Claims
- 1. A process for preparing a coated granular detergent composition comprising the steps of:
i) providing a granular detergent composition having granules containing detergent active materials; ii) passing said detergent granules to a coating mixer; iii) providing a coating solution of a water soluble coating material selected from the group consisting of detersive surfactants, hydrotropes, and mixtures thereof to said coating mixer; and iv) at least partially coating said granules in said coating mixer to form a coated detergent granular composition; wherein said coated detergent composition has a geometric mean particle diameter of from about 400 microns to about 1500 microns with a geometric standard deviation of from about 1 to about 2.
- 2. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said water soluble coating material comprises an anionic surfactant or precursor thereof.
- 3. The process as claimed in claim 2, wherein said water soluble coating material comprises a hydrotrope selected from the group consisting of polyethlyene glycols, polypropylene glycols, sulfonate salts and mixtures thereof.
- 4. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said water soluble coating material is a mixture of an anionic surfactant and a hydrotrope in a ratio of anionic surfactant to hydrotrope of from about 95:5 to about 5:95.
- 5. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said coating mixer is selected from the group consisting of low speed mixers, fluid bed mixers, and combinations thereof.
- 6. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said coating material further includes a detergent supplements such as brighteners, chelants, nonionic surfactants, co-builders and mixtures thereof.
- 7. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step of providing said aqueous coating solution further comprises the step of spraying said coating solution into said coating mixer.
- 8. The process as claimed in claim 8 wherein the amount of water-soluble solution is from about 1% to about 30%, by weight, of the detergent composition.
- 9. The process as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of mixing said coated detergent granules with a flow control aid to adhere said flow control aid to the surface of said granules.
- 10. The process as claimed in claim 10 wherein the flow control aid is an inorganic powder material and is selected from the group consisting of crystalline layered silicate, carbonate, sodium sulfate, aluminosilicate, magnesium silicate, calcium silicate, clay, and mixtures thereof.
- 11. A process for preparing a coated granular detergent composition comprising the steps of:
i) providing a granular detergent composition having granules containing detergent active materials; ii) passing said detergent granules to a coating mixer; iii) providing a coating solution of a water soluble coating material comprising an anionic detersive surfactants and precursors thereof to said coating mixer; and iv) at least partially coating said granules in said coating mixer to form a coated detergent granular composition.
- 12. The process as claimed in claim 12 wherein said water soluble coating material further comprises a hydrotrope.
- 13. The process as claimed in claim 13 wherein said water soluble coating material is a mixture of an anionic surfactant and a hydrotrope in a ratio of anionic surfactant to hydrotrope of from about 95:5 to about 5:95.
- 14. The process as claimed in claim 12, wherein said coating mixer is selected from the group consisting of low speed mixers, fluid bed mixers, and combinations thereof.
- 15. The process as claimed in claim 12 further comprising the steps of mixing said coated detergent granules with a flow control aid to adhere said flow control aid to the surface of said granules.
- 16. The process as claimed in claim 15 wherein the flow control aid is an inorganic powder material and is selected from the group consisting of crystalline layered silicate, carbonate, sodium sulfate, aluminosilicate, magnesium silicate, calcium silicate, clay, undersized detergent particles and mixtures thereof.
- 17. A granular detergent composition produced by the process of claim 1.
- 18. A granular detergent composition produced by the process of claim 12.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/979,530 filed Jan. 18, 2002, which claims the benefit of International Application No. PCT/US00/16918 filed Jun. 20, 2000, which claims benefit under 37 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/140,093, filed Jun. 21, 1999.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60140093 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09979530 |
Jan 2002 |
US |
Child |
10866571 |
Jun 2004 |
US |