Cleaning composition containing mineral spirits alkanolamide, and oleyl dimethylamine oxide
This is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Ser. No. 788,927 filed Apr. 19, 1977, now abandoned. 
    
    
     This invention relates to a new hydrocarbon based composition and a method of using it in conjunction with conventional laundry detergents, builders or soaps, suitably in conventional laundry apparatus. By the use of this invention stains can be removed from fabrics that were removable in the past only by drycleaning or drycleaning/water wash techniques applied sequentially. By the use of this invention, the herein disclosed composition and cleaning process permits the use of known hydrocarbon solvents which are substantially insoluble in water to be suspended and partially emulsified in a water laundry system. In this dispersion/emulsified state, these hydrocarbon solvents are made much more available for removal of hydrocarbon and similar soils. 
     The performance of the herein disclosed composition and process is unusual in that by its use, we have been able to reclaim (i.e., suitably clean) bed linens that had been soiled with nonreactive soils such as baby oil and petroleum jelly. Also using the herein disclosed Composition A in the herein described process, we successfully washed mechanics&#39; uniforms that demonstrably could not be cleaned in water wash systems. (See Table 1, Comparison of Traditional and New Wash Process.) 
    
    
     According to the invention, the fabric is initially treated in a standard laundry apparatus using a hydrocarbon based material, described below, as Composition A. 
     
                       TABLE 1                                                     
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Comparison of Traditional and New Wash Process                            
               Corn Oil Used Motor Oil                                    
______________________________________                                    
Conventional Wash                                                         
                 Fair/Good  Poor                                          
Conventional Wash and                                                     
Laundry Prespotter                                                        
                 Good       Fair                                          
New Cleaning Composition                                                  
and Process      Excellent  Good-Excellent                                
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         ______________________________________                                    
Composition A                                                             
                Wt. %                                                     
                Specific                                                  
                       Preferred                                          
                                Operable                                  
______________________________________                                    
Odorless mineral spirits                                                  
(soil solvent).sup.1                                                      
                  81       75-85    25 to 98                              
Primary or secondary alcohol                                              
of 11-15 carbon atoms, ethoxy-                                            
lated with 5 average moles                                                
ethylene oxide (surfactant)                                               
                  10        1-25    1.0 to 60                             
Oil-soluble alkanolamide                                                  
(emulsifier).sup.2                                                        
                  2        1- 5     0.5 to 15                             
Alkenyl dialkylamine                                                      
oxide (water-soluble emulsi-                                              
fier.sup.3        2        1-5      0.5 to 20                             
Pine oil (soil solvent)                                                   
                  5         2-25      0 to 90                             
                  100                                                     
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 .sup.1 A hydrocarbon, typically distilling 354°-400° F. at 
 760 mm Hg; closed cup flash point, 131° ± 3° F.         
 .sup.2 The alkanolamide of this invention has the                        
 formula                                                                  
 ##STR1##                                                                 
 and is preferably oleic diethanolamide, made by reacting 3-4 moles       
 diethanolamine with 1 mole oleic acid, commercially available.           
 The amine oxide of this invention has                                    
 the                                                                      
 ##STR2##                                                                 
 -                                                                        
 the formula C.sub.n H.sub.2n+1 and R.sub.3 has the formula C.sub.n       
 H.sub.2n+1 or C.sub.n H.sub.2n-, where n is 1-18. Preferably R.sub.1 and 
 R.sub.2 are methyl and R.sub.3 is oleyl, i.e., oleyl dimethyl amine oxide
 commercially available.                                                  
 
    
     The surfactant (or wetting agent) is quite important in Composition A. We have tried a number of surfactants. Of those tried, only the above described ethoxylated primary and secondary alcohols gave really good results. Of these two, the latter gave the better results. 
     The cleaning process requires at one stage, the use of a conventional laundry detergent, builders, or soap. This part of the invention is by no means critical, and any and/or commercial laundry detergent, builder or builders or soaps, can be used. However, for convenience, a typical conventional laundry detergent is given as follows: 
     
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LAUNDRY DETERGENT                                                         
                         Wt. %                                            
______________________________________                                    
Soda ash, natural dense    27.5                                           
Optical brightener.sup.1   0.2                                            
Sodium carboxymethylcellulose                                             
                           1.0                                            
Sodium tripolyphosphate    27.0                                           
Sodium metasilicate, anhydrous                                            
                           12.8                                           
Sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate                                           
                           2.0                                            
Non-ionic detergent, alkanol, ethoxylated                                 
with 40 moles ethylene oxide                                              
                           8.0                                            
Sodium sulfate             21.5                                           
                           100.0                                          
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 .sup.1 Commercially available as Tinopal AMS from CibaGeigy Corp. Numerou
 suitable optical brighteners are commercially available, and the type is 
 not critical. A typical optical brightener for laundry use is made by    
 diazotization of 4aminostilbene-2-sulfonic acid, followed by coupling wit
 e.g., a naphthylamine derivative, and oxidation to the triazole compound.
 
