EP0216301B1 - Liquid cleaning agent - Google Patents

Abstract

The foaming and detergent power of manual dishwashing detergents gentle to the skin and containing anionic surfactants of the sulfonate or sulfate surfactant type, fatty acid alkanolamides and fatty alkylgucosides are enhanced by using fatty alkyl C12-C14 monoglucosides containing less than 2 glucose units per fatty alkyl group in quantities of from 3 to 20% by weight alkyl sulfate or alkylether sulfate, and from 1 to 15% by weight fatty acid alkanolamide.

Description

Liquid cleaning agents usually consist of aqueous solutions of synthetic anionic and / or nonionic surfactants and conventional additives. They are particularly used for cleaning hard surfaces, for example glass, ceramic materials, plastics, painted and polished surfaces. An important area of application for liquid detergents is the manual washing of eating and cooking utensils. The dishes are usually cleaned at slightly elevated temperatures of around 35 to 45 ° C in very dilute liquors. The cleaning power of an agent is generally assessed by the consumer the better and the longer the cleaning liquor foams. Due to the contact of the hands with the cleaning solution over a longer period of time, the skin-friendliness of the agent is of particular importance when washing dishes. For these reasons, the expert makes different considerations when selecting the components and the composition of an agent for the manual cleaning of dishes than with liquid detergents for other hard surfaces.

The present invention relates to liquid, manually applicable, skin-friendly dishwashing detergents with strong foaming and good cleaning power.

It is generally known that so-called alkyl ether sulfates, that is to say salts of sulfated adducts of about 2 to 5 moles of ethylene oxide with fatty alcohols of about 10 to 18, preferably 12 to 16 carbon atoms in the aliphatic residue have good foaming and cleaning power as well as skin-friendly properties. The commercially available, manual dishwashing detergents (also known as dishwashing detergents) therefore generally represent aqueous solutions of such alkyl ether sulfates in conjunction with other surfactants, in particular alkylbenzenesulfonates and solubilizers, colors and fragrances.

Swiss patent 354 195 discloses liquid detergents for manual dishwashing, which are a combination of an alkyl ether sulfate and a nonionic surfactant of the fatty acid alkanolamide type from mono- or dialkanolamides with no more than 3 carbon atoms in each alkanol residue of saturated fatty acids with 10 to 14 Contain carbon atoms, together with water, solubilizers, colors and fragrances.

From US Pat. No. 3,219,656 it is already known that alkyl monoglucosides not only develop stable foam themselves, but also act as foam stabilizers for other anionic and nonionic surfactants. They are said to be comparable to fatty acid alkanolamides and in some cases to be somewhat better than these. Combinations with such alkanolamides are not described.

US Pat. No. 3,925,224 describes detergent-enhancing additives of water-insoluble or sparingly soluble surfactants to conventional textile detergents based on water-soluble surfactants; C brauch to C₂₄ fatty alcohol monoglucosides, among others, are proposed as usable insoluble or poorly soluble nonionic surfactants.

European patent applications 70 076 and 105 556 disclose foaming liquid cleaning agents containing anionic surfactants, alkyl glucosides and amine oxides or fatty acid alkanol amides and other nonionic surfactants , the alkyl glucosides being alkyl oligoglucosides which contain the glucose unit about 1.5 to 10 times , acts. This value is an average value and also takes into account the presence of alkyl monoglucosides in a corresponding proportion. Alkyl glucosides with a degree of oligomerization of 1.6 to higher than 2 are found to be particularly suitable.

It has now surprisingly been found that the foam and cleaning power of liquid, aqueous cleaning agents which are specifically designed for the manual cleaning of dishes and the synthetic anionic surfactants of the sulfonate and / or sulfate surfactant type, fatty acid alkanolamides and fatty alkyl glucosides are thereby increased may choose fatty alkyl glucosides of the fatty alkyl monoglucoside type. Fatty alkyl monoglucosides are understood here to mean compounds with 1 to 1.4 glucose units per fatty alkyl radical. The fatty alkyl radical preferably has 10 to 18, in particular essentially 12 to 14, carbon atoms. "Fatty alkyl" is understood to mean the residues of the fatty alcohols produced by hydrogenation of natural fatty acids which are wholly or predominantly saturated or which also comprise unsaturated portions.

In a preferred combination, an alkyl sulfate or an alkyl ether sulfate is used as the synthetic anionic surfactant. In the combination of these sulfate surfactants with the fatty acid alkanolamide and the fatty alkyl monoglucoside, the invention creates a cleaning agent made from three different types of surfactants, the hydrophobic part of which is produced entirely from renewable raw materials (fats). In the case of alkyl glucosides, the hydrophilic part of the molecule also consists of a renewable one Raw material (sugar). In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the anionic surfactants, which have a petrochemical base, in particular alkylbenzenesulfonate, are therefore not used.

The preferred alkyl sulfates or alkyl ether sulfates are commercially available, they have a straight-chain aliphatic C ₁₂ -C ₁₈ , preferably C ₁₂ -C ₁₄ radical. The associated cation is preferably an alkali metal or ammonium ion. The degree of ethoxylation of alkyl ether sulfates is 1 to 5; preference is given to using an alkyl ether sulfate mixture consisting of 50 percent by weight of a C ₁₂ alkyl ether sulfate and 50 percent by weight of a C ₁₄ alkyl ether sulfate having 1 to 5, preferably 2 to 4, ethylene oxide groups instead of the alkyl ether sulfate mixture which is usually used and which contains the same components in a weight ratio of 70:30 , advantageous because it leads to a reduction in skin irritation without reducing the known good washing power of such agents. Small additional amounts of alkyl ether sulfates with less than 12 or more than 14 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical change these good results only insignificantly, but should be avoided if necessary.

