GB1560073A - Detergent compositions and the production thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The heavy duty washing powder contains a detergent which essentially consists of an alkoxylated alcohol as non-ionic surface-active agent in an amount of 5 to 50% by weight, a water-soluble soap in an amount of 10 to 30% by weight and sodium tripolyphosphate in an amount of 10 to 25% by weight, which corresponds to a total P content of 6% by weight. The alkoxylated alcohol is normally an ethoxylated alcohol, i.e. a C12-15-alcohol which is ethoxylated with 4 to 25 mol, preferably 4 to 12 mol, of ethylene oxide per mol of alcohol. A preferred washing powder mixture contains the water-soluble soap as a mixture of 45 to 60% by weight of non-hardened tallow soap, 20 to 30% by weight of coconut oil soap and 15 to 25% by weight of soap from hardened rape oil.

Description

(54) DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS AND THE PRODUCTION THEREOF (71) We, UNILEVER LIMITED, a company organised under the laws of Great Britain, of Unilever House, Blackfriars, London, E.C.4, England, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The invention relates to detergent compositions which are adapted for fabric washing, and in particular to such compositions containing phosphate detergency builders.

The most commonly used detergency builders are the condensed phosphates, especially sodium tripolyphosphate, but it has been suggested that the use of these phosphate detergency builders can contribute to eutrophication problems. There have been very many suggestions for alternative, mainly organic, materials to be used as detergency builders instead of the condensed phosphates, but most of these materials tend to be unsatisfactory for one reason or another, for example they are less efficient or biologically unacceptable, or they may simply be too expensive.

It has also been proposed to mitigate the problems of eutrophication by using decreased levels of condensed phosphate detergency builders, with or without the presence of other detergency builders, but few of these proposals have been acceptable. Thus, when reduced levels of sodium tripolyphosphate are used without supplemental builders, there can be considerable problems when using the compositions in hard water if there is insufficient phosphate to sequester all the calcium ions present, as this causes the precipitation of insoluble calcium phosphate salts which can accumulate on the washed fabrics.When a condensed phosphate builder is used with other types of detergency builders, then they tend to interact and often the former prevents the latter from functioning effectively, especially in the case of other detergency builders which act by precipitating the calcium salt, for example sodium carbonate.

We have now discovered that certain mixtures of sodium tripolyphosphate and soap function as efficient detergency builders and that these materials, when combined with a nonionic surfactant, prdouce a heavy duty fabric washing powder having good detergency and producing pleasant after wash feel characteristics.

According to the present invention there is provided a heavy duty fabric washing powder comprising a non-soap detergent, a water-soluble soap and sodium tripolyphosphate wherein (a) the non-soap detergent consists essentially of an alkoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant which is present in an amount of from 5 to 50% by weight (b) the water-soluble soap is present in an amount of from 10-30% by weight, and (c) the sodium tripolyphosphate is present in an amount of from 10-40% by weight, the balance being conventional components of fabric washing powders. By choosing the amounts of the sodium tripolyphosphate and soap to be in the ranges stated it is possible to formulate effective detergent compositions containing lower phosphorus levels than conventional detergent compositions of comparable performance.Insofar as these two materials function normally in different ways, i.e. sodium tripolyphosphate acting as a sequestrant detergency builder and the soap functioning as a precipitant builder, it is somewhat surprising that a mixture of the materials functions so effectively. In particular, the tendency for sodium tripolyphosphate to cause inorganic deposition on washed fabrics when it is used at low levels in detergent compositions is decreased in the presence of the soap. Moreover, the sodium tripolyphosphate does not appear to inhibit the detergency building action of the soaps, as it does with many other detergency builders, and any soap not precipitated as the calcium salt, e.g. when the compositions are used in soft water or at higher product concentrations, can function as a detergent active compound, so increasing the detergency of the compositions.

The soaps used are the sodium, or less desirably potassium, salts of C8-C22 fatty acids, especially natural fatty acids derived from nut oils, such as coconut oil or palm kernel oil, or tallow class fats, such as beef and mutton tallows, palm oil, lard, some vegetable butters and castor oil. The tallow class fats may be hardened, if desired, so as to decrease the content of unsaturated acids such as oleic acid and linoleic acid, and this is particularly beneficial if some more highly polyunsaturated oils such as soybean oil are desired to be used as tallow class fats at significant levels.

