CH642997A5 - CLEANING AGENT FOR THE PRE-TREATMENT OF LAUNDRY. - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a cleaning agent for the pretreatment of laundry. Such a cleaning agent is used before the usual washing cycle with conventional detergents for treating heavily soiled areas of textiles to be cleaned, in order to remove the dirt from such areas more effectively in the later washing process. Such positions are e.g. Collars, cuffs or cuffs, edges of shirts, underwear, which can be heavily contaminated with human skin sebum, as well as commercial clothing, which can be heavily contaminated by external sources of dirt, not only with fats and oils, but also with blood and the like.

Such pretreatment agents, which are also known as stain pretreatment agents, are not unknown as a product type in the detergent field. They normally have a mixture of a suitable organic solvent and a suitable detergent material, optionally with other desired additives. Typically, a detergent material is a nonionic surfactant, and the organic solvent can be one of the numerous solvents known in the art. Typical examples of such stain pretreatment agents are described in DE patent applications 2 021 677.1 279 273 and in US Pat. No. 3,872,021. Most of these agents are liquid and contain a relatively small amount of water.

Although these products often satisfactorily remove various types of grease stains and stains, they do not if the garments are contaminated with various types of other organic contaminants such as proteins, blood and the like.

The object of the invention is to improve such products with regard to their overall stain-removing properties, in particular as regards the removal of the above-mentioned organic contaminants other than greasy dirt.

It has already been proposed in U.S. Patent 3,953,353 to incorporate an enzyme into a solid stain pretreatment agent to enhance the stain removing properties of ordinary stain pretreatment agents. U.S. Patent 3,741,902 proposes a liquid stain remover which contains a liquid nonionic surfactant, an organic solvent and an enzyme. However, these previous proposals do not recommend the use of an aqueous-liquid agent, since the presence of water can lead to gelling or destroy the effectiveness of the enzymes.

The invention is intended to provide an aqueous-liquid, enzyme-containing stain pretreatment agent which is a clear, isotropic liquid in which the enzymes retain their effectiveness. It has now been found that incorporation of an alkanolamine into a nonionic surfactant, an organic solvent, an enzyme and water-containing stain pretreatment agent provides an effective, stable, clear and isotropic, liquid stain pretreatment agent.

DE patent application P16 17 119 discloses a liquid stain pretreatment agent which contains a mixture of two different classes of nonionic constituents, a solvent, a hydrotrope and optionally water. Amino alcohols are also mentioned among the solvents. However, there is no indication of the possibility of including enzymes in these agents, nor of the fact that amino alcohols in particular should be selected together with organic solvents if enzymes are to be incorporated.

The invention therefore relates to an aqueous liquid pretreatment agent for laundry, comprising a) 10 to 50% by weight of a nonionic surfactant,

b) 20 to 60% by weight of an organic solvent,

c) 5 to 20% by weight of water,

d) 0.001 to 20% by weight of an amylolytic, lipolytic, cellulolytic and / or proteolytic enzyme and e) 0.5 to 20% by weight of a mono-, di- or trialkanolamine, the alkanol group of which is methanol, Ethanol, propanol or isopropanol is derived.

The nonionic surfactant used in the agent according to the invention is preferably an ethoxylated and / or propoxylated, primary or secondary alcohol or alkylphenol. The degree of ethoxylation and / or propoxylation can vary quite widely, i.e. the nonionic surfactant can contain 1 to 30 moles of ethylene oxide or 1 to 30 moles of propylene oxide. If the nonionic surfactant contains both ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, the latter is generally present in smaller amounts than the former. The primary or secondary alcohol preferably contains 11 to 24 carbon atoms. Mixtures of nonionic surfactants can also be used. Typical examples of suitable nonionic surfactants are lin.-sec.-Ci iC i5 alcohols, condensed with 7.9 or 12 mol of ethylene oxide, lin.-primary.-Ci2-Ci5 alcohols, condensed with 7 or 12 mols of ethylene oxide, primary Ci3-Ci5 alcohols condensed with 7 moles of ethylene oxide plus propylene oxide, the weight ratio of ethylene oxide to propylene oxide being 88:12 or 92: 8.

The preferred amount of nonionic surfactant in the composition is 20 to 40% by weight.

5

10th

15

20th

25th

30th

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

The organic solvents used in the agent according to the invention are generally all well-known solvents which are miscible with the above nonionic surfactants. Typical examples are dry cleaning solvents, such as petroleum distillates, carbon tetrachloride, trichlorethylene, tretrachlorethylene, turpentine, cyclohexane, gasoline; also paraffins, such as decane, dodecane; Alcohols such as isopropanol, hexanol, tridecanol; Ketones, such as acetone, glycols, such as ethylene glycols, and ethers, such as diethylene glycol monomethyl ether.

A preferred solvent is a high-boiling aliphatic hydrocarbon with a specific weight of 0.76, a boiling range of 187-212 ° C and a flash point of 58 ° C (Pensky Martens) (commercially available under "Shellsol T"). Mixtures of different solvents can also be used. The preferred amount of solvent is 25 to 50% by weight.

The enzymes contained in the agent according to the invention are proteolytic, amylolytic, lipolytic and / or cellulolytic enzymes. They preferably come from bacteria or fungi. Typical examples are Alcalase, Esperase, Maxatase, all proteases from B. subtilis, Maxamyl and Thermamyl, amylases from B. subtilis or B. licheniformis,

Lipase My, a bacterial lipase (from Meiji Co., Japan), and Meiceiase, a fungi cellulase (from Meiji Co., Japan).

The amount of enzyme depends primarily on the activity and is 0.001 to 20% by weight, preferably 0.001 to 10% by weight. For proteases, a preferred amount corresponds to 1 to 15 glycine units / mg.

