STRUCTURING DETERGENT LIQUIDS WITH HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL

A process to manufacture a structured aqueous liquid detergent composition comprising 7 to 40 wt% surfactant, of which at least 2 wt% is nonionic surfactant, optionally, and preferably, 4 to 30 wt% water soluble polymers, and 0.1to 0.4 wt% Hydrogenated Castor oil (HCO) external structurant, the process comprising the step of formation of a structured water premix which is then mixed in an amount of 40 to 80 vol% with an unstructured liquid comprising further surfactant and making up 20 to 60 vol% of the liquid detergent composition, characterised in that the structured water premix is formed by: a) adding 0.1 to 0.4, preferably about 0.25 wt%, HCO (based on the liquid detergent composition), to 2 to 8 wt% surfactant (based on the liquid detergent composition), b) heating this mixture to 70to 84°C to prepare a molecularly dispersed transparent solution of a minor part of HCO in a major part of surfactant, then c) adding the solution from step b) to water at a temperature of at least 55°C, preferably at least 65°C, even at least 75°C optionally further comprising anionic surfactant, but not base, to form a warm structured water premix precursor and allowing this precursor to cool to below 40°C to form a structured water premix; d) optionally aging the structured water premix prior to its combination with the unstructured liquid comprising further surfactant and e) the optional further addition of additional detergent liquid ingredients, preferably including 4 to 30 wt% water soluble polymers to form an externally structured aqueous detergent composition, with the proviso that at no time during the process does the temperature of the HCO exceed its melting point. L'invention porte sur un procédé pour fabriquer une composition de détergent liquide aqueux structuré comprenant 7 à 40 % en poids de tensioactifs, parmi lesquels un tensioactif non ionique représente au moins 2 % en poids, éventuellement, et de préférence, 4 à 30 % en poids de polymères hydrosolubles et 0,1 à 0,4 % en poids d'agent structurant externe huile de ricin hydrogénée (HCO). Le procédé comprend l'étape de formation d'un prémélange aqueux structuré qui est ensuite mélangé à hauteur de 40 à 80 % en volume avec un liquide non structuré comprenant un tensioactif supplémentaire et représentant 20 à 60 % en volume de la composition de détergent liquide et il est caractérisé en ce que le prémélange aqueux structuré est formé par : a) l'ajout de 0,1 à 0,4, de préférence environ 0,25 % en poids, d'H