JPH10176188A - Surfactant powder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a surfactant powder which has a greatly improved solubility (microdispersibility) in a low-temp. aq. soln. by compounding a surfactant with a specified amt. of a substantially water-insoluble polymer compd. having a specified coefficient of vol. expansion in water. SOLUTION: A surfactant is compound with 0.1-10wt.% (based on the surfactant) substantially water-insoluble polymer compd. having a coefficient of vol. expansion in water of at least 30%. A polymer compd. exhibiting a vol. expansion of at least 30% after 30min water immersion is esp. pref. Hydroxypropylcellulose and a crosslinked sodium carmellose are pref. examples of the compd. The surfactant is pref. an anionic one such as an α-sulfofatty acid alkyl ester salt, a fatty acid salt, an α-olefinsulfonate, an alkyl ether carboxylate, an alkylsulfate, an alkylethoxysulfate, or an alkylbenzenesulfonate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surfactant powder having a good dissolution (fine dispersion) rate in a low-temperature aqueous solution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as powder detergents have become ultra-compact, the amount of surfactants in detergents has increased, and the density of surfactants has increased, resulting in the dissolution (fine dispersion) of surfactants. Is often a problem. That is, after washing with a detergent and rinsing, the granular detergent or surfactant may remain dissolved. In particular, the rate of dissolution in low-temperature tap water in winter often poses a problem. In addition, a granular detergent containing a large amount of a surfactant may adhere to an apparatus or the like by a conventional method using spray drying. For this reason, as a method for producing a granular detergent having a high activator concentration, a method has been proposed in which an activator and other detergent components are mixed, and the mixture is stirred and granulated. More than 50% of this activator, even 7
The surfactant powder contained at a high concentration of 0% or more is used as a detergent raw material for producing a granular detergent by granulating and mixing with other detergent component particles. In this case, the surfactant powder is used. The water solubility of the body can have a significant effect on the water solubility of the particulate detergent. Therefore, there is a strong demand for a technique for improving the solubility (fine dispersion) of a surfactant powder containing a high concentration of an activator. By the way, for example, surfactants such as fatty acid salts and α-sulfofatty acid methyl ester salts are preferably used in powder detergents because of their excellent biodegradability. Improvement was strongly desired. Various methods for improving the dissolving (finely dispersing) property of the granular detergent have been conventionally considered.
In T / US95 / 06291, the surfactant is 1-50
0.1 to 5% water-soluble monosaccharide or 2% in detergent containing 2% by weight
Methods for adding saccharides to improve their solubility are described. Further, Japanese Patent Application No. 6-329537 describes a method for improving the solubility by adding an inorganic salt (potassium charcoal, potash sulfate, etc.) to a surfactant. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
In Japanese Patent No. 03293, the solubility of α-sulfofatty acid methyl ester salt is improved by mixing a compound having a relatively short alkyl chain length. However, in the above-described method, when the concentration of the activator in the powder is high, it is difficult to rapidly disperse the powder in a low-temperature aqueous solution, and the activator having a short chain length generally has poor cleaning power. Mixing this is not desirable for detergency.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a surfactant powder having remarkably improved solubility (fine dispersion) in a low-temperature aqueous solution.

[0004]

That is, according to the present invention, it is substantially water-insoluble and has a volume expansion coefficient in water of 30%.
The above polymer compound is added to the surfactant in an amount of 0.1 to
A surfactant powder characterized by containing 10 wt% is provided.

The inventors of the present invention have conducted intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems. As a result, a polymer compound which is substantially water-insoluble and has a volume expansion coefficient of 30% or more in water is used as a surfactant. It has been found that a surfactant powder having good dissolution (fine dispersion) properties can be obtained by containing 0.1 to 10% by weight, and the present invention has been achieved.

As the surfactant used in the surfactant powder of the present invention, any of conventionally known surfactants can be used and is not particularly limited, but preferably α-sulfofatty acid alkyl ester salts, fatty acid salts, α-olefin sulfonic acid Anionic surfactants such as salts, alkyl ether carboxylate salts, alkyl sulfate salts, alkyl ethoxy sulfate salts, and alkyl benzene sulfonate salts are included.

As the α-sulfo fatty acid alkyl ester salt, a compound represented by the following general formula (I) is preferably used.

Embedded image (R₁A linear or branched alkyl having 10 to 18 carbon atoms;
A kill group or an alkenyl group, R_TwoA straight-chain or branched alkyl having 1 to 6 carbon atoms
Group, M₁An alkali metal such as Na, K, etc .;
Potassium earth metal, trimethylamine, triethylamine, etc.
Lower amines, mono-, di- and tri-lower alkanolamines
Substituted ammonium ion, etc.)

