Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D3/00—Other compounding ingredients of detergent compositions covered in group C11D1/00
  • C11D3/02—Inorganic compounds ; Elemental compounds
  • C11D3/04—Water-soluble compounds
  • C11D3/08—Silicates
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D3/00—Other compounding ingredients of detergent compositions covered in group C11D1/00
  • C11D3/02—Inorganic compounds ; Elemental compounds
  • C11D3/04—Water-soluble compounds
  • C11D3/10—Carbonates ; Bicarbonates

Definitions

• the invention relates to powdered detergent compositions which are adapted for fabric washing or dishwashing.
• wash solutions having a pH in the range of from about 9 to 11, preferably about 9.5 to 10.5.
• alkaline salts may be a bicarbonate in combination with other alkaline material.
• These bicarbonate-containing compositions may be prepared by spray-drying in which event the bicarbonate becomes converted to the corresponding carbonate in the final composition.
• Such compositions suffer from the disadvantage outlined above, of a particularly high initial pH.
• a detergent composition containing at least one synthetic detergent active compound and an alkalimetal orthophosphate detergency builder, wherein the composition further contains discrete particles of sodium or potassium bicarbonate and the composition yields an initial pH of not more than about 11.0 and an equilibrium pH of between about 9.0 and about 11.0, preferably 9.5 to 10.5 when dissolved in distilled water at 25°C at a concentration of 1% by weight.
• the amount of the bicarbonate used is normally within the range of about 1% to about 20%, preferably from about 2% to 15%, especially about 4% to 10%, by weight of the composition. The higher levels within this range tend to be of greater value with compositions likely to be used for fabric washing by hand, for example in the developing countries.
• the bicarbonate may be used partly in the form of a sesquicarbonate, which is a 1:1 mixture of bicarbonate and carbonate salts.
• the alkalimetal bicarbonate used is preferably of small particle size so as to facilitate its prompt dissolution in water, i.e. not later than other alkaline detergent ingredients are dissolved.
• an alkalimetal bicarbonate having a mean particle size diameter of less than about 1000 microns, preferably from about 50 to 500 microns. Whilst bicarbonate particles of smaller size than 50 microns have good dissolution properties, they can cause dustiness during powder handling, and particles over about 1000 microns can contribute to segregation.
• the benefit of adding the bicarbonate is widely applicable to the detergent compositions comprising an alkalimetal orthophosphate salt, usually at levels between about 2% and about 30%, especially about 5-20% by weight of the composition.
• the invention is particularly applicable to the compositions described and claimed in our UK patent No 1 530 799.
• compositions comprise from about 5% to about 30% of a synthetic anionic, nonionic, amphoteric or zwitterionic detergent compound or mixture thereof, and from about 10% to about 30% of mixed sodium tripolyphosphate and alkalimetal orthophosphate in the ratio of from 10:1 to 1:5 parts by weight, wherein the amount of the sodium tripolyphosphate is at least about 5% and the amount of any alkalimetal pyrophosphate is not more than about 5%, all these percentages being expressed by weight of-the total detergent composition, and the pH of a 0.1% aqueous s.olution of the composition being from 9 to 11.
• Potassium tripolyphosphate could be used instead of sodium tripolyphosphate.
• the ratio of the sodium tripolyphosphate to the alkalimetal orthophosphate can be varied from 10:1 to 1:5 parts by weight, it is preferred to have a ratio of from 8:1 to 1:2, especially with an excess of the sodium tripolyphosphate over the alkalimetal orthophosphate, within the ratio of from 5:1 to 1:1 parts by weight, for example from about 4:1 to about 3:2, and more especially from about 3:1 to about 2:1 parts by weight, respectively.
• These ratios of sodium tripolyphosphate to alkalimetal orthophosphate are especially suitable for detergent compositions used at relative high product concentrations, i.e. about 0.3% to about 0.8% by weight, as is common practice in Europe, especially in front- loading automatic washing machines, and where relatively high levels of phosphates are allowed in the products, i.e. equivalent to about 4% to about 7% P.
• detergent compositions which are to be used at relatively low product concentrations, i.e. from about 0.1% to about 0.3%, as is common practice under North American washing conditions, especially in top-loading automatic washing machines, and where relatively low phosphate levels are permitted in the products, i.e. equivalent to less than about 4% P, it may be desirable to increase the proportion of the alkalimetal orthophosphate in the products.