    
     The aforesaid Composition A (as defined in the &#34;Specific&#34; column) and laundry detergent are used in the cleaning process of this invention. The odorless mineral spirits was the hydrocarbon stated in Footnote 1 to Composition A; the alkanolamide was oleic diethanolamide, and the amine oxide was oleyl dimethyl amine exide. This process is set forth in detail as follows, together with a statement of some differences of traditional methods. 
     CLEANING PROCESS 
     Traditional methods of cleaning fabric containing hydrophobic soils and mixtures of hydrophobic and various other soils have involved either a pretreatment with a solvent-based &#34;pre-spotter&#34; or addition of said &#34;pre-spotter&#34; to the wash machine. However, the solvents in these processes are not allowed intimate contact with the fabric due to the partitioning of water and solvent in the washer. 
     This invention allows for the unique penetration of the solvents via an emulsion into soiled fabric to loosen and facilitate the removal of the hydrophobic soils and mixtures of hydrophobic and various other soils. The emulsified state permits intimate contact of said cleaning component system and the soils described above. 
     The cleaning process is particularly effective in cleaning the newer synthetic fabrics, such as all polyester and polyester/cotton blends. This has been of primary importance due to the affinity of polyester and other petroleum-derived fibers for oily and greasy soils. These soils have been previously very difficult, if not impossible, to remove from the synthetic fabrics using conventional water wash treatments. 
     The cleaning process essentially is an emulsion treatment of the soiled fabric with the aforementioned cleaning Composition A followed by washing with conventional water wash techniques. 
     The emulsion treatment involves filling any conventional water wash laundry machine with just enough water to thoroughly wet the soiled items. The cleaning Composition A is then introduced at between 1 part Composition A to 10-75 parts water, preferably at 1 part of cleaning Composition A and 20 to 30 parts water. (An emulsion will form.) 
     The soiled items are agitated in the emulsion so formed for a period of time between two to thirty minutes, and preferably ten minutes. 
     The next phase of the invention involves raising the water level to achieve a 1:30 to 1:90 product-water ratio, preferably a 1:60 dilution. This is done by not draining the 1:30 emulsion, but by adding hot (140°-160° F.) water to the first emulsion treatment phase. Conventional laundry detergents can be added from just prior to filling the machine to said wash level until just after filling. This second phase is allowed to agitate in the machine for three to thirty minutes, preferably seven to fifteen minutes. This bath is then drained and followed by conventional wash programs. See Table 2, TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF WASH PROCESS, below. 
     
                                           TABLE 2                                 
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TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF WASH PROCESS                                           
FUNCTION  TIME                                                            
              LEVEL                                                       
                   TEMPERATURE                                            
                             SUPPLIES                                     
__________________________________________________________________________
Water     10 min.                                                         
              Very low                                                    
                   Warm 65°-140° F.                         
                             Composition A                                
Emulsion                                                                  
Treatment                                                                 
Detergent/                                                                
          10 min.                                                         
              Low  Warm-hot  Composition A                                
Water              140°-160° F.                             
                             and Conventional                             
Emulsion Treatment           Laundry Detergents,                          
                             Builders, or Soap                            
Drain     1 min.                                                          
              --   --        --                                           
Detergent 8-12                                                            
              Low  Warm-hot  Conventional                                 
Treatment min.     140°-160° F.                             
                             Laundry Detergents,                          
                             Builders, or Soap                            
Drain     1 min.                                                          
              --   --        --                                           
Rinse     2 min.                                                          
              High Warm-hot  --                                           
                   120°-140° F.                             
Drain     1 min.                                                          
              --   --        --                                           
Rinse     2 min.                                                          
              High Warm      --                                           
                   110°-130° F.                             
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     In the final step the rinse liquid is drained from the fabric. 
     In our composition above, pine oil is mentioned as preferably included. Pine oil removes certain soils better than mineral spirits, e.g., resins and higher molecular weight synthetic and natural polymers. If such soils are absent, pine oil may be omitted.