# US 5,703,037 A · Process for the manufacture of free-flowing detergent granules

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- Number: US 5,703,037 A
- Document ID: US5703037A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 08/722,089
- Filed: 1996-10-18
- Granted: 1997-12-30
- Earliest claimed: 1994-04-20
- Assignees: The Procter & Gamble Company
- Inventors: Achille Jules Edmond Doumen; Luc Goovaerts; Jose Luis Vega
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5703037A

## CPC

- C11D 11/04: by chemical means, e.g. by sulfonating in the presence of other compounding ingredients followed by neutralising
- C11D: DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL

## Abstract

A process for the manufacture of free flowing detergent granules having a bulk density of at least 600 g/l, comprises the steps of: a) neutralising anionic surfactant acid or acids in an excess of alkali to form a paste, and optionally mixing other surfactants with the paste, to give a total surfactant level in the paste of at least 40% by weight; b) mixing said paste with one or more powders to form a granular product; and c) optionally drying the granular product, wherein at least one of the powders in step b) is spray dried and comprises anionic polymer and cationic surfactant.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process for the manufacture of free flowing detergent granules having a bulk density of at least 600 g/l, comprising the steps of:
a) neutralizing anionic surfactant acid or acids in an excess of alkali to form a paste, and optionally mixing other surfactants with the paste, to give a total surfactant level in the paste of at least 40% by weight;
b) mixing said paste with at least one spray dried powder comprising at least about 10% by weight of each of anionic polymer and a cationic surfactant to form a granular product; and
c) optionally drying the granular product.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 in which step b) comprises the steps of:
b)(i) mixing said paste with at least one spray dried powder comprising anionic polymer and cationic surfactant to form a homogeneous pasty mixture; and subsequently
b)(ii) mixing the homogeneous pasty mixture with additional powders in a high shear mixer to form the granular product.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 wherein the spray dried powder comprises:
I) from 10 to 90% by weight of a cationic surfactant
II) from 10 to 90% by weight of a polymer, said polymer comprising functional groups which are anionic.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

A process according to claim 3 wherein the spray dried powder comprises less than 10% by weight on anhydrous basis of inorganic components.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

A process according to claim 4 wherein the spray dried powder comprises less than 5% by weight on anhydrous basis of inorganic components.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

A process according to claim 5 wherein the spray dried powder comprises less than 5% by weight on anhydrous basis of aluminosilicate, carbonate and tripolyphosphate.

### Claim 7 (depends on 3)

A process according to claim 3 wherein the spray dried powder comprises less than 10% by weight of anionic surfactant.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

A process according to claim 7 wherein the spray dried powder comprises less than 1% by weight of anionic surfactant.

### Claim 9 (depends on 3)

A process according to claim 3 wherein the polymer (II) comprises carboxylate functional groups.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

A process according to claim 9 wherein the polymer (II) is selected from the group consisting of water-soluble salts of homo-and copolymers of aliphatic carboxylic acids selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, maleic acid, vinylic acid, itaconic acid, mesaconic acid, fumaric acid, aconitic acid, citraconic acid, methylenemalonic acid, aspartic acid and mixtures thereof.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

A process according to claim 10 wherein the polymer (II) is a copolymer of maleic and acrylic acid having a molecular weight of from 2,000 to 100,000.

### Claim 12 (depends on 3)

A process according to claim 3, wherein the cationic surfactant (I) is a quaternary ammonium salt.