• the ratio of sodium tripolyphosphate to alkalimetal orthophosphate can then be from 2:1 to 1:5 parts by weight, preferably from 1:1 to 1:5, for example from 1:1 to 1:2 or 1:3 parts by weight, respectively.
• the actual amounts of sodium tripolyphosphate and alkalimetal orthophosphate are chosen according to the overall phosphate detergency builder level which is desired in the detergent compositions or according to the maximum permitted phosphorus content.
• a sodium tripolyphosphate and alkalimetal orthophosphate level of about 10% to about 30% by weight of the product, it is preferable to have a sodium tripolyphosphate content of from about 10% to about 20%, and an alkalimetal orthophosphate content of from about 3% to about 15%, especially about 5% to about 10%, by weight of the product.
• the total amount of sodium tripolyphosphate and alkalimetal orthophosphate is preferably at least about 15%, up to about 25% by weight of the composition.
• the only phosphate detergency builders used to make the compositions of the invention should be alkalimetal orthophosphate and optionally the sodium tripolyphosphate.
• the present of significant levels of the alkalimetal pyrophosphates instead of the sodium tripolyphosphate or alkalimetal orthophosphate leads to lower detergency building capacities within the limited phosphate levels permitted.
• sodium pyrophosphate is produced with a lesser amount of sodium orthophosphate by hydrolysis of sodium tripolyphosphate under the hot alkaline conditions met during spray drying, so low levels, i.e. up to about 5%, of sodium pyrophosphate are unavoidable in spray dried powders.
• the total amount of phosphate materials present in the detergent compositions is not more than about 30% by weight of the compositions. It should be noted that the amounts of the hydratable phosphate salts in the compositions are to be determined on an anhydrous basis.
• the alkalimetal orthophosphate used is potassium or preferably sodium orthophosphate, as the latter is cheaper and more readily available.
• the tri-alkyl metal salts are used, but orthophosphoric acid or the di- or monoalkali metal salts, e.g. disodium hydrogen orthophosphate or monosodium dihydrogen orthophosphate, could be used if desired to form the compositions. In the latter event other more alkaline salts would also be present to maintain a high pH in the end product, with full neutralisation to the trialkali metal orthophosphate salts.
• the use of a mixture of the monosodium and disodium hydrogen orthophosphates in the ratio of about 1:3 to 2:3, especially about 1:2, is particularly advantageous, as such a mixture is made as a feedstock for the production of sodium tripolyphosphate and is therefore readily available.
• the alkalimetal orthophosphate can be used initially as the hydrated salt, for example as trisodium orthophosphate dodecahydrate, or in anhydrous state in which case hydration normally. takes place during detergent powder production.
• the amount of the salt is, however, calculated in anhydrous form.
• alkalimetal hydrogen phosphate such as disodium monohydrogen phosphate
• the use of the alkalimetal hydrogen phosphates has been found to be less effective in controlling the peak pH on initial dissolution of the compositions in water.
• addition of the alkalimetal bicarbonate will tend to decrease the overall pH of the wash liquor, besides decreasing the intial pH peak.
• an extra amount of about 3% of sodium alkaline silicate included in the detergent composition compensates in this way for the addition of about 5% of sodium bicarbonate.
• the total amount of sodium silicate used in the compositions for such pH control during the wash, as well as giving improved powder properties and corrosion resistance is about 5% to about 15% by weight of the composition.
• the detergent compositions include about 5% to 40%, especially about 15% to 30% of an anionic, nonionic, amphoteric or zwitterionic detergent compound.
• anionic, nonionic, amphoteric or zwitterionic detergent compound Such compounds are well known in the art and are amply described in the literature, for example in "Surface Active Agents and Detergents” by Schwartz, Perry and Berch, Volumes I and II.
• the preferred detergent compounds which can be used are synthetic anionic and nonionic compounds.
• the former are usually water soluble alkalimetal salts of organic sulphates and sulphonates having alkyl radicals containing from about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms, the term alkyl being used to include the alkyl portion of higher acyl radicals.
