(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7.534,760 B2 Johanss0n Et Al
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USOO7534760B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7.534,760 B2 Johanss0n et al. (45) Date of Patent: *May 19, 2009 (54) HIGHLY ALKALINE COMPOSITIONS (56) References Cited CONTAININGA HEXYL GLYCOSDEASA HYDROTROPE U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,240,921 A 12, 1980 Kaniecki .................... 51Of 422 (75) Inventors: Ingegard Johansson, Gothenburg (SE); 4,488,981. A 12/1984 Urfer et al. ............ 252,174.17 Bo Karlsson, Skarhamn (SE); Christine 4,627,931 A 12, 1986 Malik ......................... 252/153 Strandberg, Molndal (SE); Gunvor H468 H 5/1988 Malik et al. .... ... 252/542 Karlsson, Stenungsund (SE); Karin 5,205,959 A * 4/1993 Schmid et al. .............. 51Of 422 Hammarstrand, Kode (SE) 5,464,547 A 1 1/1995 Stehlin et al. ................ 252.8.7 5,494486 A 2, 1996 Stehlin et al. .................. 8,125 (73) Assignee: Akzo Nobel N.V., Arnhem (NL) 5,525,256 A 6/1996 Morris et al. ..... ... 252/108 6,015,839 A 1/2000 Milius ........................ 516. 134 (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 6,337,352 B1 1/2002 Milius patent is extended or adjusted under 35 6,541,442 B1 4/2003 Johansson et al. ........... 510/470 U.S.C. 154(b) by 535 days. This patent is Subject to a terminal dis- FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS claimer. EP OOT5995 B1 4f1983 EP O136844 B1 4f1985 (21) Appl. No.: 11/129,457 EP 0589978 B1 4, 1994 EP O638685 A1 2, 1995 (22) Filed: May 13, 2005 WO WO96,33255 10, 1996 WO WO 97,34971 9, 1997 (65) Prior Publication Data US 2005/0215462 A1 Sep. 29, 2005 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Related U.S. Application Data International Search Report, for PCT/SE98/01634, dated Jan. 7, (63) Continuation of application No. 10/342,904, filed on 1999. Jan. 15, 2003, now abandoned, which is a continua- Derwent Abstract for EP 0589978 B1, Apr. 6, 1994. tion-in-part of application No. 09/562.410, filed on * cited by examiner May 1, 2000, now Pat. No. 6,541,442. Primary Examiner Brian PMruk (51) Ea (2006.01) (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Ralph J. Mancini CLID L/66 (2006.01) 57 ABSTRACT D06L I/2 (2006.01) (57) BOSB 3/04 (2006.01) (52) U.S. Cl. ....................... 510/470,510/238; 510/239;. The present invention relates to a clear and stable, highly 510/240; 510/245; 510/276; 510/356; 510/421; alkaline composition with controlled foaming, containing a 510/435:510/436; 510/466; 134/25.2: 134/42: high amount of Surface active nonionic alkylene oxide adduct 8/137; 8/138; 8/139 and a hexyl glycoside as a hydrotrope. This composition has (58) Field of Classification Search ................. 510,238, a very good wetting and cleaning ability and can be used for 510/239, 240, 245. 276,356, 421, 435, 436 cleaning of hard Surfaces, in a mercerization process and for 510/466,470; 134/25.2, 42: 8/137, 138, a cleaning, desizing or Scouring process of fibres and fabrics. 8/139 See application file for complete search history. 26 Claims, No Drawings US 7,534,760 B2 1. 2 HIGHILY ALKALINE COMPOSITIONS No. 4.240,921. The preferred alkylene oxide adducts are the CONTAININGA HEXYL GLYCOSDEASA ones capable of acting as foam depressors, such as polyoxy HYDROTROPE ethylene/polyoxypropylene block copolymers and capped alcohol ethoxylates. The concentrate contains This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/342, a) 10-35% by weight of alkali metal hydroxide, 904 filed on Jan. 15, 2003, now abandoned, which is a con b) 10-50% by weight of a mixture of a first nonionic surfac tinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/562, tant which is a polyoxypropylene polyoxyethylene con 410, filed May 1, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,442, which densate that acts as a foam depressor and a second nonionic is based on International Application Number PCT/SE98/ Surfactant which is a capped ethoxylated alcohol together 01634 filed on Sep. 15, 1998, which claims priority of Swe 10 with an alkylglycoside oran alkylglycidyl ether, where the den Patent Application No. 9703946-5, filedon Oct. 29, 1997. weight ratio between the alkyl glycoside or the alkyl gly cidyl ether and the before-mentioned first and second non FIELD OF THE INVENTION ionic surfactants is between 5:1 to 10:1 and c) water to balance. The present invention relates to a clear and stable, highly 15 alkaline composition with controlled foaming, containing a These concentrates are used to formulate low foaming clean high amount of Surface active nonionic alkylene oxide adduct ing compositions having utility e.g. in the food industry. and a hexyl glycoside as a hydrotrope. This composition has However, the above composition disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. a very good wetting and