COLD-WATER CLEANING COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS

摘要

Compositions useful for cold-water cleaning are disclosed. The compositions comprise a detergent having at least one centrally located headgroup and two or more hydrophobic tails, wherein the headgroup and the tails may be joined by one or more linking groups. The headgroup may be a sulfonate, sulfate, ethoxylate, carboxylate, amine oxide, phosphate, quaternium, betaine, sulfobetaine, or combination thereof. The detergent may be an internal olefin sulfonate, a polyol ether sulfate, a dialkyi ester of a sulfonated dicarboxylic acid, or a variety of other compositions that share the common feature of a centrally located headgroup. Contrary to conventional wisdom, these compositions can provide exceptional performance in cold-water laundering of articles stained with greasy soils. In particular, combinations of the above compositions and linear alkylbenzene sulfonates effectively remove greasy stains such as beef tallow from soiled articles even at wash temperatures of 30°C or less.