• suitable synthetic anionic detergent compounds are sodium and potassium alkyl sulphates, especially those obtained by sulphating higher (C 8 -C 18 ) alcohols produced for example from tallow or coconut oil; sodium and potassium alkyl (C 9 -C 20 ) benzene sulphonates, particularly sodium linear secondary alkyl (C 10 -C 15 ) benzene sulphonates; sodium alkyl glyceryl ether sulphates, especially those ethers of the higher alcohols derived from tallow or coconut oil and synthetic alcohols derived from petroleum; sodium coconut oil fatty acid monoglyceride sulphates and sulphonates; sodium and potassium salts of sulphuric acid esters of higher (C 9 -C 18 ) fatty alcohol- alkylene oxide, particularly ethylene oxide, reaction products; the reaction products of fatty acids such as coconut fatty acids esterified with isethionic acid and neutralised with sodium hydroxide; sodium and potassium salts of fatty acid amides of
• nonionic detergent compounds which may be used.include in particular the reaction products of alkylene oxides, usually ethylene oxide, with alkyl (C 6 -C 22 ) phenols, generally 5 to 25 E0, i.e.. 5 to 25 units of ethylene oxide per molecule; the condensation products of aliphatic (C 8 -C 18 ) primary or secondary linear or branched alcohols with ethylene oxide, generally 6 to 30 E0, and products made by condensation of ethylene oxide with the reaction products of propylene oxide and ethylenediamine.
• nonionic detergent compounds include long chain tertiary amine oxides, long chain tertiary phosphine oxides and dialkyl sulphoxides.
• Mixtures for detergent compounds for example mixed anionic or mixed anionic and nonionic compounds may be used in the detergent compositions, particularly in the latter case to provide controlled low sudsing properties. This is beneficial for compositions intended for use in suds-intolerant automatic washing machines. We have also found that the use of some nonionic detergent compounds in the compositions tends to decrease the tendency of insoluble phosphate salts to deposit on the washed fabrics.
• Amounts of amphoteric or zwitterionic detergent compounds can also be used in the compositions of the invention but this is not normally desired due to their relatively high cost. If any amphoteric or zwitterionic detergent compounds are used it is generally in small amounts in compositions based on the much more commonly used synthetic anionic and/or nonionic detergent compounds. For example, mixtures of amine oxides and ethoxylated nonionic detergent compounds can be used.
• Some soaps may also be used in the compositions of the invention, but not as the sole detergent compounds. They are particularly useful at low levels in binary and ternary mixtures together with nonionic or mixed synthetic anionic and nonionic detergent compounds, which have low sudsing properties.
• the soaps which are used are the sodium, or less desirably potassium, salts of C 10 -C 24 fatty acids. It is particularly preferred that the soaps should be based mainly on the longer-chain fatty acids within this range, that is with at least half of the soap having a carbon chain length of 16 or over.
• soaps from natural sources such as tallow, palm oil or rapeseed oil, which can be hardened if desired, with lesser amounts of other shorter-chain soaps, prepared from nut oils such as coconut oil or palm kernel oil.
• the amount of such soaps can be varied between about 0.5% and about 25% by weight, with lower amounts of about 0.5% to about 5% being generally sufficient for lather control.
• Amounts of soap between about 2% and about 20%, especially between about 5% and about 15%, are preferably used to give a beneficial effect on detergency.
• the detergent compositions of the invention can contain any of the conventional additives in the amounts in which such materials are normally employed in fabric washing detergent compositions.
• these additives include lather boosters such as alkanolamides, particularly the monoethanolamides derived from palm kernel fatty acids and coconut fatty acids, lather depressants such as alkyl phosphates and silicones, antiredeposition agents such as sodium carboxymethylcellulose and polyvinyl pyrrolidone, oxygen-releasing bleaching agents such as sodium perborate and sodium percarbonate, per-acid bleach precursors, chlorine-releasing bleaching agents such as trichloroisocyanuric acid and alkalimetal salts of dichloroisocyanuric acid, fabric' softening agents, inorganic salts such as sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate and magnesium silicate, and, usually present in very minor amounts, fluorescent agents, perfumes, enzymes such as proteases and amylases, germicides and colourants.
• lather boosters such as alkanol
• an amount of sodium perborate preferably between about 10% and 40%, for example about 15% to about 30%, by weight.
• any antideposition agent is normally from about 0.1% to about 5% by weight, preferably from about 0.2% to about 2% by weight of the composition.
• the preferred antideposition agents are salts of homo-and co-polymers of acrylic acid or substituted acrylic acids, such as sodium polyacrylate, the sodium salt of copolymethacrylamide/acrylic acid and sodium poly-alpha- hydroxyacrylate, salts of copolymers of maleic anhydride with ethylene, vinylmethylether or styrene, especially 1:1 copolymers, and optionally with partial esterification of the carboxyl groups especially in the case of the styrene-maleic anhydride copolymers.
