UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ' WASHING COMPOSITION Vladimir Oworkovitz and Thomas G
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Patented Jan. 29, 1952 2,584,017 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ' WASHING COMPOSITION Vladimir Oworkovitz and Thomas G. Hawley, Jr., Chicago, Ill., assignors to The Diversey Cor poration, a corporation of Illinois No Drawing. Application September 30, 1947, Serial No. 777,112 3 Claims. (C. 252-156) 2 This invention relates to a composition that glassware and on parts of the equipment used in is particularly applicable for washing bottles and washing the glassWare that comes in contact other forms of glassware and to the washing with the washing and rinsing Solutions. We have solutions prepared from Such compositions. found that a composition comprising a water The industries that Wash large quantities of s Soluble alkali metal hydroxide Such as Sodium bottles and other glassware, such as the dairy, hydroxide or potassium hydroxide and an alkali brewery, and soft drink bottlers, have found it metal salt of a hydroxy carboxylic acid having expedient to adopt a continuous process wherein a total of at least three of the radicals: hydroxyl the bottles are conveyed first through a tank Ol' and carboxyl, will prevent Or at least minimize tanks containing a strongly alkaline solution and () the formation of an adherent hard water scale. then through a rinsing Solution. The glassware The hydroxides of sodium and potassium are is maintained in the alkaline solution until it preferred because of their inexpensiveness and has become cleaned. It has been found that availability, but the hydroxides of other elements when the glassware and those parts of the equip of the alkali metal group may be used if desired. ment adjacent the glassware pass through the One of the salts which has been found to be alkaline solutions, they are coated with a film particularly effective is sodium gluconate. The of alkali. When the alkali-coated objects are alkali metal Salts include those of gluconic acid, immersed in the rinse water, an immediate. citric acid, tartaric acid, mucic acid, and malic precipitation occurs of the dissolved calcium and acid as well as many others. The acids them magnesium Salts that are present in the rinse Selves may also be used. water. The precipitated Solids form a hard scale The fact that these salts will not form precipi On the glassware and particularly on the equip tates in the presence of sodium hydroxide is sur ment. Because of the intimate contact of the prising as it has been noted that precipitates will film of alkali with the glassware and equipment, form when such alkalis as sodium carbonate, the precipitate appears to be more adherent and a) Sodium Orthophosphate, sodium silicate and the accounts for the Scale type of deposition rather like are employed with the salts in the absence than the more desirable sludge or non-adherent of Sodium hydroxide and the like. These alkaline precipitate. This scale continues to build up materials may be used, however, if they are used on the equipment until it is necessary that the in combination with sodium hydroxide. Scale be removed. This removal involves a con 30 It has been found that even if some scale is siderable economic loss in time, labor and ma formed on the equipment or is mechanically terials employed in the scale removal. picked up by passage through a sludge, it is re The problem of the Scale formation has re dissolved when it is repassed through the caustic ceived considerable recognition and much effort soda-salt solution. has been Spent to overcome it. For example, 35 The solution is quite stable and can be main many complex alkali metal salts of phosphoric tained at 150 F. for two weeks or more without acid have the property of holding calcium and any apparent decomposition or precipitation. magnesium compounds in solution that are nor The compositions that are employed in making mally insoluble. Certain amino carboxylic acid the Washing Solutions preferably contain from derivatives have also been used for this purpose. 40 5 to 99% by weight of an alkaline material in It has been found, however, that none of these cluding an alkali metal hydroxide and from 95 compounds work effectively in the presence of to 1% of the alkali metal salt of the hydroxy car sodium hydroxide. Thus, a sufficient quantity boxylic acid. The major proportion of the al of Sodium hexametaphosphate will hold the hard kaline material should be the hydroxide. An water precipitates usually obtained by adding 45 alkali stable wetting agent may also be used in Sodium carbonate or sodium orthophosphate to preparing the solutions. a hard water Solution. However, long standing In testing the value of the invention, solutions of the product or standing at less time at elevated Were prepared employing a Chicago city water temperatures causes hydrolysis of the resulting that had an approximate hardness of 150 complex and causes precipitation of the calcium 50 and magnesium compounds. This effect is even P. P. M., 3% by weight of sodium hydroxide and more pronounced if even small quantities of 0.2% of various sequestering or