# US 10,767,023 B2 · Porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether having excellent solubility and method for producing the same > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,767,023 B2 - Document ID: US10767023B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/333,616 - Filed: 2016-10-25 - Published: 2017-04-27 - Granted: 2020-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2015-10-27 - Assignees: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Mitsuo Narita - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10767023B2 ## CPC - C08J 9/24: by surface fusion and bonding of particles to form voids, e.g. sintering (of expandable particles C08J9/232) - C08B 11/08: with hydroxylated hydrocarbon radicals; Esters, ethers, or acetals thereof - C08B 11/20: Post-etherification treatments of chemical or physical type, {e.g. mixed etherification in two steps}, including purification - C08L 1/284: {with hydroxylated hydrocarbon radicals} - B02C 4/00: Crushing or disintegrating by roller mills (with milling members in the form of rollers or balls co-operating with rings or discs B02C15/00; roller mills or roll refiners exclusively for chocolate A23G1/10, A23G1/12) - B07B 1/00: Sieving, screening, sifting, or sorting solid materials using networks, gratings, grids, or the like {(ash-sifters for domestic stoves or ranges F24B15/007)} - C08J 2301/26: Cellulose ethers - C08J: WORKING-UP; GENERAL PROCESSES OF COMPOUNDING; AFTER-TREATMENT NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C08B, C08C, C08F, C08G or C08H (working, e.g. shaping, of plastics B29) - C08B: POLYSACCHARIDES; DERIVATIVES THEREOF (polysaccharides containing less than six saccharide radicals attached to each other by glycosidic linkages C07H; fermentation or enzyme-using processes C12P19/00; sugar industry C13; production of cellulose D21) - C08L: COMPOSITIONS OF MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS (compositions based on polymerisable monomers C08F, C08G; artificial filaments or fibres D01F; textile treating compositions D06) - B02C: CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN ({household tools and machines for pulverising foodstuffs, e.g. coffee and spice mills A47J42/00; pharmaceutical mortars A61J3/02; mechanical processing of refuse and garbage B03B9/06; dressing mould materials by grinding B22C5/04}; obtaining metallic powder by crushing, grinding or milling B22F9/04; {recovery of plastics by disintegrating B29B17/00; crushing raw materials in starch making C08B30/02; beaters for papermaking D21D1/02; crushing devices specially for transport in mines E21F13/002; slag crushing devices F23J1/00; fuel milling devices in combustion apparatus F23K1/00; household devices for crushing coal F24B15/02; ice disintegrating devices F25C5/02}) - B07B: SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS BY SIEVING, SCREENING, SIFTING OR BY USING GAS CURRENTS; SEPARATING BY OTHER DRY METHODS APPLICABLE TO BULK MATERIAL, e.g. LOOSE ARTICLES FIT TO BE HANDLED LIKE BULK MATERIAL (wet separating processes, sorting by processes using fluent material in the same way as liquid B03; combinations of dry separating apparatus with wet separating apparatus B03B; using liquids B03B, B03D; sorting by magnetic or electrostatic separation of solid materials from solid materials or fluids, separation by high voltage electric fields B03C; centrifuges or vortex apparatus for carrying out physical processes B04; hand sorting, postal sorting, sorting by switching or other devices actuated in response to detection or measurement of some feature of articles or samples of material B07C) ## Abstract There are provided a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether having an average pore size of 36 μm or smaller and an average particle size of from 30 to 300 μm; and a method for continuously producing said cellulose ether comprising the steps of: pulverizing a first water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether to obtain a first pulverized product, and sieving the pulverized product through a sieve having an opening of from 40 to 400 μm to obtain a first residue-on-sieve and a first sieve-passing fraction, wherein a portion or all of the first residue-on-sieve containing particles having particle sizes smaller than and greater than the opening of the sieve is re-pulverized together with a second water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether in the step of pulverizing to obtain a second pulverized product, which is pulverized to obtain the cellulose ether as a second sieve-passing fraction containing the re-pulverized particles. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether having an average pore size of 36 μm or smaller and an average particle size of from 30 to 300 μm, comprising the steps of: pulverizing a first water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether to obtain a first pulverized product, and sieving the first pulverized product through a sieve having an opening of from 40 to 400 μm to obtain a first residue-on-sieve and a first sieve-passing fraction, wherein a portion or all of the first residue-on-sieve containing particles having particle sizes smaller than and greater than the opening of the sieve is re-pulverized together with a second water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether in the step of pulverizing to obtain a second pulverized product, which is sieved to obtain the porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether as a second sieve-passing fraction containing the re-pulverized particles; and wherein each of the first and second residues-on-sieve contains 10% by weight or more of particles having particle sizes smaller than the opening of the sieve. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether according to claim 1, wherein each feed rate of the first and second pulverized products per sieve area in the step of sieving is from 0.2 to 20 ton/m2/hour. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether according to claim 1, wherein an amount of the portion or all of the first residue on-sieve to be re-pulverized is, on dry weight basis, from 0.2 to 6 times of an amount of the second water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: reacting an alkali cellulose with an etherifying agent to obtain a reaction product; and washing the reaction product to obtain the first or second water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether to be pulverized in the step of pulverizing. ### Claim 5 A method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether having an average pore size of 36 μm or smaller and an average particle size of from 30 to 300 μm, comprising the steps of: pulverizing a first water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether to obtain a first pulverized product, and sieving the first pulverized product through a sieve having an opening of from 40 to 400 μm to obtain a first residue-on-sieve and a first sieve-passing fraction, wherein a portion or all of the first residue-on-sieve containing particles having particle sizes smaller than and greater than the opening of the sieve, and a portion of the first sieve-passing fraction, are re-pulverized together with a second water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether in the step of pulverizing to obtain a second pulverized product, which is sieved to obtain the porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether as a second sieve-passing fraction containing the re-pulverized particles. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether according to claim 5, wherein each of the first and second residues-on-sieve contains 10% by weight or more of particles having particle sizes smaller than the opening of the sieve. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether according to claim 5, wherein each feed rate of the first and second pulverized products per sieve area in the step of sieving is from 0.2 to 20 ton/m2/hour. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether according to any one of claim 5, wherein a total amount of the portion or all of the first residue on-sieve and the portion of the first sieve-passing fraction to be re-pulverized is, on dry weight basis, from 0.2 to 6 times of an amount of the second water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether. ### Claim 9 (depends on 5) The method for continuously producing a porous water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of: reacting an alkali cellulose with an etherifying agent to obtain a reaction product; and washing the reaction product to obtain the first or second water-soluble nonionic cellulose ether to be pulverized in the step of pulverizing.