It is preferred to use mixtures of soaps derived from tallow class fats (C14-C20, mainly C18 fatty acids) and soaps from nut oils, which are soaps of predominantly C10-C14, mainly C12 fatty acids, of which normally at least 75% are saturated fatty acids; again the nut oils may be hardened if desired. Such mixtures tend to have better solubilities than tallow soap alone, coupled with sufficiently low calcium soap solubilities for satisfactory detergency building, and sufficiently low critical micelle concentrations approaching that of tallow soap alone, to enable any excess of the soap to function as an extra detergent active component.The preferred mixtures are from 9:1 to 1:9, for example 5:1 to 1:5 and especially 3:1 to 1:2 parts by weight of tallow class soap to nut oil class soap, respectively. In general, higher proportions of tallow class soaps in such mixtures give better detergency building properties, whilst higher proportions of nut oil class soaps give better solubility properties.

In addition to the tallow class soap, and any optional nut oil soap, some soap of longer carbon chain length can be used if desired, especially C20-C24 soaps, e.g. rapeseed soaps, which are useful for lather-depressing properties. A particularly preferred mixture of soaps is one comprising from 45-60%by weight of soap of tallow class fats, from 20-30%by weight of coconut oil soap and from 15-25% by weight of hardened rape seed oil soap. When incorporated into a powder at a level of 15% by weight this has been found to enable a powder having desirable powder properties to be produced. Soaps of synthetic fatty acids may also be used.

In distinction from naturally-occurring or derived fattyeacids which have linear carbon chain lengths of even numbers, synthetic fatty acids can have both odd and even numbers and they can be of both linear and branched-out chain form. Synthetic fatty acids of carbon chain length predominantly C 14-C20, which are preferably at least 40% saturated and at least 75 % linear, can be used in partial or full replacement of natural tallow class soaps, and synthetic fatty acids of carbon chain length predominantly C10-C16, preferably at least 75% saturated and at least 50% linear, can be used in partial or full replacement of natural nut oil soaps.If any branched-chain fatty acids are used they are preferably a-alkyl, e.g. a-methyl branched, rather than being more highly branched.

There have in the past been many suggestions for using sodium tripolyphosphate as a detergency builder in detergent compositions comprising soap as a detergent active material.

For example in so-called ternary active mixtured for use in low sudsing compositions, it is usual to have present some soap, at a low level of up to 8% by weight together with very low levels of anionic and nonionic surfactants. Normally such soaps are tallow soaps or soaps of longer-chain length fatty acids. Also, detergent compositions based on soap have contained low amounts of sodium tripolyphosphate. However, to the Applicants' knowledge, it has not been proposed hitherto to use the specific detergency builder mixtures of sodium tripolyphosphate and soap in the proportions as set out above for use in fabric washing detergent compositions according to the present invention.

The ratio of the sodium tripolyphosphate to the soap in the detergent composition is generally from 4:1 to 1:3 parts by weight, preferably 3:1 to 1:3 parts by weight, and especially from 2:1 to 4:3 parts by weight. The total amount of sodium tripolyphosphate plus soap is generally from 20%to 70%, preferably 25%to 60%, and especially 25 % to 45%, by weight of the composition. Lower levels of sodium tripolyphosphate and soap tend to be more desirable for compositions intended for use either at higher product concentrations or in soft water.

It will be appreciated that the amount of sodium tripolyphosphate is chosen according to the overall phosphate detergency builder level which is desired in the detergent compositions or according to the maximum permitted phosphorus content. An amount of sodium tripolyphosphate is normally used within the range of from 15% to 35% by weight of the composition. However, if the compositions of the invention are intended to be used with decreased phosphate levels for environmental reasons, then lower amounts of 10% to 25%, or preferably 10% to 20%, are used. A level of 20% sodium tripolyphosphate by weight of composition is equivalent to only about 5 % by weight of phosphorus, and it is a feature of the invention that detergent compositions can be prepared with these low phsophate levels and yet having particularly good detergent properties.

The minimum level of soap which should be present is 10% by weight of the composition, and the maximum level is 40% by weight, preferably less than 25% by weight of the composition, and especially 10% to 20% by weight.

The amounts of the sodium tripolyphosphate and soap for use in a particular detergent composition are selected according to the expected washing conditions. We have found for example that amounts of 20% and 18%, respectively, give optimum performance (at 5% phosphorus level) for compositions intended for use at relatively high product concentrations, i.e. 0.3% to 0.8% by weight, as is common practice in Europe, especially in frontloading automatic washing machines.But in compositions intended for use at relatively low product concentrations, i.e. 0.1% to 0.3%, as is common practice under North American washing conditions, especially in toploading automatic washing machines, we have found that amounts of about 24% sodium tripolyphosphate and about 15% soap give optimum performance at 6% phosphorus level, or as little as 16% sodium tripolyphosphate and as much as 30% soap if a lower 4% phosphorus level is required.