repressing agents. caustic alkalis are present. The Solutions were formed and their appearance The present invention is concerned with means was noted. They were all heated until the water for preventing the formation of this scale on is boilednoted. andSome any ofdifference the materials in appearance prevented was prealso 2,584,017 3 4. cipitation at room temperatures and at moder soda-salt solutions as cleansing agents avoids this ately elevated temperatures, but most were such softening and dissolving. Tests were made to that on raising the temperature precipitation prove this fact. Warious solutions were prepared Occurred. In Some cases this was due to the de using 5% concentrations of sodium hydroxide. *omposition of the agent employed and in other The materials used and the results obtained are cases was probably caused by the inability to shown in the following table. In obtaining these maintain the precipitate in solution at the higher results, the glass was held in contact with each temperatures. Solution for 72 hours at 145 F. Some of the results that were obtained are as TABLE follows: O ABE weightPer s: of clearS. in weightPer S;E. of green i Composition milk bottle soft drink 3% NaOH solution in Chicago tap water glass bottle glass Appearance Appearance Sequestering or Repressing Agent at 25°C. at 100° C. % NaOH Per cent : Pef cent 906. Sodium8.----------------------- gluconate- } .037 .034 .2% Sodiurn gluconate clear. E. N.3, - - - - - - - - ... 102 92 .2% Glucose.------- ppt. 95.056% sodium801-------- Aluminate. I} .077 7 .2% SodiumSorbitol------- hexanetaphosphate ppt. 96.0% NaOH---------------------- 267 3 .2% Tripolyphosphate.-------- - ppt. 2) 4.0% Na2HPO--- - r .2% Sodium tetraphosphate.-- ppt. 94.5% NaOH------- .2% Tetrasodium pyrophosphate ppt. 5.0% Sodium glucona 054 . (52 .2% Nullapon A----------------- ppt. .5% Nullapon B----- .2% Nullapon B----------------- ppt. 93.0% NaOH--------------- .2%. Alrose Water softener Alro- ppt. 4.0% Trisodiurn phosphate. - - 17|- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3% Saccharic acid ppt. 2.0% Sodium aluminate----------- 2 5 .2% AceticCitric acid. acid... ppt.pp slight... ppt. .2% Tartaric acid- clear-------- ppt. .2% Itaconic acid- ppt--------- ppt. .2% Ascorbic acid ppt.--- -- ppt. of sodium-hydroxide-salt combination is that the .2% Pinelic-------- - ppt.--- - ppt. solution serves as a better inhibitor of rust and .2% Lactobionic acid - ppt.--- - ppt. corrosion of steel and iron than Sodium hy .2% Glutamic acid-- ---- ppt.--------- ppt. 30 droxide solutions alone. Still another advan .2%2%. SuccinicMucic acid------------------------ acid---------------------- clear--------ppt. Ppt.slight ppt. .2% Sodium carboxy methyl cellulose ----- do------- Do. tage is that the solutions are relatively non (med. visc.) foaming. .2% Malic acid----------------------------- do------- ppt. The following table lists, on a dry basis, some of the many possible combinations that have been If the 3% caustic soda solution were added to used successfully in cleaning operations and hard water containing as high as 3% of a com which because of the incorporation of a caustic plex phOSphate Such as Sodium hexametaphos soda-sodium gluconate combination do not give phate, a precipitate would form. It has been precipitation or reduce precipitation to a marked found that the effect of the Salt of the hydroxy degree in hard Water Solutions. carboxylic acid is in the main independent of 40 TABLE III the concentration of the caustic soda. Thus, Solutions of caustic soda as high as 30% can be used when Only 0.2% of the salt is used. How Components Components by Wgt. ever, very minute quantities of caustic soda can Caustic soda------------------------ 90 80 89.5. 85 81.5 9 allow the formation of a precipitate, and it has 45 Sodium gluconate.---- 10 20 10.0 5 7.5 5 Trisodium phosphate--------------------------------- .0 2 thus been found that the Solution must have a Sodium carbonate-------------------------------- 10 10.0 - pH higher than 12 for effective results. Zinc oxide. ------------------------------------------------. 2 The results shown in Table I show the differ Sodium salt of higher alkylsulfates.--------- .5 -------------- ence between precipitation and the prevention of precipitation. The table does not, however, in 50 The Wetting agent that may be used includes dicate where the amount of precipitate is re any alkali stable wetting agent such as alkali duced. It was discovered that some of the hy Salts of higher alkyl Sulfates, Sodium dodecyl droxy carboxylic acids and their salts might per benzene Sulfonate, alkyl naphthalene sodium sul mit the formation of a considerable amount of fonates, Sodium salts of sulfonated ethers, as well precipitate, but the amount of Scale deposited 55 as many others. on the glassware or equipment was reduced. This Although it has been found that the combina effect in preventing scale as apart from pre tion of sodium hydroxide and an alkali metal venting precipitation might be due to some effect salt of a hydroxy carboxylic acid containing at which delays the precipitation and prevents its least three of the radicals: hydroxyl and carboxyl, deposition.