Kao Corporation

Itsuro Tsukahara

Hiroyuki Yamashita

Yoshinobu Imaizumi

Koichi Ohori

Shu Yamaguchi

Hitoshi Takaya

Katsuhiko Kasai

Taiji Nakamae

Enzyme granules are provided in which an enzyme is rapidly eluted, without insoluble remnants, and generation of powdery dust is suppressed, and which granules have a property such that classification phenomenon generated among the granules in a detergent composition is less likely to take place, in a case where the enzyme granules are formulated together with other components in a detergent. The enzyme granule comprise (A) water-insoluble substance and or a slightly water-soluble substance; (B) a water-soluble binder; and (C) an enzyme. A dye may also be present for coloring. The content of (A) component is 45% by weight or more, and the enzyme granules have an average particle size of from 150 to 500 &mgr;m and a bulk density of from 500 to 1,000 g/L, and have a structure such that more amount of (B) component is present near the surface of the enzyme granules than in the inner portion thereof. The enzyme granule may be aggregated to form an enzyme granule aggregate. A process is provided for preparing the enzyme granule by spray-drying a slurry containing (A), (B) and (C). The enzyme granule aggregate may be prepared by adding an aqueous binding solution to the granules and drying, or by adding molten thermoplastic binder to the granules and cooling.

Enzyme particles

In the detergent granules including 10% by weight or more of a nonionic surfactant and 1% by weight or more of a crystalline alkali metal silicate having an average particle size of from 1 to 60 &mgr;m, the detergent granules characterized in that a proportion of the nonionic surfactant to the crystalline alkali metal silicate is in a weight ratio of from 20/1 to 1/20, and that the iron content calculated as Fe in the crystalline alkali metal silicate is 140 ppm or less. The granular detergent composition characterized in that the granular detergent composition includes the detergent granules described above.

Detergent grains and granular detergent composition

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Wakayama, Japan

Itsuro Tsukahara