Process for the production of surfactant-containing granulates

Details Process for the production of surfactant-containing granulates Process for the production of surfactant-containing granulates

1991-06-21

1994-10-11

Lieberman, Paul

Compositions

Water-softening or purifying or scale-inhibiting agents

252174, 25217422, 25217425, 252DIG1, C11D 1100, C11D 172, C11D 312

Patent

active

053544935

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a process for the production of granulates which, despite their high content of nonionic surfactants and adsorbed water, are free-flowing and have a high apparent density and a very homogeneous grain spectrum. The granulates may be obtained by a comparatively simple mixing process and do not have to be dried. They may be directly used as detergents or cleaning preparations or as an additional powder component in made-up detergents and cleaning preparations.
Granulates containing carrier substances and liquid or paste-form nonionic surfactants adsorbed thereon are known. Processes have been developed for their production in which the liquid or molten nonionic surfactant is sprayed onto a previously spray-dried powder or is mixed under granulating conditions with a powder-form carrier substance. Carrier substances which have been proposed include loose, more especially spray-dried, water-soluble salts, such as phosphates, silicates, borates and perborates, or salt mixtures prepared in a certain way beforehand, for example of sodium triphosphate and sodium silicate or of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, and also water-insoluble compounds, for example zeolites, bentonites and silicon dioxide (Aerosil), and also mixtures of the above-mentioned substances. Mixtures of water-soluble and water-insoluble carrier materials have also been used. DE 32 06 265 describes phosphate-free carrier grains consisting of 25 to 52% sodium carbonate or hydrogen carbonate, 10 to 50% zeolite, 0 to 18% sodium carbonate and 1 to 20% bentonite or 0.05 to 2% polyacrylate. DE 34 44 960-A1 describes a granular adsorbent which is capable of taking up large amounts of liquid to paste-form detergent ingredients, more especially nonionic surfactants, and contains (based on anhydrous substance) 60 to 80% by weight zeolite, 0.1 to 8% by weight sodium silicate, 3 to 15% by weight homopolymers or copolymers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and/or maleic acid, 8 to 18% by weight water and, optionally, up to 5% by weight nonionic surfactants and is obtainable by spray drying. According to EP 149 264, commercially available spray-dried zeolites and mixtures thereof with inorganic salts, such as sodium sulfate, may be used for the same purpose, the grain size and apparent density of these spray-dried products lying in the usual ranges.
All these processes are comparatively expensive because, first, an aqueous slurry of the carrier substance has to be prepared and then converted by spray-drying, i.e. with high energy consumption, into a granular, porous intermediate product. The second stage of the process, in which the carrier grains are sprayed with the nonionic surfactant, is also expensive on apparatus and time-consuming, especially since the nonionic surfactant diffuses in with delay and adsorbates containing a high level of nonionic surfactants are only adequately free-flowing after a certain treatment time and rest time. If, by contrast, powder-form intermediate products, for example finely crystalline zeolites, or crystalline, water-soluble carrier salts, are used as starting materials and treated with liquid or molten nonionic surfactants under granulating conditions, i.e. with bonding and cementing of the powder particles to relatively large granulates, the granulates obtained in this way have a very irregular grain spectrum and reduced flow properties. In addition, the absorption capacity of granulates such as these for nonionic surfactants is considerably lower than that of sprayed carrier grains.
One known property of nonionic surfactants (NS) of the polyglycol ether derivative type is that they form highly viscous gels when mixed with water in a ratio of NS to water of approximately 5:1 to 1:2. Gels such as these are formed, for example, when nonionic surfactants are incorporated in the detergent slurry before spray drying. They lead to a considerable increase in viscosity and are thus a burden on the spray-drying process because water has to be additionally added to reduce viscosity and then removed a

REFERENCES:
patent: 2874123 (1959-02-01), Schaafsma et al.
patent: 3769222 (1973-10-01), Yurko et al.
patent: 3915878 (1975-10-01), Yurko et al.
patent: 4166039 (1979-08-01), Wise
patent: 4169075 (1979-09-01), Kuhling et al.
patent: 4239640 (1980-10-01), Williams et al.
patent: 4321157 (1982-03-01), Harris et al.
patent: 4707290 (1987-11-01), Seiter et al.
patent: 4737306 (1988-04-01), Wichelhaus et al.
patent: 4894117 (1990-01-01), Bianchi et al.
patent: 4925585 (1990-05-01), Strauss et al.
patent: 4970017 (1990-11-01), Nakamura et al.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Process for the production of surfactant-containing granulates does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Process for the production of surfactant-containing granulates, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Process for the production of surfactant-containing granulates will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1656703