Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
Reexamination Certificate
1995-06-06
2001-08-14
Douyon, Lorna M. (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
C510S109000, C510S238000, C510S435000, C510S480000, C510S506000, C134S040000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06274541
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to an alkaline cleaner for removal of greasy soil from hard surface areas. It is especially effective in removing not only the grease but also lime-soaps found in institutional, and commercial kitchens and other food preparation environments. Prior to the present invention, the combination of food greases and lime-soaps have been difficult to clean from hard surfaces such as ceramic floor tiles or countertops. This difficulty apparently is due to unsaturated portions of materials being partially cross-linked which upon aging further polymerize.
Most lime-soap dispersants previously described contain sulfated, sulfonated or phosphonated compounds. Alkyl or alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylates are known in the art as mild surfactants for use in liquid detergent compositions. They have been described as being poor in grease cutting and require the use of other surfactants to achieve the desired cleaning. For example, international patent application, publication number WO92/08777 describes a light-duty dishwashing detergent composition containing an alkyl ethoxy carboxylate surfactant and calcium or magnesium ions and a moderate completing agent. It was therefore surprising to find that alkyl and alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylates of the present invention are effective in removing greasy soil containing lime-soaps when such active ingredients are combined with a strong chelating agent and a source of alkalinity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly the present invention includes an alkaline cleaner for removing greasy soil containing lime-soaps from hard surfaces such as quarry or ceramic floor tiles in commercial and institutional kitchens.
The alkaline cleaner composition comprises:
(1) an effective detersive amount of alkyl or alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylates of the formula
R—O—(CH
2
CH
2
O)
n
(CH
2
)
m
—CO
2
X
wherein R is a C
8
to C
22
alkyl group or
in which R
1
is a C
4
-C
16
alkyl group,
n is an integer of 1-20,
m is an integer of 1-3, and
X is hydrogen, sodium, potassium, lithium, ammonium, or an amine cation selected from monoethanolamine, diethanolamine and triethanolamine;
(2) an effective amount of a strong chelating agent;
(3) an effective amount of a source of alkalinity, and
(4) a diluent.
The cleaner composition can be sold as a concentrate or in the form of a dilute aqueous solution. The concentrate is preferred when sold to restaurants and institutions. Application of the concentrate is then carried out by known dilution methods.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
As utilized herein including the claims, the term “wt %” refers to the weight proportion based upon the total weight of the composition.
The alkaline cleaner composition may be in solid or liquid form. In liquid form, the composition is preferably sold as a concentrate and used as a dilute aqueous solution. The composition includes an effective detersive amount of an alkyl or alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylate, an effective amount of a chelating agent and an effective amount of a source of alkalinity. The composition also contains a diluent. The diluent for a concentrate may be water, alcohol, or an aqueous alcohol mixture. In dilute form, the diluent is water. The composition may further contain a water conditioning agent and other typical detergent additives such as dyes, perfumes, grease cutting solvents, and the like.
By effective detersive amount is meant an amount of active ingredient required to remove grease and lime-soap dirt from a hard surface.
By an effective amount of a strong chelating agent is meant the amount required to remove the alkaline earth salts (Ca or Mg) from the water hardness used in ordinary cleaning of floor tiles and grouts. The use of chelating agents also help break up the lime-soaps under alkaline conditions and can release soaps that can help in the cleaning process.
By effective amount of a source of alkalinity is meant enough alkaline materials to break apart semi-polymerized soils formed from the fats and lime-soaps which are on hard surfaces, e.g. floor surfaces, through cooking processes. The unsaturated portions of some fats are partially cross-linked and upon aging the soils can be further polymerized. Thus highly alkaline materials such as caustics or strong amines are helpful in breaking these apart.
As a preferred aqueous alkaline cleaning composition, alkyl and alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylates can be present in an amount ranging from about 0.1 to 20 wt %, the strong chelating agent being in the range of about 1-20 wt % and the source of alkalinity being in the range of about 0.5-30 wt %.
More preferred aqueous compositions comprise:
(1) about 1-5 wt % of alkyl or alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylate;
(2) about 10-15 wt % of a strong chelating agent, and
(3) about 2-12 wt % of a source of alkalinity.
The source of alkalinity is normally higher in the above range when the composition is used for commercial and institutional kitchen floors. Since the composition is useful for cleaning ceramic surfaces, the composition may also be applied in diluted form in cleaning household bathroom tiles as well as bathroom tiles in commercial locations. In this aspect, the percentage of source of alkalinity would be closer to the bottom of the above range, e.g. on or about the 2% level.
Preferred alkyl or alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylates of the above formula are those where n is an integer of 4 to 10 and m is 1.
Also preferred carboxylates are those alkyl carboxylates where R is a C
8
-C
16
alkyl group. Most preferred of the alkyl ethoxy carboxylates are those where R is a C
12
-C
14
alkyl group, n is 4 and m is 1.
In the alkylaryl series, a preferred embodiment is where R is of the formula
in which R
1
is a C
6
-C
12
alkyl group. Most preferred is a carboxylate where R
1
is a C
9
alkyl group, n is 10 and m is 1.
The alkyl and alkylaryl carboxylates may be purchased as surfactants from commercial sources. Alternatively, they can be made by known synthetic methods starting with a fatty alcohol in the alkyl ethoxy carboxylate series. This fatty alcohol can be monitorily reacted with ethylene oxide to prepare the required number of ethoxy linkages. The resulting ethoxy alcohol is then further reacted with a halo carboxylic acid such as, for example, halo-acetic acid, halo-propionic acid or halo-butyric acid to form the desired carboxylate.
In the alkylaryl series, an alkylated phenol can be reacted in the same manner with ethylene oxide and further with the halo carboxylic acid to form the desired carboxylate.
As an example of commercially available carboxylates, Emcol CLA-40, a C
12-14
alkyl polyethoxy (4) carboxylic acid, and Emcol CNP-110, a C
9
alkylaryl polyethoxy (10) carboxylic acid are available from Witco Chemical. Carboxylates are also available from Sandoz, e.g. the product Sandopan® DTC, a C
13
alkyl polyethoxy (7) carboxylic acid.
The second active component in the alkaline cleaner composition is a strong chelating agent preferably in the form of its alkaline metal salt such as potassium or preferably the sodium salt. Chelating or sequestering agents are those molecules capable of coordinating the metal ions commonly found in hard water and thereby preventing the metal ions, eg. Ca and Mg, from interfering with the functioning of the detersive component of the composition. Strong chelating agents are aminopolycarboxylic acids such as, for example, nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), ethylenediamine tetracetic acid (EDTA), N-hydroxyethyl-ethylenediamine triacetic acid (HEDTA), and diethylene-triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA). The preferred chelating agent is ethylenediamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) in the form of its tetrasodium salt.
The third active component of the present alkaline cleaner composition is a source of alkalinity which can be an organic source or an inorganic source. Organic sources of alkalinity are often strong nitrogen bases including, for example, ammonia (ammonium hydroxide), monoethanolamine, monopropanolamine, diethanolamine, dipropanolamine, triethanolamine, tripropanolamine, and the like.
The inorganic alkaline source con
Douyon Lorna M.
Ecolab Inc.
Merchant & Gould P.C.
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