PA/PET separation process
AssigneeIoniqa Techonolgies B.V.
InventorsSusanne Van Berkum, Sonja Irene-Marie Reginalde Castillo
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Abstract
The present invention is in the field of an improved separation process for mixed polymers, typically provided in a waste stream, comprising a polyamide (PA) and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The process comprises providing a composition having a density of 50-500 gr/dm3, adding an alcohol to the composition heating the mixture to a temperature above 150° C., cooling by adding hot water, filtering with a first filter, filtering with a second filter to recover the polyamide, and recovering the polyester for further processing for depolymerization.
Claims15
Process for separating a composition comprising polyamide, polyester and at least one further additive, comprising the steps of:
- providing the composition, the composition having a density of 50-500 gr/dm3,
- adding a branched or un-branched alcohol to the composition therewith forming a mixture, the alcohol having a boiling point above 150° C. (at 100 kPa),
- heating the mixture to a temperature above 150° C. under reflux until polyamide is dissolved, while the polyester remains unaffected, therewith forming a slurry;
- cooling the slurry;
- which cooling comprises diluting the slurry by addition of hot water with a temperature of at least 80° C., during which polyamide is precipitated to particles, the amount of water being effective to precipitate the polyamide;
- filtering the slurry over a first filter with a mesh larger than 0.2 μm therewith forming a filtrate and a residue, wherein the residue comprises the polyester and the filtrate comprises the polyamide particles,
- filtering the polyamide particles from the filtrate over a second filter to recover the polyamide, and
- recovering the polyester for further processing for depolymerization of the polyester.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.