The alkanolamine contained in the agent according to the invention is a mono-, di- or trialkanolamine, in which the alkanol group is derived from methanol, ethanol, propanol or isopropanol. A preferred alkanolamine is triethanolamine. The preferred amount of alkanolamine is 5 to 15% by weight. The agent according to the invention can also contain other desirable components in small amounts. Such components are e.g. Perfumes, dyes, germicides, evaporation retarders, hydrotropes, dirt-suspending agents and agents that increase the flash point.

The agents according to the invention are normally used before a main wash; they can be applied to the textiles to be treated simply by applying the liquid with your finger or by immersion.

The invention is further illustrated below by way of example.

3 642997

example 1

The following liquid stain pretreatment agent was made as follows:

The enzyme was dispersed in water, then triethanolamine was added. The resulting mixture was stirred into a mixture of the nonionic surfactant and the solvent at room temperature.

% By weight

prim. -C13-C15 alcohol, condensed with

7 moles of ethylene oxide plus propylene oxide

(Weight ratio ÄO: PO = 92: 8)

40

high boiling hydrocarbon with

a boiling range of 187-212 ° C

("Shellsol T")

40

Alcalase as a bacterial protease from B.

in a subtle amount corresponding to 10

Glycine

units / mg

water

10th

Triethanolamine

10th

This stable, non-gelling agent was used to pretreat dirty test pieces, which were then washed in a normal washing machine under normal conditions. A comparison was made with test pieces which were also washed under the same conditions, but without pretreatment or with a pretreatment with the above agent from which the enzymes had been omitted.

35 The test pieces were standard test pieces that were contaminated with standard dirt (AZ 10, Empa 116 or Empa and blood). The stain pretreatment agent was applied by dabbing on the dry textile material at room temperature. The test pieces were then washed in a 40 (Philips HN 3156) washing machine using the C4 / 5 program in 121 water at 8 ° German hardness at temperatures of 20.40 and 60 ° C with a commercially available high-performance detergent powder with and without proteolytic enzymes.

45 The following results were achieved (the values indicate average washing performance values in%):

Table I

Product / test textile washing powder without enzymes Temp. Washing powder with enzymes (10GE / mg)

0 '

T

4 '

° c

0 *

2 *

4 "prog.

AS 10

1

17th

18th

41

20th

1

35

35

50

EMPA blood

1

46

43

71

20th

1

37

64

72 C5

1

15

13

22

20th

1

2nd

20th

2nd

25th

23

32

AS 10

1

25th

25th

49

40

1

50

50

55

EMPA blood

1

35

51

66

40

1

45

75

74 C5

EMPA-116

1

26

26

34

40

1

36

36

39

AS 10

1

34

28

51

60

1

55

56

56

EMPA blood

1

37

69

66

1

44

67

75 C4

EMPA-116

1

25th

33

35

1

39

41

42

"0 = No stain pretreatment agent used

"2 = stain pretreatment agent without enzymes used

* 4 = stain pre-treatment agent with enzymes used

642997

Example 2

Soaking tests were carried out with and without the (enzymatic) pretreatment agents of Example 1 with and without an enzyme.

Matic detergent performed. The results are shown below:

Table II

Tap water (8 ° DH), «room temperature»

Tap water + 5 g washing powder / 1 + (10 GE / mg powder) enzymes

Soaking time test textile

AS 10

EMPA blood

EMPA-116

AS 10

EMPA blood

EMPA-116

Pretreatment product 2h 4h 15h

4 8 20 4 6 19 0 5 23

0 7 47 0 38 50 29 50 71

1 4 23 0 12 31 0 4 29

2 7 22 0 25 28 19 24 28

3 39 61 27 49 59 59 65 61

9 11 26 25 28 33 31 31 32

Rw ~~ Rs

The data are given as a percentage of “washing power” ——-— x 100%.

Ro — Rs

The data in Table I showed that powder was considerably improved. The pretreatment with the enzymatic washing power with the agent according to the invention achieves stain pretreatment agent according to the invention. In the case of AS 10 and EMPA-116, the non-enzymatic stain pre-treatment agent showed no great improvement in all test pieces and all test conditions, 25 a clear, unexpected improvement in washing power, and occasionally it showed a clear improvement in EMPA blood.The same overall picture can be seen in the data from

Increase in washing power, depending on whether the main wash is Table II.

with an enzymatic or non-enzymatic washing

B

Claims (5)

642997 2nd PATENT CLAIMS 1. aqueous-liquid pretreatment agent for laundry, containing a) 10 to 50% by weight of a nonionic surfactant, b) 20 to 60% by weight of an organic solvent, c) 5 to 20% by weight of water, d) 0.001 to 20% by weight of an amylolytic, lipolytic, cellulolytic and / or proteolytic enzyme and e) 0.5 to 20% by weight of a mono-, di- or trialkanolamine, the alkanol group of which is methanol, Ethanol, propanol or isopropanol is derived. 2. Means according to claim 1 with 20 to 40% by weight a), 25 to 50% by weight b), 5 to 20% by weight c), 0.001 to 10 wt .-% d) and 5 to 15% by weight e). 3. Composition according to claim 1 or 2, whose nonionic surfactant is a primary Ci3-Ci5 alcohol, condensed with 7 mol of ethylene oxide plus propylene oxide, at a weight ratio of ethylene oxide to propylene oxide of 92: 8. 4. Composition according to one of claims 1 to 3, the solvent of which is an aliphatic hydrocarbon with a specific weight of 0.76, a boiling range of 187 to 212 ° C and a flash point of 58 ° C. 5. Composition according to one of claims 1 to 4, the alkanolamine is triethanolamine.