EP0138410B1 - Process for the manufacture of coloured detergent powder - Google Patents

Process for the manufacture of coloured detergent powder Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0138410B1
EP0138410B1 EP84306414A EP84306414A EP0138410B1 EP 0138410 B1 EP0138410 B1 EP 0138410B1 EP 84306414 A EP84306414 A EP 84306414A EP 84306414 A EP84306414 A EP 84306414A EP 0138410 B1 EP0138410 B1 EP 0138410B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
powder
colourant
coloured
blue
water
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP84306414A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0138410A1 (en
Inventor
Richard Llewellyn Davies
Nigel Anderson Don
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Unilever PLC
Unilever NV
Original Assignee
Unilever PLC
Unilever NV
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Unilever PLC, Unilever NV filed Critical Unilever PLC
Priority to AT84306414T priority Critical patent/ATE27301T1/en
Publication of EP0138410A1 publication Critical patent/EP0138410A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0138410B1 publication Critical patent/EP0138410B1/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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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
    • C11D3/40—Dyes ; Pigments

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a process for the manufacture of uniformly coloured detergent powder.
  • Coloured detergent powders are normally made by adding dye or pigment to a crutcher slurry and converting the slurry to a powder by spray-drying.
  • dye solution can be injected into the main feed to the nozzles of the spray-drying tower with similar results.
  • the disadvantage of these processes is that they contaminate the whole of the spray-drying plant with colour so that when a white powder is subsequently to be made it is necessary to clean down, with consequent loss of production time.
  • United States Patent No. 4 162 228 relates to a method of colouring detergent flakes which contain nonionic surfactant as an essential component.
  • the method involves mixing a dry colourant into the flakes whereupon the nonionic surfactant dissolves the colourant, imparting an overall hue to the flakes.
  • Flakes are, of course, easier to colour than powder since they are translucent, and the whole formulation is contained within the flake.
  • powders normally consist of two components - a spray-dried portion and a dry-dosed portion which may have different affinities for colourant resulting in the powder having a mottled appearance.
  • GB-A-1375108 discloses a process for manufacturing a granular detergent composition containing a water-soluble blue dyestuff such as Polar Brilliant Blue or Ultramarine Blue yet which is substantially uncoloured in the dry state.
  • the composition is prepared by mixing the dyestuff in dry form with a detergent powder or a granular ingredient thereof, and then spraying it with a liquid agglomerating agent.
  • uniformly coloured powder can be manufactured by simply mixing a particulate colourant with a detergent powder, if the particulate colourant comprises both a pigment (water-insoluble) and a dyestuff (water-soluble).
  • the present invention provides a process for the manufacture of a uniformly coloured detergent powder which comprises admixing with a detergent powder a particulate colourant comprising a water-insoluble pigment and a water-soluble dyestuff.
  • the coloured powder may be sprayed with a small percentage, for example 1-5% by weight, of water or of an ethoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant in liquid or molten form. This can help to accentuate the colouration.
  • the mean particle size of the colourant is 0.5 to 5 pm, most preferably about 2 um.
  • the process may be applied to powder which has been prepared by spray-drying, spray-cooling, granulation or agglomeration or any combination of these techniques. Additionally, any of the powder so produced may be dosed with conventional detergent powder additives such as sodium perborate tetrahydrate without altering the effectiveness of the process.
  • the apparatus used for mixing the particulate colourant and the powder is not critical to the process. We have found a rotating drum mixer to be perfectly satisfactory and also, a Patterson-Kelley (Registered Trade mark) batch blender has performed well.
  • White, spray-dried detergent powder is first fed down a chute at a flow rate of about 350 Kg/hdur controlled by a slide valve into one end of the interior of a rotatable drum mixer without internal baffles.
  • the axis of the drum mixer is approximately horizontal but the mean residence time of the powder in the drum which is about 2 minutes can be adjusted to some extent by moving the axis up or down by a few degrees.
  • the drum is rotated and a finely powdered mixture of the following colourants is fed into the drum from a variable speed dosing unit:
  • Substantially uniformly blue coloured powder emerges from the discharge end of the drum mixer.
  • the small quantity of water or nonionic surfactant referred to above say 1-3% by weight may be sprayed onto the powder in the drum through spray nozzles located along the axis.

