Low-Foaming Peroxygen Steam Cleaning Composition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current steam cleaning compositions face challenges in being low-foaming, stable, and safe for use on carpets and fabrics, especially when containing peroxygen compounds, as they often produce excessive foam, destabilize during storage, and can be aggressive to machine components, leading to instability and potential damage.
Innovation Solution
A stable, low-foaming steam cleaning composition is developed, incorporating higher purity hydrogen peroxide and a surfactant system that includes nonionic, anionic, and amphoteric surfactants, along with soil redeposition inhibitors and pH modifiers, ensuring compatibility and stability, and a method for predicting foam generation using a simplified lab test.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If silicone compounds are used as defoaming agents to reduce foam, then foam generation is reduced, but the composition becomes unstable and separates during storage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes silicone compounds from the formulation entirely, replacing them with a nonionic surfactant system that provides both cleaning efficacy and foam control without the instability problems associated with silicones. This extraction of the problematic defoaming agent resolves the contradiction between foam reduction and composition stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the foam control mechanism from using silicone-based defoamers to using specific nonionic surfactants (alkyl polyglycosides and alkyl secondary alcohol ethoxylates) at controlled concentrations. This parameter change in the chemical system provides stable foam reduction without compromising composition stability during storage.
2Reliability
If anionic and amphoteric surfactants are used to enhance cleaning, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but foam generation increases excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines nonionic surfactants (alkyl polyglycosides and alkyl secondary alcohol ethoxylates) with anionic and amphoteric surfactants in a synergistic formulation. The nonionic surfactants provide foam control while the anionic and amphoteric surfactants deliver cleaning effectiveness, and their combination achieves both goals simultaneously without excessive foam generation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite surfactant system comprising multiple types of surfactants (nonionic, anionic, and amphoteric) with specific chemical structures and concentration ranges. This composite material approach allows the formulation to achieve both effective cleaning and controlled foam generation that would not be possible with single surfactant types alone.
3Stability of the object's composition
If higher purity hydrogen peroxide is used to improve stability, then composition stability is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies using hydrogen peroxide at concentrations of 0.1% to 6% with purity of at least 70%, optimizing the balance between stability and cost. This parameter specification ensures sufficient storage stability while avoiding the excessive costs associated with higher purity peroxide, achieving an economical yet effective formulation.
4Device complexity
If conventional foam test methods are used for screening, then testing is simplified, but false positive results occur that do not predict actual machine performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the foam testing parameters by conducting tests at elevated temperatures (50°C to 70°C) and with extended agitation periods (5 to 10 minutes), which better simulate actual steam cleaner operating conditions. These parameter changes in the test protocol eliminate false positive results and provide accurate prediction of foam generation in real machine applications.
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
The composition effectively cleans carpets and fabrics while minimizing foam, maintaining stability during storage, and being safe for steam machines, with the predictor test accurately simulating foam profiles in actual machines, ensuring consumer safety and machine compatibility.
Implementation Method 1
peroxygen compound, particularly hydrogen peroxide... Peroxygen compounds increase the cleaning range of typical cleaning compositions
Implementation Method 2
a surfactant system that includes nonionic, anionic, and amphoteric surfactants
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided an aqueous low-foaming cleaning composition comprising peroxygen compound and a surfactant system, wherein the composition has a MR foam value of about less than 16. The composition is stable and suitable for use in a steam cleaning machine. There is also provided a method for predicting foam generation in steam cleaning compositions comprising the steps of mixing the composition.