GB951930A - Liquid detergent composition - Google Patents

Abstract

A concentrated aqueous detergent composition comprises by weight (a) 3-10% amine oxide of formula R1R1R3N --> O, where R1 is C10- 16 alkyl radical, preferably at least 50% of the amine oxide being such that R1 contains 12 carbon atoms, and R2 and R3 are both methyl or ethyl, (b) 3-15% of an anionic synthetic detergent containing a C9-16 alkyl group which is soluble to the extent of at least 3% in an aqueous solution containing 3% dodecyl dimethyl amine oxide, 3% potassium toluene sulphonate and 10% potassium pyrophosphate, and being stable in alkaline solution, (c) 3-10% of non-detergent a hydrotrope salt, and (d) 10-30% of a pyrophosphate, the cations present in (b), (c) and (d) being potassium, sodium, or mono-, di-, or tri-ethanolammonium, and the mole ratio of potassium and ethanol-ammonium cations to sodium being greater than 3 : 1, and preferably above 3.5 : 1; (a) is preferably dimethyldodecylamine oxide or dimethylcoconutamine oxide. The preferred detergents (b) are alkylbenzene sulphonates, alkyl sulphates, and alkyl polyglycol ether sulphates in which there are present 1-5 glycol residues per molecule, the alkyl groups suitably containing 12 carbon atoms and the detergents or mixtures thereof being used in the form of the sodium or triethanolamine salts. Suitable hydrotropes (c) are benzene, toluene, and xylene sulphonates, sodium or potassium toluene sulphonate being preferred. The preferred pyrophosphate (d) is the potassium salt. The compositions generally also contain 3.5-6% silicate solids of formula M2O : nSiO2 in which M is sodium or potassium and n is 1-2.6, preferably 1.6-2.6. In addition, sodium carboxymethylcellulose in amounts up to 2%, tarnish inhibitor such as benztriazole or ethylenethiourea in amounts up to 1%, and less than 1% of fluorescers, perfume and colour may also be incorporated. The final composition should contain 45-70% water, and should contain a total of 10-25% of (a) and (b) and 25-40% of (b) and (d). Specifications 848,224, 848,225, 850,274 and 938,988 are referred to.