JPH0631431B2 - Method for producing cleaning composition - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for producing a granular detergent composition having a high bulk density and an excellent appearance.

2. Description of the Related Art At present, granular detergent compositions are mainly produced by a spray drying method. The granular product obtained by this method has the disadvantages that it has a low bulk density because it is in the form of hollow beads, and the packaging form is large, and it also has problems in terms of fluidity and appearance due to the large surface irregularities. was there.

As a general method for granulating a spherical material having a higher bulk density, there is a plate type granulator. This granulation method is a method in which a powder is put into a rotary dish, and water droplets are added to form a nucleus to produce spherical granules. However, in this method, not only the time required for the production process is long, but also the growth process of the nuclei due to the dropped water droplets is significantly varied, and the size of the produced spherical granules is extremely different.

Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-44120 discloses the use of a marmelizer as a post-granulating device for a detergent composition. The Marumerizer is a device described in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 41-563, and is composed of a cylinder and a disc at the bottom part, and rotates the disc at a high speed to roll a granular material to make it spherical. It is a device. However, Marumerizer requires a drive to rotate the disc, and
Since there is a clearance between the disk and the cylinder, problems such as material entrapment occur and maintenance becomes complicated.
Further, the Marumerizer is difficult to increase in size, has a limited processing capacity, and is difficult to be continuous.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for producing a granular bulk detergent composition with high bulk density, which is easy to maintain and can be easily enlarged in size.

Configuration of the Invention The method for producing a detergent composition of the present invention is sufficient to cause a granular detergent composition to be entrained in a gas swirl flow along a wall surface of a container in a container to increase the bulk density of the composition. The composition is characterized in that the composition is brought into contact with the wall surface of the container for a period of time to be spheroidized and / or densified.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an apparatus used for carrying out the present invention, and has a shape similar to a cyclone. The container body 11 is composed of a cylindrical portion 11a and a conical portion 11b continuous with the cylindrical portion 11a. The granular detergent to be treated is introduced into the container body 11 through the introduction port 13 along with the air flow. The airflow is introduced from the tangential direction of the cylindrical portion 11a and forms a swirling flow along the inner wall surface of the cylindrical portion 11a. The granular detergent entrained in the air flow is repeatedly contacted with and collided with the inner wall surface, and is rubbed to smooth the uneven surface, so that it becomes spherical or densified and becomes a granular material having a high bulk density. The granular detergent finally falls by its own weight and is collected from the granule discharge port 15,
On the other hand, the gas is discharged from the air flow outlet 17.

The treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is similar to the cyclone in terms of shape, but its purpose of use is different, so that the dimensions, roughness of the inner wall surface, etc. can be selected according to the purpose of treatment of the present invention. it can. For example, in terms of dimensions, in a cyclone, the length (height) of the conical part is usually 2 to 2.5 times the diameter of the cylindrical part.
However, in the present invention, the longer the length, the more chances that the granules come into contact with the inner wall surface, which is advantageous in spheroidizing or densifying treatment. In addition, the inner wall surface has a higher treatment efficiency if it has a grain size smaller than or equal to that of the granules and is somewhat roughened.

FIG. 2 shows another example of a device for carrying out the present invention,
An inlet 13 and an outlet 19 are provided in a hollow container body 11 having a conical outer wall and a conical processing chamber formed therein. The air flow with the granular detergent to be treated
Introduced tangentially from the inlet 13 to the container body 11,
A swirl flow is formed along the inner wall surface. The granular detergent is repeatedly contacted and collided with the conical inner wall surface to smooth the uneven portion, and is discharged from the discharge port together with the airflow. The shape of the apparatus main body shown in FIG. 2 may be cylindrical.

Further, although the cylindrical inlet and outlet are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, they may have a rectangular tube shape.

FIG. 3 shows another example of the apparatus used in the present invention, in which the pipe 21 is wound in a coil shape to form the container body 11. The air flow with the granular detergent to be treated is
Is introduced into the container main body 11 and flows according to the winding of the pipe, thereby forming a gas swirl flow along the wall surface of the container. As in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, gas is generally introduced tangentially to the wound pipe. The granular detergent contacts and collides with the inner wall surface of the container, that is, the inner wall surface of the pipe 21, is treated in the same manner as above, and is discharged from the discharge port together with the air flow. In this case, the pipe 21 shown in FIG.
Since the granular detergent is processed not only on the outer side wall 21a of the inner wall surface of but also on the bottom wall 21b, the processing efficiency is improved. In addition,
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of one winding portion of the pipe 21. Such an effect can also be achieved by providing a partition plate, which protrudes inward, in a spiral shape on the inner wall of a container having a cylindrical or conical processing chamber. The granular detergent is rubbed by contact with not only the inner wall surface of the container but also the upper surface of the partition plate.

