JPH01299899A - Detergent composition - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a detergent compsn. having excellent detergency and low foaming properties, by incorporating an anionic surfactant, an alkali metal salt of a fatty acid and a particular anionic surfactant in predetermined proportions. CONSTITUTION:An anionic surfactant (A), an alkali metal salt of a 14-24C fatty acid (B) and a nonionic surfactant (C) comprised of an ethylene oxide and propylene oxide adduct of an aliph. sec. alcohol having a 10-16C alkyl group or alkenyl group and exhibiting a cloud point of about 31-50 deg.C, are provided. Then, 5-40wt.% component (A), 3-10wt.% component (B) and 2-10wt.% component (C) are mixed together in proportions such that the wt. ratio of [component (B) + component (C)]/component (A) is in the range of 0.2-0.8 and the wt. ratio of component (B)/component (C) is in the range of 0.8/0.2-0.2/0.8. Thus, a detergent compsn. is produced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a detergent composition that has good detergency and low foaming properties, and is particularly useful as a detergent for tunnel washing machines in the laundry industry. The present invention relates to useful cleaning compositions.

(Prior art and its problems) Normally, in the laundry industry, as seen in the linen supply industry, laundry items such as sheets, wrappers, white cloth, yukata, towels, etc. are processed continuously and in large quantities. This is done, and the washing machine that is different from that used in ordinary households is generally a large continuous washer that has 5 to 20 tubs.

Since this type of device is a drum rotating type,
Foam tends to form, and excessive foaming often causes problems such as the equipment stopping. In conventional laundry detergents.

In order to avoid troubles caused by these bubbles as much as possible, we reduced the amount of anionic surfactant, which is a foaming component, as much as possible.
In addition, cleaning agents mainly composed of low-foaming nonionic surfactants are used, and cleaning agents containing antifoaming agents are also used. However, these cleaning agents have drawbacks such as insufficient low-foaming properties to prevent troubles caused by foam, or poor cleaning power for cleaning the items being washed, and they are still used. It wasn't satisfying.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 34-966 describes anionic surfactants.

A cleaning composition is disclosed that combines a soap and an ethoxylated nonionic surfactant, which composition
Insufficient in terms of low foaming properties. Also, JP-A-55-1642
No. 98 exemplifies a detergent composition containing an anionic surfactant, soap, and a specific nonionic foam control agent, but this composition is unsatisfactory in terms of detergency. .

Furthermore, JP-A-61-89299 discloses a detergent composition in which a nonionic surfactant consisting of an ethylene oxide and propylene oxide adduct of soap and a secondary alcohol is combined with zeolite. Due to the water insolubility of zeolites, this has disadvantageous consequences when used in continuous washers. That is, in the case of a continuous washer, the cleaning agent is usually stored in a tank as an approximately 5% aqueous solution, and the required amount of cleaning agent liquid is supplied from the tank. Therefore, if a detergent composition contains more than a specified amount of zeolite, the detergent solution will remain in the storage tank for a long time, causing the zeolite to settle to the bottom, resulting in clogging of the transfer pump. This causes the problem.

On the other hand, phosphate builders are known as water-soluble builders. This phosphate builder causes environmental problems such as eutrophication of lakes and marshes, so its use is not desirable. Therefore, research and development to develop low-phosphorous or non-phosphorous detergent compositions has been widely conducted. In order to obtain a low-phosphorous or non-phosphorous detergent composition,
Simply removing or reducing the amount of the phosphate builder component from conventional compositions results in a decrease in the detergency of the detergent composition, and a satisfactory detergent cannot be obtained.

(Objective) The object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning composition that has sufficient cleaning power even when used as a low-phosphorous or non-phosphorous cleaning composition, and has excellent low foaming properties, especially for laundry use. An object of the present invention is to provide a suitable cleaning composition.

(Means for Solving the Problems) As a result of extensive research to achieve the above object, the present inventors have developed anionic surfactants, soaps, and secondary alcohols such as ethylene oxide and propylene oxide that have specific properties. The present inventors have discovered that a detergent composition with excellent detergency and low foaming properties can be obtained by combining nonionic surfactants consisting of adducts in a specific ratio, and have completed the present invention.

That is, according to the present invention, (a) 5 to 40% by weight of anionic surfactant, (b) 3 to 10% by weight of a fatty acid alkali metal salt having 14 to 24 carbon atoms, and (c) 10 to 1 carbon number.
A nonionic surfactant consisting of an ethylene oxide and propylene oxide adduct of an aliphatic secondary alcohol having an alkyl group or an alkenyl group of 6 and having a cloud point of about 31'C to about 50C; and (b) The weight ratio (b+c)/(a) of both components and (c) to component (a) is 0.2 to 0.8 and (b)
The weight ratio (b)/(c) of component to component (c) is 0.
810.2 to 0.210.8 is provided.

