Nonwoven web material including fibers formed of recycled polyester, and methods for producing
AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorsArman Ashraf, Ronald Thomas Gorley
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Abstract
A nonwoven web material including fibers formed of a polyolefin and a polyester is disclosed. The fibers may include fine fibers produced by, for example, a meltblowing process. The polyolefin may be polypropylene and the polyester may be polylactic acid. The polylactic acid may be obtained and included by recycling scrap nonwoven material containing a polylactic acid component, hydrolyzing the polylactic acid component to reduce its viscosity, blending the hydrolyzed polylactic acid with a polyolefin resin, and melt-spinning the blended material to form fibers. A related process is disclosed.
Claims21
A nonwoven web material comprising monocomponent fine fibers spun from a blend of resins including polypropylene and hydrolyzed polyester obtained from recycled scrap material comprising the polyester and a polyolefin.
A nonwoven web comprising fine fibers derived from recycled materials and made according to a method comprising the steps of:
- procuring scrap material comprising a scrap polylactic acid component and a scrap polyolefin component;
- hydrolyzing the scrap polylactic acid component to reduce its viscosity;
- blending the hydrolyzed scrap polylactic acid with a polypropylene resin to form a resin blend;
- melt-spinning the resin blend to form monocomponent fine fibers and directing the fine fibers toward, and accumulating the fine fibers on, a moving surface.
A nonwoven web formed at least in part of fibers comprising polylactic acid obtained from recycled scrap comprising the polylactic acid and a polyolefin, wherein the polylactic acid has been hydrolyzed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.