Processing of chemically modified cellulosic fibres
AssigneeConvatec Technologies Inc.
InventorsWayne Lee Bonnefin, Lucy Louisa Ballamy, Sarah Wroe, David Parsons, Garry Storey, Joseph Thompson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A chemically modified cellulosic fibre or filament having a moisture content of at least 7% by weight obtained by a process comprising the steps of (i) obtaining cellulosic fibres or filament and chemically modifying the cellulose by substitution to increase its absorbency; (ii) washing the fibres after step (i) in a mixture comprising water and up to 99% by weight of water-miscible organic solvent; (iii) drying the fibres to a moisture content of at least 7% by weight.
Claims19
A process for processing a cellulosic fibre or a cellulosic filament, the process comprising:
- chemically modifying the cellulose of the cellulosic fibre or the cellulosic filament by substitution to increase absorbency;
- washing the chemically modified cellulosic fibre or chemically modified cellulosic filament in a wash solution comprising up to 99% by weight of an organic solvent and at least 95% by weight of the organic solvent;
- and
- adjusting the washed fibre or washed filament to a moisture content of at least 7% by weight.
A process for producing a non-woven web of chemically modified cellulosic fibres, the process comprising:
- neutralizing chemically modified cellulosic fibres;
- finishing the chemically modified cellulosic fibres with a solution comprising less than 99% by weight of an organic solvent to produce finished chemically modified cellulosic fibres;
- adjusting the moisture content of the finished chemically modified cellulosic fibres to a moisture content from 11% to 20% by weight;
- processing the finished chemically modified cellulosic fibres into the non-woven web of chemically modified cellulosic fibres, and wherein the moisture content of the non-woven web of chemically modified cellulosic fibres is from 11% to 20% by weight;
- and
- packaging the non-woven web of chemically modified cellulosic fibres in a pouch that maintains the moisture content of the non-woven web of chemically modified cellulosic fibres in a sterile environment, and wherein the packaged non-woven web of chemically modified cellulosic fibres has a tensile strength of at least 3N per cm,
- wherein the solution comprises at least 95% by weight of the organic solvent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.