Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
Patent
1995-06-22
1997-10-14
Lieberman, Paul
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
510360, 510421, 510432, 510506, 568613, C11D 1722
Patent
active
056772734
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wetting agents containing selected mixed ethers for the pretreatment of textiles and to the use of the mixed ethers for the production of wetting agents for the pretreatment of textiles.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Wetting agents are used in the pretreatment of yarns and fabrics, their function being for example to support the separation of impurities from the fibers or bleaching. Auxiliaries of this type are expected to satisfy a number of requirements. For example, they are required to be chemically stable under the often highly alkaline conditions, to have a wetting time of the order of a few seconds, to form no foam of their own, to suppress process foam and, in addition, to be readily biodegradable.
There are already many documents in the prior art which propose fatty alcohol polyglycol ethers and, more particularly, end-capped fatty alcohol polyglycol ethers, so-called "mixed ethers", as solutions to the problem for these and similar cases.
For example, EP-A 0 124 815 (Henkel) describes mixed ethers containing 8 to 18 carbon atoms in the fatty alkyl chain and 7 to 12 ethylene oxide units in the polyether chain as foam-inhibiting additives for low-foaming cleaning compositions. Octyl and/or decyl mixed ethers containing 3 to 4 ethylene oxide units are proposed for the same purpose in EP-B 0 303 928 (Henkel).
Mixed ethers containing 6 to 12 carbon atoms in the fatty alkyl group and EO/PO/EO blocks in the polyether chain are proposed in EP-A 0 180 081 (BASF) for the suppression of foam in the processing of foods and in fermentation processes. According to the teaching of EP-B 0 324 340 (Henkel), mixed ethers containing 6 to 28 carbon atoms in the fatty alkyl group and 2 to 10 ethylene oxide units in the polyether chain may be used for the same purpose.
Finally, EP-A 0 420 802 (Ciba-Geigy) describes wetting agents containing open-chain and/or end-capped fatty alcohol polyglycol ethers for the pretreatment of textiles. Suitable starting materials are said to include those which contain at least 8 and preferably 9 to 14 carbon atoms in the fatty alkyl group and 2 to 24 and preferably 4 to 8 alkylene oxide units in the polyether chain. They may be open-chain or end-capped by a C.sub.1-8 alkyl group, a cycloaliphatic radical containing at least 5 carbon atoms and a lower phenyl or styryl group. The only Example refers solely to the use of an open-chain adduct of 15 moles of alkylene oxide with a C.sub.9-11 oxoalcohol.
All these documents disclose a large number of possible mixed ether types and their advantageous use as foam regulators or wetting agents. However, none of them refers to the advantageous combination of the various parameters required or teaches the expert the criteria by which he has to combine the structural elements (fatty alkyl group, degree of propoxylation, degree of ethoxylation end capping) in order to obtain mixed ethers which satisfy the various requirements mentioned above.
Accordingly, the problem addressed by the present invention was to provide new wetting agents which, at one and the same time, would be low-foaming, foam-reducing, fast-wetting, alkali-resistant and readily biodegradable.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to wetting agents for the pretreatment of textiles containing mixed ethers corresponding to formula (I): ##STR2## in which R.sup.1 is a strictly linear alkyl radical containing 8 to 10 carbon atoms, R.sup.2 is an alkyl radical containing 1 to 4 carbon atoms, m is a number of 0.5 to 2 and n is a number of 6 to 9.
It has surprisingly been found that, among the large number of mixed ethers known as low-foaming wetting agents, there is a limited range of species which eminently satisfy the requirements involved in the pretreatment of textiles, namely extremely low foaming, suppression of process foam, high wetting power, resistance to alkalis and excellent biodegradability. In addition, the products are highly stable in storage.
The following Examples and Com
REFERENCES:
patent: 2520611 (1950-12-01), Hoffman et al.
patent: 2626243 (1953-05-01), Jacoby
patent: 4443363 (1984-04-01), Klinger et al.
patent: 4624803 (1986-11-01), Balzer et al.
patent: 4753885 (1988-06-01), Dietsche et al.
patent: 4922029 (1990-05-01), Birnbach et al.
patent: 4965019 (1990-10-01), Schmid et al.
patent: 5059342 (1991-10-01), Blease
patent: 5484553 (1996-01-01), Guth et al.
Piorr et al, "Low Foaming Biodegradable Nonionic Surfactants", Fat Sci. Technol. 89 106 (1987) No Month.
Tens.Surf.Det. 27, 243 (1990).
Fette, Seifen, Anstrichmitt., 87 421 (1985) No Month.
Hanke Anja
Neuss Michael
Raths Hans-Christians
Schmid Karl-Heinz
Wegener Ingo
Grandmaison Real J.
Hardee John R.
Jaeschke Wayne C.
Lieberman Paul
Szoke Ernest G.
LandOfFree
Wetting agents for the pretreatment of textiles does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Wetting agents for the pretreatment of textiles, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Wetting agents for the pretreatment of textiles will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1555283