Method for recycling polymers and product produced from said method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9688833-B2
Application number	US-201314655373-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 24, 2013
Priority date	Dec 28, 2012
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a recycling method for obtaining a polymer from “post-consumer” materials, and to a material and a part consisting of polymers obtained from the recycling of used polymers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for recycling polymers from ground “post-consumer” materials, the method comprising a step for extracting volatile organic compounds present within said polymers, wherein said volatile organic compounds are extracted by contacting the ground materials with a solution comprising at least a wetting agent and/or an agent for solubilizing fatty acid esters, at a temperature between 15° C. and 5° C. below the boiling point of said solution.

2. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said wetting agent is an alcohol.

3. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said wetting agent is a C1-C5 aliphatic alcohol.

4. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein the alcohol content of said solution is between 4% and 25% by volume.

5. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said agent for solubilizing said fatty acid esters is an acid added to said solution so that the solution pH is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 5.

6. The method for recycling according to claim 5 , wherein said acid is selected from the group of mineral acids.

7. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein fragments of the ground material have a thickness of less than 5 mm and have a surface area of between 1 cm 2 and 4 cm 2 .

8. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said volatile organic compounds to be extracted are molecules of molar mass less than 400 g/mol.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymers to be recycled are polyolefins (homopolymers or copolymers of olefins).

10. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said extraction is carried out under atmospheric pressure.

11. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said solution is in liquid state.

12. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer resulting from said method is the same as the polymer contained in said “post-consumer” material subjected to said method.

13. The material obtained from the method according to claim 1 .

14. The part manufactured in the material according to claim 13 .

15. The method for recycling according to claim 3 , wherein the alcohol content of said solution is between 4% and 25% by volume.

16. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein fragments of the ground material have a thickness of less than 5 mm and have a surface area of between 1 cm 2 and 4 cm 2 .

17. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein fragments of the ground material have a thickness of less than 5 mm and have a surface area of between 1 cm 2 and 4 cm 2 .

18. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said volatile organic compounds to be extracted are molecules of molar mass less than 400 g/mol.

19. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said volatile organic compounds to be extracted are molecules of molar mass less than 400 g/mol.

20. The method for recycling according to claim 2 , wherein said wetting agent is a C1-C3 alcohol.

21. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said wetting agent is a denatured alcohol containing a mixture of C1, C2 and C3 alcohols.

22. The method for recycling according to claim 1 , wherein said agent for solubilizing said fatty acid esters is an acid added to said solution so that the solution pH is between 4 and 5.

23. The method for recycling according to claim 5 , wherein said acid is hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid.

24. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymers to be recycled is polypropylene.

Assignees

• Plastic Omnium Cie

Inventors

• Viot Frederic
• Le Bot Philippe
• Gueneron Francois

Classifications

• Y02W30/62

  Plastics recycling; Rubber recycling · CPC title

• C08J11/02 Primary

  of solvents, plasticisers or unreacted monomers · CPC title

• B29B2017/0293

  Dissolving the materials in gases or liquids · CPC title

• C08J2323/12

  Polypropene · CPC title

• C08J11/08

  using selective solvents for polymer components · CPC title