Free-flowing builder beads and detergents

Claim 1

A spray-dried base bead having detergent building properties comprising from about 45 to about 85 percent by weight of an alkali metal phosphate wherein from about 30 to about 60 percent of the phosphate is hydrated and the remainder is anhydrous, from about 5 to about 15 percent by weight of a sodium silicate having an Na 2 O:SiO 2 ratio of from about 1:1.6 to about 1:3.4 and from about 5 to about 15 percent water of hydration in the hydrated phosphate, the bead being essentially free of organic surfactant, organic detergent or soap when spray-dried; said bead having a structure of microcrystals and amorphous solid interconnected as an irregular network within the bead, the network defining interconnected, irregularly shaped passageways, said passageways comprising a reticular void space within the bead and interconnecting to discrete openings on the external surface of the bead; the bead having a specific gravity of from about 0.5 to about 0.8; and at least 90 percent of the beads having a particle size distributed between 20 mesh and 200 mesh U.S. sieve series; and when said beads are loaded with up to about 40 percent by weight nonionic organic surfactant, the resulting surfactant loaded beads have a flowability of at least about 70 percent that of clean dry sand.