JP2000192096A - Group of detergent particles having high bulk density - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a group of detergent particles having a high bulk density that is excellent in solubility and detergency under any laundering conditions. SOLUTION: A group of detergent particles having a high bulk density contains a surfactant and has an average particle size of 150-500 μm and a bulk density of not smaller than 500g /L, wherein particles having a particle size of not smaller than 710 μm and particles having a particle size of smaller than 125 μm, respectively, constitute not greater than 10 wt.% of the total weight of the group of detergent particles, and a weight ratio of potassium ions to the total of cations in the group of detergent particle is 0.05-0.6. Alternatively, a group of detergent particles having a high bulk density contains a surfactant carried on a base granule comprising at least one selected from a water-insoluble inorganic substance, a water-soluble polymer and water-soluble salts, and has an average particle size of 150-700 μm and a bulk density of not smaller than 500 g/L, wherein a weight ratio of potassium ions to the total of cations in the group of detergent particles is 0.05-0.6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a group of high bulk density detergent particles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A group of high bulk density detergent particles having an increased average particle size is known for the purpose of improving the flowability and appearance of powder detergents and suppressing the generation of fine powder. However, since the detergent particles have a longer dissolution time than the low bulk density detergent particles, there is a possibility that the washing power may be reduced or undissolved depending on washing conditions such as water temperature and stirring power. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-247
No. 497 discloses a detergent composition containing a high bulk density detergent particle group having a large average particle size, but it still has satisfactory solubility and detergency in a low water temperature range. Was not.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a group of high bulk density detergent particles having excellent solubility and detergency under any washing conditions.

[0004]

That is, the gist of the present invention is as follows.
[1] Contains a surfactant and has an average particle size of 150 to 50
0 μm, a group of high bulk density detergent particles having a bulk density of 500 g / L or more,
m is less than 10% of the total detergent particles.
A high bulk density detergent particle group having a weight ratio of potassium ion to all cations in the detergent particle group of 0.05 to 0.6% by weight or less; [2] a poorly water-soluble inorganic substance and a water-soluble polymer; A surfactant is supported on the base granules containing one or more selected from water-soluble salts,
Average particle size is 150 to 700 μm, bulk density is 500 g / L
The above high bulk density detergent particles, wherein the weight ratio of potassium ions to all cations in the detergent particles is 0.05%.
High bulk density detergent particles of about 0.6.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The weight ratio of potassium ions to total cations in the high bulk density detergent particles of the present invention is determined by the solubility,
From the viewpoints of detergency, fluidity and productivity, 0.05 to 0.1.
6, preferably 0.1 to 0.55, more preferably 0.1 to 0.5.
2 to 0.5. Such a weight ratio can be confirmed by an atomic absorption method.

The bulk density specified by JIS K 3362 is 500 g / L or more, preferably 500 to 1
000 g / L, more preferably 600-1000 g / L
L, particularly preferably 650 to 850 g / L. The water content is preferably 20% by weight or less, more preferably 10% by weight or less, and particularly preferably 5% by weight or less of the detergent particles.

As the detergent particles of the present invention, for example, the following particles are preferred. 1) Aspect 1 The average particle size of the detergent particles in this aspect is 150 to 500 μm, preferably 180 to 400 μm, and more preferably 200 to 300 μm from the viewpoint of preventing dissolution rate delay due to pasting and improving the solubility of the detergent particles. More preferred. The average particle diameter is a median diameter and is measured from the weight fraction based on the sieve size after vibrating for 5 minutes using a standard sieve of JIS Z8801.

In particular, the detergent particles of the present embodiment have an average particle diameter of 150 to 500 μm in terms of solubility and detergency under cleaning conditions such as low water temperature and low stirring, and particles having a particle diameter of 710 μm or more. 10% by weight or less, preferably 8% by weight of the entire detergent particle group
% By weight, particularly preferably 0% by weight, and 125 μm
Particles having the following particle sizes are detergent particles of 10% by weight or less, preferably 8% by weight or less, particularly preferably 0% by weight.
The particle size distribution is, for example, such that the size of each sieve is 2000 μm, 1410 μm, 1
000 μm, 710 μm, 500 μm, 355 μm, 2
It can be determined by classifying using a classifier consisting of 9-stage sieves of 50 μm, 180 μm and 125 μm and a tray at the bottom which receives particles passing through a sieve with a mesh size of 125 μm.

