GRANULAR CLEANING AGENT FOR BATHROOMS

Abstract

The invention relates to a granular cleaning agent for sanitary facilities, comprising tensides, alkane carboxylic acid salts, and solvents, wherein the proportion of alkane carboxylic acid salts equals between 1 wt % and 5 wt % and the proportion of solvents (including perfume oils) equals less than 40 wt % and the agent contains at least 18% non-ionic tensides from the group of block copolymers containing oligo and polyethylene oxides and/or oligo and/or polypropylene oxides and/or oligo and/or polybutylene oxide.

Claims

1. A cleaning composition in block form for the sanitary sector, which comprises surfactants, alkanecarboxylic salts, and solvents, wherein the fraction of alkanecarboxylic salts is between 1 wt % and 5 wt %, and, the fraction of solvents (including perfume oils) is less than 40 wt %, and, the composition comprises at least 18% of nonionic surfactants from the group of block copolymers comprising oligoethylene or polyethylene oxides and/or oligopropylene and/or polypropylene oxides and/or oligobutylene and/or polybutylene oxide.

2. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the melting point of the cleaning composition is at least 53 C.

3. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the composition comprises less than 4 wt % of alkanecarboxylic salts.

4. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleaning composition comprises at least 20 wt % of block copolymers.

5. (canceled)

6. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the block copolymers comprise at least one oligoethylene or polyethylene oxide block.

7. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weight percentage ratio of the alkanecarboxylic salts to the block copolymers is less than 1:7.

8. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleaning composition comprises less than 30 wt % of solvents (including perfume oils).

9. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the perfume fraction is less than 10 wt %.

10. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the total fraction of surfactants (including the alkanecarboxylic salts and the block copolymers) in the composition is less than 90 wt %.

11. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fraction of surfactants without the alkanecarboxylic salts and the block copolymers is between 15 and 40 wt %.

12. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the composition comprises between 10 wt % and 20 wt % of water.

13. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleaning composition is transparent.

14. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flush counts of a cleaning composition with a mass of 35 g are between 80 and 150.

15. A process for cleaning the WC area using a composition as claimed in claim 1.

16. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the melting point of the cleaning composition is more than 59 C.

17. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleaning composition comprises more than 35 wt % of block copolymers.

18. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleaning composition comprises between 20 wt % and 25 wt % of solvents (including perfume oils).

19. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the perfume fraction is between 3 wt % and 6 wt %.

20. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the total fraction of surfactants (including the alkanecarboxylic salts and the block copolymers) in the composition is less than 85 wt % and more than 60 wt %.

21. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the total fraction of surfactants (including the alkanecarboxylic salts and the block copolymers) in the composition is between 65 and 75 wt %.

22. The cleaning composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the composition comprises between 3 wt % and 10 wt % of polyhydric alcohols.

Description

[0047] The invention is described in more detail below by means of working examples and comparative tests.

[0048] Table 1 below contrasts two inventive formulas R1 and R2 with two comparative formulas V1 and V2.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Inventive formulas Comparative formulas Substance R1 R2 V1 V2 Sodium 14.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 alkylbenzene- sulfonate + toluenesulfonate Sodium stearate 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 C9-C11 alcohol 12.40 12.00 21.00 37.00 ethoxylate with 10 EO C13-C15 alcohol 16.00 ethoxylate with 11 EO EO/PO block 40.00 40.00 15.10 15.10 copolymer Polyoxyethylene 4.00 C8-C10 glycerides Sodium chloride 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 Trisodium citrate 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 Sodium 6.00 6.00 6.00 cumenesulfonate Water 14.50 16.80 16.80 16.80 1,2-Propylene 6.70 6.70 6.70 6.70 glycol Quinoline yellow <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 (2% aq. solution) Procion turquoise <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 (6% aq. solution) Cairo Lavender 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Melting point 59.5 C. 60.5 C. 48.5 C. 48.0 C. Hardness/mN (T = 1670 1640 990 900 25 C.) Ratio sodium 1:17.8 1:17.8 1:6.7 1:6.7 stearate:block copolymer Total solvent 18.5 20.8 20.8 20.8 amount in wt % Total surfactant 68.65 64.25 64.35 64.35 amount in wt %

[0049] The inventive formulas R1 and R2 have a melting point above 53 C., more particularly of around 60 C., whereas the compositions of the comparative formula have melting points below 50 C. and therefore, on transport or storage in warmer climates, they melt and become soft and are therefore unsuitable as cleaning compositions in block form.