The detergent compositions of the invention necessarily include an amount of a nonionic surfactant. Many such detergent active compounds are commercially available and are fully described in the literature, for example in "Surface Active Agents and Detergents",Volumes I and II, by Schwartz, Perry and Berch.

The nonionic surfactant used in the compositions of this invention will be alkoxylated alcohols.

The alcohols used can be primary or secondary alcohols containing straight or branched carbon chains. The number of carbon atoms will generally be from 7 to 24, preferably from 8 to 18 and most preferably from 12 to 15. These alcohols may be the so-called synthetic alcohols made by the well known Ziegler or Oxo processes, or the so-called "natural alcohols The alkoxylation reaction will be carried out by conventional means, generally using ethylene oxide or propylene oxide. The degree of ethoxylation can vary widely both from one hydrophobe to the other and even when using a single hydrophobe. Thus ethylene oxide chains containing as few as 1 and more than 20 ethylene oxide units are quite often found in nonionic surfactants and will be applicable here.

The choice of carbon chain length of the hydrophobe alkoxy chain is largely determined by the detergent properties required of the molecule. The relationship between the chain length of the hydrophobic part of the molecule and that of the hydrophilic part can be expressed numerically as the hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB). A rough and ready way of determin ing the HLB is to use the expression HLB=wt percentage of ethylene oxide 5 5 Nonionic surfactants which are suitable for use in heavy duty fabric washing powders generally have an HLB in the range 9 to 13, although HLBs outside this range are not excluded.

An additional factor in the choice of non ionic surfactant is that alcohols containing both short carbon and short ethyoxylate chain lengths are relatively low boiling and can volatilise under the conditions prevailing in a spray drying tower. Hence alcohols containing less than 8 carbon atoms will not normally be chosen unless their ethoxy chains contain at least 8 ethylene oxide units for fear of exceeding emission regulations unless it is proposed to incorporate these materials into the powder by a route other than spray-drying.

Preferred alcohol ethoxylates for use in this invention are derived from the following series.

Tergitols (Trade Mark) which are a series of ethoxylates of secondary alcohols sold by the Union Carbide Corporation, especially Tergitol 15-S-7, 15-S-9, 15-S-12 and 15-S-15 which are ethoxylates of a mixture of Cll-15 alcohols and Tergitols 45-S-7, 45-S-9, 45-S-12 and 45-S-15 which are ethoxylates of a mixture of C14 and C15 alcohols, the degree of ethoxylation being shown by the postscript.

Ethoxylates of primary alcohols made by the Oxo process and containing about 20% of alpha branched material sold by Shell Chemicals Ltd. (Dobanols Trade Mark) and Shell Chemicals Inc. (NeodolsTrade Mark), especially Dobanol and and Neodol 25-7,25-9,25-12 and 25-15 which are ethoxylates of a mixture of C1rC15 alcohols and Dobanol 45-7, 45-9, 25-12 and 25-15 which are ethoxylates of a mixture of C14.i5 alcohols.

Lutensols (Trade Mark) which are a series of C13-15 alcohols of ethoxylates prepared by the 'OXO' process from an olefine produced by the polymerisation of ethylene, manufactured by Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik GmbH, especially Lutensol A0 8 and 12.

Ukanils (Trade Mark) which are a series of ethoxylates of Oxo alcohols containing about 25% of alpha methyl branched and about 10% of ethyl branched material.

Acropols (Trade Mark) manufactured by Ugine Kuhlman et Cie, especially Acropol 35-7, 35-9, 35-11, and 35-15 which are derived from a mixture of C13-C15 alcohols.

Synperonics (Trade Mark), a series of ethoxylates of alcohols containing 45-55 % of alkyl branching, mostly methyl branching, sold by Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, espe cially those based on a G3-15 mixture of alcohols and ethoxylated to 7, 9, 11 and 15 units of ethylene oxide.

Ethoxylates of primary Ziegler alcohols sold as Alfols (Trade Mark) derived by oxidative polymerisation of ethylene and manufactured by Conoco-Condea, especially Alfol 12/14-7, 12/14-9, 12/14-12, 12/14-15 andAlfol 14/12-7, 14/12-9, 14/12-12, 14/12-15 which are ethoxylates of mixtures of Cl2 and C14 alcohols.

