Description:Field of invention:
The current invention is in field of surface cleaning agents. More particularly, the current invention relates to concentrated surface cleaning products which can be packed in easy-to-transport pouches.

Background of invention:
Surface cleaning is one of the simplest forms of maintaining general sanitary conditions, either in industry or in households. Conventionally, surface cleaning is carried out by using liquid surface cleaners, whereby a defined quantity of liquid agent is diluted in water and used as cleaning solution.

However, liquid solutions are very tedious for transportation. Firstly, due to their spillability. Secondly, as all the cleaning solutions require a certain amount of water to maintain their stability. Consequently, the containers for the liquid cleaning agents tends to be bulky. This adds to the transportation cost.

Said containers are generally made up of plastic or glass. While plastic tends to clog the environment, the glass requires careful handling to avoid and breakage and ensuing injuries due to breakage. Use of plastic containers can overcome the disadvantage of glass. However, plastic has its own set or problems, especially with respect to its non-biodegradability, bioaccumulation and eco-accumulation.

Currently, only available option available to overcome the problems posed by plastics is to reduce and reuse the plastics. In context of the plastics used for containing the liquid surface cleaners, reusability is not an available option, as the surface cleaning liquids are chemical cocktails and the chemicals tend to seep in the container material. Therefore, the only available option is to reduce the usage of plastics.

One way of reducing the use of plastics is to reduce the bulk of the surface cleaners. This has been achieved by formulating the cleaning composition as a tablet, more particularly an effervescent tablet as per the technology described in US7053039. Accordingly, the tablet contained an effervescent agent, typically a combination of an organic or inorganic acid and an organic or inorganic base, which on reaction with water would release CO2, leading to breakage of the tablet to form a cleaning liquid. However, the possibility of inorganic acid being used possess a definite danger of corrosion of human skin.

Additional examples of effervescent tablet are disclosed in GB2242130. It appears that the concept of GB ‘130 is substantially similar to the concept of US ‘039. However, it appears that the tablets of GB ‘130 are used in sanitisation of utensils. Cleaning tablets are also disclosed in EP1041138.

However, tablets tend to very brittle and required specialised packing. The need for specialised packing also adds to the cost of production, which is passed to the customer.

Therefore, in light of above and in-keeping with the spirit of the cited prior arts, the current inventors propose such composition which overcomes the problems of the prior art.

Object of the inventions:
In view of the above, it an object of the current invention to provide such surface cleaning composition which can be easily packed in small pouches, thereby reducing usage of bulky containers.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a composition, which is easy to reconstitute and retain its activity on reconstitution.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide such surface cleaning composition which is not based in acid-base system and is safe for human skin.

Summary of Invention:
In accordance with above objects, the current invention provides a reconstitutable surface cleaning agent powder.

The reconstitutable concentrate comprises of a specific ratio of surfactant to disinfectant agent, preferably, the microbicidal agent.

In another aspect the invention provides a process for manufacturing the reconstitutable surface cleaner.

In yet another aspect, the invention provides a method for reconstituting the reconstitutable surface cleaning agent of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Invention:
In order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of the terms used in the present specification, a number of definitions are provided below. Moreover, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms as used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains.

The use of the word “a” or “an” when used in conjunction with the term “comprising” in the claims and/or the specification may not only mean “one”, but also encompasses the meaning of “one or more”, “at least one”, and “one or more than one”. Similarly, the word “another” may mean at least a second or more.

As used in this specification and claim(s), the words “comprising” (and any form of comprising, such as “comprise” and “comprises”), “having” (and any form of having, such as “have” and “has”), “including” (and any form of including, such as “include” and “includes”) or “containing” (and any form of containing, such as “contain” and “contains”), are inclusive or open-ended and do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or process steps.

Described herein is a reconstitutable surface cleaning agent. More particularly, the present invention describes a reconstitutable surface cleaning agent which is easy-to-transport.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a powdered composition for reconstitution, whereby the reconstituted solution functions as a surface cleaning composition.

In an embodiment, said composition comprises of an anhydrous mixture of a surfactant, a chelating agent and a disinfectant. The composition may further comprise a perfume and, optionally, a colourant.

In accordance with above embodiment, the surfactant may be selected from, but not limited to, Alcohol Ethoxylate, Cocamide DEA, Cocoglucoside, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, Cocates, Glucoside group, DEA group, Decyl glucoside, lauryl alcohol ethoxylate, ethoxylated trideceth alcohol, iso-C13-alcohol, Cocamide MEA, Alkanomide, Fatty alcohol alkoxylate, Fatty alcohol, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Betaines, Alkanoamide or a combination thereof. The composition contains from 5 to 75% surfactant.
The chelating agent is selected from, but not limited to, 1-Hydroxy Ethylidene-1, 1-Diphosphonic Acid, EDTA, Disodium EDTA, Nitrilotriacetic acid, trisodium salt of methylglycinediacetic acid, Pentasodium Pentate, Sodium Gluconate, Sodium Phytae, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Glucono delta Lactone, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate and the like, or combinations thereof. or combinations thereof. The composition contains from 0% to 3% chelating agent.

