EP0280143B1 - Liquid cleaning agent - Google Patents

Abstract

A liquid manual dishwashing detergent composition consisting essentially of alkyl glucoside and dialkyl sulfosuccinate. The composition provides improved detergency and foam stability against proteinaceous soils.

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. Because of the contact of the hands with the cleaning liquor over a longer period of time, the skin-friendliness of the agent is of particular importance when washing dishes manually. 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.

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, colorants 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 nonionic alkyl monoglucosides not only develop stable foam themselves, but also act as foam stabilizers for other anionic and nonionic surfactants.

European patent application 70 076 discloses foaming liquid detergents containing anionic surfactants, alkyl glucosides and amine oxides or fatty acid alkanolamides, the alkyl glucosides being alkyl oligoglucosides which contain the glucose unit about 1.5 to 10 times. 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 higher than 2 are found to be particularly suitable.

German patent application P 35 34 082.7 describes a liquid cleaning agent for the manual cleaning of dishes, containing synthetic anionic surfactants of the sulfonate and / or sulfate surfactant type, fatty acid alkanolamides and fatty alkyl glucosides, which is characterized in that it contains fatty alkyl glucosides of the fatty alkyl monoglucoside type contains on average less than 2 glucoside units per fatty alkyl radical, in particular 1 to 1.4 glucoside units.

Detergents, especially dishwashing detergents, containing di-n-alkyl sulfosuccinates have long been known. For example, liquid dishwashing detergents which contain alkyl ether sulfates and sulfosuccinates, preferably di-n-octyl sulfosuccinate, and, if appropriate, further surfactants are described in German patent specification 23 17 076.

The aqueous mixture of alkyl sulfosuccinates and alkyl ether sulfates is also known from European patent application 124367. It also describes aqueous solutions of alkyl sulfosuccinates alone and of alkyl sulfosuccinates in a mixture with alkyl benzene sulfonates.

Various other property rights, including European patent applications 71410 to 71414, 112044 to 112046 and 115923, deal with the same complex, whereby the chain lengths of the alkyl sulfosuccinate are changed, the consistency of the agents is improved or the foam stability is increased.

It has now surprisingly been found that foaming and cleaning power of liquid, optionally aqueous cleaning agents which are specifically designed for the manual cleaning of dishes and which essentially contain alkyl glucosides having 10 to 18 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical and 1 to 5 glucose units in the molecule, can be enhanced by adding di-alkylsulfosuccinates with 7 to 9, in particular 8, carbon atoms in the alkyl radical. The alkyl radical can be straight-chain or branched. The proportion of di-alkyl sulfosuccinates is 20 to 90, preferably 50 to 80 parts by weight, based on the total surfactant content of 15 to 50% by weight in the product. They are present as alkali, especially as sodium salts.

The proportion of alkyl glucosides with 10 to 18, preferably 12 to 14 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical and with 1 to 5, preferably 1 to 1.4 glucose units (GE) in the molecule in the agents according to the invention is accordingly 10 to 80, preferably 20 to 50 parts by weight. based on the total surfactant content of 15 to 50 wt .-% in the product.

With partial replacement of the surfactants mentioned by anionic surfactants - preferably alkyl ether sulfates or alkyl sulfates - and amphoteric surfactants such as. B. Acylamidopropyldimethylammoniumbetain performance improvements in washability and improvements in storage stability can be achieved.

The compositions according to the invention are preferably free from the proportions of anionic surfactants based on petrochemicals, such as, for example, which are generally customary for such compositions. B. alkylbenzenesulfonates and alkanesulfonates.

Alkanolamines, polyols, such as ethylene glycol, 1,2-propylene glycol or glycerol and, for example, hydrotropic alkali-alkylbenzenesulfonates with 1 to 3 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical, such as sodium cumolsulfonate, can serve as solubilizers, for example for small amounts of dye and perfume oil. The amounts used are then generally between 1 and 10 percent by weight, based on the total agent.

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

A 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 sulfosuccinates.

Examples example 1

The plate test is described in this example. The amount of 27 g of di-isooctylsulfosuccinate was stirred at room temperature with 15 g of isopropanol in 55 g of water. And with further stirring, 3 g of C _12/14 alkyl glucoside with 1.1 glucose units (GE) were added in the molecule. The product was clear and had a viscosity of 30 mPas determined according to Höppler at 20 ° C. To test the cleaning performance, saucers were coated with 2 g of melted beef tallow (test soil A). Then 8 liters of tap water (16 ° d) at 50 ° C was 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, 23 plates could be washed clean. If the alkyl glucoside was omitted and the di-alkyl sulfosuccinate increased to 30 g, only 6 plates could be washed. If the di-alkyl sulfosuccinate was omitted and the alkyl glucoside increased to 30 g, 12 plates could be rinsed clean (Table 1).

