SOAP BAR COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING ALPHA SULFONATED FATTY ACID ALKYL ESTERS AND POLYHYDRIDIC ALCOHOLS AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SAME

Disclosed are improved cleaning compositions comprising soap&com ma; fatty acid, synthetic detersive surfactant, salt and a polyhydridic alcohol, which are suitable for formation into precursor cleansing/laundry bar "soap noodles," personal cleansing bars and laundry detergent bars. The compositions comprise: (a) from about 58 % to about 93 % by weight of an approximately 70 % aqueous soap slurry; (b) from about 1 % to about 15 % by weight of a fatty acid; (c) from about 2 % to about 30 % by weight of an approximately 55 % aqueous mixture of anionic surfactants comprising i) an alpha sulfonated alkyl ester; and ii) a sulfonated fatty acid or salts thereof, wherein the ratio of i) to ii) is from about 10:1 to about 1:10; (d) from about 0.5 % to about 2 % by weight of a salt; (e) from about 0.5% to about 5 % by weight of a 25 polyhydridic alcohol; and (f) from 0 to about 10% by weight of an alkanolamide of the formula O CH3(CH2)n C NH(CH2)yOH wherein n = 6-16, and y is 2-4; The invention additionally relates to an improved process for producing both precursor cleansing/laundry bar "soap noodles" and personal cleansing/laundry detergent bars 35 comprising combining (a) - (e) to form a liquid mixture at a temperature of about 65 °C to about 105 °C, removing from about 50% to about 90% by weight of the water from the liquid mixture, by heating up to 150 °C under vacuum conditions or 105 °C at normal conditions to form a thickened mixture, extruding the thickened mixture to form flaked solid or semi-solid pellets or noodles, and optionally, plodding the flaked solid or semi-solid pellets or noodles to form plodded pellets or noodles,f extruding the plodded pellets or noodles to form a billet, cutting the billet, and stamping the cut billet to yield a personal cleansing/laundry detergent bar. Disclosed are improved cleaning compositions comprising soap&com ma; fatty acid, synthetic detersive surfactant, salt and a polyhydridic alcohol, which are suitable for formation into precursor cleansing/laundry bar "soap noodles," personal cleansing bars and laundry detergent bars. The compositions comprise: (a) from about 58 % to about 93 % by weight of an approximately 70 % aqueous soap slurry; (b) from about 1 % to about 15 % by weight of a fatty acid; (c) from about 2 % to about 30 % by weight of an approximately 55 % aqueous mixture of anionic surfactants comprising i) an alpha sulfonated alkyl ester; and ii) a sulfonated fatty acid or salts thereof, wherein the ratio