Cleaning compositions and emulsions or microemulsions employing extended chain nonionic surfactants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9303240-B2
Application number	US-201414178515-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2014
Priority date	Sep 17, 2010
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

Synergistic combinations of extended chain surfactants and co-surfactants, emulsions or microemulsions and cleaning compositions incorporating the same are provided. In certain embodiments a surfactant system is disclosed which includes extended nonionic surfactants, and a linker surfactant. This system forms stable emulsions or microemulsions with oils, including non-trans fats and fatty acids and these emulsions or microemulsions are stable, irreversible and can be created at low temperature. The cleaning compositions may include the surfactant system alone, a stable emulsion or microemulsion with oil and the surfactant system, a pre-spotter or other pre-treatment or soft surface and hard surface cleaning compositions comprising the surfactant combination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A surfactant system for forming stable emulsions or microemulsions with oils comprising:
an extended chain nonionic surfactant having an intermediate polarity linking chain between a lipophilic segment and a hydrophilic segment of said surfactant, wherein said linking chain is selected from the group consisting of (PO) x , (EO) x , (PO) x (EO) x and combinations thereof, wherein x is from 1 to 16, wherein said extended surfactant comprises a compound of formula:
R-[L] x -[O—CH2—CH2] y

 where R is a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, substituted or unsubstituted, aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon radical having from about 8 to 20 carbon atoms, L is a linking group, x is the chain length of the linking group ranging from 5-15, and y is the average degree of ethoxylation ranging from 1 to 5;
a linker co-surfactant selected from the group consisting of monoglycerides, diglycerides, fatty acids, fatty diacids and combinations thereof wherein said link co-surfactant has a small hydrophilic head and/or surfactants with twin or bulky hydrophobic tail(s);
wherein the system is capable of forming a stable emulsion or microemulsion with oils.

2. The surfactant system of claim 1 wherein said linker co-surfactant is a monoglyceride or diglyceride.

3. The surfactant system of claim 2 wherein said extended chain nonionic surfactant and linker co-surfactant are present in a weight percent ratio of about 7 to 1.

4. The surfactant system of claim 1 wherein said linker co-surfactant is a fatty acid or fatty diacid.

5. The surfactant system of claim 4 wherein said extended chain nonionic surfactant and linker co-surfactant are present in a weight percent ratio of about 2 to 1.

6. An emulsion or microemulsion comprising the surfactant system of claim 1 and an oil component selected from the group consisting of an oil, fatty acid, or triglyceride.

7. The emulsion or microemulsion of claim 6 wherein said oil is a vegetable oil.

8. The emulsion or microemulsion of claim 6 wherein said oil is a synthetic oil.

9. The emulsion or microemulsion of claim 6 wherein said oil is a triglyceride.

10. The emulsion or microemulsion of claim 6 wherein said oil is a non-trans fat.

11. The surfactant system of claim 1 wherein said emulsion or microemulsion is irreversible.

12. The surfactant system of claim 1 wherein said extended nonionic surfactant is one or more of the following:
C 6-10 —(PO) 3 (EO) 6 , C 6-10 —(PO) 3 (EO) 8 , C 10 —(PO) a (EO) b, 2-Ethyl Hexyl (PO) m (EO) n , C 6-12 (PO) 3-4 (EO) 4 , C 6-12 (PO) 3-4 (EO) 7 , C 16-18 (PO) 4 (EO) 5 -carboxylic acid, C 16-18 (PO) 4 (EO) 2 -carboxylic acid, Iso C 9 ——(PO) 2 EO 2 -carboxylic acid, and C 12-14 —(PO) 16 (EO) 12 .

13. The surfactant system of claim 1 wherein said system is used as a pre-spotter.

14. A cleaning composition including the surfactant system of claim 1 .

15. The cleaning composition of claim 14 wherein said cleaning composition is a hard surface cleaner.

16. The cleaning composition of claim 14 wherein said cleaning composition is a laundry detergent.

17. A method for removing a soil from a hard surface comprising applying a cleaning composition containing the surfactant system according to claim 1 to the hard surface and rinsing and/or wiping the cleaning composition from the hard surface.

18. A method for removing a soil from a soft surface comprising applying a cleaning composition containing the surfactant system according to claim 1 to the soft surface and rinsing and/or wiping the cleaning composition from the soft surface.

19. A method of laundering an article that is contacted with a non-trans fat, comprising:
providing a cleaning article that has been contacted with a non-trans fat;
washing the cleaning article;
rinsing the cleaning article;
drying the cleaning article; and
treating the cleaning article with an effective amount of a composition comprising a surfactant system according to claim 1 , wherein the treating occurs prior to or during the washing step.

20. A method of neutralizing a non-trans fat from fire risk, comprising:
treating the non-trans fat with an effective amount of the surfactant system of claim 1 so that an emulsion or microemulsion is formed with the non-trans fat.

21. The surfactant system of claim 1 wherein said surfactant system is essentially free of unreacted alcohols.

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc
• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Man Victor Fuk-Pong
• Killeen Yvonne Marie
• Lentsch Steven E
• Denoma Michael Charles

Classifications

• C11D1/74

  Carboxylates or sulfonates {esters} of polyoxyalkylene glycols · CPC title

• A61K8/463

  containing sulfuric acid derivatives, e.g. sodium lauryl sulfate · CPC title

• D06L1/16

  Multi-step processes · CPC title

• B01F17/0085

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• A61K2800/596

  Mixtures of surface active compounds · CPC title