The anionic surfactant used as component (a) in the cleaning composition of the present invention is a conventionally known 7-ionic surfactant.

Examples of anionic surfactants preferably used in the present invention include the following.

(1) Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate having an alkyl group with an average carbon number of 10 to 16, (2) Olefin sulfonate with an average carbon number of 10 to 20, (3) Straight chain or branched with an average carbon number of 10 to 20 Alkyl ether sulfate or alkenyl ether sulfate having a chain alkyl group or alkenyl group and an average number of added moles of ethylene oxide of 0.5 to 8 moles, (4) Straight chain or branched alkyl having an average number of carbon atoms of 10 to 20. (5) α-sulfofatty acid ester salt or α-sulfofatty acid monosalt or di-salt having an alkyl group or alkenyl group having an average carbon number of 10-20.

Here, the salt in the anionic surfactant is generally an alkali metal salt such as a sodium salt or a potassium salt. The most preferred anionic surfactant used in the cleaning composition of the present invention is sodium α-olebein sulfonate having an alkyl group and an alkenyl group having 14 to 18 carbon atoms.

The amount of anionic surfactant contained in the cleaning composition of the present invention is 5 to 40% by weight, preferably 10 to 300 to 3% by weight.
It is 0% by weight. The amount of anionic surfactant added is 5% by weight.
If it is less than 40% by weight, it is not possible to obtain the desired detergency, and if it exceeds 40% by weight, foaming during washing will increase significantly and cause foaming troubles, which is not preferable.

The fatty acid alkali metal salt used as component (b) is
It is an alkali metal salt of a fatty acid having 14 to 24 carbon atoms. The salt is preferably a sodium salt, and specific examples thereof include sodium salts of tallow fatty acids such as hardened beef tallow, unhardened beef tallow, and pork fat, sodium salts of vegetable oil fatty acids such as coconut oil, and sodium salts of synthetic fatty acids. Ru.

The content of the fatty acid alkali metal salt used in the cleaning composition of the present invention is 3 to 10% by weight, preferably 5 to 10% by weight.
7 weight range. If the amount of the fatty acid alkali metal salt is less than 3% by weight, foaming cannot be suppressed to a low level, and if it exceeds 10% by weight, water-insoluble fatty acid calcium salts will adhere to the inside of the washing machine tub, which is undesirable.

The nonionic surfactant used as component (c) is a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether having a structure in which ethylene oxide and propylene oxide are added to a secondary alcohol having an alkyl group or an alkenyl group having 10 to 16 carbon atoms. The general formula is shown below.

[In the formula, R,, R,, II, and n represent the following.

R1: alkyl group or alkenyl group R having 1 to 18 carbon atoms
2: Alkyl group or alkenyl group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms. However, the number of carbon atoms in R1+R is 8 to 18 m: 3 to tS (average number of added moles of ethylene oxide) n: 3-12 (average number of added moles of propylene oxide) ] In the polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether used in the present invention, its ethylene oxide (EO) and propylene oxide (PO)
The addition method may be random polymerization or block polymerization, and the order of bonding does not matter, but preferably ethylene oxide and propylene oxide are block polymerized in each order so that propylene oxide forms the terminal. be. The number of moles added of EO is in the range of 3 to 15, preferably 5-12, and the number of moles of PO added is in the range of 3 to 12, preferably 5 to 7.11 The polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether used in the present invention is , its cloud point should be in the range of about 31°C to about 50°C. If a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether with a cloud point of less than 31°C is used, it is unfavorable in terms of detergency, and if a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether with a cloud point of more than 50°C is used, foaming will be kept low. This makes it difficult and undesirable. The cloud point can be adjusted by effectively selecting the number of moles of EO and PO added.

In addition, in this specification, the cloud point referred to with respect to a nonionic surfactant means the thing with respect to 1 weight aqueous solution of a nonionic surfactant (polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether).

The content of the polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether used in the cleaning composition of the present invention is in the range of 2 to 10% by weight, preferably 3 to 5% by weight.

If the content of this polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether is less than 2% by weight, it will be difficult to suppress foaming to a sufficiently low level, which is undesirable, and if it exceeds 10% by weight, it will be difficult to powderize when made into a powder detergent. It is undesirable because it causes drawbacks.

