PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A DETERGENT

Abstract: A process for producing a detergent which comprises the step of preparing a mixture of soda ash as the main component and a nonionic surfactant or a mixed surfactant comprising an anionic surfactant and at least 40% of a non­ ionic surfactant in a generally cylindrical reaction vessel, the bottom of which is provided with a substantially horizontally agitating blade (3) turning on a substantially vertical axis (2), the side wall of which is provided with crosswheels (5) turn­ ing on a substantially horizontal axis (4) and the upper part of which is of generally circular conical form having a cur­ vature of 5 to 30°; and the step of reacting the mixture with vigorous agitation by means of the said blade and the cros­ swheels which rotate at different speeds.

Description: Process for producing a detergent The present invention relates to a process for producing a detergent. We have now devised a process which: a) reduces the enormous investment in plant and equipment for compounding and drying starting materials compared to known techniques for manufacturing powdered detergents; b) avoids the pollution caused by existing manufacturing processes, namely, i) scattering into air of the detergent powder material in an atomizing process, and ii) emission of soot and smoke from fuels used in the drying process; c) prevents the wastage of enormous amounts of the fuel required for drying (which amounts to approximately 10% of the production amount); d) substantially shortens manufacturing times; and e) enhances the usefulness of natural oil fat powdered detergents which have hitherto been difficult to dry due to their molecular structures. The present inventor has succeeded in the high-speed formulation of detergents with far less energy than that required conventionally. In one aspedt, the present invention provides a process for producing a detergent which comprises the step of preparing a mixture of soda ash as the main component, and a nonionic surfactant or a surfactant composition comprising an anionic surfactant and at least 40 of a nonionic surfactant, in a generally cylindrical reaction vessel, the bottom of which is provided with a substantially horizontally agitating blade turning on a substantially vertical axis, the side wall of which is provided with crosswheels turning on a substantially horizontal axis, and the upper part of which is of generally circular conical form having a curvature of 5 to 300; ; and the step of reacting ttic mixture with vignr(Jus arJitaLion by means of the blade and the crouswheels which rotate at different specs. Embodiments of the invention are described below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 Is a perspective view showing apparatus wherein the process of the present invention may be carried out; Figure 2 shows a vertical sectional view of apparatus wherein the process of the present invention may be carried out; and Figure 3 shows the flow of particles in the apparatus of Figure 2. The components forming a detergent of the present invention comprise soda ash as a builder, and a nonionic surfactant or a mixed surfactant consisting of nonionic and anionic surfactants, the soda ash amounting conveniently to 50% or more, preferably from 70 to 85% of the whole detergent. The detergent of the invention exhibits a washing effect higher than that of conventional detergents. Tables 1 and 2, below, illustrate clearly how unique such a composition is, compared with conventional synthetic detergents. Table 1. Conventional Synthetic Detergent ("Knowledge of Synthetic Detergents" by Keizoh Ogino) Component Content (%) o Active component 15 - 30 % Phosphate 10 - 35 % Glauberts salt 30 - 50 % Sodium silicate 0 - 15 % o Sodium carbonate 0 - 20 % CMC 0.5 - 2.0 % Fluorescent dyestuff 0.1- 0.4 % Moisture 1-15 % Tattle 2. An Exarnplc of a Detcryent of attic Invention Component Content (tiÓ) % nonionic o Surfactant 7.8 % 3.8 % anionic Soda ash 79.0% Sodium silicate 5.0 % CMC 0.1% Sequestering agent 0.1% Enzyme 0.1 % Moisture the rest The soda ash used as the builder in the present invention has a detergency in aqueous solution which approximates, in electrical action, to that of salts such as alkylbenzene sulfonates, linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, and sulfates of coconut oil alcohol. On the other hand, nonionic surfactants are superior to anionic ones in permeability, solubility, etc., so the present invention aims at reducing the amount of surfactant used as well as attaining a synergistic detergency effect by the use of soda ash and the nonionic surfactant, by means of employing non ionic surfactant or substituting soda ash for a part of the anionic surfactant. Soda ash reacts with the moisture contained in the active component by hydrolysis, and the exothermic reaction on hydrolysis (which amounts to approximately 800C) promotes drying of the reaction product and has the effect of preventing a fall in pH caused by oxidation of oils. In the present invention, accordingly, it is possible to omit phosphates which have been employed for the above effect. In addition to the above-mentioned components, other conventional additives such as thickeners, enzymes, sequestering agents and the like may be added as desired. The accompanying drawing illustrates the apparatus wherein the process of the present invention may be carried out. It is a cylindrical reaction vessel 1, approximately 1/3 of the upper part of which forms a circular cone with 8 curvature of 5 to 300, and tic inter part is cquipped at the vertical axis 2 at the center of the bottom with a horizontally agitating blade 3 rotating on said axis; and the side wall is provided at the horizontal axis 4 with a plurality of crosswheels (choppers) 5 fixed perpendicularly to the said axis, and rotating on the axis. The blade 3 is a plurality of flat blades having faces with 5 to 450 elevation angles, the peripheral speed of which is approximately 0.6 to 6.0 m. When the crude particles of detergent containing soda ash as the main component are added to the reaction vessel 1, and the blades and the cross wheels are rotated, th crude particles are scattered outwards by the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the blades on the bottom, and at the same time upperwards by the elevation angle of the blades to be raised spirally. In this way the downward curvature at the rim of the vessel avoids dead points on the upper surface to enable the cyclic movement shown by the arrows in Figure 3, and consequently the particles become uniform in the form. The crude particles are thereby ground by the rotation of the blade, and at the same time, the crude particles themselves make a kind of spiral movement in a radical manner and upperwards by the centrifugal force and rotary component force, since the blade face forms an elevation angle. In this case, the crosswheels (chopper) mounted on the horizontal axis interfers with the scattering of the particles to complete the mixing, and at the same time, grinds clods and the second cohesion (blocking) of the builder, and in addition, regulate the particles to make them round by the contacting phase in obtuse angle, to obtain the detergent in a highly dried state. According to the process of the present invention, since drying is effected in the reaction vessel with the heat of hydrolysis of the soda ash and the heat caused by the mutual friction of the particles, the energy consumption which has hitherto been regarded as inevitable for producing synthetic detergents is greatly reduced and detergency may be improved by the syncrgistic affect of soda arsh as the main component jnd the nonionic portion. In particular, it enables the manufacture of powdered detergents from natural vegetable oils as the starting materials, which have previously exhibited problems in profitability due to its difficulty in drying. Example The materials in the following composition were added to a reaction vessel of the type illustrated on Figure 2 to produce the detergent. Sulfate of natural coconut oil alcohol 3.6 % Fatty acid amide of natural coconut oil alcohol 3.4 % Sequestering agent 0.2% CMC 0.1% Soda ash 82.0 % Sodium metasilicate 5.0 % Moisture the rest Reaction bath : capacity : 25 liter blade: 1, elevation angle: 30 , rotation: 150 rpm crosswheels : 3, rotation : 1500 rpm Period from preparing the product to taking out: 6 minutes. Particle Size Distribution: EMI6.1 <tb> Particle <SEP> size <SEP> Weight <SEP> Aggregate <SEP> t <SEP> <tb> <SEP> Above <SEP> Under <tb> Mesh <SEP> Micron <SEP> Gram <SEP> % <SEP> screen <SEP> screen <tb> + <SEP> 14 <SEP> +1190 <SEP> 3.04 <SEP> 2.1 <SEP> 2.1 <SEP> 97.9 <tb> + <SEP> 20 <SEP> + <SEP> 840 <SEP> 4.11 <SEP> 2.8 <SEP> 4.9 <SEP> 95; ;1 <tb> + <SEP> 28 <SEP> + <SEP> 590 <SEP> 3.31 <SEP> 2.3 <SEP> 7.2 <SEP> 92.8 <tb> + <SEP> 35 <SEP> + <SEP> + <SEP> 420 <SEP> 3.01 <SEP> 2.1 <SEP> 9.3 <SEP> 90.7 <tb> + <SEP> 48 <SEP> + <SEP> 297 <SEP> 5.62 <SEP> 3.9 <SEP> 13.2 <SEP> 86.8 <tb> + <SEP> 65 <SEP> + <SEP> 210 <SEP> 11.83 <SEP> 8.2 <SEP> 21.4 <SEP> 78.6 <tb> +tOO <SEP> + <SEP> 149 <SEP> 50.60 <SEP> 35.1 <SEP> 56.5 <SEP> 43.5 <tb> +150 <SEP> + <SEP> 105 <SEP> 23.23 <SEP> 16.1 <SEP> 72.6 <SEP> 27.4 <tb> +200 <SEP> + <SEP> 74 <SEP> 29.03 <SEP> 20.0 <SEP> 92.6 <SEP> 7.4 <tb> +270 <SEP> + <SEP> 53 <SEP> 8.44 <SEP> 5.9 <SEP> 98.5 <SEP> 1.5 <tb> +325 <SEP> + <SEP> 44 <SEP> 2.04 <SEP> 1.4 <SEP> 99.9 <SEP> 0.1 <tb> <SEP> -325 <SEP> - <SEP> 44 <SEP> 0.12 <SEP> 0.1 <tb> <SEP> Total <SEP> 144.38 <tb>

