US 2010/0305301 A1Published application

Method And Apparatus For Elastomer Finishing

AssigneeExxonMobil Chemical Patents Inc.

InventorsRichard C. Yeh, Yu Feng Wang, Jean-Paul Swoboda, Oscar K. Broussard, III

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Abstract

In the production of elastomers the product obtained from the polymerization process is often in the form of a slurry. Described herein are an apparatus and a process for “finishing” the elastomer, i.e., dewatering and drying the elastomer. The process comprises the steps of obtaining a slurry comprising water and elastomer; passing the slurry through a first dewatering device to produce a wet elastomer crumb, wherein the first dewatering device comprises two dewatering extruders in parallel; passing the wet elastomer crumb through a second dewatering device; and then passing the wet elastomer crumb through a drying device to produce a dried elastomer crumb.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method for drying an elastomer comprising the steps of:

a. obtaining a slurry comprising an elastomer and 30.0 to 70.0 wt % water based on the weight of the slurry;
b. passing the slurry through a first dewatering device comprising at least two dewatering extruders in parallel to produce a wet elastomer crumb, wherein the wet elastomer crumb comprises 3.0 to 20.0 wt % water based on the weight of the wet elastomer crumb;
c. passing the wet elastomer crumb through a second dewatering device to produce a partially dried elastomer crumb, wherein the partially dried elastomer crumb comprises 2.0 to 10.0 wt % water based on the weight of the partially dried elastomer crumb;
and
d. passing the partially dried elastomer crumb through a drying device to produce a dried elastomer crumb, wherein the dried elastomer crumb comprises less than or equal to 1.0 wt % water based on the weight of the dried elastomer crumb;
wherein the method is capable of producing at least 6 tons of dried elastomer crumb per hour.

3 more elements

A method for drying a temperature sensitive elastomer comprising the steps of:

a. obtaining a slurry comprising a temperature sensitive elastomer and 70.0 to 99.0 wt % water based on the weight of the slurry;
b. splitting the slurry into at least two streams;
c. passing each stream through separate dewatering screens to obtain streams of partially dewatered slurry, wherein the partially dewatered slurry comprises 30.0 to 70.0 wt % water based on the weight of the slurry;
d. passing the streams through a first dewatering device to produce streams of wet elastomer crumb, wherein the wet elastomer crumb comprises 5.0 to 18.0 wt % water based on the weight of the wet elastomer crumb, wherein the first dewatering device comprises at least two dewatering extruders in parallel and wherein each stream is passed through a separate dewatering extruder;
e. combining the streams of wet elastomer crumb;
f. passing the combined stream of wet elastomer crumb through a second dewatering device to form a partially dried elastomer crumb comprising 2.0 to 10.0 wt % water based on the weight of the partially dried elastomer crumb;
and
g. passing the partially dried elastomer crumb through a drying device at a temperature of 200° C. or less to produce a dried elastomer crumb, wherein the dried elastomer crumb comprises less than or equal to 1.0 wt % water based on the weight of the dried elastomer crumb;
wherein the method is capable of producing at least 8 tons of dried elastomer crumb per hour.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.