Ethoxylates of primary Oxo alcohols about 50% branched, mainly a methyl sometimes called Lials (Trade Mark) produced from olefins manufactured by Liquichemica.

The required HLB can be achieved not only by selecting the carbon chain length of the hydrophobe and the length of the ethylene chain in a single or substantially single material (because of the nature of their process of production, all nonionic surfactants which are spoken of as if they were single substances are in fact mixtures). It can also be achieved by deliverately taking two "substances" of widely differing HLBs and mixing them. This approach is described in our British Patent Application 16641/76. It is also possible to obtain the required HLB by "stripping" some chain lengths from a nonionic surfactant mixture as described in US Patent No. 3,682, 849.

Nonionic detergent active compounds have been found to exhibit good detergency particularly with higher levels of sodium tripolyphosphate, i.e. over about 20% by weight and they are useful in facilitating soap scum dispersion and inhibiting its deposition on washing machine parts.

Amounts of amphoteric or zwitterionic detergent active 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 active compounds are used they will generally be present in only small amounts. However, some such zwitterionic or amphoteric compounds, especially sulphobetaines such as hexadecyldimethlammoniopropane sulphonate, have useful soap scum dispersion properties.

The amount of the non-soap detergent active compound or compounds used is generally in the range of from 5% to 50%, preferably 7% to 25%, by weight of the compositions, depending on the desired properties. Some of the soap added can also act as a detergent active compound in so-called "overbuilt" circumstances, i.e. at higher product concentrations or when using soft water, but the soap is not included in the amount of non-soap detergent compound. The ratio of the total detergent compounds to the total of the amount of sodium tripolyphosphate and soap should generally be in the range of from 10:1 to 1:10, especially 3:1 to 1:5, parts by weight.

Apart from the non-soap detergent and detergency builders, a fabric washing powder of the invention can contain any of the conventional additives in the amounts in which such additives are normally employed in such compositions. Examples of these additives include lather boosters such as alkanolamides, particularly the monoethanolamides derived from palm kernel fatty acids and coconut fatty acids, powder flow aids such as silicas and aluminosilicates, lather depressants such as phosphate esters, particularly the C16.18 mono alkyl esters, anti-redoposition agents such as sodium carboxymethylcellulose, oxygenreleasing bleaching agents such as sodium perborate and sodium percarbonate, per-acid bleach precursors, chlorine-releasing bleaching agents such as trichloroisocyanuric acid and alkali metal salts of dichloroisocyanuric acid, fabric softening agents such as clays of the smectite and illite types anti-ashing aids, starches, soap scum dispersants, inorganic salts such as sodium sulphate higher levels of which lead to improved powder properties, and, usually present in very minor amounts, fluorescent agents, perfumes, enzymes such as proteases and amylases, germicides and colourants. In addition, it may be desirable to add slurry stabilisers such as copolyethylene-maleic anhydride and copolyvinylmethylether-maleic anhydride, usually in salt form.

It is also possible to include in the detergent compositions of the invention minor amounts, e.g. not more than 25 % by weight, of other detergency builders, which may be either so-called precipitant builders or sequestrant builders. This may be of particular benefit where it is desired to increase detergency whilst using particularly low levels of the sodium tripolyphosphate, so as to achieve particularly low phosphorus contents in the detergent compositions.

Examples of such other detergency builders are amine carboxylates such as sodium nitrilotriacetate, sodium carbonate and alumino-silicate builders . It may also be noted that some minor amounts of sodium pyrophosphate and sodium orthophosphate are normally formed by hydrolysis of sodium tripolyphosphate during spray drying processes to make detergent powders, so low levels of these other phosphate builders may be present in the detergent compositions.

It is possible to include in the compositions an amount of an alkali metal silicate, particularly sodium ortho-, meta- or preferably neutral or alkaline silicate. The presence of such alkali metal silicate at levels of for example 5 % to 15 % by weight, is usually advantageous in decreasing the corrosion of metal parts in washing machines, besides giving processing benefits and generally improved powder properties. In addition, the amount of silicate can be used to some extent to control the pH of the compositions which should generally be within the range of 9 to 11, preferably 9.5 to 10.5, in aqueous solution of the compositions at the recommended concentrations. A high pH, i.e. over pH 10.5, tends to be more efficient as regards detergency but it may be less desirable for domestic safety.

