ANTI-FOAMING AGENTS FOR MACHINE-WASHING OF CROCKERY AND BOTTLES

The invention concerns multi-component foam-inhibiting mixtures with surfactant properties, comprising up to 40 % by wt. of polyethyleneglycol ethers with terminal groups of formula (I): R1?O-(CH2?CH2?O)n?R2?, in which R1?O- = a 2-branched even alkanol residue with 16-20 C-atoms, n = 5 to 9 and R2? = a C4?-C8? alkyl group and/or up to 40 % by wt. of polyethyleneglycol ether compounds not capped by terminal groups, of formula (II): R5?O-(CH2?CH2?O)z?-H, in which R5?O- = a 2 branched even alkanol residue with 12-20 C-atoms and z = 2 to 5; plus 20-98 % by wt. of mixed ethers of formula (III): R6?O-(EO)u?-(PO)v?-H in which R6?O- = a straight-chain or branched-chain C8?-C18? alkanol residue, EO = ethyleneglycol, PO = propyleneglycol, p = 2 to 6 and q = 3 to 7 plus, optionally, 0-80 % by wt. of polyethyleneglycol ethers capped with terminal groups, of formula (IV): R3?O-(CH2?CH2?O)m?-R4?, in which R3? = a straight-chain C8?-C18? alkyl residue or a branched-chain C8?-C14? alkyl residue, R4? = a C4?-C10? alkyl residue and m = 5 to 15 for the machine-washing of crockery and bottles. In preferred compounds, the R5?O- residdue derives from 2-butyloctanol-1, 2-butyldecanol-1, 2-hexyloctanol-1, 2-hexyldecanol-1, 2-hexyldodecanol-1, 2-octyldecanol-1 or 1-octyldodecanol-1, and the R1?O- residue from mixtures of 2-hexyldodecanol-1 and 2-octyldecanol-1. Advantage: highly effective and can be incorporated in liquid systems stable to alkali to give cleanly soluble aqueous concentrates.