This invention relates to a bleaching composition.

The use of bleaching catalysts for stain removal has been developed over recent years. In this regard Mn (II) or Mn (III) salts are active as bleach catalysts in compositions having bleach precursors such as percarbonate or perborate and optionally bleach activators such as TAED.

The shelf life of a product may be regarded as the period of time over which the product may be stored whilst retaining its required quality. A satisfactory shelf life is in many instances a crucial factor for the success of a commercial product. A product with a short shelf life generally dictates that the product is made in small batches and is rapidly sold to the consumer. It is also a concern to the owners of a brand with a short shelf life that the consumer uses the product within the shelf life otherwise the consumer may be inclined to change to a similar product of another brand. In contrast a similar product with a long shelf life may be made in larger batches, held as stock for a longer period of time and the period of time that a consumer stores the product is not of a great concern to the owners of a particular brand.

Indeed Mn (II) or Mn (III) salts suffer from disproportion or aerial oxidation to form Mn (IV) species (turning to MnO₂). This happens quickly in particular in an alkaline environment (e.g. an alkaline cleaning powder or tablet). Especially for Mn (II) salts which have light purple/pink colour this goes hand in hand with a colour change to brown. The resulting species are less active in bleaching processes.

WO 96/37593 teaches the protection of redox active substances by agglomeration of such substances with excipients. The redox active materials can be metal salts. The presented solution, however, has the downside of consuming more excipients (compared to the coating material consumed in the present invention) and has as a result still some redox active material on the surface of the granule which can interact with air or formulation ingredients. Furthermore upon abrasion such granules release redox substance containing dust which might react with the rest of the formulation.

Coating of particulate materials is already known. For example, GB-A-2428694, WO 03/093405 and WO 02/066592 teach the coating of bleach catalyst granules to improve stability thereof. It is also known to prepare bleach catalyst granules which are substantially free from easily oxidisable material and which includes a carrier material and a binder agent.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate/mitigate the problems outlined above and/or to further improve the stability of particulate material comprising a bleach catalyst.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a particulate material comprising a bleach catalyst wherein the particles of the bleach catalyst have a coating and the weight ratio of the coating to the bleach catalyst is in the range of from 10-60 wt %.

The particulate material of the invention demonstrates good stability.

With the use of a coating stability problems associated with the bleach catalysts have been found to be addressed. Thus the bleach catalysts can be incorporated into a detergent formulation without incurring any problems of stability/integrity. Detergent products made using these particles have been found to exhibit excellent storage stability. Additionally the presence of fines in the bleach catalyst is drastically reduced.

Without wishing to be bound by theory it is postulated that the coating forms a closed shell around bleach catalyst which not only creates a suitable pH environment (neutral to acidic) but also creates a barrier for detrimental species such as aerial oxygen.

The weight ratio of the coating to the bleach catalyst is in the range of from 10-60 wt % coating (hence 90-40 wt % bleach catalyst). More preferably the weight ratio is in the range of from 15-50 wt % and most preferably the weight ratio is in the range of from 20-40 wt % coating. The particles may further incorporate auxiliary materials, such as the usual detergent additives or fillers.

Preferably the pH of the composition used for coating is neutral or acidic and has a pH value <7, more preferably <5 (measured as a 1 wt % solution in water at room temperature).

The coating composition is preferably water soluble. This allows aqueous solutions of the coating material to be manufactured. Preferably aqueous solutions with concentrations of >20 wt % or >30 wt % coating material (at room temperature) may be prepared.

Preferred coating materials comprise a carboxylate/carboxylic moiety containing compound. Generally the coating is monomeric/polymeric carboxylate/carboxylic compound or a derivative thereof [hereafter referred to generally as a carboxylate]. Alternative preferred coatings include polyols.

Suitable types of carboxylate include monomeric carboxylates/carboxylic acids such as; citric acid/citrate, maleic acid/maleate and derivatives thereof. Suitable types of polymeric carboxylate for coating include carboxylates/carboxylic acids such as polyacrylates/polyacrylic acid and derivatives/copolymers thereof. Suitable polymeric polyols for coating include hydrolysed polyacetates (wherein a portion of the acetate moieties are hydrolysed to hydroxyl moieties, e.g. to polyvinyl alcohol) and derivatives thereof. Other suitable types of polyols include sugars, starch and starch derivatives, cellulose derivatives, oligosaccharides (e.g. dextrins) and derivatives thereof.

The coating may comprise a mixture of the above. Optionally other adjunct materials form part of the coating such as dyes, fillers, antioxidants, plasticisers.

Generally the bleach catalyst particle has an initial particle size (before coating) of less than 2000 Î¼m, more preferably less than 1200 Î¼m and most preferably less than 1000 Î¼m.

