Production of detergent compositions

Claim 1

A process for making a spray dried powdered detergent composition containing a carboxymethyloxysuccinate salt detergency builder, at least one detergent compound and an alkali metal silicate, comprising the steps of, (a) forming an aqueous detergent slurry containing dispersed carboxymethyloxysuccinate and said detergent compound said detergent compound being selected from the group consisting of anionic, nonionic, zwitterionic and amphoteric detergents; (b) adding alkali metal silicate to the aqueous slurry after the addition thereto of the carboxymethyloxysuccinate salt, wherein the alkali metal oxide to silicon dioxide ratio of said silicate is about 1:1 to about 1:2.5; (c) maintaining the water content of the slurry at not less than about 40 percent by weight of the final slurry formulation; (d) maintaining the slurry temperature at not less than 76° C. subsequent to the addition of the carboxymethyloxysuccinate salt thereto; and (e) spray drying the detergent slurry, the amount of the carboxymethyloxysuccinate salt being from about 10 percent to about 60 percent, the amount of the detergent compound being about 5 percent to about 40 percent and the amount of the alkali metal silicate being about 3 percent to about 12 percent by weight of the final detergent composition.