Method for belching water from swollen superabsorbent polymers and method for recycling sanitary absorbent articles using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9650488-B2
Application number	US-201314443246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2013
Priority date	Nov 16, 2012
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for removing water from swollen superabsorbent polymers in a gel state, and a method for recycling sanitary absorbent articles using the same. According to the method of the present invention, water is removed from swollen superabsorbent polymers by immersing swollen superabsorbent polymers in a gel state into a composition wherein sea water that is readily available and calcium chloride that is readily available at low cost are mixed for a specified period of time. The method makes it possible to easily and economically remove water from swollen SAPs in a gel state. Thus, the method provides an economical and environmentally-friendly means for recycling sanitary absorbent articles comprising an absorbent that consists of SAP and cellulose pulp, after being used for absorbing human waste.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for belching water from superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) swollen with water from human waste, the method comprising:
immersing the water-swollen SAP in a gel state, taken from a sanitary absorbent article, into a composition for removing the human-waste-based water, wherein the composition includes sea water and 0.5 to 3% by weight of calcium chloride based on the weight of sea water.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the swollen SAP in a gel state absorbs 40 to 1,000 g of moisture per 1 g of SAP.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sea water is natural sea water that does not undergo further processing or purification, or artificial sea water.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sea water comprises 2.0 to 4.0% by weight of salts based on the total weight of sea water.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the sea water comprises 1.5 to 3.1% by weight of sodium chloride and 0.4 to 0.8% by weight of alkaline earth ion, based on the total weight of sea water.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the composition for removing moisture has a pH ranging from 7.0 to 8.0.

7. A method for recycling sanitary absorbent articles wherein water from human waste is removed using the method according to claim 1 .

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the sanitary absorbent article comprises an absorbent consisting of superabsorbent polymer and cellulose pulp.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the sanitary absorbent article is a diaper.

Assignees

• Kimberly Clark Co
• Yuhan-Kimberly Ltd

Inventors

• Park Jik Hwan
• Chin Jea Seung
• Lee Ho Sun
• Lee Won Young

Classifications

• A61L15/22 Primary

  containing macromolecular materials · CPC title

• A61F2013/530481

  having superabsorbent materials, i.e. highly absorbent polymer gel materials · CPC title

• A61F13/49

  specially adapted to be worn around the waist, e.g. diapers, nappies · CPC title

• A61F13/15268

  reusable (with separable parts A61F13/505) · CPC title

• C08J2300/14

  Water soluble or water swellable polymers, e.g. aqueous gels · CPC title