Separating devulcanized rubber
AssigneeRubreco Inc.
InventorsBrian Harrison, Hurdon Hooper, Ross Gilders, Leo Cheung, Matthew Ness
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for separating a polymer from carbon black in devulcanized rubber, the method comprising steps of inserting devulcanized rubber into a bath of a solvent, dissolving a polymer out of the devulcanized rubber and into a solution of the solvent and the polymer, removing the solution from the bath without disturbing an un-dissolved residue comprising carbon black, and recovering the un-dissolved residue.
Claims20
A method of separating components of devulcanized rubber, the method comprising:
- bringing the devulcanized rubber into contact with a solvent without agitating the solvent;
- allowing the solvent to dissolve polymer from the devulcanized rubber;
- allowing carbon black particles to remain un-suspended in the polymer-solvent solution;
- removing the polymer-solvent solution without disturbing the un-suspended carbon black particles;
- and
- removing the carbon black.
A method of continuously separating components of devulcanized rubber, the method comprising:
- placing the devulcanized rubber into a plurality of reaction trays, each having an inlet port located on a top of the reaction tray, an outlet port located on a bottom of the reaction tray and a reaction section located between the inlet port and the outlet port;
- coupling the plurality of reaction trays together to form a first reaction stack by connecting the outlet port of a respective reaction tray to the inlet port of another respective reaction tray;
- introducing a solvent into the inlet port of a reaction tray of the first reaction stack;
- allowing the solvent to pass through the plurality of reaction trays of the first reaction stack;
- coupling a second plurality of reaction trays together to form a second reaction stack;
- coupling the inlet port of a reaction tray of the second reaction stack to the outlet port of a reaction tray of the first reaction stack;
- and
- introducing the polymer-solvent solution into the second reaction stack from the outlet port of the reaction tray of the first reaction stack.
A reaction system for continuously separating components of devulcanized rubber, the system comprising:
- a first reaction stack for holding a first portion of the devulcanized rubber to be separated, the first reaction stack comprising an inlet port located at a top section of the first reaction stack and an outlet port located at a bottom section of the first reaction stack, the inlet port of the first reaction stack for receiving a solvent for extracting polymer from the first portion of the devulcanized rubber;
- and
- a second reaction stack for holding a second portion of the devulcanized rubber to be separated, the second reaction comprising an inlet port located at a top section of the second reaction stack and an outlet port located at a bottom section of the second reaction stack, the inlet port of the second reaction stack coupled to the outlet port of the first reaction stack and for receiving the polymer/solvent solution from the first reaction stack.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.