The compositions may be produced by any of the techniques commonly employed in the manufacture of fabric washing compositions, including particularly slurry making and spray drying processes for the manufacture of detergent powders. However, it has been found that the presence of appreciable levels of soap in the detergent slurries tends to give rise to problems in spray drying, notably the production of powders of low bulk density and with high proportions of small particles (fines).

In a further aspect of the invention, it has been found beneficial to produce the detergent compositions by a slurry making and spray drying process in which either none or only a proportion of the soap, preferably not more than 8 % by weight, is added to the slurry and all or the remainder of the soap is post-dosed to the spray dried powder in particulate form, e.g.

as noodles, granules, pellets. ribbons, threads, flakes, small spheres or marumes. It may be beneficial in this case to add minor ingredients, for example perfumes, to the detergent compositions in the post-dosed soap particles. Such soap particles can be made by the usual processes depending on the final shape and size desired, and it is preferable to mill the soap thoroughly before making the particles, as this tends to improve their solubility, especially for particles with a higher content of tallow soap.

Alternatively, it is possible to spray dry two separate slurries, either in the same or different spray drying towers, and then mix them to form the final composition. In this case, one slurry preferably has all the major ingredients in it but not more than 8% by weight of soap, and the other slurry has a major proportion of soap with other minor ingredients. The term "spray drying" is used above to include processes in which detergent slurries are sprayed into relatively hot gas, normally air, either in counter-current or co-current processes and processes in which hotter slurries are sprayed into relatively cool air, i.e. in so-called spray cooling or flash drying processes. Conventional slurry and drying gas temperatures are used in such spray drying processes for producing the detergent compositions according to the invention.

Furthermore, it is possible to manufacture the powders by a process which involves forming a slurry containing part of the nonionic surfactant and spray drying it, and then post-dosing the remainder of the nonionic surfactant. Such a process is particularly appropri- ate when a blend of two nonionic surfactants is being used in the formulation, since it is then possible to incorporate the component which is least volatile into the slurry and, for example, to spray the more volatile component (which will probably be a liquid) onto the resulting spray-dried powder. Alternatively, the volatile component can be incorporated into an adjunct, for example a noodle or a granule and post-dosed into the spray-dried portion of the powder. Process of the general type described above are also described in US Patent Nos.

3,838,072 and 3,886,098 and in Netherlands Patent Application Nos. 7,504,264 and 7,509,797,.

The invention is illustrated by the following Examples in which parts and percentages are by weight except where otherwise indicated.

EXAMPLE 1 A spray dried detergent composition was prepared to the following formulation: % by weight of Finished Ingredient t Parts Composition Cl4-Cl5alcohol-llE0 9.0 7.8 Sodium tripolyphosphate 16.0 139 Sodium alkaline silicate 10.0 Sodium carbonate 20.0 17.5 Sodium sulphate 6.0 5.2 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose 0.4 0.3 Water and fluorescent agents 8.6 7.5 70.0 This was then admixed with 45 parts by weight of a separately spray dried composition having the following formulation: % by weight frgreoien' Parts of Fin ished Composition Sodium soap (tallow:coconut, 74::26)29. 29.7 25.8 Coconut fatty ethanolamide 1.6 1.4 Sodium alkaline silicate 6.0 5.3 Sodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate 0.2 0.2 Fluorescent agent 0.4 0.3 Moisture 7.1 6.1 45.0 The resultant compositions were, respectively, found to compare favourable for detergency properties with commercially available nonionic- and anionic- based detergent compositions containing 33% of sodium tripolyphosphate.

EXAMPLE 2 The procedure of Example ] was repeated except that instead of the 45 parts of the soap based spray dried composition, 30 parts of potassium tallow soap in noodle form were added to the spray dried base powder.

EXAMPLE 3 A detergent composition was prepared to the following formulation: Ingredient Linear C12-15 OXO-aloohol - 12 EO condensate 8.0 Sodium tripolyphosphate 31.0 Sodium tallow soap 8.0 Sodium coconut soap 4,0 Sodium hardened rapeseed soap 3.0 Sodium alkaline silicate 6.0 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose 0.8 Water and minor additives (fluorescent agents, perfume, 12.2 preservatives, enzyme, stabilisers, etc.) Sodium perborate 27.0 100,0 The composition was prepared by slurry making and spray drying technieques, except that 5%ofthe nonioniccomponent, i.e. the linearCl2-ls OXO-alcohol - 12 EO condensate and the perfume (0.2%) were sprayed onto the powder after spray drying, and the perborate and enzyme granules (0.5%) were dry-mixed with the powder. This detergent composition was found to have good detergency properties in comparison with commercially available detergent compositions of similar phosphate content.

