WO1996030480A1

WO1996030480A1 - Liquid scouring composition

Info

Publication number: WO1996030480A1
Application number: PCT/FR1996/000425
Authority: WO
Inventors: Didier Arseguel; Richard Baeza; Patrick Delord; Pierre Goffinet; Brigitte Riviere
Original assignee: Talc De Luzenac
Priority date: 1995-03-27
Filing date: 1996-03-21
Publication date: 1996-10-03
Also published as: PL180357B1; CZ288007B6; EP0817829A1; FR2732354B1; EP0817829B1; ATE193316T1; ES2148741T3; PL322469A1; FR2732354A1; DE69608552T2; DE69608552D1; CZ304897A3; AU5150196A; HUP9801203A2; HUP9801203A3

Abstract

Liquid scouring composition, including one or more surfactants, a scouring calcite and/or dolomite filler and water, characterised in that the scouring filler comprises a mixture of calcite and/or dolomite and talc. Such a filler allows the proportion of filler in the composition to be reduced while maintaining, and even enhancing, its performance.

Description

SCOURING COMPOSITION IN LIQUID FORM

The invention relates to a scouring composition in liquid form, for cleaning surfaces or objects such as dishes, sanitaryware, worktops.

There are essentially three forms of scouring composition: liquid, powder or paste. The compositions in liquid form pose specific problems relating in particular to the settling of the scouring charge in the liquid, which are not found in powders and pastes.

The present invention relates to scouring liquids and proposes to solve the specific problems of liquid scouring compositions.

Scouring liquids are well known for household uses and essentially contain one or more surfactants, a scouring filler, if necessary one or more additives (sequestering agent, perfume, etc.) and water. Their function is to loosen the dirt and dissolve the soluble parts (grease ...).

The scouring charge of scouring liquids is generally constituted by a finely divided mineral filler, having an abrasive power suitable for removing dirt from treated objects without scratching the surface. The Mohs hardness scale provides an assessment of the abrasive power of a mineral compound from the softest talc (value 1 on the Mohs scale) to diamond (value 10). In the 1970s, it was customary to use silica or quartz as a mineral filler (value 7 on the scale): one could for example refer to the patents FR 1,523,007 and FR 1,523,009 which describe the use silica as a scouring filler. However, these siliceous compounds have proved to be too aggressive for surfaces and currently less hard compounds are used, preferentially calcite and dolomite (values 3 and 4 on the Mohs scale), which constitute a good compromise allowing to obtain a good scouring efficiency without damaging or scratching the treated surfaces.

The invention relates to a scouring liquid of the type referred to above, in which the scouring filler is based on calcite and / or dolomite.

However, these liquids containing calcite and / or dolomite have drawbacks. The rate of scouring charge of these products (defined by the weight of scouring charge relative to the total weight of the liquid product) is necessarily high and greater than a limit of the order of about 40%: in the case of a lower rate, indeed finds that the scouring power of the product becomes insufficient and above all that its - physical stability becomes poor, the liquid product being the site of a decantation causing separation of the solid phase (mineral filler) and the aqueous liquid phase. The first defect linked to the insufficient scouring power could be resolved by mixing with the load a certain proportion of silica of greater hardness (value 7 greater than that of calcite or dolomite); however, the introduction of an additional compound complicates the preparation and, above all, the second defect linked to the separation of the phases remains if the loading rate is lowered: such products comprising as scouring filler a mixture of calcite or dolomite and harder silica must have relatively high charge rates, otherwise they will become unstable and impossible to store.

It should be noted that US Pat. No. 3,522,186 solves this problem of phase separation in the case of a siliceous filler by adding to the scouring liquid a rheology modifier consisting of an alcohol. However, this rheological modifier (or any other viscosifying compound which can be used for the same purpose) is of a cost greater than that of the mineral scouring filler which it makes it possible to save so that this solution is of no interest on the economically and even involves a disadvantage, namely that of replace a natural mineral product (non-polluting and easy to settle in waste water) with an organic product constituting much more annoying pollution. In addition, the reduction in the scouring charge rate leads to a reduction in the scouring power of the composition which is admissible in the case of the use of very abrasive silica but is no longer so for less hard minerals such as calcite and / or dolomite.

