CA1149296A - Laundry pre-treating cleaning composition - Google Patents

Abstract

C 568 (R) Abstract of the Disclosure The invention pertains to the fabric-cleaning art.

Aqueous, liquid laundry pre-spotting compositions are provided comprising a nonionic detergent, an organic solvent, water, enzymes and an alkanolamine.

These compositions are clear, stable and isotropic and are efficaceous against fatty and proteinaceous soils.

Description

- 1 - C 568 (R) LAUNDRY PRE-TREATMENT CLEANING COMPOSITION
The present invention relates to a laundry pre-treatment cleaning composition. Such a cleaning composition is used to treat, prior to the usual laundering and washing process with common detergent compositi ons, heavily soiled areas of the fabri cs to be cleaned, so as to make the removal of the soil from those areas in the subsequent washing process more effective. Such areas are, for example, collars, cuffs, brims of shirts, underwear, which may be heavily soiled with human sebum, as well as industrial clothing, which may become heavily soiled by external soil-sources, not only ~ats and oils, but also blood and the like.

Such pre-treatment compositions, also known as pre-spotting compositi ons, are as a type of product not unknown in the detergent industry. They normally comprise a m~xture of a suitable organic solvent and a suitable detergent active material, optionally with further desirable additives. Normally, the detergent-active material is a nonionic surfactant, and the organic solvent may be one of the many solvents known in the art. Typical examples of such pre-spotting compositions are described in German Paten t Appli cations

2,021,677, 1,279,273 and in US Patent Specification 3,872,021. Most of these compositions are liquid compositions cDntaining a relatively small amount of water.

However, although these products often satisfactorily remove several typesoffattysoils and -stains, they do not do so when the garments are soiled with several types of ~ther organic soils such as proteins, - 2 - C 568 (R) blood and the like.

The present invention aims at improving such products in their overall stain-removal properties, particularly as regards the removal of the above organic soils, besides the fatty soil.

It has already been proposed in US Patent Specification 3,953,353 to include an enzyme in a solid pre-spotting composition to enhance the stain-removal properties of common pre-spotting compositions. In US Patent Specification 3,741,902 a liquid pre-spotting composition is proposed which contains a liquid nonionic detergent, an organic solvent, and an enzyme. These prior proposals, however, dissuade the use of an aqueous liquid composition, since the presence of water may cause gelling, or may jeopardize the efficacy of the enzymes.

The present invention aims at providing an aqueous liquid enzyme-containing pre-spotting composition which is a clear, isotropic liquid and in which the enzymes maintain their efficacy. It has now been found that the incorporation of an alkanolamine in a pre-spotting composition containing a nonionic detergent, an organic solvent, an enzyme and water, provides for an efficaceous, stable, clear and isotropic liquid pre-spotting composition.
In German Patent Application 1,617,119 a liquid pre-spotting composition is disclosed, which contains a mixture of t~o different classes oF nonionics3 a solvent, a hydrotrope and optionally water. Among the solvents also amino alcohols are mentioned. ~owever, there is no disclosure of the possibility to include enzymes in these compositions, nor any indication that especially the amino alcohols should be selected, together with organic solvents, if one wishes to incorporate enzymes.

The present invention therefore provides a liquid water-containing pre-spotting composition, comprising:

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- 3 - C 568 (R) a) from 10-50% by weight of a nonionic detergent;
b) from 20-60% by weight of an organic solvent;
c) from 5-20% by weight of water;
d) from 0.001-20% by weight of an enzymej and e) from 0.5-20% by weight of an alkanol amine.

