Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Deter~ent Com~osition
THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a detergent
composition, in particular to an anhydrous non-ionic
de-tergent composition containing builders.
Heavy duty detergent compositions for use, for
example, in domestic washing machines are commonly sold
in the form of powders. The advantage of a powder is
that it enables a wide range of inorganic builders to
be incorporated into the composition, wider than if an
a~ueous composition were formulated because some
builders e.g. sodium tripolyphosphate are unstable in
the presence of water and bleaches e.g. sodium
perborate or percarbonate may oxidise organic components
of the composition in the presence of water. It is
also impossible to formulate a homogeneous liquid aqueous
composition with organic surfactant and the desired
quantity of inorganic builders. The disadvan-tage of a
powder from the manufacturer's point of view is that it
is relatively expensive to make. Compared with an
equivalent aqueous composition a powder requires more
expensive drying equipment for its production, and as
well as being expensive such equipment is often
difficult and sometimes hazardous to operate.
In our ~elgian Patent No 867 827 we have disclosed
heavy duty detergent compositions which contain builders
dispersed in substantially water-~ree non-ionic liquid
surfactants with the aid of dispersants, silica
dispersants being employed.
Surprisingly we have now found that provided that
the dispersed solids have average particle diameters of
less than 10 microns, dispersions in substantially water
free non-ionic liquid surfactants having pour points
less than 10C are acceptably stable even in the absence
of a dispersant for the builder. Thus it is possible
~5 to prepare formulations containing only components
required for the washing function of the composition with-
out introducing additional materials required only for
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stabilising the dispersed condition of the detergent
composition itself.
According to the irvention a liquid detergent
composition comprises a dispersion of solids comprising
at least one builder which is preferably sodium or
potassium tripolyphosphate and at least one bleach which
is preferably sodium or potassium perborate or per-
carbonate, the average particle diameter of the solids
being at most 10 microns and preferably at most 5 micron~
in a substantially water-free non-ionic liquid
surfactant which has a pour point of less than 10C, the
composition being free from dispersants for the solids.
In particular, the composition is free from silica
containing dispersants.
The pour point may be measured by ASTM test
method designation D97-66 reapproved in 1971.
Any builder which is known for use in detergent
compositions may be used in the composition according
to the present in~ention. Generally such builders are
inorganic in nature but some organic products in
particular sodium carboxymethylcellulose may be used.
Suitable inorganic builders include phosphates, e.g,
trisodium~phosphate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, sodium
hexametaphosphate and, preferably, sodium
; 25 tripolyphosphate, carbonates e~g. sodium carbonate,
sodium bicarbonate and sodium sesquicarbonate, clays e.g.
kaolin, montmorillonites and~odium bentonite, and
~ misce~laneous salts e.g. sodium meta-silicate and sodium
; ~ citrate and nitrilotriacetic acid. ~ The potassium
analogues of these sodium compounds may also be used.
In order to provide an effective dispersion of the
solids in the liquid non-ionic surfactant it is
desirable that at least 90% of the particles of the
solid have particle sizes less than 10 microns in
diameter~
The non-ionic surfactant which is a component of
the composition according to the invention is preferably
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an alkylene oxide derivative. In particular, the
non~ionic surfactant may be an alkylene oxide derivative
of an amide, alkyl Phenol or an alkanol. The alkyl
group in the alkyl phenol may be straight chain or
branched chain and may contain from 6 to 20 carbon atoms,
e.g, para-nonyl phenol or para-dodecylphenol.
The alkanol may contain 6 to 20 carbon atoms,
particularly 10 to 16 carbon atoms. The alcohol is
preferably a primary or secondary alkanol having a
linear or mono brached alkyl group.
The composition may usefully comprise two non-
ionic surfactants, one of which fulfills a surfactant
function and the other of which both fulfills a
surfactant function and reduces the pour point of the
composition. The former surfactant may for example
comprise alcohols having 12 to 16 carbon atoms which have
been alkoxylated with 5 to 15 moles of ethylene and/or
; propylene oxide; the other surfactant may be a linear
or branched chain C6 11 alcohol alkoxylate which
comprises 2 to 8 moles of ethylene and/or propylene oxide
per mole, branched chain alcohols being preferred in the
C8 11 range and linear alcohols being preferred in the
C6 8 range, or an alkyl phenol alkoxylate having 2 to 6
moles of ethylene and/or propylene oxide per molecule
the alkyl group suitably being in a para-position and
having 6 to 12 carbon atoms.
