Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – For metallic – siliceous – or calcareous basework – including...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-04
2004-02-10
Douyon, Lorna M. (Department: 1751)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
For metallic, siliceous, or calcareous basework, including...
C134S040000, C134S042000, C510S417000, C510S421000, C510S424000, C510S434000, C510S480000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06689223
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to water-containing multiphase liquid cleaning compositions based on nonionic surfactant which can be temporarily emulsified by shaking and which may be used for cleaning hard surfaces, to a process for their production and to their use for cleaning hard surfaces.
Universal cleaners for all hard, wet- or damp-wipe surfaces in the domestic and institutional sectors are known as so-called multipurpose cleaners and are predominantly neutral to mildly alkaline, water-based liquid products which contain 1 to 30% by weight of surfactants, 0 to 5% by weight of builders (for example citrates, gluconates, soda, polycarboxy-lates), 0 to 10% by weight of hydrotropes (for example alcohols, urea), 0 to 10% by weight of water-soluble solvents (for example alcohols, glycol ethers) and optionally inter alia skin-care ingredients, dyes and perfumes. By contrast, for sanitary application as so-called bath cleaners, cleaning compositions of the type in question are often made acidic by addition of acids to enable lime and water stains to be better removed. Multipurpose cleaners are generally used in the form of a ca. 1% solution in water and, for local stain removal, may even be used in undiluted form. In addition, ready-to-use multipurpose cleaners are commercially available as so-called spray cleaners.
Aqueous liquid cleaners of the type in question are normally present as homogeneous stable solutions or dispersions. However, the effect of using certain, more especially hydrophobic, components in such cleaning compositions can be that this homogeneity is lost and inhomogeneous compositions with little chance of acceptance by the consumer are obtained. In cases such as these, there is a need for the alternative formulation of compositions which, despite their inhomogeneity, have a defined external appearance and form of use acceptable to the consumer.
European patent application 116 422 describes a liquid hair or body shampoo with two aqueous phases which can be temporarily dispersed in one another by shaking, the two phases being miscible with water in any ratio. The upper phase contains 8 to 25% by weight, based on the composition as a whole, of at least one surfactant while the lower phase contains at least 6% by weight, based on the composition as a whole, of dissolved sodium hexametaphosphate corresponding to formula I:
in which n stands for an average value of about 12. Other builder salts may optionally be present in the lower phase. Anionic, cationic, amphoteric and/or nonionic surfactants may be present as surfactants, at least one anionic surfactant preferably being present.
DE-OSS 195 01 184, '187 and '188 (Henkel KGaA) describe hair treatment compositions in the form of a 2-phase system which comprise an oil phase and a water phase, the oil phase being based on silicone oil or paraffin oil, and which can be rapidly mixed by mechanical action.
Unpublished German patent application 19859774.6 discloses a two-phase composition with a pH value of 9 consisting of 3% by weight of dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, 2% by weight of C
10—14
fatty alcohol +1PO+1EO ether, 2% by weight of C
12-14
fatty alcohol +9EO butyl ether, 4% by weight of C
8-10
alkyl-1,5-glucoside, 8% by weight of citric acid 1H
2
O, 4.7% by weight of sodium hydroxide, 5% by weight of dioctyl ether, 0.9% by weight of perfume and, for the rest, water.
The problem addressed by the present invention was to provide high-performance storage-stable compositions for cleaning hard surfaces in a defined inhomogeneous, easy-to-handle and consumer-acceptable form.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an aqueous, liquid, multiphase, surfactant-containing cleaning composition with at least two continuous phases which comprises at least one lower aqueous phase I and an upper aqueous phase II immiscible with the lower phase I, which can be temporarily converted into an emulsion by shaking and which contains more than 50% by weight of nonionic surfactants, based on the total quantity of surfactants present, excluding a composition with a pH of 9 consisting of 3% by weight of dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, 2% by weight of C
10-14
fatty alcohol +1PO+1EO ether, 2% by weight of C
12-14
fatty alcohol +9EO butyl ether, 4% by weight of C
8-10
alkyl-1,5-glucoside, 8% by weight of citric acid 1H
2
O, 4.7% by weight of sodium hydroxide, 5% by weight of dioctyl ether, 0.9% by weight of perfume and, for the rest, water.
The present invention also relates to the use of a composition according to the invention for cleaning hard surfaces.
In the context of the present invention, temporary means that 90% of the separation of the emulsion formed by shaking into the separate phases takes place over a period of 2 minutes to 10 hours at temperatures of about 20° C. to about 40° C., the remaining 2% of the separation into the phase state before shaking taking place over another 15 minutes to 50 hours.
According to the invention, it is also possible—unless otherwise specifically stated—to use a salt and also the corresponding acid/base pair of the salt which only gives the salt or a solution thereof in situ through neutralization, even though the particular alternative may not always be explicitly mentioned in the present teaching. In this sense, potassium citrate, for example, and the citric acid/potassium hydroxide or potassium alkyl benzenesulfonate combination and the alkyl benzenesulfonic acid/potassium hydroxide combination represent equivalent alternatives.
Finally, if a certain component can be used for various purposes in the context of the present invention, its use may intentionally be repeatedly described in the following. This applies, for example, to citric acid which is used both as an acid for pH adjustment and as a phase separation auxiliary and builder and to the anionic sulfonic acids which also act as acids and, in addition, as anionic surfactants.
The compositions according to the invention are distinguished by an unusually high cleaning performance against fatty soil when used in diluted or undiluted form. In addition, the compositions show favorable residue behavior. The individual phases in the composition remain stable for long periods without forming deposits, for example, and the conversion into a temporary emulsion remains reversible even after frequent shaking. The nonionic character of the nonionic surfactants presumably contributes to this. In addition, the compositions allow the stable incorporation of components—more particularly the hydrophobic components described hereinafter and perfume oils—which can only be stably incorporated in single-phase aqueous solutions or stable emulsions or microemulsions through the use of solvents, solubilizers or emulsifiers. In addition, the separation of ingredients into separate phases can promote the chemical stability of the composition.
Phases
In the most simple case, a composition according to the invention consists of a lower continuous phase, which consists of the entire phase I, and of an upper continuous phase which consists of the entire phase II. However, one or more continuous phases of a composition according to the invention may also contain parts of another phase in emulsified form so that, in a composition such as this, phase I for example is partly present as continuous phase I, which represents the lower continuous phase of the composition, and is partly emulsified as discontinuous phase I in the upper continuous phase II. The same applies to phase II and other continuous phases.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, continuous phases I and II are separated from one another by a clearly defined phase boundary.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, one or both of the continuous phases I and II contain(s) parts, preferably 0.1 to 25% by volume and more preferably 0.2 to 15% by volume, based on the volume of the particular continuous phase, of the other phase as dispersant. In this embodiment, the continuous phase I or II is reduced by that pa
Ditze Alexander
Katowicz Ryzard
Meine Georg
Schaper Ulf-Armin
Douyon Lorna M.
Harper Stephen D.
Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien
Murphy Glenn E. J.
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