The coated particulate material is preferably formed in a process comprising a fluid bed in which the crystals are coated by spray application of coating material. The particulate may become agglomerated in the coating process. It is preferred that the coated particle of the invention comprises an agglomerate of individual particles.

Preferably the bleach catalyst is a manganese compound such as a Mn (II) or Mn (III) salt. Preferred examples of Mn salts include carboxylate salts, e.g. acetate salts.

The particulate is preferably for use in an automatic washing detergent formulation e.g. such as a dishwasher detergent/additive or a laundry detergent/additive. Thus according to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a solid detergent composition comprising a bleaching catalyst wherein the particles of the bleach catalyst have a coating and the weight ratio of the coating to the bleach catalyst is in the range of from 10-60 wt %.

The detergent composition may comprise a powder, a compressed particulate body or an injection moulded body. Most preferably the composition comprises a tabletted composition. The detergent composition may be packaged in a water soluble material such as a water soluble film.

Generally the particulate is incorporated into the detergent/additive at a level of 100 to 3000 ppm (wherein this figure is the amount of Mn by weight incorporated in the formula), more preferably at a level of 200 to 2000 ppm and most preferably at a level of 250 to 1200 ppm.

The composition may further incorporate auxiliary materials, such as the usual detergent additives or fillers, e.g. one or more of the following agents; bleach, bleach activator, corrosion inhibition agent, fragrance, builder, co-builder, surfactant, binding agent, dye, acidity modifying agent, dispersion aid, or enzyme.

Preferred bleaches are percarbonate, perborate. Preferred bleach activators include TAED.

The invention is now further described with reference to the following non-limiting Examples. Further examples within the scope of the invention will be apparent to the person skilled in the art.

EXAMPLE 1Coating Manganese (II) Acetate with Citric Acid

Coating of manganese (II) acetate particles with citric acid was carried out in a 2-step process. This was conducted in a Glatt fluid bed machine with a starting weight of manganese (II) acetate of 20 kg.

In a first step the manganese (II) acetate was dried in the fluidized bed unit until reaching the product temperature of 60Â° C.

The process conditions were:

Inlet air-Volume: 900 m3/h

Inlet air-Temperature: 140Â° C.

Product-Temperature: 60-70Â° C.

Outlet air-Temperature: 44-53Â° C.

In a second step the manganese (II) acetate was coated with citric acid using a 40% aqueous solution of citric acid (30 kg). The spray rate of coating solution was 20 kg/h.

The process conditions were as follows:

Inlet air-Volume: 900 m3/h

Inlet air-Temperature: 160Â° C.

Product-Temperature: 60-80Â° C.

Outlet air-Temperature: 63-77Â° C.

Spray air-Pressure: 3.0 bar

Spray air-Temperature: RT (room temperature)

At the end of step 2 the coated particles were allowed to reach ambient temperature and are unloaded from the coating device. The full coating experiment took 1.5 hours.

From this experiment samples of core particles coated with 10, 20 30 and 40% by weight of coating material were picked.

EXAMPLE 2Coating Manganese (II) Acetate with Polyvinyl Alcohol & Citric Acid

The protocol of Example 1 was repeated using an aqueous solution comprised of 10 wt % polyvinyl alcohol (a short molecular chain length polyvinyl alcohol with a degree of hydrolysis of 85%, commercially available as Moviol 3-85 ex Kuraray Europe) and 15 wt % citric acid.

From this experiment samples of core particles coated with 20 and 30% by weight of coating material were picked.

EXAMPLE 3Stability Analysis

The following formulations were used to measure the stability of the coated particles.

TABLE 1ComparativeFormula 1Formula 2Raw materialsWt %Wt %Wt %Sodium47.047.047.0TripolyphosphateSodium Carbonate20.020.020.0Sodium10.510.510.5PercarbonateSulfonated5.05.05.0PolycarboxylateSodium SaltPolyethylene4.54.54.5glycolTAED3.03.03.0Sodium Bicarbonate3.03.03.0Fatty Alcohol2.02.02.0PolyglycoletherLactose1.01.01.0Microcrystalline1.01.01.0CelluloseProtease1.01.01.0Amylase0.50.50.5Citric Acid0.50.50.5Silver Corrosion0.50.50.5InhibitorManganese Acetate0.50.50.5(Uncoated)(Ex. 1)(Ex. 2)

The compositions were examined visually after storage at 30Â° C. and 70% humidity, wrapped in a foil having an MVTR of 0.3 g/m²/day).

The coated manganese particles did not show significant chemical degradation over the test period. The uncoated particles showed discolouration.

TABLE 2FormulationComparativeFormula 1Formula 2StartNoneNoneNone3 weeksBrown marksNoneNone6 weeksBrown pointsNoneLight brownpoints9 weeksDark brownNoneLight brownpointspoints12 weeksâ€‚Dark brownNoneLight brownpointspoints