• Such copolymers preferably have relatively low molecular weights, e.g. in the range of about 5,000 to 50,000.
• antideposition agents include the sodium salts of polymaleic acid and polyitaconic acid, phosphate esters of ethoxylated aliphatic alcohols, polyethylene glycol phosphate esters, and certain phosphonates such as sodium ethane-l-hydroxy-1, 1-diphosphonate, sodium ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphonate, and sodium 2-phosphonobutane tricarboxylate. Mixtures of organic phosphonic acids or substituted acrylic acids or their salts with protective colloids such as gelatin as described in our Netherlands application 7602082 may also be used.
• the most preferred antideposition agent is sodium polyacrylate having a MW of about 10,000 to 50,000, for example about 27,000.
• non-phosphate detergency builders which may be either so-called precipitant builders or sequesterant builders.
• other detergency builders are amine carboxylates such as sodium nitrilotriacetate, sodium aluminosilicate ion-exchange materials, sodium citrate, sodium carbonate and soap, which can function as a detergency builder as discussed above.
• compositions according to the invention comprise:-
• compositions of the invention are in particulate form, especially as free-flowing powders or granules, and they can be produced by any of the techniques commonly emloyed for making such compositions, normally by slurry making and spray drying processes.
• a process for the production of a detergent composition comprising the steps of
• the alkalimetal bicarbonate salts cannot be included in the detergent slurry for normal slurry making and spray drying techniques to make the detergent compositions, as the bicarbonate would then react in the slurry to form sodium carbonate. It follows that the alkalimetal bicarbonate must be admixed as discrete particles with the preformed particulate detergent composition, that is to say the bicarbonate must be present in that partial salt form, or partly as sesquicarbonate, but not otherwise used in the production of the detergent compositions and thereby present in more highly neutralised form.
• the bicarbonate can be added in its powder form as received, it can be treated if desired to reduce dustiness, for example by admixture of a liquid detergent ingredient such as a nonionic detergent compound, which does not delay the dissolution of the bicarbonate salts in the wash liquor.
• a liquid detergent ingredient such as a nonionic detergent compound
• a detergent composition was made to the following formulation:
• the composition was made by slurry making and spray drying all of the ingredients except for the sodium perborate and sodium bicarbonate which were separately added in particulate form to the spray dried base powder.
• the sodium bicarbonate used was a commercially available product having a wide particle size range of from less than 125 microns to about 1,400 microns.
• the other ingredients of the composition had a mean particle size between 500 and 550 microns.
• compositions according to the invention were found to have good detergency properties when evaluated for fabric washing.
• a powdered detergent composition was prepared to the following formulation by admixing the ingredients:
• the mean particle size of the sodium bicarbonate was about 450 ⁇ while the mean particle size of the remaining components was in the order of 500-550 p.
• This composition was found to give an initial pH on addition to water of 10.5, decreasing to 9.6 after 14 minutes, which was acceptable for a product intended for fabric washing by hand.
• the product was also evaluated under typical Far Eastern wash conditions, in cool water and at a low liquor to cloth ratio, when good results were obtained.
• the mean particle size of the sodium bicarbonate was about 450 ⁇ while the mean particle size of the remaining components was in the order of 500-550 ⁇ .
• test cloths used in Example 3 were as follows:

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• 1980
  • 1980-10-15 GR GR63163A patent/GR70220B/el unknown
  • 1980-10-15 BR BR8006644A patent/BR8006644A/pt unknown
  • 1980-10-15 AU AU63299/80A patent/AU543358B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1980-10-16 ZA ZA00806368A patent/ZA806368B/xx unknown
  • 1980-10-17 DE DE8080303673T patent/DE3065627D1/de not_active Expired
  • 1980-10-17 CA CA362,725A patent/CA1132878A/fr not_active Expired
  • 1980-10-17 PT PT71934A patent/PT71934B/pt unknown
  • 1980-10-17 ES ES496053A patent/ES496053A0/es active Granted
  • 1980-10-17 EP EP80303673A patent/EP0029299B1/fr not_active Expired
  • 1980-10-17 AT AT80303673T patent/ATE5329T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1980-10-17 JP JP14555380A patent/JPS5665099A/ja active Granted

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