The antimicrobial agent is selected from, but not limited to Quaternary ammonium compounds, selected from the group consisting of mixture of alkyl dimethyl benzylammonium chlorides, generally grouped as benzalkonium chloride, dimethyl dodecyl ammonium chloride or bromide, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, cetylpyridinium chloride etc or lactic acid/ natural actives or combination thereof. Said disinfectant is present in range of 5 – 65%.

In accordance with above embodiment, the composition comprises of surfactant and active in ratio of 0.3-1.0:0.8-1.0, preferably 0.4-1.0: 0.8 – 1.0 and more preferably in the range of 0.6-1.0: 08-1.0..

The composition may further comprise a colourant and a perfume which are known in the art and are compatible with the formulation. In a preferred embodiment, the ratio of surfactant to perfume is 1-10:1, preferably 2-9: 1 and more preferably in the range of 3-7: 1..

In subsequent embodiment, the composition of the invention is formulated as a concentrate which can be easily reconstituted to form a usable liquid surface cleaner.

In accordance with this embodiment, the composition of the invention is packed in small pouches which are easy to transport. Preferably, said pouches are made from biodegradable material, such as, paper or processed paper. The use of biodegradable material, advantageously, reduces the eco-accumulation of plastics.

In an embodiment, the invention provides a method for manufacturing said surface cleaner. Said method comprises of Mixing colour, surfactant, solvent, chelating agent, followed by addition of Active, perfume at room temperature.

EXAMPLE
Examples as set forth illustrate the nature of the invention and the manner of carrying it out. However, the invention should not be considered as being limited to the details thereof.

Example 1:
Composition:
Sr No Ingredients Activity %
1. Lauryl Alcohol Ethoxylate Surfactant 35
2. Decyl Glucoside Surfactant 13.0
3. Benzalkonium Chloride Solution / Benzalkonium Chloride Disinfectant 35.00
4. Isopropyl Alcohol Antiseptic 5.0
5. 1-Hydroxy Ethylidene-1, 1-Diphosphonic Acid
Chelating Agent 1.0
6. Colourant 0.1
7. Perfume 10.9

Process for manufacturing:
(a) Mixing colour, surfactant, solvent, chelating agent, and
(b) Mixing of Active, perfume at room temperature.

Process for reconstitution:
(a) Filling an empty pump or Flip top cap and bottle or any other suitable packaging with water;
(b) emptying the sachet of reconstitutable product to the filled in bottle of step (a) or with suitable packaging, and
(c) shaking the filled bottle of step(b) for mixing and ready to use liquid is formed.
, C , Claims:We Claim,

1. A reconstitutable surface cleaning composition comprising:

a. a surfactant in range of 5 to 75%;
b. a chelating agent in range of 1 to 6%, and
c. a disinfectant in range of 25 to 65%,
wherein, the composition is in an anhydrous concentrate form which can be reconstituted using water.

2. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises a colourant and a perfume.

3. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the surfactant and the antimicrobial are in ratio of 0.3-1.0:0.8-1.0, preferably 0.4-1.0: 0.8 – 1.0 and more preferably in the range of 0.6-1.0: 08-1.0.

4. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the ratio of the surfactant to the perfume is 1-10:1, preferably 2-9: 1 and more preferably in the range of 3-7: 1. 3.2: 1.

5. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the surfactant is selected from, but not limited to, Lauryl Alcohol Ethoxylate, Decyl Glucoside, Cocamide DEA,, Cocoglucoside, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, Cocates, Glucoside group, DEA group, Decyl glucoside, lauryl alcohol ethoxylate, ethoxylated trideceth alcohol, iso-C13-alcohol, Cocamide MEA, Alkanomide, Fatty alcohol alkoxylate, Fatty alcohol, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Betaines, Alkanoamide or a combination thereof.

6. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the chelating agent is selected from, but not limited to, Trisodium salt of Methylglycinediacetic Acid, disodium EDTA, Nitrilotriacetic acid and sodium salt thereof, HEDP, Pentasodium Pentate, Sodium Gluconate, Sodium Phytae, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Gluconodelta Lactone, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate and the like, or combinations thereof.

7. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the disinfectant is selected from Isopropyl Alcohol, benzalkonium chloride a Quaternary ammonium compounds, selected from the group consisting of mixture of alkyl dimethyl benzylammonium chlorides, generally grouped as benzalkonium chloride, dimethyl dodecyl ammonium chloride or bromide, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, cetylpyridinium chloride, IPA or lactic Acid/ natural actives or combination thereof.

8. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the reconstituted solution has a viscosity in range of 10cP to 1000cP.

9. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reconstituted solution has a pH in range of 3.0 - 12.0.

10. The reconstitutable composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dilution ratio of water to reconstitutable composition range in 6 -13:1 preferably in range of 7-12: 1 and more preferably in the range of 8-11: 1.

11. A process for reconstitution of the reconstitutable composition as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the process for reconstitution comprises:
(a) fill an empty pump or Flip top cap and bottle or any other suitable packaging with water;
(b) emptying the sachet of reconstitutable product to the filled in bottle of step (a) or with suitable packaging, and
(c) shaking the filled bottle of step(b).