Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D3/00—Other compounding ingredients of detergent compositions covered in group C11D1/00
  • C11D3/16—Organic compounds
  • C11D3/26—Organic compounds containing nitrogen
  • C11D3/30—Amines; Substituted amines ; Quaternized amines

Definitions

• This invention relates to laundry operations and more particularly to commercial laundering compositions wherein an iron-complexing material is added to an alkaline detergent ' builder resulting in a product which removes or reduces iron residues from fabrics during initial detergency operations.
• an alkaline detergent builder is frequently used to enhance the effectiveness of surfactant-containing detergents.
• Such enhancement may be achieved by any one of several mechanisms including suspending the soils in the aqueous phase, increasing the soil pH to thereby improve soil dispersibility or solubility, forming a-protective ionic barrier between the soil and the laundry, and the like.
• the alkaline builder is generally provided as a discrete product or a part of a compounded or formulated detergent.
• the builder will contain one or more alkaline materials, such, for example, as sodium metasilicate, sodium carbonate, or sodium hydroxide, and may contain other ingredients for providing specific benefits.
• removal of the iron by means of detergents is inefficient.
• removal of discolorations caused by iron residues may be effected by treating the laundry with an iron-removing sour such, for example, as sodium bifluoride or oxalic acid.
• This treatment does not improve the effectiveness of the detergent to remove soil from the laundry, nor to lessen potential damage resulting to the fabric when iron is present in the laundry to catalyze bleach action during laundry bleaching cycles.
• iron-reducing sours When iron-reducing sours are used as a pretreatment, several rinses are often needed prior to the wash operation to remove the acidic material from the fabric. The expense of the additional water, energy, and time required to pretreat the laundry with these sours militates against their usage except when the laundry is considered to be excessively iron-discolored.
• certain metal ions such as those of iron, for example, serve to catalyze the decomposition of bleaching agents resulting in localized action of the bleaching agent on the fabric rather than the soil.
• removal of the iron residues from fabrics in the initial detergency operation also serves to lessen the opportunity for iron-catalyzed fabric bleach damage.
• An iron-complexing alkaline builder comprises the following:
• Balance to 100 parts, if necessary or desirable, may comprise other alkaline detergent builders, such as sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium polysilicate, sodium orthosilicate, potassium carbonate, potassium polysilicate, ammonium polycarboxylate, sodium polycarboxylate, potassium polycarboxylate, lithium polycarboxylate and the like; as well as carboxymethyl cellulose, optical brighteners, etc.
• alkaline detergent builders such as sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium polysilicate, sodium orthosilicate, potassium carbonate, potassium polysilicate, ammonium polycarboxylate, sodium polycarboxylate, potassium polycarboxylate, lithium polycarboxylate and the like; as well as carboxymethyl cellulose, optical brighteners, etc.
• Total.alkalinity of. the preferred iron-complexing alkaline builder above is equivalent to a 46.6% solution of Na 2 0 or a 77.5% solution of NaOH.
• a 1 ⁇ 2% solution of the above preferred iron-complexing alkaline builder would have the equivalent alkalinity of a 0.30% solution of NaOH and since commercial laundering operations limit alkaline builders of the type envisaged-by the present invention to a maximum of 1 ⁇ 2% builder, at no time does the caustic concentration in the washwheel approach those high levels currently used.
• Sodium metasilicate is a commonly used non-phosphorous inorganic alkaline detergent builder.
• Carboxymethyl cellulose is often used as a soil suspending or anti-redeposition agent.
• the optical brightener may be anionic, cationic, or nonionic.
• a sample fabric was prepared by treating 65/35 polyester/cotton (Testfabric Style 7406, Testfabric Inc., Middlesex, NJ) with ferrous sulfate adjusted to an alkaline pH and air oxidized to form a strong ferric oxide residue.
• the treated fabric was rinsed and dried and cut into sections to afford comparative washing thereamong using a commercial washer/extractor (25 lb. load capacity) with a 25 lb. load of clean and dry cotton ballast fabric therein.
• the wash process used for the comparative washings comprised the following steps:
• Additional fabric samples were tested for iron-removal properties using iron-complexing alkaline detergent builders of alkaline silicate-triethanolamine at exceedingly low caustic levels at the washwheel.
• the fabric samples were prepared by soaking 5" x 10" swatches of 65/35 polyester/cotton fabric (Testfabric Style 7402) in a bath of 0.05% ferric chloride in deionized water for three hours. The swatches were rinsed under running tap water and dried in a typical home drier.
• Each swatch was measured for reflectance before and after treating with the ferric chloride on a Hunter reflectometer (Model D40.). The swatches were then sewn into bags with 50 g. of 1 ⁇ 4" stainless steel ball sewn inside each one. Each bag was then placed into individual launderometer canisters with 200 ml. of test solution (prepared by dissolving 2.5g. of each sample to be tested and evaluated, i.e., Sample No. 1 through Sample No. 6, in 1000 ml. of deionized water) and each rotated for 30 minutes at 120°F. After removing the swatches from the launderometer, each swatch was thoroughly rinsed under running tap water, the stainless steel balls removed, and the fabric dried in a home drier.
• test solution prepared by dissolving 2.5g. of each sample to be tested and evaluated, i.e., Sample No. 1 through Sample No. 6, in 1000 ml. of deionized water
• Total alkalinity of my product does not exceed 0.30%, while yet producing exceptional iron removal, and oftentimes, only about k such total alkalinity is required to obtain good iron removal properties.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Oil, Petroleum & Natural Gas (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Detergent Compositions (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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ID=24894820

Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (1)

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• 1985
  • 1985-11-26 EP EP85114988A patent/EP0197193A3/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 1985-12-03 AU AU50598/85A patent/AU5059885A/en not_active Abandoned

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