Patent ID: 6054424
Filing Date: 2000-04-25
Classification: C11D

Abstract:
A process of producing a liquid laundry detergent composition having a viscosity within a desired range comprising dissolving in water a water-soluble builder and a surfactant blend comprising two nonionic and two anionic surfactants, said surfactant blend being prepared by partially sulfating and subsequently neutralizing a mixture prepared by admixing two separate ethoxylated long chain alcohol nonionic surfactants, the first nonionic surfactant containing an average of about 1 to about 5 ethoxy groups per molecule and the second nonionic surfactant containing an average of about 6 to about 12 ethoxy groups per molecule, the weight ratio of first to second nonionic surfactant and the percent conversion of nonionic to sulfated anionic surfactants resulting from the partial sulfation being determined by reference to and consistent with preestablished correlations of said ratio and percent conversion with the viscosity of a liquid laundry detergent composition comprising said builder and surfactant blend, said correlations indicating that when the percent conversion is increased from lower to higher values at a constant value of said ratio, the viscosity of the detergent composition increases with the percent conversion, and that when said ratio is increased from lower to higher values at a constant percent conversion, the viscosity of the detergent composition rises and reaches a maximum at an intermediate ratio and then falls as the ratio is increased further.