents
Water treatment, to prevent scale in pipes and boilers
Agriculture, alongside fertilizers
Which Pronounce products contain sodium polyaspartate
Sodium silicate is a compound of sodium, silicon and oxygen. In Pronounce Dishwasher Detergent it adds alkalinity to the wash.
Updated October 2026
About sodium silicate
Sodium silicate is made by melting sand (silica) with sodium carbonate at high heat. The glassy result dissolves in water into a clear, syrupy liquid known as water glass, or dries into a powder.
It's strongly alkaline and has been used in detergents for over a century.
What sodium silicate does in Pronounce
Builders support the cleaning ingredients by managing the wash water. Sodium silicate raises alkalinity, working alongside washing soda.
Sorbitan caprylate is a surfactant made from sorbitol and caprylic acid. In Pronounce it helps water rinse away.
Updated October 2026
About sorbitan caprylate
Sorbitan caprylate is a surfactant built from two parts: sorbitan, which comes from sorbitol (a sugar alcohol), and caprylic acid, a fatty acid.
Joined together, the two parts give one end that mixes with water and one that mixes with oils, which is how surfactants help water carry soil away.
What sorbitan caprylate does in Pronounce
Surfactants lower the surface tension of water so it spreads over surfaces and carries soil off them. Sorbitan caprylate is a nonionic surfactant: it has no electrical charge. It's in our Dishwasher Detergent and the Enzyme Oxygen Laundry Booster.
Where else you’ll find sorbitan caprylate
Personal-care products like cleansers and lotions
Cleaning products
Food, as an emulsifier
Which Pronounce products contain sorbitan caprylate