A further surfactant of the anionic or cationic
type may be included if desired. Such anionic or
cationic surfactants may be of known type for example
the anionic detergents may be soaps, alkylbenzene or
- olefine sulphonates, alcohol sulphates or alcohol
alkoxylate sulphates; the cationic surfactants are
suitably di-C14 20 and preferably di-C16_1~ alkyl9 di-
lower alkyl aMmonium salts or hydroxides for example
chlorides or sulphates. The loweralkyl groups are
suitably methyl groups.
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In general the alkyl phenol or alkanol derivativemay comprise 2 to 20 alkylene oxide units which are
preferably ethylene oxide units although a minor number
of propylene oxide or a lesser number of butylene oxide
units may also be present. The amide is suitably a
mono- or di-alkanol amide e.g. a mono- or di-
ethanolamide preferably of a C6 to C30 more preferably
C10 to C20 alkanoic acid, e.g. coconut acids, tallow
acids or stearic acid. An alternative non-ionic
10 surfactant for use fn a composition according to the
invention comprises a copolymer of ethylene oxide with
propylene oxide and/or butylene oxide. The copolymer
comprises a block of propylene and/or butylene oxide
units on to which is grafted the ethylene oxide. The
15 block preferably comprises 20 to 40 propylene oxide
units, especially about 30 such units and 20 to 30
especially about 26 ethylene oxide units.
It is a feature of the composition according to
the invention that the dispersion of the solids in the
20 non-ionic surfactant is particularly stable. If the
solids do separate at all then the resulting phase is
loosely flocculated and is readily redispersible while
if the relative amounts of the solids and non-ionic
surfactant in the composition is correctly chosen there
25 is little phase separation as the liquid fills the space
between the loosely packed solid particles. The
composition may contain 20 to 70% by weight builder(s).
It is preferred that the composition contain 30 to 60%
and more preferably 40 to 60% by weight builder(s). The
~ 30 composition preferably contains 1 to 20% and more
;~ preferably 2 to 15% by weight of bleach. The remainder
is preferably substantially non-ionic surfactant. The
composition may also contain additives conventionally
found in detergent compositions e~g. optical brighteners,
35 ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid7 dyesg perfumes or
enzymes. The invention will now be further described
with reference to the following Example
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H.31072
EXA~PLE
A heavy duty laundry liquid was produced as
follows:
Sodium tripolyphosphate (40g), sodium percarbonate
(5g) and miscellaneous ingredients (colour, perfume,
optical brighteners~ carboxymethylcellulose and anti-
corrosion agents) (5g) and polyethylene glycol (molecular
weight 200, 5g) were added to a non-ionic surfactant
mixture (45g) comprising "Synperonic" K 87,(a C13 to C15
primary alcohol alkoxylated to an average of 7 moles of
alkylene oxide per mole of alcohol the alkylene oxide
being a mixture of 8% propylene oxide and 92% ethylene
oxide) (36.6g) and "Alphanol" 6(a C7 to Cg primary
alcohol, average molecular weight 126 ethoxylated with
six moles per mole of ethylene oxide) (8.4g)
The whole of the ingredients were mixed by hand
to form a stiff paste which was then mixed in a
Silverson mixer and then a Dyno Mill bead mill to reduce
the mean diameter of the particles to about 2.5 microns.
The product was a suspension stable for at least -three
months, at the end of which there was slight settling
readily reversible by shaking. The mixture had a pour point
of 7C
The product was te-sted by measuring the change
in reflectance of a standard soiled Krefeld cloth using
a Gardner reflectometer, brought about by washing the
cloth in a Terg-O-Tometer manufactured by the US Testing
Company, at 100 rpm for 10 minutes followed by hand
rinsing.
RESULTS
31~ L }~_2~ 8~ 50 300 150
Change in % r~flectance on cleaning
cloths
Heavy duty liquid 1.25gm/litre18.0 1008
Heavy duty liquid 2.5 gm/litre - - 17.9
Market laundry powder 5.Ogm/litre 11.6 8.7 10.8
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RESULTS Water Hardness ppm
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Cotton 60C
Change in reflectance on cleaning
cloths
5Heavy duty liquid 1.25~n/litre 28.9 - -
Heavy duty liquid 2.5 gm/litre - - 31.1
Market launclry powder 5.Ogm/litre 29.6 31.1
The composition of the invention thus ~hows
superior washing performance with polyester/cotton and
substantially equal performance with cotton compared with
a commercially marketed laundry powder.
"Synperonic" and "Alphanol" are trade marks of
Imperial Chemical Industries Limited.
TJL/JH