It should be remembered that, alongside the scouring liquids, there are scouring powders and scouring pastes which contain surfactants, scouring filler and additives in the absence of aqueous phase (powders) or in the presence of very weak quantities of water (paste: proportion by weight of water less than 25%). Several types of scouring filler have been proposed for powder or paste products, but it is understood that the teachings concerning such powders or pastes are of no help to a person skilled in the art for solving the specific problems mentioned above. which are linked to the liquid presentation of the targeted scouring compositions: problem of physical stability of the liquid suspension and problem of scouring efficiency when the content of filler incorporated in water is lowered. Thus the Romanian patent 60,527 describes a scouring powder which comprises as a scouring filler a mineral mixture of dolomite (80%) and talc (20%): according to this patent the addition of talc to the dolomite makes it possible to preserve the treated surfaces and reduce scratches. Such a document obviously does not provide any instruction for reducing the charge rate of a liquid scouring product by maintaining its physical stability and by avoiding a lowering of its scouring power. On the contrary, this document indicates that the addition of talc to the powder makes it softer and limits its abrasive power, which seems obvious since talc has the lowest hardness on the Mohs scale (value 1) : to maintain the scouring efficiency at a reduced charge rate of a liquid composition, the skilled person will in no case be tempted to replace part of the calcite and / or dolomite scouring filler (Mohs hardness: 3 and 4) with softer talc (Mohs hardness: 1). Mention may also be made, to illustrate the compositions in the form of a paste, of Chinese Patent No. CN 107 9505 A, which relates to a scouring paste having a proportion of water of between 15 and 25%; the scouring filler is constituted in this document of a mineral mixture of natural silica or calcite, and talc. The same comments as those made with respect to the aforementioned Romanian patent can be made on this Chinese patent which does not provide any instruction for solving the problems of stability of liquid compositions.

No solution which would lower, without drawbacks, the rate of scouring filler of a liquid scouring composition is therefore currently available to those skilled in the art.

Such a reduction in the scouring charge rate would be extremely interesting for two reasons:

. firstly, a saving in load (replaced by water) would lead to a reduction in the cost of the product (cost being a factor of capital importance in this area of household consumer application),

. in addition, the reduction in the quantity of charge used would reduce the proportion of suspended matter in the waste water and therefore the deposits in the conduits, and would facilitate rinsing of the surfaces or objects treated.

The object of the invention is to provide a new scouring composition, in liquid form, the scouring charge of which is based on calcite and / or dolomite and which make it possible to save scouring charge, without adding any rheological agent. chemical, and while benefiting on the one hand, from a scouring power of efficiency comparable to that of existing liquid products based on calcite and / or dolomite, on the other hand, of an excellent physical stability allowing a long-term storage without risk of phase separation. An objective of the invention is thus to reduce the cost of the composition and the quantity of suspended products discharged into the waste effluents by its use. Another objective is to facilitate rinsing and to limit, during use, deposits at the level of the weir and of the packaging cap.

To this end, the scouring composition in liquid form, targeted by the invention, comprises one or more surfactants, a scouring filler based on calcite and / or dolomite, and water; it can also include conventional additives in small proportions such as sequestering agents, perfumes, etc. According to the present invention, this composition is characterized in that: the scouring filler comprises, mixed with calcite and / or dolomite, between 10% and 40% of talc (weight of talc relative to the filler weight),

. the scouring filler is incorporated into the composition at a weight rate of between 5% and 35% (filler weight relative to the weight of liquid composition),

. the composition comprises by weight between 50% and 90% of water.

“Talc” means either the hydrated magnesium silicate mineral or the chlorite mineral

(hydrated magnesium and aluminum silicate), a mixture of the two, possibly combined with other minerals in a minority proportion.

As a preferred example, the scouring liquid according to the invention may have the following weight composition (percentages based on the total weight of the composition):

- between 8% and 20% of calcite and / or dolomite,

- between 2% and 7% of talc, - between 4% and 10% of surfactant,

- between 0.5% and 5% of sequestering agent,

- between 62% and 81.5% water.

The inventors have shown that, from b unexpectedly, a scouring filler constituted by a mixture of calcite and / or dolomite and talc makes it possible to reduce the filler rate of a scouring liquid composition without lowering the scouring power of the composition and by giving it satisfactory physical stability. In the liquid composition in accordance with the invention, the surfactants and where appropriate the additives are in amounts comparable to those of the known liquid compositions based on calcite and / or dolomite but a significant proportion of scouring filler is replaced by water without harming the scouring efficiency of the composition and its physical stability: the cost of the composition and the pollution which it causes during its use are thus very significantly reduced. It is further observed that the rinsing of the objects treated with the composition is easier and requires less water, while the deposits are limited in the weir and the conditioning plug.

