Claims
- 1. A process for cleaning fabric articles in a laundering apparatus comprising:
a. placing fabric articles comprising soils inside a treatment chamber of the laundering apparatus; b. dispensing into the treatment chamber a wash liquor such that the fabric articles are substantially uniformly contacted by the wash liquor; c. allowing the wash liquor to remain in contact with the fabric articles for a period of time while the fabric article is in motion, continuously or intermittently; d. dispensing into the laundering apparatus a first rinse liquor comprising water such that the first rinse liquor directly or indirectly contacts the fabric articles, wherein quantity of the first rinse liquor is sufficient to produce enough free water to adequately suspend the detergent active and soils, and the first rinse liquor is thereby converted into a first rinse liquor mixture comprising water, detergent active and soils; e. removing at least part of the first rinse liquor mixture from the treatment chamber; and f. optionally, steps (d) and (e) are repeated such that one or more subsequent rinse liquors are applied to the fabric articles, converted to subsequent rinse liquor mixtures, which are at least partially removed from the treatment chamber; g. optionally, dispensing into the treatment chamber a finishing liquor such that the fabric articles are substantially uniformly contacted by the finishing liquor; wherein the wash liquor comprises water and a detergent active which has an in-wash fabric-water partition ratio of less than about 0.3, and quantity of the wash liquor is from about 25% to about 200% of dry weight of the fabric articles.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the quantity of the wash liquor is from about 25% to about 75% of dry weight of the fabric articles.
- 3. The process of claim 1 wherein step (c) further involves thermal or nonthermal evaporative removal of water.
- 4. The process of claim 1 wherein the detergent active is a hydrophilic surfactant having a HLB value of at least about 8.
- 5. The process of claim 1 wherein the detergent active is a hydrophilic surfactant selected from the group consisting of C6-C10 alkyl sulfonates; C6-C10 aryl sulfonates; C6-C10 linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, cyclic or acyclic alcohols; sulfate, alkoxysulfate, alkoxycarboxylate, alkoxylate derivatives of C6-C10 alcohols; and mixtures thereof.
- 6. The process of claim 5 wherein the wash liquor comprises an effective amount of the hydrophilic surfactant in water such that the wash liquor is capable of forming a liquid crystalline phase emulsion at a temperature from about 10° C. to about 70° C.
- 7. The process of claim 5 wherein the wash liquor comprises from about 0.1 to about 10 wt % of the hydrophilic surfactant.
- 8. The process of claim 5 wherein process further comprising a step of removing water from the wash liquor to concentrate the wash liquor to the level of from about 1 to about 20 wt % of the hydrophilic surfactant.
- 9. The process of claim 5 wherein the wash liquor further comprises a detergent adjunct selected from the group consisting of bleaches, enzymes, detergent-soil mixing promoting agents, builders, chelants, soil release polymers, optical brighteners, anti-redeposition agents, and mixtures thereof.
- 10. The process of claim 1 wherein the rinse liquor contacts the fabric articles by an indirect method comprising the steps of: introducing the rinse liquor to an outer chamber to a level below the bottom of the treatment chamber; and rotating the treatment chamber such that the rinse liquor passes through perforations in the treatment chamber to contact the fabric articles.
- 11. The process of claim 1 wherein quantity of the first rinse liquor in step (d) is from about 5 to about 20 times the dry weight of the fabric articles.
- 12. The process of claim 1 wherein quantity of each subsequent rinse liquor in step (f) is from about 1 to about 10 times of the dry weight of the fabric articles.
- 13. The process of claim 1 wherein the rinse liquor mixture is removed from the treatment chamber by a non-centrifugal method.
- 14. The process of claim 1 wherein the first rinse liquor in step (d) comprises a rinse adjunct selected from the group consisting of dye transfer inhibition polymers, soil suspension agents, hydrotropes, rinse activators, pH modifiers, and mixtures thereof.
- 15. The process of claim 1 wherein the finishing liquor contains a perfume, a pro-perfume, a soil repellent agent, a soil suspending agent, a hydrotrope, a rinse activator, a dye transfer inhibition polymer, a pH modifier, or mixtures thereof.
- 16. The process of claim 15 wherein said soil repellent agent is an inorganic nanoparticle or a polymer.
- 17. The process of claim 1 wherein the amount of wash liquor in step (b) exhibits an absorptive capacity-weighted wash liquor to fabric ratio ranging from about 0.25 to about 2.
- 18. A detergent composition comprising from about 0.01% to about 30% by weight of the composition of a detergent active, and the balance a polar solvent and optional adjunct ingredients; wherein the detergent active has an in wash fabric-water partition ratio (Qi) of less than about 0.3.
- 19. The composition of claim 18 wherein at least about 1% to about 30% by weight of the composition is a hydrophilic surfactant.
- 20. The composition of claim 19 wherein the hydrophilic surfactant has a HLB value of at least about 8.
- 21. The composition of claim 18 wherein the hydrophilic surfactant is selected from the group consisting of C6-C10 alkyl sulfonates; C6-C10 aryl sulfonates; C6-C10 linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, cyclic or acyclic alcohols; sulfate, ethoxysulfate, ethoxycarboxylate, ethoxylate derivatives of C6-C10 alcohols; and mixtures thereof.
- 22. The composition of claim 18 wherein the composition is an emulsion which forms a liquid crystalline phase in the temperature range of about 10° C. to about 70° C.
- 23. The composition of claim 18 wherein the composition further comprises from about 0.01% to about 30% by weigh of the composition of a detergent adjunct selected from the group consisting of bleaches, enzymes, soil suspension agents, detergent-soil mixing promoting agents, and mixtures thereof.
- 24. An apparatus comprising;
(1) a treatment chamber for receiving fabric articles to be treated, the treatment chamber having a plurality of perforations in its peripheral walls; (2) a driving motor mechanically associated with the treatment chamber and is configured to rotate the chamber so that the fabric articles in the treatment chamber are in motion; (3) an applicator in fluid communication with the treatment chamber such that the wash and/or rinse liquor is dispended into the treatment chamber; and (4) optionally, an outer chamber capable of receiving the wash liquor and/or the rinse liquor that is not retained in the treatment chamber.
- 25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the driving motor is capable of rotating the treatment chamber at different speed and/or in different directions.
- 26. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the treatment chamber comprises at least two rotatable portions and the driving motor is configured to provide relative rotation between adjacent rotatable portions.
- 27. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the applicator is capable of dispensing the wash and/or rinse liquor onto the fabric articles to achieve a Spray Uniformity Index greater than about 90.
- 28. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the applicator is capable of dispensing the wash and/or rinse liquor in the form of droplets with a D90 of less than about 350 microns.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/483,153, filed on Jun. 27, 2003; and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/483,155, filed on Jun. 27, 2003.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60483153 |
Jun 2003 |
US |
|
60483155 |
Jun 2003 |
US |