Mineral filler compositions, methods for making mineral filler compositions and carpets manufactured from same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9943856-B2
Application number	US-201414215906-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2014
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed are calcium carbonate mineral filler compositions, wherein the composition has a mineral content characterized by a weight ratio of calcium to magnesium of at least 10:1, and wherein the composition is at least substantially free of calcium oxide. Also disclosed are methods for making a mineral filler composition from a renewable biological source of calcium carbonate. Also disclosed are carpets comprising the mineral filler from renewable biological source produced by the methods disclosed herein.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for making a mineral filler composition, comprising the steps of
a) providing a renewable biological calcium carbonate source, wherein the renewable biological calcium carbonate source comprises at least one of egg shells, oyster shells, and mollusk shells;
b) heat treating the renewable biological calcium carbonate source under conditions effective to remove residual organic material; and
c) size reducing the heat treated renewable biological calcium carbonate source to provide a particulate mineral filler composition having a predetermined particle size distribution;
wherein the mineral filler composition has a total quantifiable metal composition and
wherein at least 85 weight % of the total quantifiable metal composition is calcium.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 90 weight % of the total quantifiable metal composition is calcium.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 95 weight % of the total quantifiable metal composition is calcium.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a slurry of the particulate mineral filler composition in water has a pH less than or equal to about 10.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined particle size distribution is characterized by a D (100) less than 74 microns and D (50) less than 44 microns.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined particle size distribution is characterized by a median particle size D (50) in the range of from 7 to 11 microns.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composition is free of magnesium.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a raw slurry of the renewable biological calcium carbonate source in water before step b) and homogenizing the raw slurry to provide a substantially uniform particle size.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising drying the homogenized raw slurry to at least substantially remove water.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conditions effective to remove residual organic material comprise heating treating the renewable biological calcium carbonate source at a temperature of at least 500 degrees C.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conditions effective to remove residual organic material comprise heating treating the renewable biological calcium carbonate source at a temperature of at least 600 degrees C.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conditions effective to remove residual organic material comprise heating treating the renewable biological calcium carbonate source at a temperature of at least 700 degrees C.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the renewable biological calcium carbonate source comprises egg shells.

Assignees

• Shaw Ind Group Inc
• Columbia Insurance Co

Inventors

• Mastrangelo John Charles

Classifications

• D06N2205/10

  Particulate form, e.g. powder, granule · CPC title

• C01P2004/03

  obtained by SEM · CPC title

• B02C19/0056

  specially adapted for specific materials not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• Y10T428/2982

  Particulate matter [e.g., sphere, flake, etc.] · CPC title

• C01P2004/62

  Submicrometer sized, i.e. from 0.1-1 micrometer · CPC title