Alkyl Ketal Esters Stabilize Cleaning Formulations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning formulations face challenges in achieving stable, miscible solutions due to immiscible ingredients, leading to separation issues and increased complexity, cost, and the need to exclude volatile organic chemicals and water, while requiring specific physical forms and compatibility with various substrates.
Innovation Solution
The use of alkyl ketal esters, which are miscible with water and other organic solvents, acts as solvents, cosolvents, or emulsifiers, stabilizing formulations and allowing for the compatibility of otherwise incompatible materials, thereby forming stable emulsions and maintaining solution stability across a wide temperature range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If immiscible ingredients are used in cleaning formulations, then product efficacy is improved through enhanced soil removal capability, but formulation stability deteriorates due to separation into layers over time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs emulsifiers and solvents as intermediary substances that mediate between immiscible ingredients (oils and aqueous components). These intermediaries enable the immiscible materials to coexist in a stable, homogeneous mixture without separating into layers, thus maintaining both product efficacy and formulation stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates composite cleaning formulations that integrate multiple phases (aqueous, oily, solid particles) into a unified stable system. By combining emulsifiers, solvents, and immiscible ingredients in specific ratios, the patent produces a composite material that maintains homogeneity and prevents phase separation while preserving the cleaning power of each component.
2Stability of the object's composition
If emulsifiers and dispersants are added to prevent separation, then formulation stability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent selects emulsifiers and dispersants that perform multiple functions simultaneously: they not only prevent phase separation but also enhance soil removal, improve wetting properties, and maintain formulation homogeneity. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate additives, thereby limiting the increase in formulation complexity and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention optimizes the concentration ranges and molecular structures of emulsifiers and dispersants to achieve maximum stability with minimal additive levels. By carefully adjusting parameters such as HLB values, chain lengths, and aromatic content, the patent achieves effective stabilization while minimizing the quantity and variety of additives required.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If volatile organic chemicals are excluded from formulations, then environmental safety is improved, but solvency capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces persistent volatile organic chemicals with biodegradable, non-volatile alternative solvents that provide equivalent or superior solvency. These alternative solvents (such as alkyl polyglucosides, fatty acid esters) break down rapidly in the environment, eliminating long-term pollution concerns while maintaining effective cleaning performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention modifies the chemical parameters of solvent molecules by increasing molecular weight, adding functional groups (hydroxyl, carboxyl, ether), and adjusting carbon chain lengths to achieve optimal balance between solvency power and environmental compatibility. These parameter changes enable the formulation to maintain effective soil removal capability without relying on volatile organic compounds.
4Stability of the object's composition
If water content is minimized in the formulation, then product stability is improved by preventing microbial growth, but cleaning effectiveness deteriorates due to reduced surfactant performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates biocides and preservatives that rapidly eliminate and prevent microbial growth, allowing the formulation to maintain higher water content without compromising stability. These antimicrobial agents ensure that water-rich formulations remain microbially stable during storage and use, enabling effective cleaning performance while preventing spoilage.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite system where water, surfactants, biocides, and stabilizers work synergistically. The biocides and preservatives are integrated into the aqueous phase to provide continuous microbial protection, while surfactants maintain cleaning effectiveness. This composite approach allows high water content formulations to remain stable and effective simultaneously.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Alkyl ketal esters enhance the solvency and stability of cleaning products, enabling the formulation of stable, clear solutions and emulsions, reducing the need for volatile organic compounds and water, while improving the compatibility and effectiveness of cleaning agents on various substrates.
Implementation Method 1
The alkyl ketal esters described herein have low volatility. Under normal conditions of manufacture, storage, and use the alkyl ketal esters are generally unreactive with many other materials that are commonly found in formulated products
Implementation Method 2
The alkyl ketal esters can in some cases function to solubilize one or more ingredients into the product formulation, or into a solvent or carrier liquid. In other cases, the alkyl ketal esters can compatibilize one or more components with other components of the product formulation, to form, for example, emulsions which can be quite storage-stable
Implementation Method 3
maintaining solution stability across a wide temperature range
Data Source
AI summary
A cleaning composition can comprise aqueous, nonaqueous liquid, or solid formulations The formulations can contain a surfactant and a solvent The solvent has been shown to have utility in promoting removal, solubilizing or cleaning undesirable soil residues from a number of substrates The solvent materials can be used as a component of an aqueous solution, can be combined in a solid or powdered formulation as an encapsulated solvent or can be combined in a solid or powdered formulation as a solvent absorbed on a solid earner The aqueous formulations can be made in the form of a concentrate The cleaner can be combined with water to form an active cleaning solution that can be applied in a variety of cleaning processes The cleaner can contain additional ingredients including surfactants, builders, sequestrates, bleaches, biocides, to be found in cleaners of general and specific applications Personal care cleaning products are also described.