Liquid detergent composition

Claim 1

A liquid detergent composition consisting essentially of an aqueous solution containing 5 to 30 percent by weight of a mixture of polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate salts which was prepared by adducting ethylene oxide to a starting alcohol, distilling the resulting adduct reaction product to remove unreacted alcohol and adduct compounds having 3 or more moles of adducted ethylene oxide, then esterifying the remaining adduct reaction product with sulfuric acid, and then neutralizing the esterified adduct reaction product to obtain said mixture of polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfates having the formula RO(CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.n SO.sub.3 M wherein R is alkyl having from 8 to 18 carbon atoms and the average carbon atom number of R for the mixture is from 10 to 15, the average value of n for the mixture is from 1.0 to 2.6 with the proviso that the content of salts in which (1) n is zero is less than 5 percent by weight, (2) n is 3 or more is less than 18 percent by weight and (3) n is one or 2 is more than 77 percent by weight, all percentages being based on the total weight of said mixture, and M is alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, ammonium or alkanol amine, and the balance is essentially water.