Detergent products, methods and manufacture
A water-soluble pouch suitable for use in machine dishwashing and which comprises a plurality of compartments in generally superposed or superposable relationship, each containing one or more detergent active or auxiliary components, and wherein the pouch has a volume of from about 5 to about 70 ml and a longitudinal/transverse aspect ratio in the range from about 2:1 to about 1:8, preferably from about 1:1 to about 1:4. The water-soluble pouch allows for optimum delivery of dishwashing detergent. A process for the manufacture of multi-compartment pouches and a pack to contain the pouches are also disclosed.
1. A machine dishwashing product in the form of a water-soluble pouch comprising a plurality of compartments in generally superposed or superposable relationship, wherein one of the plurality of compartments comprises a liquid, paste, gel or wax composition and one of the plurality of compartments comprises a powder or densified powder composition; and wherein the pouch has a volume of from about 5 to about 70 ml and a longitudinal/transverse aspect ratio in the range from about 2:1 to about 1:8 and the one plurality of compartments comprising the liquid, paste, gel or wax composition contains an air bubble having a volume of up to about 50% of the volume space of said compartment.
2. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the air bubble has a diameter has a ratio in relation to the maximum lateral dimension of the product footprint from about 1:5 to about 1:2.
3. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 2 wherein the air bubble has a diameter from about 9 to about 16 mm.
4. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the liquid composition comprises a surfactant, an organic solvent system or a detergent enzyme.
5. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 2 wherein the surfactant is selected from non-ionic surfactants.
6. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 2 wherein the organic solvent system is selected from organoamine solvents, alcoholic solvents, glycols and glycol derivatives and mixtures thereof.
7. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the powder composition is a densified powder composition.
8. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the powder composition comprises builders, alkalinity sources, enzymes or bleaches.
9. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the water-soluble pouch comprises water-soluble films of different thickness.
10. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the water-soluble pouch comprises water-soluble films comprising different degree or rate of solubility under in-use conditions.
11. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 8 wherein the water-soluble film has a different degree or rate of solubility controlled by pH, temperature or ionic strength.
12. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the pouch as a volume from about 15 to about 60 mL.
13. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the pouch as a volume from about 18 to about 57 mL.
14. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the pouch has a longitudinal/transverse aspect ratio from about 1:1 to about 1:4.
15. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 5 wherein the densified final bulk density of about 0.6 g/cc.
16. The machine dishwashing product according to claim 1 wherein the liquid composition and powder or densified powder composition have a weight ratio of from about 1:30 to about 30:1.