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US 10,881,077 B2Granted
Low density pet litters and methods of making such pet litters
AssigneeSociete des Produits Nestle S.A.
InventorsNathan Foster Huck, Colin Muscroft, David Odell Leinart
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Abstract
Compacting expanded perlite fines in the presence of a small amount of binder (starch and/or clay) and water, followed by drying, produces particles with low density, good integrity, and surprisingly higher absorption by volume than non-compacted expanded perlite or non-swelling clay. Furthermore, addition of a small amount of clumping agent (e.g., guar gum) to the compacted granules results in a clumping litter with low density, good integrity and comparable clumping ability to traditional clay clumping litter.
Claims11
A method of making a pet litter comprising:
- compacting a material comprising expanded perlite fines to form a compacted material comprising expanded perlite fines, wherein the compacting is performed at a pressure from about 500 to about 1,300 psi;
- breaking the compacted material comprising expanded perlite fines to form particles of the compacted material comprising expanded perlite fines;
- separating the particles which have a size within a predetermined size range from a remainder of the particles;
- drying the particles which have the size within the predetermined size range;
- and
- using the dried particles as at least a portion of the pet litter, wherein the pet litter does not contain activated carbon.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.