The nonionic detergent to be used in the present invention is an ethoxylated and/or propoxylated primary or secondary alcohol, or alkylphenol. The ethoxylation and/or propoxylation degree may vary rather widely, i.e. the nonionic detergent may contain from 1-30 moles of ethylehe oxide or from 1-30 moles of propylene oxide.
When the nonionic detergent contains both ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, the latter is present in smaller amounts than the former. The primary or secondary alcohol contains from 11-24 carbon atoms. Mixtures of nonionic detergents may also be used. Typical examples of suitable nonionics are linear sec.
C11-C~5 alcohols, condensed with 7, 9 or 12 moles of ethylene oxide, linear primary C12-C15 alcohols condense~ with 7 or 12 moles of ethylene oxide, C13-C15 primary alcohols,condensed with 7 moles of ethylene oxide plus propylene oxide, -in which the weight ratio oF
ethylene oxide to propylene oxide is ~38:12 or 92:8.

The preferred amount of nonionic detergent in the composition is from 20-40% by weight.
The organic solvents to be used in the invention are the well-known solvents, miscible with the above nonionic detergents. Typical examples are dry-cleaning solvents such as petroleum distillates, carbontetrachloride, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, turpentine, cyclohexane, benziine; furthermore paraffins such as decane, dodecane; alcohols such as isopropanol, hexanol, tridecanol;
ketones, such as acetone,glycols such as ethylene glycols, and ethers such as diethylene glycol monomethylether.

A preferred solvent is a high-boiling aliphatic hydrocarbon having a specific gravity of 0.76, a boiling range of 187-212C and a flame point of 58C (Pensky Martens). This solvent is manufactured and sold 92~36

- 4 - C 568 (R) under the tradename "Shellsol T" by the Shell Company. Mixtures of different solvents may also be used. The preferred amount of solvent is from 25-50% by weight.

The enzymes to be used in the present invention are proteolytic, amylolytic, lipolytic or cellulolytic enzymes or mixtures thereof.
They are preferably of bacterial or fungal ori~lin. Typical examples are Alcalase ~, Esperase ~ axatase ~ all proteases from B. subtilis, Maxamyl ~ and Thermamyl (~. all amylases of B. subtilis or g. liGheniformis~ ~ipase ~ly ~, a bacterial lipase ex Meiji Co., ~apan, and ~eicelase R, a fungal cellulase ex Meiji Co., Japan.

The amount of enzyme is mostly governed by its activity, and is by weight from 0.001-20,~, preferably 0.001-10%. For proteases a preferred amount is equal to 1-15 glycine unitsJmg.

The alkanol amine to be used in the present invention is a mono-, di- or trialkanol amine in which the alkanol group is a methanol, ethanol, propanol or isopropanol group. ~ preferred alkanol amine is triethanol amine. The preferred amount of alkanol amine is from

5-15% by weight. The e~mposition of the invention may furthermore comprise other desirable ingredients in minor amounts. Such ingredients are perfumes, dyes, germicides, evaporation retarders, hydrotropes, soil-suspending agents, and flash-point increasing agents.

The compositions of the invention are normally used prior to a main-wash operation; they can be applied to the fabrics to be treated by simply applying the liquid thereon with the finger or dipping it on.

The invention will now be further illustrated by way of Example.

Example I
The following liquid pre-spotting composition was prepared as follows:

2~6 - 5 - C 568 (R) The enzyme was dispersed in water, and subsequently triethanol amine was added. The resulting mixture was stirred into a mixture of the nonionic and the solvent at room temperature.

~ by weight C13 1~ primary alcohol condensed with 7 moles of ethylene oxide plus propylene 40 oxide (weight ratio of EO:P0=92:8) Solvent "Shellsol T", a high boiling hydro- 40 carbon with a boiling range of 187-212C
Alcalase~) ex Novo Industri AS, a in an amount, bacterial protease from B.subtilis equivalent to 10 glycine units/mg water 10 triethanol amine 10 This composition, which was a stable, non-gelling composition, was used to pre-treat soiled test pieces, which were subsequently washed in a normal washing machine under normal conditions. A
comparison was made ~ith test-pieces, also washed under the same conditions, but without a pre-treatment, or with a pre-treatment with the above composition, in which the enzymes had been left out.