It has been possible to demonstrate that, in a totally unexpected and unexplained way at present, the scouring power of a liquid composition in accordance with the invention having a charge rate equal to a value of the order of 15 to 20 % (filler comprising a mixture of calcite and / or dolomite and talc) is substantially the same as that of a conventional liquid composition at 40% filler, (calcite and / or dolomite alone). Above the above-mentioned value, the scouring power of the liquid composition of the invention is higher: this effect is very paradoxical since it is obtained by replacing part of the calcite or dolomite with a softer compound and by reducing the amount of charge incorporated. Below said value, the scouring power is slightly lower but satisfactory up to a charge rate of approximately 5%. In practice, it will be possible to choose a charge rate of between 15% and 25% and a proportion of water between 65% and 75% which corresponds to a good compromise between scouring efficiency and economy, the proportion of surfactant being so between 4% and 10% and that of miscellaneous additives less than 8%. Of course, it is possible if necessary, at the cost of less savings, to increase the scrubbing efficiency by increasing the charge rate. It should be noted that, in the abovementioned ranges of values, at an equal charge rate, the increase in the weight of talc relative to the charge weight increases the stability and the scouring efficiency of the composition.

The invention gives good results when the mineral mixture constituting the scouring filler is formulated so as to contain:

. substantially between 15% and 25% by weight of talc (relative to the weight of the filler),

. substantially between 75% and 85% by weight of dolomite (relative to the weight of the filler). The average particle size D50 of talc and dolomite and / or calcite used in the filler is in particular between 3 and 70 microns.

The following comparative examples are intended to illustrate the invention and its performance. The protocol used to evaluate in these examples the recurring efficiency is as follows:

All of the comparative tests are carried out with a device called the DOITEAU plynometer. On a white formica support, a uniform polish is deposited (drying for 1 hour). The support is then cleaned in parallel under defined and reproducible conditions by two sponges, each sponge being packaged as follows: 2g of scouring cream deposited on the sponge moistened with 5g of water after spinning.

On one of the two sponges is deposited the scouring composition according to the invention, on the other, the reference composition. This comparative study on the same soiling makes it possible to avoid the possible variations due to the deposition of the soiling from one support to another.

The set of results is the average of four experiments in which the sponges are crossed in order to avoid possible variations due to the physical state of the sponge. The results of scouring efficiency of the scouring composition according to the invention are expressed relative to the scouring efficiency of the reference composition on a scale ranging from -4 to +4, the value 0 representing the equality of l scouring efficiency. The significance of the deviations on this scale (-4 +4) can be expressed as follows:

0 no difference 1 slight difference

2 notable difference

3 important difference

4 very important difference. The scouring efficiency is well linked to the scouring filler because compositions without scouring filler are ineffective on soiling.

FIG. 1 of the single plate illustrates the results obtained in Example 3.

EXAMPLE 1

Scouring composition according to the invention, designated Cyl

% by pure weight

Charge A: Talc / dolomite

25/75 - d50 = 8.5 μm 20.0 (i.e. 5.0 talc and 15.0 dolomite),

Anionic surfactant (Na salt of paraffin sulfonate in C13-17) 3.6

Nonionic surfactant (Nonyl phenol ethoxylated at 8 EO; fatty alcohol CI 2-14) 2.5 Sequestering agent (Tetrasodium pyrophosphate) ... 3.0

Perfume 0.5

Water 70.4

Reference composition designated Cree

% by pure Dolomite weight - d50 = 10.0 μm 20.0

Anionic surfactant (identical) 3.6

Non-ionic surfactant (identical) 2.5

Sequestering Agent (Identical) 3.0

Perfume 0.5 Water 70, 4

The value of the recurring efficiency of Cv1 compared to Cri is equal to +1.5.

The scouring efficiency of the scouring composition according to the invention, designated Cvl, is significantly higher than that of the reference composition, designated Cr1 (same charge rate). It should be noted that the Cri reference composition is used immediately after homogenization because its physical stability is zero: decantation is observed almost immediately resulting in separation of the solid phase (mineral filler) and the aqueous liquid phase. This negative effect is not observed with the scouring composition according to the invention, designated Cv1, and this even after storage for several weeks (three months at ambient temperature and at 40 ° C.).

EXAMPLE 2

The implementation methodology for this example has been slightly modified:

The 2 g of scouring composition are directly deposited on the formica support to be cleaned and not conventionally directly on the sponge moistened with 5 g of water after spinning. The scouring compositions are identical to those used in Example 1.

The value of the scouring efficiency of Cv1 compared to Cr1 is equal to +1.0.

The scouring efficiency of the scouring composition according to the invention, designated Cv1, is greater than that of the reference composition, designated Cri.

This example completely confirms the result of Example 1 by eliminating any artifact that may be due to the deposition of the scouring composition on the sponge.

EXAMPLE 3

The methodology of implementation during in this example follows the procedure for evaluating

1 example 1.