The detergent particles according to the present embodiment contain a surfactant such as an anionic surfactant, a nonionic surfactant, an amphoteric surfactant, or a cationic surfactant. The content of the surfactant is preferably from 5 to 80% by weight, more preferably from 10 to 60% by weight, from the viewpoints of detergency, productivity, prevention of caking and fluidity.

Examples of the anionic surfactant include a sulfate of a higher alcohol, a sulfate of an ethoxylated higher alcohol, an alkylbenzene sulfonate,
Examples thereof include a paraffin sulfonate, an α-olefin sulfonate, an α-sulfofatty acid salt or an alkyl ester salt thereof, and a fatty acid salt. In particular, when the carbon number is 10
-18, more preferably 12-14 straight-chain alkylbenzene sulfonates, and C10-C20 alpha-sulfofatty acid alkyl ester salts are preferred.

As the nonionic surfactant, an ethylene oxide (hereinafter referred to as "EO") adduct of a higher alcohol or EO / propylene oxide (hereinafter referred to as "PO") is used.
Adducts), fatty acid alkanolamides, alkyl polyglycosides and the like. Particularly, the carbon number is 10 to 1
An alcohol adduct of 1 to 10 mol of EO of alcohol 6 is preferred in terms of removing sebum stains, hard water resistance, biodegradability, and compatibility with linear alkylbenzene sulfonates.

The detergent particles are kneaded and mixed by a known method, for example, using a continuous kneader to remove the main component of a part of the poorly water-soluble inorganic substance, and the resulting kneaded substance is mixed with the remaining poorly water-soluble inorganic substance. Into a pulverizer and pulverized. Then, the obtained detergent particles are sieved to obtain detergent particles having a predetermined average particle size distribution. Preferred examples of the continuous kneader include KRC2 type manufactured by Kurimoto Iron Works, and DKASO6 type manufactured by Hosokawa Micron as a pulverizer.

2) Aspect 2 The average particle size of the detergent particles of this aspect is 1 from the viewpoint of preventing dissolution delay due to pasting and improving the solubility of detergent particles.
It is 50 to 700 μm, preferably 180 to 600 μm, and more preferably 180 to 500 μm.

The detergent particles of this embodiment have a structure in which a surfactant is supported on the base granules. The base granule contains a poorly water-soluble inorganic substance and one or more selected from a water-soluble polymer and a water-soluble salt, and a base granule containing a water-soluble polymer and a water-soluble salt is more preferable from the viewpoint of solubility. .

Next, the components constituting the detergent particles will be described. As the poorly water-soluble inorganic substance, those having an average primary particle diameter of 0.1 to 20 μm are preferable. Specific substances include crystalline or amorphous aluminosilicates, silicon dioxide, hydrated silicate compounds, clay compounds such as perlite and bentonite. Of these, crystalline aluminosilicates are preferred in terms of sequestering ability and oil absorbing ability of a surfactant.

Examples of the water-soluble polymer include carboxylic acid polymers, carboxymethyl cellulose, soluble starch, and saccharides. Among them, a carboxylic acid-based polymer having a molecular weight of several thousands to 100,000 is preferred from the viewpoint of sequestering ability of metal ions, dispersing ability of solid dirt / particle dirt, and ability of preventing re-staining. Particularly, a salt of an acrylic acid-maleic acid copolymer and a polyacrylate are preferred. Here, the salt includes a sodium salt, a potassium salt, and an ammonium salt.

Examples of the water-soluble salts include water-soluble inorganic salts such as carbonates, hydrogencarbonates, sulfates, sulfites, hydrogensulfates, hydrochlorides, and phosphates, and ammonium salts and amine salts. Salts and low molecular weight water-soluble organic acid salts such as citrate and fumarate are exemplified. The incorporation of the water-soluble salts allows the bubbles generated from the detergent particles to thermally expand by the heat of hydration and heat of dissolution generated by the reaction between the water-soluble salts and water, thereby promoting the disintegration of the particles. It is more preferable in this respect.

The composition of the base granules preferably uses two or three components of a poorly water-soluble inorganic substance, a water-soluble polymer, and a water-soluble salt. In this case, the poorly water-soluble inorganic substance is preferably 20 to 90% by weight, more preferably 20 to 90% by weight. Preferably 30 to 75
% By weight, particularly preferably 40 to 70% by weight. The water-soluble polymer is preferably 2 to 30% by weight, more preferably 3 to 20% by weight, particularly preferably 5 to 20% by weight. The content of the water-soluble salts is preferably 5 to 78% by weight, more preferably 10 to 70% by weight, particularly preferably 20 to 60% by weight. Within these ranges, the structure of the base granule is a structure in which the water-soluble polymer and / or water-soluble salts are more unevenly distributed near the surface than inside the base granule. The base granules exhibiting such uneven distribution exhibit a dissolution behavior in which water-soluble components near the surface are rapidly dissolved in water, thereby accelerating the disintegration of the detergent particles from the surface of the detergent particles. Therefore, high-speed solubility is realized by the base granules, and a detergent particle group having excellent solubility can be obtained.