cleaning ability and can be used for 4.240,921 requires a rather high ratio of alkylglycoside to the cleaning of hard Surfaces, in a mercerization process and for other nonionic Surfactants present in the composition. Fur a cleaning, desizing or Scouring process of fibres and fabrics. ther, it is well known that the inclusion of larger amounts of PO in an alkoxylate, such as in foam depressors of the Plu BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION ronic type, has a negative influence on the biodegradability of the product. Finally, a capped alcohol ethoxylate normally is Highly alkaline compositions. Such as concentrates having 25 a poor wetting agent and has in addition a low cleaning ability. a high content of alkaline agents, such as alkali hydroxides, Its presence also increases the need for an extra amount of the alkaline complexing agents and silicates, and having a pH alkyl glycoside or alkyl glycidyl ether. value above 11, preferably above 13, are frequently used for There is consequently a need for highly alkaline composi cleaning of hard Surfaces, for mercerization, Scouring etc. A tions with improved properties. good wetting ability combined with a good cleaning effect is 30 essential in the above-mentioned applications, which requires SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION the presence of considerable amounts of suitable surfactants The present invention generally relates to a method for to lower the high Surface tension caused by the high amount improving the Solubility of a Surface active nonionic alkylene of electrolytes. It is also important to have a controlled foam oxide adduct in a highly alkaline composition, said adduct ing in these systems. To minimize the cost of transportation, 35 containing a hydrocarbon group or an acyl group of from 8 to these concentrates should contain as Small amounts of water 24 carbon atoms and at least one primary hydroxyl group in and other solvents as possible. It is also advantageous if the the alkoxylated part of the molecule, said method comprising concentrates remain homogenous during transportation and adding a hydrotrope to said highly alkaline composition, said Storage. hydrotrope comprising a hexyl glycoside having the formula Since these compositions contain high amounts of electro 40 lytes, such as alkali and/or alkaline complexing agents, it is CHOG, (I), difficult to dissolve larger amounts of Surfactants, especially nonionic Surfactants. Therefore, in order to improve the solu where G is a monosaccharide residue and n is from 1 to 5. bility, hydrotropes are often added, and the most commonly The invention also relates to a composition having a pH used hydrotropes are ethanol and sodium Xylene or cumene 45 value above 11, which contains Sulphonate. Ethanol is rather efficient, but presents an explo a) 3-50% by weight of alkali hydroxide and/or alkaline com sion hazard, and Sodium Xylene or cumene Sulphonate is plexing agents, relatively inefficient at higher surfactant levels. If a surfactant b) 0.05-30% by weight of a surface active nonionic alkylene that is soluble in alkaline water solutions without the addition oxide adduct having a hydrocarbon group or an acyl group of a hydrotrope is used, there will be a problem with too much 50 of from 8 to 24 carbon atoms and having at least one foam, which requires the addition of a foam depressor. primary hydroxyl group in the alkoxylated part of the mol Alkyl glycosides have earlier been used in highly alkaline ecule, compositions, see for example EP-B1-589978, EP-A1-638 c) 0.04-30% by weight of a hexyl glycoside, and 685 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,921. Furthermore, alkyl glyco d) 20-97% by weight of water. sides are well known as active cleaning agents in commonly 55 used cleaning compositions, see e.g.WO 97/34971, U.S. Pat. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION No. 4,627,931 and EP-B1-075995. EP-B1-589 978 describes the use of Cs-C alkyl glyco It has now been found that highly alkaline compositions sides as Surface active auxiliaries in the desizing, bleaching having a pH above 11, preferably at least 13 and most pref and alkaline Scouring of natural and/or synthetic sheet-form 60 erably above 13.7, that exhibit an excellent cleaning and textile materials, yarns or flocks, while EP-A1-638 685 wetting ability, can be prepared by using a hexyl glycoside relates to a mercerizing wetting agent containing, either alone having the formula or in combination, a C-C alkyl glycoside, a C-C alkyl CHOG, (I), glyconic amide and the corresponding Sulphonated deriva tives. Liquid highly alkaline cleaning concentrates containing 65 where G is a monosaccharide residue and n is from 1 to 5, as an alkylglycoside oran alkylglycidyl ether and Surface active a hydrotrope for a Surface active nonionic alkylene oxide nonionic alkylene oxide adducts are described in U.S.