In the cleaning composition of the present invention, the weight ratio of both the fatty acid alkali metal salt as the component (b) and the polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether as the component (c) to the anionic surfactant as the component (a) ( b+c)/(a
) is 0.2 to 0.8. Preferably it is in the range of 0.3-0.7. If the weight ratio of both components (b) and (c) to component (a) is less than 0.2, it will be difficult to prevent troubles due to foaming, which is undesirable.On the other hand, if it exceeds 0.8, cleaning This is undesirable as it causes scum to be deposited on the machine.

Furthermore, the weight ratio of component (b) and component (c) (b)/(c)
is preferably in the range of 0.870.2 to 0.210.8. By adjusting the weight ratio (b)/(c) within this range, a preferable low-foaming composition can be obtained.

In addition to the above-mentioned essential components, the cleaning composition of the present invention may contain the following components as necessary.

(1) Nonionic surfactants other than component (c) above.

(2) Cationic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, (3) Inorganic builders such as carbon salts, silicates, tripolyphosphates, and pyrophosphates, (4) Aminopolyacetates such as nitrilotriacetate and ethylenediaminetetraacetate. , polyhydric carboxylates such as citrate, polyacrylates, polyitaconates, organic builders such as polymer builders such as copolymers of olefin and maleic anhydride, (5) proteases, lipases, amylases, etc. Enzymes, (6) Anti-recontamination agents such as CMC and polyethylene glycol, (7) Additives such as fluorescent agents, fragrances, pigments, Glauber's salt, and amorphous silica.

The composition of the present invention may contain a water-insoluble builder such as zeolite, but in this case, in consideration of application to continuous washers, etc., the amount blended should not exceed 5 parts by weight. It is preferable to do so.

(Effects of the Invention) The cleaning composition of the present invention has excellent detergency and low foaming properties. The cleaning composition of the present invention is particularly suitable for continuous washers, and can prevent problems caused by foaming in the laundry industry, improve work efficiency, and provide cleaning products with an excellent finish. In addition, it can be made phosphorus-free or low-phosphorus without impairing detergency, and is particularly useful as a granular detergent for clothing.

(Example) Next, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples.

Examples 1-5, Comparative Examples 1-2 A cleaning composition having the ingredient composition shown in Clothing-1 below was prepared.

Table 1 Note that the sodium fatty acid (b) described above is sodium beef tallow fatty acid. The nonionic surfactant (c) is an adduct of 012 to C14 secondary alcohol with 5 moles of E012 and 5 moles of PO, and the cloud point of a 1 weight aqueous solution thereof is 46°C.

Next, the performance of the cleaning composition obtained as described above was evaluated as follows, and the results are shown in Table 2.

(Evaluation method) Using a continuous washer with 14 tanks, the temperature was 70°C.
Cleaning agent concentration 0.7% 0% + f, charge cloth: sheet 35
The performance of the detergent was evaluated by a washing test under the condition of 1.0 kg, and the detergency and foaming were evaluated according to the following criteria.

Washed crab soil cloth was prepared by the method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-28838 and was used for testing. In addition, the detergency was calculated in accordance with the description in the same publication.

Foaming: Visually check the amount of foam at the cleaning fluid drain port.

Judgment was made according to the following criteria.

0: The amount of foam generated from the drain port is very small. Δ: The amount of foam generated from the drain port is large. It will remain as it is.

The hardness of the water used in the test was approximately 5°D).

Table 2 Examples 6 to 8, Comparative Examples 3 to 4 Compositions with the same component composition as in Example 2 except for changing the type of nonionic surfactant used were made and their performance was evaluated. did. The results are shown in Table-3.

As shown in Tables 2 and 3, all of the cleaning compositions of the present invention have low foaming properties and are excellent in detergency.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) (a) 5 to 40% by weight of anionic surfactant, (b
) C14-24 fatty acid alkali metal salt 3-1
0% by weight, (c) consisting of an ethylene oxide and propylene oxide adduct of an aliphatic secondary alcohol having an alkyl group or an alkenyl group having 10 to 16 carbon atoms;
Nonionic surfactant 2 having a cloud point of 1°C to about 50°C
~10% by weight, and the weight ratio (b+c)/(a) of both components (b) and (c) to component (a) is 0.
．． 2 to 0.8, and the weight ratio (b)/(c) of component (b) to component (c) is 0.8/0.2 to 0.2/0.
8. A cleaning composition characterized by: