JPH04225098A - Preparation of granule for detergent composition - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain granaules having flocculating properties withstanding the handling or transport in a container-sealed state and keeping a bright white color, adding water to a mixture of smectite clay and granular zeolite to form granules and drying and dehydrating the granules.

CONSTITUTION: Granular smectite clay (A) and curanular zeolite (B) are mixed within a rotary pan in a wt. ratio of 1:9-9:1. A sufficient amt. of water is slowly added to the obtained mixture to form granules of the mixture. Subsequently, the granules are dried to reduce the water content to 20% or less by wt. of the whole amt. of the granules and the dried granules are screened to obtain the objective granules having a dimension of 0.75-2.0 mm.

COPYRIGHT: (C)1992,JPO

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a method for producing granules to be mixed into a detergent composition, particularly a method for producing granules containing zeolite, and a detergent composition containing the granules produced by the method. .

0002

[Prior Art] Generally, the components of a cleaning composition are:
Preferably, it is in granule form. That is, the bulk density of a composition in granule form is greater than that of a finely divided powder, and as a result, when the composition is in granule form, a given weight of the composition This is because it can be stored in a smaller container.

Granules must be fluid and resistant to compression and abrasion so that they can withstand handling and transportation in containers. The granules should also be relatively white and typically have dimensions in the range of 0.75 to 2.0 mm. Zeolites are cation-exchangeable aluminosilicates that act as builders or scavengers for metal cations, especially calcium and magnesium ions, from the wash water; if these ions remain in solution, This will inhibit the effectiveness of the surfactants present in the cleaning composition. Until recent years,
The function of builder in detergent compositions was previously performed by water-soluble condensed phosphates, such as sodium hexametaphosphate, but recently, phosphates There is a tendency to use zeolite instead of the builder. A zeolite with particularly effective cation exchange properties is zeolite A or zeolite 4A, and it is this zeolite that is commonly used in cleaning compositions. Zeolite A
are generally available on the market in the form of fine powders with particle sizes on the order of a few microns. However, it has hitherto been difficult to form granules of appropriate size from zeolite A with sufficient cohesiveness to withstand handling and transportation in a package. One option is to use other binder materials, but they are costly and undesirable in the overall cleaning composition. In an attempt to solve this problem, European Patent Application No. 279040 states:
It is disclosed that a detergent builder is made by spray drying a suspension containing zeolite and bentonite.

Smectite clays, such as bentonite, are commonly included in cleaning compositions. This clay can be included in view of its fiber softening action or as a stabilizer in cleaning compositions, but since this clay is somewhat dark in color, compositions containing it have an undesirable dark color. It has the disadvantage of imparting color.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, there is provided a method for producing granules to be mixed into a cleaning composition, which method includes the following step (a) of 1:9 to 9:1 Finely divided granular smectite clay and finely divided granular zeolite in a weight ratio are mixed together in a rotating pan while slowly adding sufficient amount of water to the resulting mixture. , producing granules of a mixture of said smectite clay and said zeolite, and then (b) drying the obtained granules to reduce their moisture content to less than 20% of the total weight of the granules.

Preferably, the method further comprises step (c) sieving the dried granules to obtain a product having granules having a size in the range of 0.75 to 2.0 mm. The granules produced according to the present invention are solid and contain smectite clay and zeolite in 1 part
in a weight ratio of 9 to 9:1.

The present invention also provides cleaning compositions containing granules produced by the method of the present invention. The cleaning compositions contain surfactants and optional other ingredients in amounts known per se. The smectite clay can be montmorillonite, saponite, hectorite, nontronite or beidellite, but bentonite clay, which is a volcanic natural clay consisting primarily of montmorillonite, is most advantageous.

[0008] The weight ratio of zeolite and smectite clay filled in the rotating pan is preferably 2:8 to 8:2;
3:7 to 7:3 is more preferred, and 7:3 is particularly preferred. The first finely divided granular form of swimectite clay was essentially all No. It is preferred to have a particle size distribution such that it passes through a No. 60 British Standard sieve (nominal diameter 0.250 mm).

Zeolite has the following approximate formula: 1.0±0.
2Na2O. Al2O3. 1.9±0.1SiO
It has a chemical composition corresponding to 2,0-5.1H2O,
Most advantageously, it is a synthetic zeolite, such as Zeolite A, having an apparent pore size of about 4 angstrom units. The initial finely divided granular form of the zeolite preferably has a particle size distribution such that it consists mostly of particles having dimensions in the range 1 to 10 microns.

The granules of the invention can also have small amounts of other components, up to 20% of the total weight of the granules.
up to and including water (as residual water from water binders or moisture present in the clay or zeolite components). No other liquid binder material is required to form the granules. That is, the water used in step (a) is preferably the only liquid binder used. The final particle size of the granules after passing through the sieve is preferably 0.75 to 2.0 mm, and 0.75 to 2.0 mm is preferable.
．． 85-1.7 mm is most preferred. Also, the granules cannot contain more than about 7% by weight of particles having a particle size of less than 0.15 mm.

