Low phosphate content dishwashing detergent
AssigneeDeSoto, Inc.
InventorsRobert L. McLaughlin, Donald C. Wood
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A dry powder detergent composition suitable for machine dishwashing and which contains a low-phosphate content of from about 10 to about 20 weight percent utilizes, as the essential combination of components, an alkali metal tripolyphosphate or an alkali metal hexametaphosphate, an appropriate proportion of an alkali metal carbonate, and a mixture of a high-foaming nonionic surfactant with a foam reducing agent. The surfactant is preferably liquid and is sorbed on solid constituents of the composition to provide a detergent which exhibits superior performance in hard water notwithstanding the relatively low phosphate content of the composition. The nonionic surfactant mixture preferably further comprises an oil-soluble, nonionic surfactant.
Claims13
A dry powder, low-phosphate machine dishwashing composition which consists essentially of:
- about 10 to about 20 weight percent of a phosphorus-containing compound selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal tripolyphosphate and an alkali metal hexametaphosphate;
- at least 8 weight percent of carbonate compounds selected from the group consisting of alkali metal carbonate, bicarbonate or sesquicarbonate, providing a carbonate-to-phosphate weight ratio of about 0.8:1 to about 1.3:1;
- and
- at least about 1 up to about 10 weight percent of said composition of a water-soluble high-foaming nonionic surfactant which is an ethoxylated monohydric compound containing at least about 7 moles of ethylene oxide per mol of monohydric compound, and a foam reducing agent therefor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.