Polymer recyclate processes and products

Abstract

A method for processing a polyolefin recyclate comprises adding the polyolefin recyclate to a reaction zone and implementing visbreaking conditions in the reaction zone to produce a treated polymer melt. The visbreaking conditions comprise adding specific energy to the polyolefin recyclate sufficient to initiate visbreaking but insufficient to initiate degradation of the polyolefin recyclate and reducing pressure on at least a portion of the reaction zone to less than atmospheric pressure to produce a treated polymer melt and an off-gas byproduct stream. The polyolefin recyclate has a first melt index (MI1), the treated polymer melt has a second melt index (MI2), and MI2/MI1 is greater than or equal to 3.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.