Sulfopolyester recovery
AssigneeEastman Chemical Company
InventorsRakesh Gupta, Allen Crain, Daniel Klosiewicz, Scott George, Kab Seo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Processes for the recovery of a sulfopolyester polymer from an aqueous dispersion and a sulfopolyester concentrate are provided. Particularly, a sulfopolyester concentrate, from which the sulfopolyester may be recovered and reused, are formed by processes such as evaporation and/or nanofiltration. Final recovery of the sulfopolyester may be achieved by further evaporation of water and/or salt precipitation. In addition, the recovered sulfopolyester and articles manufactured from the recovered sulfopolyester are also provided.
Claims82
A process for recovering a water-dispersible sulfopolyester comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing an aqueous dispersion comprising said water-dispersible sulfopolyester;
- and
- (b) recovering at least a portion of said sulfopolyester from said aqueous dispersion to produce a recovered sulfopolyester.
A process for recovering a water-dispersible sulfopolyester comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing an aqueous dispersion comprising said water-dispersible sulfopolyester;
- (b) removing water from said aqueous dispersion thereby forming a sulfopolyester concentrate having a sulfopolyester concentration at least twice that of said aqueous dispersion;
- and
- (c) recovering at least a portion of said sulfopolyester from said sulfopolyester concentrate to produce a recovered sulfopolyester.
A process for recovering a water-dispersible sulfopolyester comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming an aqueous dispersion comprising said sulfopolyester;
- (b) passing said dispersion through a nanofiltration element thereby forming a sulfopolyester concentrate having a sulfopolyester concentration that is greater than that of said dispersion;
- and
- (c) recovering at least a portion of said sulfopolyester from said sulfopolyester concentrate to produce a recovered sulfopolyester
A process for recovering a water-dispersible sulfopolyester comprising the steps of:
- (a) washing an article comprising said sulfopolyester thereby disassociating at least a portion of said sulfopolyester from said article and forming an aqueous dispersion comprising said disassociated sulfopolyester;
- (b) removing water from said aqueous dispersion to form a sulfopolyester concentrate having a sulfopolyester concentration that is greater than said aqueous dispersion;
- and
- (c) recovering at least a portion of said sulfopolyester from said sulfopolyester concentrate to produce a recovered sulfopolyester.
A process for forming a sulfopolyester concentrate comprising:
- (a) forming an aqueous dispersion comprising a sulfopolyester;
- and
- (b) removing water from said aqueous dispersion to form a sulfopolyester concentrate having a sulfopolyester concentration that is at least twice that of said aqueous dispersion.
An aqueous dispersion comprising at least about 10 weight % of a sulfopolyester recovered from an article.
A sulfopolyester recovered from an article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.