Examples of the α-sulfofatty acid alkyl ester salt represented by the general formula (I) include α-sulfomyristate methyl ester Na salt, α-sulfopalmitic acid methyl ester Na salt, α-sulforauric acid methyl ester Na salt, α-sulfophosphate Stearic acid methyl ester Na salt,
And the like.

As the alkyl sulfate salt, a compound having a linear or branched alkyl or alkenyl group having 10 to 18 carbon atoms can be used.
And it is possible to use a cation selected from the same range as M ₁ in the general formula as the cation used for neutralization of the sulfonic acid groups in this case (1). Specifically, lauryl sulfate K salt, myristyl sulfate Na
Salt, palmityl sulfate Na salt and stearyl sulfate Na salt.

As the alkyl ethoxy sulfate salt, a compound having a linear or branched alkyl or alkenyl group having 10 to 18 carbon atoms and having an average addition mole number of oxyethylene of 1 to 10 is used. Can be. And it is possible to use a cation selected from the same range as M ₁ in the general formula as the cation used for neutralization of the sulfonic acid groups in this case (1). Specifically, lauryl ethoxy sulfate Na salt (average addition mole number of ethylene oxide: 3), myristyl ethoxy sulfate N
a salt (average addition mole number of ethylene oxide 5), palmityl ethoxy sulfate Na salt (average addition mole number of ethylene oxide 2), and stearyl ethoxy sulfate Na salt (average addition mole number of ethylene oxide 3).

As the alkyl ether carboxylate,
A compound having a linear or branched alkyl or alkenyl group having 10 to 18 carbon atoms and having an average addition mole number of 1 to 10 oxyethylene groups can be used. And it is possible to use a cation selected from the same range as M ₁ in the general formula as the cation used for neutralization of the carboxylic acid groups in this case (1).

As the α-olefin sulfonate, a compound having a linear or branched alkyl or alkenyl group having 10 to 18 carbon atoms can be used.
And it is possible to use a cation selected from the same range as M ₁ in the general formula as the cation used for neutralization of the sulfonic acid groups in this case (1).

As the fatty acid salt, a compound having a linear or branched alkyl or alkenyl group having 6 to 20 carbon atoms can be used. And it is possible to use a cation selected from the same range as M ₁ in formula is a cation used for neutralization of the carboxylic acid in this case (1).

As the alkylbenzene sulfonate,
A linear or branched alkyl group having 10 to 14 carbon atoms,
Alternatively, a compound having an alkenyl group can be used. And it is possible to use a cation selected from the same range as M ₁ in the general formula as the cation used for neutralization of the sulfonic acid groups in this case (1).

The polymer compound used in the present invention is substantially water-insoluble and has a volume expansion of 30% or more. The volume expansion rate in the present invention is represented by the following equation: Volume expansion rate (%) = [(thickness after swelling / thickness before swelling)
-1] × 100 Preferably, a material having a high expansion rate is good, and particularly, a material having a volume expansion coefficient of more than 30% three minutes after being put into water is good.

Examples of the polymer compound include crystalline cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, carmellose,
Carmellose calcium, carmellose sodium, cross-linked carmellose sodium, carboxymethyl cellulose calcium, sodium carboxymethyl starch,
Examples of the crosslinked sodium carboxymethylcellulose include those having a volume expansion rate of 30% or more, and particularly preferred are hydroxypropylcellulose and crosslinked carmellose sodium.

The amount of addition is 0.1% based on the total amount of the surfactant.
It is in the range of 1 to 10% by weight, preferably 0.5 to 5% by weight. Below this range, the solubility (fine dispersion) in the aqueous solution is insufficiently improved, and a sufficient effect can be obtained with 10%. Therefore, even if added above this range, no particular advantage is obtained.

The average particle size of the water-insoluble polymer compound of the present invention is in the range of 10 to 100 μm, preferably 20 to 80 μm. Above this, insoluble particles are noticeable when the surfactant powder is dissolved in water, which is not preferred, depending on the blending method. Below this, the solubility (fine dispersion) of the surfactant particles is not sufficient.

The particle size of the surfactant powder of the present invention is 100
It is preferably in the range of μ to 1000 μ. In particular, 1
If there is too much fine powder of less than 00 μ, the solubility may be deteriorated due to agglomeration. On the other hand, if it is 1000 μm or more, the dissolution (fine dispersion) rate is undesirably low. If expressed in terms of average particle size, a preferable range is 200 to 700 μ.

The activator powder of the present invention can be prepared by, for example, (1)
A method of adding a polymer powder to a surfactant slurry, dispersing the mixture by stirring, removing water with a vacuum dryer or the like, and then pulverizing with a pulverizer; (2) a surfactant (which may be in a solid or molten state) ) And the polymer are kneaded in a kneading device, and if necessary, cooled and then pulverized in a pulverizing device to easily obtain them.