Abstract

Coloured detergent powder, either spray-dried or prepared by an agglomeration or granulation step may be prepared by admixing white powder with particulate colourant. This produces a satisfactory coloured powder without the disadvantages associated with other methods.

Description

  • This invention relates to a process for the manufacture of uniformly coloured detergent powder.
  • Coloured detergent powders are normally made by adding dye or pigment to a crutcher slurry and converting the slurry to a powder by spray-drying. Alternatively dye solution can be injected into the main feed to the nozzles of the spray-drying tower with similar results. The disadvantage of these processes is that they contaminate the whole of the spray-drying plant with colour so that when a white powder is subsequently to be made it is necessary to clean down, with consequent loss of production time.
  • One of the ways of avoiding this disadvantage is to spray a solution of dyestuff onto white powder. The main difficulty with this is that of contacting each individual particle, to an equal extent. If that is not achieved, then a speckled or mottled powder results.
  • United States Patent No. 4 162 228 relates to a method of colouring detergent flakes which contain nonionic surfactant as an essential component. The method involves mixing a dry colourant into the flakes whereupon the nonionic surfactant dissolves the colourant, imparting an overall hue to the flakes. Flakes are, of course, easier to colour than powder since they are translucent, and the whole formulation is contained within the flake. In contrast, powders normally consist of two components - a spray-dried portion and a dry-dosed portion which may have different affinities for colourant resulting in the powder having a mottled appearance.
  • GB-A-1375108 (Procter & Gamble) discloses a process for manufacturing a granular detergent composition containing a water-soluble blue dyestuff such as Polar Brilliant Blue or Ultramarine Blue yet which is substantially uncoloured in the dry state. The composition is prepared by mixing the dyestuff in dry form with a detergent powder or a granular ingredient thereof, and then spraying it with a liquid agglomerating agent.
  • These prior art processes involving the mixing of a dry colourant with a powder or flake detergent composition or ingredient thereof have led to products which are either non-uniformly coloured or not coloured at all.
  • We have now discovered contrary to what would have been expected that uniformly coloured powder can be manufactured by simply mixing a particulate colourant with a detergent powder, if the particulate colourant comprises both a pigment (water-insoluble) and a dyestuff (water-soluble).
  • Accordingly, the present invention, provides a process for the manufacture of a uniformly coloured detergent powder which comprises admixing with a detergent powder a particulate colourant comprising a water-insoluble pigment and a water-soluble dyestuff.
  • If desirable or necessary, after the mixing step the coloured powder may be sprayed with a small percentage, for example 1-5% by weight, of water or of an ethoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant in liquid or molten form. This can help to accentuate the colouration.
  • When choosing the colourant system it is important to select substances which will colour the powder adequately and yet not produce staining problems in the wash. We have found a combination of the pigment Ultramarine Blue, the dyestuff DuasynO Acid Blue and the blue-whitener Polar Brilliant Blue to give excellent results on all types of detergent powder.
  • Other dyestuffs which have been found to be satisfactory are Carbolan@Violet, Gulf Acid Blue 6JS0 and Milling Blue 2BR, all of which are available from Imperial Chemical Industries Limited.
  • Preferably the mean particle size of the colourant is 0.5 to 5 pm, most preferably about 2 um.
  • The process may be applied to powder which has been prepared by spray-drying, spray-cooling, granulation or agglomeration or any combination of these techniques. Additionally, any of the powder so produced may be dosed with conventional detergent powder additives such as sodium perborate tetrahydrate without altering the effectiveness of the process.
  • The apparatus used for mixing the particulate colourant and the powder is not critical to the process. We have found a rotating drum mixer to be perfectly satisfactory and also, a Patterson-Kelley (Registered Trade mark) batch blender has performed well.
  • The invention will be further described in the following example.
    • Example
  • White, spray-dried detergent powder is first fed down a chute at a flow rate of about 350 Kg/hdur controlled by a slide valve into one end of the interior of a rotatable drum mixer without internal baffles. The axis of the drum mixer is approximately horizontal but the mean residence time of the powder in the drum which is about 2 minutes can be adjusted to some extent by moving the axis up or down by a few degrees. The drum is rotated and a finely powdered mixture of the following colourants is fed into the drum from a variable speed dosing unit:
    Figure imgb0001
  • Substantially uniformly blue coloured powder emerges from the discharge end of the drum mixer.
  • If desired the small quantity of water or nonionic surfactant referred to above, say 1-3% by weight may be sprayed onto the powder in the drum through spray nozzles located along the axis.
  • There are several advantages to the process described above. Most importantly it avoids colouration of the spray-drying plant, but also it appears to be independent of formulation, and is suitable for colouring fully-formulated powder and not just the spray-dried portion.