[0050] Table 2 below sets out, for the substances listed in table 1, the classes of compound, the functions of the respective substances, and the chemicals employed.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Class of Substance compound Function Product used Sodium anionic cleaning Marlon ARL alkylbenzene- surfactants (Sasol) sulfonate + toluene- sulfonate Sodium stearate anionic gel former surfactants C9-C11 alcohol nonionic gel former Imbentin ethoxylate with surfactants C/91/100 10 EO (Kolb) C13-C15 alcohol nonionic gel former Lutensol ethoxylate with surfactants AO 11 11 EO (BASF) EO/PO block nonionic gel former V/23345/2 copolymer surfactants (Kolb- Chemie) or Pluronic PE6800 (BASF) Polyoxyethylene foamers Emanon XLF C8-C10 (Kao glycerides Chemicals) Sodium chloride inorganic salts standardizer Trisodium oligocarboxylic complexing citrate salts agent Sodium hydrotrop clarifier Eltesol cumenesulfonate SCS 93 (Rhodia) Water solvent for gelling 1,2-Propylene solvent for gelling glycol Quinoline dyes yellow (2% aq. solution) Procion dyes turquoise (6% aq. solution) Cairo Lavender fragrances

[0051] Furthermore, the comparative tests below show that only with the block copolymers of the invention, but not other nonionic surfactants, is it possible to obtain cleaning compositions having a sufficiently high melting point.

[0052] For the comparison, the EO-PO block polymer in the inventive formula R1 in table 1 was replaced by a different nonionic surfactant, namely C13-C15 alcohol ethoxylate with 11 EO, in accordance with the formula below, and the melting point was determined:

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Class of Substance compound Function Product used V3 Sodium anionic cleaning Marlon ARL 14.00 alkylbenzene- surfactants (Sasol) sulfonate + toluene- sulfonate Sodium stearate gel former 2.25 C9-C11 alcohol nonionic gel former Imbentin 12.40 ethoxylate with surfactants C/91/100 10 EO (Kolb) C13-C15 alcohol gel former Lutensol 40.00 ethoxylate with AO 11 11 EO (BASF) EO/PO block gel former copolymer Polyoxyethylene foamers Emanon 4.00 C8-C10 XLF (Kao glycerides Chemicals) Sodium chloride inorganic standardizer 2.00 salts Trisodium oligocarboxylic complexing 0.10 citrate salts agent Sodium hydrotrop clarifier Eltesol cumenesulfonate SCS 93 (Rhodia) Water solvent gel former 14.50 1,2-Propylene gel former 6.70 glycol Quinoline dyes <0.1 yellow (2% aq. solution) Procion <0.1 turquoise (6% aq. solution) Cairo Lavender fragrances 4.00 Total 100.0

[0053] The melting point of the comparative formula V3 was 43.0 C. and the hardness as measured at 25 C. was 940 mN.

[0054] This shows that high melting points are not achieved with any nonionic surfactants, but only with the EO-PO block polymers.

Hardness Measurement:

[0055] The hardnesses of the various formulas were determined as follows:

[0056] The hardness measurements were carried out using the PCE-FG 20SD force gauge from PCE Instruments (PCE Deutschland GmbH) and the cone stainless steel measuring tip included. For defined positioning, the force gauge instrument was mounted on the PCE-FTS50 test stand from PCE Instruments (PCE Deutschland GmbH), to ensure precise vertical displacement with a resolution of 0.01 mm.

[0057] The melted gel materials were poured into a petri dish and then stored at 25 C. for three hours to ensure hardening of the gel materials. The samples were subsequently investigated in the measurement setup described.

[0058] For the hardness measurement, the measuring tip was positioned just above the sample surface, and the measuring tip was moved downward in the direction of the sample surface in steps of 0.1 mm (lowering velocity 0.02 mm/s) and the force value at the corresponding point was stored. The hardness measurement variable used was the measured force in mN at a depth of sample penetration by the measuring tip of 2.5 mm. The zero point defined for the depth of penetration was the position at which a force was measured for the first time at the following position. The temperature during the measurement was 25 C.