Various additives can be added to the surfactant composition of the present invention described above in detail, if necessary.
That is, an inorganic compound such as a fine powder zeolite having a particle size of 10 μm or less as a fluidity improver, such as a compounding agent to be added to the surfactant powder within a range not to impair the object of the present invention,
A powder blend of a chelate builder, an enzyme or the like can be used as a detergent improving agent. Examples of the chelate builder used here include powdered zeolite, layered silicate, a maleic acid-sodium acrylate copolymer, and sodium β-alanidine acetate. In addition, a treatment such as spraying of a nonionic surfactant or an aqueous solution thereof can be performed to suppress dust generation. In addition, a water-soluble monosaccharide or disaccharide known as a solubility improving aid, or an inorganic compound such as potassium sulfate or potassium carbonate may be added.

The surfactant powder of the present invention is used as a raw material for products using various surfactants, and is particularly applied in the field of detergents. When applied to the detergent field, it can be used alone or as a concentrated granular detergent containing a high-concentration active agent, but it can also be used as a mixture with various components effective for cleaning. These components include zeolite, layered silicate, inorganic builders such as sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate, organic builders such as acrylic acid-based polymers, bleaching agents such as sodium percarbonate and sodium perborate, organic peracid precursors, and metal complexes. Bleach activator, fluorescent agent, fragrance, etc.
Enzymes and the like. These addition methods are not particularly limited, for example, a method of mixing powder by stirring granulation, a method of kneading and mixing all or a part of the activator powder and other raw materials using a nonionic activator as a binder, and then crushing. And the like.

[0023]

EXAMPLES Next, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples and comparative examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

(Preparation of Surfactant Powder) Moisture 30 to 40
% Of the surfactant slurry shown in Table 1 was heated to 80 ° C.
The water-insoluble polymer compound shown in Table 1 was added to the slurry and stirred. Then, while stirring at 85 ° C. using a stirring granulator, the water content was dried to 3 to 4% by weight. After cooling at 5 ° C. for 1 hour, powder zeolite was added as a grinding aid to the activator in an amount of 5% by weight, and the mixture was crushed with a coffee mill. Regarding the pulverizable surfactant, the particle size of the powder is set to 100 to 1000 μm using a sieve.
m, which was used as a sample. The average particle size of the obtained sample was about 400 to 500 μ.

The meanings of the abbreviations of the water-insoluble polymer compounds in Table 1 are as shown in Table 2. Further, the volume expansion rate of the water-insoluble polymer compound was measured in the following manner.

(Measurement of Volume Expansion Coefficient) A mixture of alumina (no swelling) / polymer sample = 400 mg / 100 mg was put into a tableting machine to prepare tablets. This tablet is
The tablets were placed in a transparent cylindrical container having a diameter of 5 mm, water was added, and the thickness of the tablets was measured after 3 minutes. Tablet diameter: 15 mm Tableting pressure: 1.0 t / p Volume swelling rate (%) = [(thickness after swelling / thickness before swelling)
-1] × 100

[Table 2]

Next, the solubility (fine dispersibility) of the obtained surfactant powder in cold water was measured in the following manner.
Table 1 shows the results. (Method of Measuring Solubility (Fine Dispersibility) in Cold Water) 1 L of water at 5 ° C. was placed in a 1 L beaker, and 5 g of a sample was added to the water. After stirring at 250 rpm for 8 minutes, the mixture was filtered using a nylon tricot cloth, and the residue was determined by dry weight measurement. Dissolution residue (%) = residue weight (g) / 5 (g)

[0028]

[Table 1] SF; α-sulfomyristic acid methyl ester Na / α-sulfopermitic acid methyl ester Na = 2/8 soap; C8-C20 fatty acid soap mixture AS; C16 alkyl sulfate Na AOS; C14 α olefin sulfonate Na LAS; linear alkyl benzene sulfonate Na AEC; Na myristyl ether carboxylate (average EO mol: 2 mol) AES; Palmityl ethoxy sulfate (average EO mol: 2 mol)

[0029]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION The surfactant powder of the present invention is very effective not only at room temperature but also at low temperature in low-temperature water, so that it is effective as a cleaning agent for clothes, and a cleaning agent for automatic dishwashing agents. It can also be suitably used as a base.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masami Fujiwara Inside Lion Corporation, 1-3-7 Honjo, Sumida-ku, Tokyo

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A surfactant characterized by containing a polymer compound which is substantially insoluble in water and has a volume expansion coefficient in water of 30% or more, relative to the surfactant, in an amount of 0.1 to 10% by weight. powder.