In the method of the invention, the smectite clay and zeolite are preferably mixed together in a granulation pan. Eirich granulation pans may be mentioned as an example of a particularly preferred device. The amounts of zeolite and smectite clay added to the bread are those necessary to give the desired proportions of each component in the granules produced, and are usually based on the total weight of smectite clay and zeolite. 10 to 90% by weight of zeolite and 90 to 10% by weight of zeolite are added. Water is added in the form of a fine spray, preferably in an amount constituting at least 10% and not more than 40% of the total weight of the granules produced in step (a) of the method. Thus, for every 100 parts by weight of smectite clay/zeolite mixture filled into the pan, about 11 to 67 parts by weight of water can be used.

The granules are conveniently dried thermally in step (b), for example in a fluidized bed dryer. The method of the present invention provides granules with cohesive properties that can withstand handling and transportation without the use of other binder materials. It is believed that the smectite clay itself acts as a binder capable of producing cohesive granules containing zeolites. The granules of the invention have the advantage that they have a relatively bright color compared to the smectite clay itself.

[0013] A typical conventional cleaning composition contains the following ingredients, usually in amounts within the following ranges: component

Weight% anionic surfactant
1-30 nonionic surfactant
1-17 Soap water regulator
0-0.6
Zeolite A
1-45
sodium carbonate
10-35
bleach
0
~5 smectite clay
1-5 cellulose ether
0-0.5 enzyme

0-2
．． 5 Optical brightener
0.
05-0.25 Sodium silicate

0-25 auxiliary agent

0-1 water

According to the present invention, at least one part of zeolite A and at least one part of smectite clay in the above composition can be replaced with the granules of the present invention.

The anionic surfactant can be, for example, an alkylbenzene sulfonate or a fatty alcohol ether phosphate. The nonionic surfactant can be, for example, an alkyl polyethylene glycol ether or a nonylphenol polyethylene glycol ether. The soap water conditioner can be soap, silicone oil or paraffin.

The bleaching agent can be, for example, sodium perborate or sodium peroxycarbonate.

[0016]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be explained in more detail by way of examples. Example 1 99% by weight is No. It passes through a 60 mesh British standard sieve (nominal diameter 0.250 mm) and 85% by weight is No. 20
bentonite clay having a particle size distribution that passes through a 0 mesh British standard sieve (nominal diameter 0.076 mm);
Zeolite A having a particle size distribution such that 70% by weight consists of particles in the range of 2 to 6μ;
, bentonite was charged into the pan of an Eirich granulator at a ratio of 30% by weight. With the pan set at a speed of 46 rpm and the agitator at a speed of 1429 m/min, the bentonite clay and zeolite were mixed in a substantially dry state for 15 min.
Mixed for a minute. For the next 10 seconds, while rotating the pan and stirrer at the same speed as before, spray enough water onto the bentonite clay and zeolite mixture so that the final moisture content of the granules is 33% by weight. I did it like that. Finally, the wet granules were mixed in the granulator pan for an additional 75 seconds at the same speeds as the pan and stirrer were each set previously.

The wet granules were then dried in a fluidized bed dryer at 80°C until the water content of the granules was 1.
It was dried for a sufficient period of time to reduce the weight to 4%. The granules were passed through a sieve with a nominal diameter of 1.2 mm, and the granules that passed through the sieve remained as product. The bulk density of the starting material and the produced granules and the reflectance of ultraviolet light at 457 nm were investigated. The results are shown in the table below.

[0018]
Table 1




457nm light reflectance (%) granules
Bulk density (g/cm3)
(powder)
Bentonite 0
．． 70 76.0
53.0 Zeolite A
0.50
94.5 ─
Bentonite/zeolite A granules 0
．． 73 ─
77.1 The resulting granules have sufficient cohesiveness to withstand handling and transportation in containers, and have an ultraviolet reflectance of 77.1% at 457 nm. is sufficiently high to give the granules an acceptable light color that does not impair the white color of the detergent composition into which they are incorporated.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing granules to be incorporated into a detergent composition, comprising: (a) finely divided granular smectite clay and finely divided granules in a weight ratio of 1:9 to 9:1. and granulated zeolite are mixed together in a rotating pan while slowly adding sufficient water to the resulting mixture to form granules of a mixture of said smectite clay and said zeolite, and then (b) drying the obtained granules to reduce their moisture content to 20% or less of the total weight of the granules;
The method, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the smectite clay is bentonite clay. 3. The initial finely divided granular form of swimectite clay is substantially all of No. 60
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the particle size distribution is such that it passes through a British Standard sieve (nominal diameter 0.250 mm). 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the zeolite is zeolite A. [Claim 5] Zeolite A has the following approximate formula 1.0±
0.2Na2O. Al2O3. 1.9±0.1S
4. The method of claim 3, having a chemical composition corresponding to iO2, 0-5.1 H2 O and an apparent pore size of about 4 angstrom units. 6. The zeolite in initial finely divided granular form has a particle size distribution such that the zeolite consists mostly of particles having dimensions in the range from 1 to 10 μm. Method described. 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the water added in step (a) is the sole liquid binder. 8. Further comprising the following step (c) passing the dried granules through a sieve to obtain a product consisting of granules having dimensions in the range of 0.75 to 2.0 mm. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 7. 9. A cleaning composition containing granules produced by the method according to claim 1.