Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes – Utilizing special inert gaseous atmosphere or flushing mold...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-27
2002-08-20
Eashoo, Mark (Department: 1732)
Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes
Utilizing special inert gaseous atmosphere or flushing mold...
C264S101000, C264S141000, C264S571000, C264S920000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06436322
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns, first, a method of producing polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) recyclate from flake, and, second, a product thereof.
PET products are widely used, as beverage bottles, for high-grade sheet and fibers, and in medical supplies, especially syringes and containers for instance. Attempts have been made to include the material in the recycling process as far as possible, but so far without avail in that it has been impossible to entirely decompose an residual contaminants in the product. The current commercially employed methods allow the use of PET recyclate only in applications with low-grade demands. Where higher quality is required, as in the manufacture of bottles, a little recycled PET may be blended with a lot more of the non-recycled material. Bottles with tri-laminate walls are also known, the innermost layer blown from non-recycled PET and the core made of the recycled material.
When PET products have to be made entirely of recyclate, the material must contain acetaldehyde, if indeed at all, in the ppm (mg/kg) range. Flake obtained from PET products in the laboratory are contaminated, with 1,1,1-trichloro-ethane, toluene, clorobenzene, phenyl cyclohexane, and benzophenone. These contaminants must be eliminated or entirely decomposed during the recycling process.
A method of preparing thermally stressed polyester waste for re-use in the production of high-quality PET's is known from German 4 034 459 A1. The waste is chopped, cleaned, sorted, and recondensed. The chips are melted and the melt is filtered, cooled, and granulated. The solid granulate is recondensed to increase its molecular mass. The condensed granulate is forwarded to an extruder and extruded along with previously unused raw material into sheet, sections, or billets. The solid phase is condensed in a tumble drier at a vacuum of 0.1 mbar for approximately 12 hours at 200-250° C. Essential to this method is the re-use of polyester waste from various sources, and the usual loss of mechanical and optical properties can be extensively compensated by the recondensation. The polyester waste is cleaned by filtering out contaminant particles of at least 5 to [TEXT MISSING?—Translator] &mgr;m in size and by recondensing the solids in a vacuum. Still, this method cannot be applied to the production of PET recyclate without the addition of considerable previously unused raw material if it is to be used as a single starting material for a product that is to come into direct contact with foodstuffs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is accordingly a method of producing from contaminated flake polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) recyclate containing acetaldehyde, if any, only in the ppm (mg/kg) range.
This object is attained in accordance with the present invention in a generic method in that the flake is extruded and granulated in a vacuum and the solids then recondensed in a vacuum.
Extruding plastics and treating them by recondensation, of the solids for example, is basically known. Essential to the present invention, however, is the combination of the two procedures to produce PET recyclate. The method in accordance with the present invention is in two steps. In the first, the flake is extruded, eliminating most of the volatile byproducts, acetaldehyde and oligomers for instance. Extrusion and granulation are carried out first to provide the intermediate product with a well-defined shape and size and to ensure a relatively uniform viscosity. The following step, recondensation of the solids in a vacuum, will decompose almost all the remaining contaminants, and the result can be directly employed as a recycled starting material for the manufacture of products from PET. It will no longer be necessary to mix the recyclate with freshly compounded PET. The recyclate will itself alone be appropriate for manufacturing products that come into direct contact with foodstuffs.
In one embodiment of the method in accordance with the present invention, the preparation of the granulate from the flake and/or the subsequent treatment of the granulate is accompanied by stripping. An inert gas, nitrogen for instance, and/or steam is accordingly homogeneously injected to create a larger surface. The volatile byproducts, the contaminants, will distribute themselves more uniformly and can then be optimally eliminated.
The flake is preferably extruded and granulated in an extruder with a screw, or preferably with two screws, with differentiated gas-venting sections. Three gas-venting sections can in particular be employed. It is of advantage to generate the vacuums in the two upstream gas-venting sections with liquid-circulating pumps and the vacuum in the third section with a Roots pump. This approach ensures an especially low level of pressure in the final gas-venting section.
The solids can be recondensed below the granulate's melting point, and especially at 220-250° C. They can be recondensed at a pressure of 0.1-0.01 mbar. The recondensation can in particular take 10 to 12 hours. In one particular embodiment of the present invention, the solids in the granulate are recondensed in a rotating drum, especially a tumble drier. The drum can in particular operate at 1 to 5 and especially at 2 rpm, ensuring gentle and uniform blending of the granulate at a prescribed viscosity, which is of decisive significance for attaining the desired parameters in the finished PET.
The particular field of application of the method in accordance with the present invention is the economical recycling of PET beverage bottles to the extent that they can be considered a raw product 100% returnable to the production process. It is for example conceivable for the process to produce high-grade plastic sheet and fiber and PET medical supplies.
The method of recycling in accordance with the present invention will now be described with the ppm-free and acetaldehyde-free recovery of PET beverage bottles as an example. Returned-empty bottles are recovered, compacted, sorted, washed, peripherally treated in various ways, and ground up into flake, which represents the starting material for the method in accordance with the present invention. The flake is extruded, stripped, and granulated at the prescribed temperature range in an extruder with screws and differentiated gasventing sections and corresponding vacuums of the configuration hereintofore described. Most of the volatile byproducts are eliminate during this step. Any contaminants remaining in the product are entirely decomposed by the solids recondensation and stripping that characterize the method. The granulate is provided in accordance with the temperature, vacuum, processing duration, and stripping with the characteristics required for PET-bottle production in a tumble drier with accessories appropriate for ensuring uniform blending and constant viscosity.
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Pfeiffer Vacuum, “Vacuum Pumping Station for Extruders”, www.pfeiffer-vacuum.com/rootsapplnts.html.
Eashoo Mark
Fogiel Max
Ohl Apparatebau & Verfahrenstechnik GmbH
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