Example 2

To check the cleaning performance, in addition to beef tallow soiling (A), mixed soiling mixed with water (B) from protein, fat and carbohydrates (Mi No 1 from Henkel) was used. According to the information in Example 1, 3 g of di-isooctyl sulfosuccinate were replaced by 3 g of C _12/14 alkyl sulfate with the same proportion of C _12/14 alkyl glucoside with 1.1 GE. Until the foam disappeared, the number of cleanly rinsed plates could be increased from 23 to 29 plates for plates soiled with (A). In the case of soiling (B), an increase in performance from 22 to 25 plates was achieved. It can be seen from Table 2 that the three-way combinations also have a larger performance spectrum than the two-way combinations with different soiling. Depending on the mixing ratio of the three individual surfactants, the performance of the state-of-the-art detergent standard consisting of alkylbenzenesulfonate and fatty alcohol ether sulfate in relation to stubborn grease stains (A) can be almost doubled without increasing the total active substance, without suffering losses with mixed stains (B), or be exceeded by approx. 50% for both types of dirt (Table 2).

Example 3

Another advantage of the surfactant triple combinations can be seen when checking the turbidity or clear points.

A solution of 10 g of C _12/14 alkyl glucoside GE 1.4, 15 g of di-isooctylsulfosuccinate, 15 g of ethanol in 60 g of water became cloudy after storage for 24 hours at 0 ° C. and after freezing to -15 ° C. and thawing a clear point + 12 ° C. However, if 5 g of sulfosuccinate were replaced by 5 g of C _12/14 alkyl ether sulfate with 2 ethylene oxide groups, this solution remained clear when stored at 0 ° C and thawed again clearly after freezing to -15 ° C at + 2 ° C (see Table 3).

Example 4

A solution of 10 g of di-isooctylsulfosuccinate, 4 g of C _12/14 alkyl glucoside GE, 1.4.6 g of C _12/14 alkyl ether sulfate with 2 ethylene oxide groups, 10 g of isopropanol and 70 g of water was, according to Example 1, in a plate test with 0 , 6 g detergent / l rinsing solution. Of the plates soiled with test soil (B), 27 plates were rinsed clean. However, if 2 g of the alkyl ether sulfate were replaced by 2 g of C _8/18 acylamidopropyldimethylammonium betaine (Dehyton K®), 30 plates were rinsed clean.

10 g sulfosuccinate, 6 g alkyl glucoside GE 1.4, 4 g alkyl ether sulfate, 10 g isopropanol and 70 g water were clearly dissolved. In the plate test, 28 plates were rinsed clean from plates soiled with test soil (B). However, if 1 g of alkyl glucoside was replaced by 1 g of Dehyton K®, the washing performance increased to 30 plates.

Example 5

This example, carried out in analogy to Example 1, shows. that regardless of the soiling of alkyl monoglucosides - as already demonstrated on the systems alkyl glucoside / alkyl sulfate or alkyl ether sulfate and / or fatty acid alkanolamide (German application 35 34 082) - in systems with alkyl sulfosuccinates also have advantages over alkyl oligoglucosides in terms of flushing performance.

Example 6

In analogy to Example 1, the rinsing power of surfactant mixtures of C _12/14 alkyl glucoside and di-n-octyl sulfosuccinate was tested.

Example 7

These test series, also carried out in analogy to Example 1, show the influence of the degree of oligomerization of the C _12/14 alkyl glucoside on the rinsing performance in combination with di-n-octylsulfosuccinate. Note the decrease in the rinsing performance with increasing degree of oligomerization of the alkyl glucoside in mixed soiling (B).

Claims (5)

1. A liquid, optionally water-based manual dishwashing detergent essentially containing alkyl glucosides having 10 to 18 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical and 1 to 5 glucose units in the molecule, characterized in that it additionally contains dialkyl sulfosuccinates containing 7 to 9 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical.
2. A detergent as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the dialkyl sulfosuccinates contain 8 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical and are present as alkali salts, more especially sodium salts.
3. A detergent as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the alkyl radical of the sulfosuccinates is linear or branched.
4. A detergent as claimed in claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the alkyl glucosides essentially contain 12 to 14 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical and 1 to 1.4 glucose units in the molecule.
5. A detergent as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the alkyl glucoside is present in a quantity of 10 to 80 parts by weight and preferably in a quantity of 20 to 50 parts by weight while the dialkyl sulfosuccinate is present in a quantity of 20 to 90 parts by weight and preferably in a quantity of 50 to 80 parts by weight, based in each case on a total surfactant content of the detergent of 15 to 50% by weight.