Bleaching-agent co-granules for odorless dishwasher detergents
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Solution Overview
Problem
Bleach catalyst co-granules containing manganese complexes often decompose during production or storage, leading to an amine odor and rendering them unsuitable for commercial use in household products due to the release of trimethyltriazacyclonane, which compromises their stability and odorlessness.
Innovation Solution
The development of bleaching-agent co-granules produced at temperatures below 100°C in an anhydrous granulating process using a binder like poly(meth)acrylic acid or its salts, without alcohol ethoxylates, incorporating a bleach activator and a metal-containing bleach catalyst with di- or trimethyltriazacyclonane ligands, ensuring storage stability and odorlessness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If bleach catalyst granules are produced using conventional processes with high temperatures and alcohol ethoxylates, then granulation and binding are achieved, but decomposition occurs leading to amine odor and reduced stability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temperature parameter from conventional high-temperature processes to below 100°C, and replaces alcohol ethoxylate binders with carboxylate-based binders. This parameter change prevents decomposition of the manganese complex while maintaining granulation effectiveness, thereby eliminating amine odor and improving storage stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses carboxylate-based binders (such as starch carboxylates or cellulose carboxylates) that are more stable and less prone to causing decomposition compared to conventional alcohol ethoxylates. These alternative binders achieve the required binding without the harmful side effects, providing a cost-effective and stable solution.
2Reliability
If bleach catalysts are incorporated as separate granules, then storage stability is improved, but homogeneous distribution and space efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the bleach catalyst and bleach activator into a single co-granule structure. This merging maintains the storage stability benefits of granulated catalysts while achieving homogeneous distribution of both components throughout the detergent formulation, reducing the number of separate ingredients and improving space efficiency.
3Ease of manufacture
If large volumes of inert materials are used as carriers and binders, then granule formation is achieved, but production complexity and apparatus requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the need for large volumes of inert carriers and complex binder systems by using minimal amounts of carboxylate-based binders in combination with the detergent formulation ingredients themselves. This simplification reduces production complexity and eliminates the need for specialized apparatus such as fluidized bed systems.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a bleaching-agent co-granule containing a bleach activator, a metal-containing bleach catalyst comprising at least one ligand from the group consisting of di- or trimethyltriazacyclononane and derivatives of these, and a homo- or copolymeric polycarboxylate or its salts or partial neutralizates having a pH in the range from 3 to 9. The bleaching-agent co-granule is obtained in an anhydrous granulating process, preferably by compaction at a temperature below 100° C. The invention also relates to the method of using the bleaching-agent co-granule in dishwasher detergents and to a detergent comprising said bleaching-agent co-granule.