Claims (6)

1. A process for the manufacture of a uniformly coloured detergent powder, characterised in that there is admixed with a detergent powder a particulate colourant comprising a water-insoluble pigment and a water-soluble dyestuff.
2. A process as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the particulate colourant comprises the blue pigment Ultramarine Blue and a dyestuff selected from DuasynO Acid Blue, Carbolan- ®Violet, Gulf Acid Blue 6 JSO and Milling Blue 2BR.
3. A process according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the coloured powder is sprayed with from 1 to 5% by weight of water.
4. A process according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the coloured powder is sprayed with from 1 to 5% by weight of an ethoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant in liquid or molten form.
5. A process according to any one of the preceding claims characterised in that the mean particle size of the colourant is from 0.5 to 5 µm.
6. A process according to claim 5, characterised in that the mean particle size of the colourant is about 2 µm.
EP84306414A 1983-09-21 1984-09-19 Process for the manufacture of coloured detergent powder Expired EP0138410B1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT84306414T ATE27301T1 (en) 1983-09-21 1984-09-19 PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF COLORED DETERGENT POWDER.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB838325326A GB8325326D0 (en) 1983-09-21 1983-09-21 Coloured detergent powder
GB8325326 1983-09-21

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0138410A1 EP0138410A1 (en) 1985-04-24
EP0138410B1 true EP0138410B1 (en) 1987-05-20

Family

ID=10549121

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP84306414A Expired EP0138410B1 (en) 1983-09-21 1984-09-19 Process for the manufacture of coloured detergent powder

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0138410B1 (en)
AT (1) ATE27301T1 (en)
DE (1) DE3463787D1 (en)
GB (1) GB8325326D0 (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9724302B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2017-08-08 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4671886A (en) * 1985-11-25 1987-06-09 The Procter & Gamble Company Process for coloring granular product by admixing with pigment/diluent premix
DE19801186A1 (en) 1998-01-15 1999-07-22 Henkel Kgaa Production of colored laundry detergent particles for universal, colored or fine wash
DE10243329B3 (en) * 2002-09-18 2004-06-03 Bk Giulini Chemie Gmbh & Co. Ohg Process for coloring sodium carbonate and its use in detergent and cleaning agent formulations
GB0314210D0 (en) 2003-06-18 2003-07-23 Unilever Plc Laundry treatment compositions

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CA980957A (en) * 1971-11-26 1976-01-06 Randall B. Hall Substantially uncolored detergent products containing coloring materials
US3915885A (en) * 1974-02-21 1975-10-28 Rockwell International Corp Water washable dye penetrant composition and method utilizing same
ES470338A1 (en) * 1977-05-31 1979-09-16 Unilever Nv Process for preparing colored detergent flakes

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9724302B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2017-08-08 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles
US9730892B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2017-08-15 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles
US9737483B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2017-08-22 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles
US9737482B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2017-08-22 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles
US9757336B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2017-09-12 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles
US9808424B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2017-11-07 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles
US10045941B2 (en) 2010-04-09 2018-08-14 Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Method for formulating large diameter synthetic membrane vesicles

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE3463787D1 (en) 1987-06-25
ATE27301T1 (en) 1987-06-15
EP0138410A1 (en) 1985-04-24
GB8325326D0 (en) 1983-10-26

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