Claims: CLAl lAS: 1. A process for producing a detergent which comprises the step of preparing a mixture of soda ash as the main component and a nonionic surfactant or a mixed surfactant comprising an anionic surfactant and at least 40% of a nonionic surf actant in a generally cylindrical reaction vessel, the bottom of which is provided with a substantially horizontally agitating blade turning on a substantially vertical axis, the side wall of which is provided with crosswheels turning on a substantially horizontal axis, and the upper part of which is of generally circular conical form having a curvature of 5 to 30 ; and the step of reacting the mixture with vigorous agitation by means of the said blade and the crosswheels which rotate at different speeds. 2. A process according to claim 1 in which the blade has an elevation angle of 5 to 450. 3. A process according to either of claims 1 and 2 in which the crosswheels have a vertical surface. 4. A process according to any one of the preceding claims in which the peripheral speed of the blade is from 0.6 to 6.0 m, and the peripheral speed of the crosswheels is from 6 to 12 m. 5. A process substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing. 6. A detergent as herein described. 7. Each and eyery novel process, feature, product, apparatus, method and combination of features as herein disclosed.

Inventors: HASHIMURA, TAKAYOSHI
Applicants: HASHIMURA, TAKAYOSHI
Application year: 1985
Main classification: C11D3
IPC codes: C11D11, B01F7, C11D3