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US 6,855,173 B2Granted
Use of absorbent materials to separate water from lipophilic fluid
AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorsBruno Johannes Ehrnsperger, Paul Amaat France, Arseni V. Radomyselski, Jean Wevers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the use of absorbent materials for separating water from an emulsion comprising water and lipophilic fluid. The methods, systems, and compositions of the present invention expose the emulsion to absorbent materials such that water is absorbed out of the emulsion in order to facilitate the recovery of the lipophilic fluid.
Claims16
A process for treating a fabric comprising the steps of:
- a. exposing a fabric to a lipophilic fluid and water, said lipophilic fluid being selected from the group consisting of linear or cyclic siloxanes, perfluorinated amines, C6 or higher diols, polyol esters, and mixtures thereof;
- b. recovering said lipophilic fluid and said water in the form of a lipophilic fluid and water emulsion from said fabric;
- c. exposing said lipophilic fluid and water emulsion to an absorbent matrix comprising an absorbent material comprising a polymer selected from the group consisting of surface cross-linked polyacrylate, surface cross-linked polyacrylamide and mixtures thereof, in order to effect the removal of said water from said lipophilic fluid and water emulsion such that the lipophilic fluid is recovered as collected lipophilic fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.