Aqueous enzyme-containing compositions with improved stability

Claim 1

An aqueous, enzymatic liquid detergent composition comprising, in an aqueous liquid medium, as essential ingredients, from 1-60% by weight of an active detergent material selected from the group consisting of soap, anionic, nonionic, cationic, zwitterionic and amphoteric surfactants and mixtures thereof, from 1-60% by weight of a detergent builder, from 0.001-10% by weight of bacterial or fungal enzymes and a stabilizing system for said enzymes, wherein the stabilizing system consisting essentially of a mixture of (A) an inorganic compound selected from the group consisting of boric acid, boric oxide, alkalimetal borate, a reducing alkalimetal salt having an oxygenated sulphur anion S a O b , in which a and b are whole numbers from 1 to 8, and mixtures thereof, and (B) a dicarboxylic acid of the general formula COOH--(CHOH).sub.a --(CH.sub.2).sub.b --(CHOH).sub.c --(CH.sub.2).sub.d --COOH in which a, b, c and d are whole numbers from 0-4, the sum of a, b, c and d being from 0-4, whereby, when a=c=0 and b=c=1, the corresponding dicarboxylic acid may also be unsaturated, or the alkalimetal, ammonium, alkanolamine or alkaline earth metal salts thereof, whereby the amount of (A) is from 1-15% by weight for the boron compounds and from 2-20% by weight for the reducing alkalimetal salt and the amount of (B) is from 0.5-15% by weight.