EXAMPLE 4 The procedure of Example 3 was repeated with the following modifications.

The linear C12-15 OXO-alcohol - 12 EO condensate was replaced by an 8 EO condensate of the same alcohol. Nonionic surfactant was entirely absent from the spray-dried slurry. One half (4% by weight of the finished composition) was sprayed onto the spray-driect powder produced from the slurry and the second half was added as an adjunct. The adjunct was formed by mixing the nonionic surfactant with sodium perborate monohydrate.

The resultant powder was equivalent in detergency performance to the 'powder of Example 3 and had satisfactory powder properties.

EXAMPLE 5 The procedure of Example 4 was repeated with'the following modifications.

One quarter of the linear C2-1s OXO alcohol 8 EO condensate (2% by weight of the finished .composoition) was replaced by the 12 EO condensate of the same' alcohol. This 12 EO condensate was incorporated into the slurry as in Example 3'and spray-dried with the remainder of the compqnents. 2% by weight of the finished composition of the 8 EO condensate was sprayed onto the spray-dried powder and the remainder was added as an adjunct as in Example 4.

EXAMPLE 6 The procedure of Example 3 was repeated, except that only 2% (based on the weight of other finished components) of the alcohol-ethylene oxide' condensate was incorporated into the slurry, the remaining 6% being formed into an adjunct with sodium perborate monohydrate and dosed into the spray-dried powder as in Example 4.

The powders produced in Examples 5 and 6 had equivalent performance and properties to the powder of Example 4.

EXAMPLE 7 % by weight Lutensol AO 12 (a mixture of C13-15 alcohols with less than 8 20% branching, ethoxylated with 12 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol) Hardened Tallow soap . 15 Sodium tripolyphosphate 17 Trisodium orthophosphate 8 Alkaline sodium silicate 10 Sodium perborate tetrahydrate 27 Moisture and minor ingredients to 100 EXAMPLE 8 % by weight Linear C12-15 OXO alcohol 8 EO condensate 8 Hardened tallow soap 15 Sodium tripolyphosphate 23 Alkaline sodium silicate 10 Sodium perborate tetrahydrate 27 Moisture and minor ingredients to 100

Claims (13)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS;

1. A heavy duty fabric washing powder comprising a non-soap detergent, a water-soluble soap and sodium tripolyphosphate in an amount equivalent to no more than 6% of phosphorus as a detergency builder wherein (a) the non-soap detergent consists essentially of an alkoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant which is present in an amount of from 5 to 50% by weight; (b) the water-soluble soap is present in an amount of 10-30% by weight; and (c) the sodium tripolyphosphate is present in an amount of 10-24% by weight; the balance being conventional components of fabric washing powders.

2. A powder according to Claim 1 wherein the sodium tripolyphosphate is present in an amount of 15 to 24% by weight.

3. A powder according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the water-soluble soap is present in an amount of from 15-25% by weight.

4. A powder according to claim 3 wherein the water-soluble soap is present in an amount of from 10-200/0,

5. A powder according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the water-soluble soap comprises a mixture af tallow soap and coconut oil soap.

6. A powder according ta claim 5 wherein water-soluble soap comprises a mixture of tallow and coconut soaps in the ratio 3:1 to 1:2.

7. A powder according to claim 6 wherein the water-soluble soap also comprises a hardened rape seed oil soap.

8. A powder according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the water-soluble soap is a mixture comprising from 45-60% by weight of tallow soap from 20-30% by weight of coconut oil soap from 15-25% hardened rape seed oil soap.

9. A powder according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the alkoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant is present in an amount of from 5 to 25% by weight.

10. A powder according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the alkoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant comprises a mixture of C12-15 alcohols ethoxylated with from 4 to 25 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol.

11. A powder according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the alkoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant comprises a mixture of Cl2-ls alcohols ethoxylated with from 4 to 12 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol.

12. A powder according to claim 10 wherein the alkoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant consists of a mixture of long and short chain ethoxylates in which the average degree of ethoxylation is from 6 to 9 moles of ethylene oxide.

13. A heavy duty fabric washing powder substantially as hereinbefore described in any one of the Examples.