The uneven distribution of the structure of the base granules can be confirmed, for example, by a method using a combination of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) (FT-IR / PAS).
Can be performed. This is APPLIED SPECTROS
As described in COPY vol. 47, 1311-1316 (1993), this is a method of analyzing the distribution state of a substance in the depth direction from the surface of a base granule, whereby uneven distribution can be confirmed. As the surfactant to be carried, the same surfactant as described in the first embodiment can be used.

The amount of the surfactant supported on the base granules is preferably from 5 to 80 parts by weight, more preferably from 5 to 60 parts by weight, more preferably from 10 to 60 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the base granules in terms of detergency. More preferably 20 to 6 parts by weight.
0 parts by weight is particularly preferred. By supporting the anionic surfactant on the base granules, a large amount of surfactant can be blended while maintaining the above uneven distribution.

In preparing the detergent particles, first, a slurry containing the components constituting the base granules is prepared.
Next, the slurry is subjected to spray drying to obtain base granules. By spray drying, the water-soluble components of the components constituting the base granules move to the surface of the base granules as the water evaporates. Therefore, the base granules will be ubiquitous. Next, the surfactant can be supported on the base granules by putting the obtained base granules and surfactant into a known mixer.

The detergent particles of the present invention include builders and bleaching agents (percarbonate, perborate,
Bleach activator, etc.), re-staining inhibitor (carboxymethyl cellulose, etc.), softening agent, reducing agent (sulfite, etc.), optical brightener, foam inhibitor (silicone, etc.), fragrance, etc. .

From the viewpoint of improving the fluidity and non-caking properties of the particles, the surface modification may be carried out by mixing the high bulk density detergent particles of the present invention with a surface coating agent. As the surface coating agent, for example, silicate compounds such as aluminosilicate, calcium silicate, silicon dioxide, bentonite, talc, clay, amorphous silica derivative, crystalline silicate compound, metal soap, powdered surfactant, etc. Fine powder,
Water-soluble polymers such as carboxymethylcellulose, polyethylene glycol, sodium polyacrylate, copolymers of acrylic acid and maleic acid, or polycarboxylates such as salts thereof; and fatty acids.

[0024] The present invention also relates to a detergent composition comprising the above-mentioned high bulk density detergent particles. The content of the detergent particles is preferably 50% by weight or more, more preferably 80% by weight or more of the detergent composition from the viewpoint of solubility and detergency as the detergent composition. In the cleaning composition of the present invention,
Components other than the above-mentioned detergent particles, for example, known detergent bases such as surfactants and builders, bleaching agents (percarbonates, perborates, bleaching activators, etc.), and re-staining agents (carboxymethylcellulose, etc.) ), Softener, reducing agent (sulfite etc.),
A fluorescent whitening agent, a foam inhibitor (such as silicone), a fragrance, and the like can be contained.

[0025]

EXAMPLES Preparation of Base Granules 465 kg of water was added to a 1 m ³ mixing tank having stirring blades. After the water temperature reached 55 ° C., 24 kg of a 50% by weight aqueous sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate solution and 150 kg of a 40% by weight aqueous solution of an acrylic acid-maleic acid copolymer (sodium salt) were added. After stirring for 15 minutes, 60 kg of sodium carbonate, 60 kg of potassium carbonate,
60 kg of sodium sulfate, 12 kg of sodium sulfite,
3 kg of fluorescent dye was added. After stirring for 15 minutes, 300 kg of zeolite was added and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes to obtain a slurry (final temperature: 60 ° C.).

This slurry was supplied to a spray drying tower, and spraying was performed from the top of the tower. The composition of the base granules is as follows. 2% by weight of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate,
Acrylic acid-maleic acid copolymer (sodium salt) 1
0% by weight, sodium carbonate 10% by weight, potassium carbonate 1
0% by weight, sodium sulfate 10% by weight, sodium sulfite 2% by weight, fluorescent dye 0.5% by weight, zeolite 50% by weight, water 5.5% by weight.

