Hybrid sustainable composites and methods of making and using thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9809702-B2
Application number	US-201415022742-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2014
Priority date	Sep 17, 2013
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

Composites containing one or more synthetic plastics, such as thermoplastics, one or more natural materials, such as plant/tree fibers, and biochar and/or torrefied material are described herein. The composite can contain additional additives, such as reinforcing agents and/or fibers, compatibilizers, etc. The composites have improved mechanical and/or physical properties, such as strength, impact strength, rigidity/modulus, heat deflection temperature, moldability/melt flow index, renewability, and lower cost compared to composites that do not contain the biochar and/or torrefied material. The presence of the biochar and/or torrefied material also serves to remove the odor often associated with natural fibers and other additives.

First claim

We claim:

1. A composite comprising one or more synthetic plastics, one or more synthetic fibers, and a biochar and/or torrefied material, wherein the one or more synthetic fibers comprise glass fiber or carbon fiber.

2. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the one or more synthetic plastics comprise thermoplastics.

3. The composite of claim 2 , wherein the concentration of the one or more synthetic fibers is from about 2% to about 15% by weight.

4. The composition of claim 2 , wherein the one or more synthetic plastics are polyolefins.

5. The composite of claim 4 , wherein the one or more polyolefins is polypropylene.

6. The composite of claim 4 , wherein the one or more polyolefins is homopolymer polypropylene, or co-polymer polypropylene.

7. The composite of claim 2 , wherein the one or more synthetic plastics is polyvinyl chloride.

8. The composite of claim 2 , wherein the one or more synthetic plastics is polystyrene.

9. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the composite further comprises one or more natural materials.

10. The composite of claim 9 , wherein the one or more natural materials is a plant fiber selected from the group of fibers consisting of: cotton, cotton stalks, jute, kenaf, miscanthus, reed, switch grass, flax, hemp, ramie, sisal, coir, talipot palm, pineapple, olive tree, almond tree, corn husk, corn stovers, bagasse, banana, wheat straw, rice straw, oat hulls, sorghum straw, barley straw, viscose, and soft-wood kraft.

11. The composite of claim 10 , wherein the concentration of the plant fiber is from about 5% to about 50% by weight.

12. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the biochar and/or torrefied material is from about 2% to about 20% by weight.

13. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the composite further comprises one or more additional reinforcing agents, compatibilizers, or a combination of reinforcing agents and compatibilizers.

14. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the composite further comprises one or more of the following materials selected from the group consisting of impact modifiers, maleate-derived polyolefins, organic fillers, and inorganic fillers.

15. The composite of claim 14 , wherein the inorganic fillers are selected from the group consisting of talc, calcium carbonate, clay, plant-derived materials and combinations thereof.

16. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the density of the composite is less than 1.07 g/cm 3 .

17. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the melt flow index of the composite is at least about 10 to 75 g/10 min.

18. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the composite is devoid of carbon black, talc or both carbon black and talc.

19. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the one or more synthetic plastics include recycled synthetic plastics produced from municipal solid waste.

20. A method of making the composite of claim 1 , the method comprising co-extruding the one or more synthetic plastics with the one or more synthetic fibers and the biochar and/or torrefied material.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the one or more synthetic plastics are fed into the extruder through a first feed arm and the one or more synthetic fibers and the biochar and/or torrefied material are fed into the extruder through a second feed arm.

22. An article of manufacture comprising the composite of claim 1 .

23. The article of claim 22 , wherein the article is an auto part.

24. The article of claim 22 , wherein the article is a building material.

25. The article of claim 22 , wherein the article is a consumer product.

26. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the composites include impact modifiers, wherein the impact modifier is selected from the group consisting of: ethylene terpolymer, ethylene-acrylic ester-glycidyl methacrylateterpolymer and a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Univ Guelph

Inventors

• Mohanty Amar
• Misra Manjursi
• Rodriguez-Uribe Arturo
• Vivekanandhan Singaravelu

Classifications

• C08L23/14 Primary

  Copolymers of propene (C08L23/16 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C08K7/02

  Fibres or whiskers · CPC title

• B29C48/297

  at several locations, e.g. using several hoppers or using a separate additive feeding · CPC title

• B29C2948/92209

  Temperature · CPC title

• B29C2948/92019

  Pressure · CPC title