Scouring composition according to the invention designated Cv2, the scouring charge rate varying from 10 to 30%% by pure weight

Charge B: Talc / dolomite

15/85 - d50 = 15.5 μm 10-30

(i.e. 1.5-4.5 talc and 8.5-25.5 dolomite)

Anionic surfactant (compound identical to Example 1) 4.7

Non-ionic surfactant (compound identical to Example 1) 3.2

Sequestering agent (compound identical to 1 example 1) 4 Perfume. ^' 0.4

Water 57.7 - 77.7

Classical reference scouring composition designated Cr2 (commercially available)

% by weight pure Calcite - d50 = 40, 0 μm 40

Anionic surfactant 3.7

Non-ionic surfactant 0.45

Sequestering agent. 1.0

Perfume 0.4 Water 54, 45

In addition, to complete the comparison, a scouring composition was prepared with a loading rate B equal to 40% (rate identical to that of the reference composition). Results

Scouring charge rate

Scouring composition according to the invention 30% 20% 10%

Scouring efficiency compared to the scouring composition + 1, 8 + 0.2 -2.3 reference

In addition, the composition at 40% of load B gives performance of +2.3 compared to the scouring composition. The curve in FIG. 1 illustrates the results obtained (effectiveness of the compositions with load B relative to the conventional reference composition).

This example shows that the scouring composition containing the filler B has a scouring efficiency much higher than the reference scouring composition designated Cr2, with an equivalent scouring charge rate: 40% (weight of filler relative to the weight of the composition). This example therefore demonstrates that the scouring composition according to the invention, designated Cv2, makes it possible to maintain a scouring efficiency equivalent to the reference scouring composition, designated Cr2, while reducing the scouring load rate significantly.

EXAMPLE 4

Scouring composition according to the invention Cv1 compared to the standard reference scouring composition, designated Cr2

A recurring efficiency of Cv1 with respect to Cr2 is obtained equal to +1.2.

The scouring efficiency of the scouring composition of the invention, designated Cv1, is greater than that of the standard reference composition, designated Cr2. This effect is observed despite a scouring charge rate reduced by 50% (charge weight relative to the initial charge weight) and a very high talc content: 25% (talc weight relative to the charge weight). The scouring composition according to the invention also has excellent physical stability: no settling is observed after several weeks of storage (three months at room temperature and at 40 ° C.).

EXAMPLES 5 - 8

These examples give the composition of scouring creams giving good results. The percentages are given by pure weight. Example 5 Example 6 Example 7 Example 8 talc / calcite 25/75 talc / calcite 40/60

Load d50 = 40 d50 = 30 same as load A same as ex. 6

20% 25% 30% 30% alkyl aryl

Active surfactant Na stereate Na sulfonate id Cvl Ionic Na sterate 1% 4.5% 2.5% 2% lauryl ether sulfate lauryl ether sulfate fatty alcohol Cl 3- 15 fatty alcohol Cl 3- 15 ethoxylated at 3 moles ethoxylated at 3 moles ethoxylated at 7 EO; ethoxylated at 7 EO of EO; fatty alcohol

Active surfactant of fatty alcohol in fatty alcohol in C13-15 ethoxylated to non-ioruch 5% C12-14 Cl 6-18 ethoxylated in 7 OE; nonyl

2.7% 11 EO; ethoxylated fatty alcohol Cl 2-14 80E

3% 4% tetrasodium salt of rethenyl diamine

Sequestrant tetramethvlene / EDTA 4 Na EDTA 4 Na phαsphonate; 2% 0.5% Na citrate

4.5%

Perfume 0.5% 0.3% 0.5% 0.1%

Water 69% 67.5% 62% 63.4%

Claims

CLAIMS 1 / - Scouring composition in liquid form, comprising one or more surfactants, a scouring filler based on calcite and / or dolomite, and water, characterized in that:

. the scouring filler comprises, mixed with calcite and / or dolomite, between 10% and 40% of talc (weight of talc relative to the filler weight),

. the scouring filler is incorporated into the composition at a weight rate of between 5% and 35% (weight of filler relative to the weight of composition),

. the composition comprises by weight between 50% and 90% of water.

2 / - Scouring composition in liquid form according to claim 1, characterized in that:

. the scouring charge is incorporated at a weight rate of between 15% and 25%,

. the composition comprises between 4 and 10% of surfactants and less than 8% of additives,. the composition comprises between 65% and

75% water.

3 / - scouring composition in liquid form according to one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the scouring filler comprises, by weight, substantially between 15% and 25% talc mixed with 75% to 85% dolomite.

4 / - Scouring composition in liquid form according to one of claims 1, 2, 3, in which the talc and the dolomite and / or calcite have an average particle size D50 of between 3 and 70 microns.

5 / - Scouring composition in liquid form, comprising one or more surfactants, a scouring filler based on calcite and / or dolomite and talc, a sequestering agent, a perfume and water, characterized by the following weight proportions based on the total weight of the liquid composition: - between 8% and 20% of calcite and / or dolomite, - between 2% and 7% talc,

- between 4% and 10% of surfactant,

- between 0.5% and 5% of sequestering agent,

- between 62% and 81.5% water.