As a result of analyzing the base granules by FT-IR / PAS, the inside of the granules has a high ratio of zeolite,
It was confirmed that the water-soluble polymer and the water-soluble salts had a coating-type particle structure which was largely present near the particle surface, that is, the base granules were unevenly distributed.

Next, 100 parts by weight of the base granules were charged into a Lady Demixer (manufactured by Matsuzaka Giken Co., Ltd., capacity: 20 L, equipped with a jacket), and stirring of the main shaft (150 rpm) and the chopper (4000 rpm) was started. there,
15 parts by weight of polyoxyethylene alkyl ether having 12 to 16 carbon atoms and an average number of moles of added EO of 7.0, 15 parts by weight of dodecylbenzenesulfonate (weight ratio of sodium salt: potassium salt is 5: 1), polyethylene glycol ( A mixed solution at 70 ° C. obtained by heating and mixing 1 part by weight (average molecular weight: 8500) and 3 parts by weight of water was charged in 3 minutes, and then stirred for 5 minutes to obtain a detergent particle group. Further, 10 parts by weight of a crystalline silicate (SKS-6, average particle size: 50 μm) and 5 parts by weight of an amorphous aluminosilicate were charged to perform surface coating. The amorphous aluminosilicate is Al ₂ O
₃ = 29.6% by weight, SiO ₂ = 52.4% by weight, Na
₂ O = 18.0% by weight (1.0 Na ₂ O.Al ₂ O _2.
3.10 SiO ₂ ) having a Ca ion trapping capacity of 185 CaCO ₃ mg / g and an oil absorbing capacity of 28
5 mL / 100 g, the water content was 11.2% by weight. Next, the detergent particles were classified using a classifier consisting of a 9-stage sieve and a saucer. Table 1 shows the physical properties of the obtained detergent particles.

[0029]

[Table 1]

To 100 parts by weight of the obtained detergent particles, 0.5 part by weight of an enzyme and 0.5 part by weight of a fragrance were mixed to obtain a detergent composition. The enzyme is cellulase K (JP-A-63-2646).
No. 99) and Lipolase 100T (manufactured by Novo) in a weight ratio of 3: 1.

The solubility and detergency of the obtained detergent composition were evaluated. The solubility was evaluated as follows.
That is, 10 ° C. was placed in a cylindrical 1 L beaker having an inner diameter of 105 mm.
Of distilled water, and an electric conductivity meter was set. Using a cylindrical stirrer with a total length of 35 mm and a diameter of 7.5 mm, 55
Stirring was performed at 0 rpm. 1 g of a sample at 10 ° C. was put into the center of the vortex of water, and the electrical conductivity was measured at 10-second intervals with this time being 0 second. The value at which the measured value did not increase continuously for 2 minutes or more was taken as the 100% dissolution value, and the 95% dissolution value was calculated. And the time it takes to reach that value is 95%
The solubility was evaluated based on the 95% dissolution time.

A test for evaluating detergency is described in
This was carried out according to the method described in JP-A-168485, column 14, line 6, et seq.

As a result, the product of the present invention was obtained from a commercially available high bulk density detergent composition (Dash Lot. No. 9 manufactured by Lion Corporation).
The dissolution time at 10 ° C. was much shorter than (5.02-16C7C). Further, the detergency was equivalent or higher. The average particle size of the detergent particles in the commercially available detergent is 544 μm, the detergent particles having a particle size of 710 μm or more and the detergent particles having a particle size of less than 125 μm are 25.6% by weight and 4.0% by weight, respectively, of the entire detergent particle group. there were.

[0034]

The high bulk density detergent particles of the present invention have good solubility and can sufficiently exert their detergency even under low temperature cleaning conditions.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A composition containing a surfactant and having an average particle size of 150
A group of high bulk density detergent particles having a bulk density of 500 g / L or more,
Particles having a particle size of less than 25 μm are each 10% by weight or less of the entire detergent particle group, and the weight ratio of potassium ion to all cations in the detergent particle group is 0.05 to 0.1%.
6. High bulk density detergent particles group 6. 2. A base granule comprising a poorly water-soluble inorganic substance and at least one selected from a water-soluble polymer and a water-soluble salt, wherein a surfactant is supported on the base granule.
A high bulk density detergent particle group having a bulk density of 500 g / L or more and a weight ratio of potassium ions to all cations in the detergent particle group of 0.05 to 0.6. Particle group. 3. A detergent composition comprising the high bulk density detergent particles according to claim 1 or 2.