The test pieces were standard test piec:es, soiled with a standard soil (AS 10, Empa 116 or Empa and bloocl). The pre-spotting composition was applied by dipping it on the dry fabric, at ambient temperature. The test pieces were then washed in a Philips HN 3156 washing machine, using the C 4/5 programme in 12 l. water at 8 German hardness at temperatures of 20, 40 and 60C with a commercially available heavy-duty detergent powder with and without proteolytic enzymes.

The following results were obtained (the figures denote mean detergency values in %):

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- 6 - C 568 (R) ~ o~ ~ _ ~ ; ~

a) E u> ~ ~ Ln 1` ~ u~ r_ d o~' QO~ ~ u~ O L~ D `D ~ ~1 a~ . ~) ~ N _ _ 1S~ ~D d' , O Lr~ 1~ LO n ~t ~ L~
~1 ~1 ~I N ~ ~1 ~1 ~1 ~1 ,-1 ~ ~/) _ _ . _ _ E o o o o o o o o o E u~
d- ~ d- ~D C E
~1 ~ . _ ~
C~ d' ~ ~ ~; a~ ~ ~ ~_ ~ u ~ s t-~: a~v~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ s~
3 ~ _ . _ o 3 3 0~ ~<~ 00 ~ ~ C~ CO ~ ~ 'O ~ ~~

O I o ~ ___ __ E E
~'3 ~ l ~ J ~

--/ _ _ ~Q ~o) ~o ~ ~o ~o ~o -oO ~
/ ~ ~ C~ ~ ~ 0 ~ ~ _ ~S~ _ ~5LLI _ iK

', 92~6 ~ 7 - C 568 (R) Example II
. .
Soaking tests were carried out with and without the (enzymatic) pre-treatment compositions of Example I, with and without an enzymatic detergent composition. The results are shown below:

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_ ~ _ C 568 (R) ~
o o ~ o ~ ~

~ ~ O ~ ~ =r t O ~

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- 9 - C 568 (R) The data of Table I showed that a significantly improved detergency was obtained with the composition of the invention.
On AS 10 and EMPA-116 the non-enzymatic pre-spotting composition did not show much improvement, and on EMPA-blood it sometimes showed a clear increase in detergency, depending on whether the main wash was carried out with an enzymatic or non-enzymatic detergent powder. The pre-treatment with the enzymatic pre-spotting composition of the invention gave on all test pieces and under all test conditions a clear, unexpected detergency improvement.

The same overall picture was shown by the data of Table II.

Claims (5)

- 10 - C 568 (R) THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. An aqueous liquid laundry pre-treatment cleaning composition, consisting essentially of a) from 10-50% by weight of a nonionic detergent selected from the group consisting of primary and secondary alcohols, containing from 11 to 24 carbon atoms in their alkyl chain, condensed with 1-30 moles of ethylene oxide, 1-30 moles of propylene oxide and mixtures thereof;
b) from 20-60% by weight of an organic solvent selected from the group consisting of petroleum distillates, carbontetrachloride, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, turpentine, cyclo-hexane, benzine, decane, dodecane, isopranol, hexanol, tridecanol, acetone, ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol monomethylether;
c) from 5-20% of water;
d) from 0.001-20% by weight of an amylolytic, lipolytic or proteolyti c enzyme i e) from 0.5-20% by weight of a mono-, di- or trialkanolamine in whi ch the alkanol group is methanol, ethanol, propanol or isopropanol.

2. A composition according to claim 1, comprising by weight.

20-40% of a) 25-50% of b) 5-20% of c) 0.001-10% of d) 5-15% of e).

3. A composition according to claim 1, wherein the nonionic detergent is a C13-C15 primary alcohol, condensed with 7 moles of ethylene oxide plus propylene oxide, the weight ratio of ethylene oxide to propylene oxide being 92:8.

4. A composition according to claim 1, wherein the solvent is an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a specific gravity of 0.76, a boiling - 11 - C 568 (R) range of 187-212C and a flame point (Pensky Martens) of 58C.

5. A composition according to claim 1, wherein the alkanolamine is triethanolamine.