Further, in the device shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to make a swirl flow even in the pipe by introducing the air flow at an angle, instead of introducing the air flow parallel to the virtual center axis of the pipe. According to this, the entire inner peripheral wall of the pipe can be used for the treatment for increasing the bulk density, and the flow path distance of the granular material is increased, so that the treatment efficiency is further improved.

The granular detergent composition to be treated is not particularly limited, but in order to impart plasticity and efficiently perform spheroidization or densification, a surfactant or water as an active ingredient,
It is preferable to contain a large amount as long as the tackiness is not excessive. Such a condylar detergent composition can be obtained by any known granulation method such as extrusion granulation, crush granulation, tumbling granulation, spray drying, and dry mixing. In particular, it exerts a remarkable effect on granules obtained by extrusion granulation, crushing granulation, and rolling granulation.

As the gas, air is the most inexpensive and desirable, but an inert gas such as nitrogen can also be used.

The temperature and humidity of the gas can be selected appropriately, but in order to give the granules plasticity, the temperature must be higher than room temperature or the humidity must be 50%.
It can be set to% or more. It is also possible to raise only the temperature for the purpose of performing partial drying during the treatment.

The velocity of the gas introduced into the container can be appropriately set within a range of a velocity sufficient to entrain the granular material to be treated.

It is also possible to introduce a gas into the container to form a swirl flow, and to introduce the granular detergent composition to be treated separately into the container and entrain it in the swirl flow, but it has already been described with reference to the drawings. As described above, it is desirable that the granular detergent composition is previously entrained in the air flow and introduced into the processing container.

The treatment according to the present invention is carried out for a time sufficient to increase the bulk density of the detergent composition, and can be controlled by the size and shape of the treatment apparatus. Further, the apparatuses are connected in series and controlled in multiple stages. You can also

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the granular detergent composition is entrained in the swirling airflow in the container, and the condylar detergent composition is brought into contact with and collides with the vessel wall by centrifugal force, so that the bulk density High granules can be obtained in high yield. This one is
It has a small capacity per weight, is suitable for transportation, supply, and storage, and since it has a spherical shape, it has good fluidity and is preferable in terms of appearance. Unlike the conventional granulation method or sizing method, the method of the present invention does not have a rotating body or its driving device in the container, so that maintenance is not complicated, and the device can be easily made large or continuous. It can be carried out and is suitable as an industrial method for producing a granular detergent composition.

Example 1 The following composition was kneaded with a kneader.

C ₁₄ ~ ₁₈ alpha-sodium olefin sulfonate 20 parts by weight of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid 20 parts by weight of sodium hydroxide 6 parts by weight of A type zeolite 15 parts by weight 15 parts by weight of sodium carbonate 15 parts by weight of potassium carbonate to obtain other additives 3 weight parts Further, 94 parts by weight of the intimate mixture pellet (2 cm square) (water content 12 wt%) and 3 parts by weight of sodium carbonate were quantitatively fed to a crusher (Okada Seiko, Speed Mill ND-30 type). The crusher has a crushing blade with a diameter of 15 cm and 4 crosses for 3,00
Rotating at 0 rpm, screen with 2 mm ^phi, opening ratio of 20% punching metal.

The bulk density of the obtained crushed granules was 0.60 g / cc.

The crushed granules were quantitatively fed to the treatment container shown in FIG. 1 having the following specifications while being entrained in air at an introduction wind speed of 20 m / s.

Diameter of cylindrical container part: 15 cm ^φ Length of cylindrical container part: 15 cm Length of conical container part: 30 cm The treatment container was repeatedly passed, and the number of passages and the bulk density after passing were measured.

Table 1 Number of times of passing through treatment container Bulk density after passing 1 0.61g / cc 3 0.65g / cc 5 0.70g / cc 10 0.73g / cc 15 0.75g / cc Example 2 Same crushed granulated product as in Example 1 Was quantitatively fed to the coil type container shown in FIG. 3 of the following specifications, accompanied by an air flow having a wind speed of 15 m / s, and the results are shown in Table 2.

Pipe diameter: 5 cm ^φ Coil outer shape: 30 cm ^φ Coil winding number: 6 Table 2 Number of passages through processing container Bulk density after passage 1 0.63g / cc 3 0.70g / cc 5 0.78g / cc 10 0.82g / cc 15 0.85g / cc

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are perspective views showing a constitutional example of a particle size regulating device used for carrying out the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of one winding portion of the pipe of the particle size regulating device shown in FIG. 11 …… Container body, 13 Inlet port 15 …… Granule outlet, 17 Gas outlet 19 …… Outlet, 21 …… Pipe

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A granular detergent composition is entrained in a gas swirl flow along a wall surface of a container in a container, and the composition is contacted with the wall surface of the container for a time sufficient to increase the bulk density of the composition. A method for producing a detergent composition, which comprises spheroidizing and / or densifying.