Abstract: Laundry detergents and their use for cold-water cleaning are disclosed. The detergents comprise a lipase and a mid-chain headgroup surfactant or an alkylene-bridged surfactant. The mid-chain headgroup surfactants have a C14-C30 alkyl chain and a polar group bonded to a central zone carbon of the C14-C30 alkyl chain. The alkylene-bridged surfactants comprise a C12-C18 alkyl chain, a polar group, and a C1-C2 alkylene group bonded to the polar group and a central zone carbon of the C12-C18 alkyl chain. Surprisingly, when combined with lipases, detergents formulated with the mid-chain headgroup or alkylene-bridged surfactants effectively liquefy greasy soils at low temperature and provide outstanding cold-water performance in removing greasy stains such as bacon grease, butter, cooked beef fat, or beef tallow from soiled articles.

Abstract: Laundry detergents and their use for cold-water cleaning are disclosed. The detergents comprise a lipase and a mid-chain headgroup surfactant or an alkylene-bridged surfactant. The mid-chain headgroup surfactants have a C14-C30 alkyl chain and a polar group bonded to a central zone carbon of the C14-C30 alkyl chain. The alkylene-bridged surfactants comprise a C12-C18 alkyl chain, a polar group, and a C1-C2 alkylene group bonded to the polar group and a central zone carbon of the C12-C18 alkyl chain. Surprisingly, when combined with lipases, detergents formulated with the mid-chain headgroup or alkylene-bridged surfactants effectively liquefy greasy soils at low temperature and provide outstanding cold-water performance in removing greasy stains such as bacon grease, butter, cooked beef fat, or beef tallow from soiled articles.

Abstract: A fabric softening composition comprising from 1 to 80% by weight of ester-linked quaternary ammonium fabric softening material comprising a quaternised mixture of mono- di- and tri-ester of alkanolamine in which the tri-ester content of said mixture is from 25 to 50% by weight of said mixture, wherein: (i) when the tri-ester content is from 25 to 30% by weight of said mixture the free amine content of the composition is less than 0.5% by weight on the weight of said mixture, (ii) when the tri-ester content is more than 30% by weight of said mixture the free amine content of the composition is less than 6% by weight based on the weight of said mixture, the composition containing less than 1% by weight of free fatty acid based on said mixture.

Abstract: A process to refine esters of conjugated linoleic acids via distillation in a single or multi-pass distillation operation is provided. Thermal rearrangement of conjugated linoleic acid components during distillation is prevented or reduced by the use of a low residence time and/or reduced pressure distillation apparatus. A process to produce refined esters of conjugated linoleic acids is also provided. The process transesterifies a linoleic acid-containing oil to generate an alkyl ester composition which further undergoes isomerization at a temperatures typically between about 90-140° C. to form an ester stream containing conjugated linoleic acid esters, which is then distilled to obtain the refined esters of conjugated linoleic acids. The transesterification and isomerization steps can be performed in one reaction vessel without an intervening distillation step. The transesterification and isomerization steps can occur concurrently in a continuous reaction system using a dual reaction zone apparatus.

Abstract: A method for making alkyl esters (e.g., methyl ester), such as biodiesel, from an oil source is described. The method involves converting the free fatty acids of the oil source into a mixture of mono-, di-, and tri-glycerides and subsequently transesterifying the newly formed glycerides as well as the originally present glycerides into fatty acid alkyl esters.