Mirapol A 400 : a new additive for fabric and home care applications

Mirapol A 400 : a new phosphonated oligomer for fabric and home care applications

A large number of products are well known as scale and corrosion inhibitors. The problem is that the most effective and commercially acceptable scaling inhibitors are relatively ineffective and are not used commercially as corrosion inhibitors and vice versa.

One group of compounds, which has been reported to both show scale and corrosion inhibiting properties is phosphonosuccinic acid and its salts. The benefits of these materials have not, however, been sufficient to have resulted in significant commercial success.

A particularly effective class of scale inhibitors is 2-phosphono-1,2,4-tricarboxybutane and its salts, called “PBTC”. This product is made through a relatively expensive process and has not been commercially successful because it is effective at particularly low concentrations. Also, PBTC is not normally the product of choice for use commercially as a corrosion inhibitor.

The most cost effective and commercially successful organic corrosion inhibitors in current use are 2-hydroxy-2-phosphonoacetic acid and its salts, often known as “HPP”. It has some drawbacks as a corrosion inhibitor because it is relatively ineffective in the presence of zinc. It is not very effective as a scale inhibitor.

The Mirapol A 400 (Patent EP 0 491 391 B1 and US 5,606,105) is a neutralized phosphonocarboxylic acid (CAS number : 143239-08-1), that exhibits particularly interesting properties in detergent and cleaning applications such as laundry, Automatic Dish Washing, Hard Surface Cleaning among others where these benefits are key. This product provides anti-scaling benefits while also being a highly effective corrosion inhibitor, especially in the presence of calcium ions. Mirapol A 400 brings, in many cases, significant benefits over HPP in the presence of Chlorine or hypochlorite and is more effective as corrosion inhibitor in the presence of zinc ions. Mirapol A 400 has been compared to conventional phosphonated products and exhibits superior performance accross a wide range of applications.

Application in Laundry : anti-encrustation and primary detergency

The following formulations have been tested for the anti-incrustation and primary detergency properties.

¨       Heavy Duty Liquid formulation :

¨       Zeolithe based powder with Bleach  :