The amount of alkyl and alkyl ether sulfates used is generally 2 to 25, preferably 3 to 20 percent by weight, based on the total agent.

The fatty acid alkanolamides used generally have an alkyl group with 8 to 18, preferably 10 to 14 carbon atoms in the fatty acid residue, while the amide group either with two hydroxyalkyl groups with 1 to 3 carbon atoms (dialkanolamide) or with such a hydroxyalkyl group and with hydrogen or a C. ₁ -C ₃ alkyl group is substituted. These connections are generally used in an amount of 1 to 15, preferably 1 to 5 percent by weight, based on the total agent.

Mixtures of fatty acid mono- and dialkanolamides are preferably used.

The amount of the alkyl monoglucosides added according to the invention is generally 2 to 25, preferably 3 to 20 percent by weight, based on the total agent, this amount preferably being equal to or less than the combined amount of sulfate surfactant and fatty acid alkanolamide. As solubilizers, for example for dyes and perfume oils, for example alkanolamines, polyols, such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol-1,2 or glycerol, and as hydrotropes, alkali alkylbenzenesulfonates having 1 to 3 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical, preferably sodium cumene sulfonate, can be used. The amounts used are between 3 and 15 percent by weight, based on the total agent.

In addition, solvents such as low molecular weight alkanols with 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the molecule, preferably ethanol and isopropyl alcohol, are usually used. The amounts used are also 3 to 15 percent by weight, based on the total agent. Thickeners such as urea, sodium chloride, ammonium chloride and magnesium chloride can also be used individually or in combination. Other common optional additives are corrosion inhibitors, preservatives, dyes and perfume oils.

The remainder to be calculated for a total of 100 percent by weight for the total composition consists of water.

The liquid cleaning agents according to the invention according to the following examples were obtained by stirring the individual constituents together and allowing the mixture to stand until there were no bubbles. In the examples, the sodium salts were used as anionic surfactants.

example 1

The plate test is described in this example.
The amount of 9 g of sodium C _12-14 alkyl (EO) ₂ sulfate was stirred at room temperature with 7.5 g of sodium cumene sulfonate in 68.5 g of water and 12 g of C _{12 in} succession in any order with further stirring _-14 -Alkyl monoglucoside with 1.3 glucose units (GE) in the molecule and 2 g of C _12-14 fatty acid monoethanolamide and 1 g of C₁₂-C₁₄ fatty acid diethanolamide were added. The product was clear and had a Höppler viscosity of 15 mPas at 20 ° C. To test the cleaning performance, saucers were coated with 2 g of melted beef tallow (test soil A) and accordingly with 2 g of a mixed soil of protein, fat and carbohydrates (MiNO-1 from Henkel) (test soil B) mixed with water. Then 8 liters of tap water (16 ° d) at 45 ° C were placed in a bowl. To clean the plates soiled with (A), 4 g, ie 0.5 g / l, of the cleaning agent prepared were added and the plates were washed. Until the foam of the initially foaming solution disappeared, 18 plates could be washed clean. If the alkyl monoglucoside was omitted and the alkyl ether sulfate content increased to 21 g, an agent was obtained in which only 14 plates could be washed under comparable conditions. Conversely, only 10 plates could be washed with an agent containing 21 g / alkyl monoglucoside without a proportion of alkyl ether sulfate. When cleaning plates soiled with (B), the values when using only 0.4 g detergent per liter of water were 34 plates compared to 25 or 22 plates.

Example 2

According to the information in Example 1, 6 different compositions were produced with respect to the alkyl ether sulfate and the alkyl glucoside content with a constant content of C _12-14 fatty acid diethanolamide, and products with 1.1 GE and 2.2 GE were compared as alkyl glucosides. The agents were each subjected to the plate test. The results are shown in the table below. They show the advantage of the product with 1.1 GE.

Example 3

According to the information in Example 1, this time the C _12-14 alkyl (EO) ₂ sulfate was replaced by C _12-14 alkyl sulfate and the procedure in Example 2 was followed. One with 1.4 GE and one with 2.2 GE were used as glucosides. The results are shown in the table below. They show that the advantages of using alkyl monoglucosides with GE less than 1.5 also occur in conjunction with alkyl sulfates.

Claims (3)

1. A liquid water-based manual dishwashing detergent containing synthetic anionic surfactants of the sulfonate and/or sulfate surfactant type, fatty acid alkanolamides and fatty alkyl glucosides, characterized in that it contains fatty alkyl glucosides of the fatty alkyl monoglucoside type, containing 1 to 1.4 glucoside units per fatty alkyl group.
2. A detergent as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the fatty alkyl monoglucosides contain from 10 to 18 and, in particular, essentially 12 to 14 carbon atoms in the fatty alkyl group and are present in a combination with synthetic anionic surfactants of the alkyl sulfate or alkyl ether sulfate type and with fatty acid alkanolamides, so that the detergent is free from anionic surfactants having a petrochemical base, particularly alkylbenzene sulfonate.
3. A detergent as claimed in any of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the alkyl monoglucoside is present in a quantity of from 2 to 25% by weight and preferably in a quantity of from 3 to 20% by weight together with from 2 to 25% by weight of the alkyl sulfate and/or alkyl ether sulfate and together with from 1 to 15% by weight of the fatty acid alkanolamide and the quantity of alkyl monoglucoside is preferably equal to or smaller than the combined quantity of sulfate surfactant and fatty acid alkanolamide.