Eastman Chemical Company

Olin Corporation

Donald Wayne Monk

Melvin Glenn Mitchell

Eric Eugene Ellery

Charles Kelly Crosswhite

A thermoplastic film is comprised of an admixture of 20 to 85 weight percent cellulose ester fibers and 80 to 15 weight percent cellulose fibers and a functional amount of a cellulose ester plasticizer. The film has an opacity in the range of 10 to 85 percent, a thickness in the range of 0.002 to 0.010 inch, a porosity in the range of 0.0 to 50 ml/min/cm.sup.2 at a 1.0 centibar pressure drop and a compostability of less than 65 days fragmentation. The film is prepared by making a paper comprised of 20 to 85 weight percent cellulose ester fibers and 80 to 15 weight percent cellulose fibers and saturating the paper with a functional amount of a cellulose ester plasticizer. The saturated paper is subjected to heat and pressure for a period of time to obtain the thermoplastic film. The thermoplastic film is prepared without the use of solvents and is economically attractive since it is compatible with conventional paper printing materials and techniques.

Films made from paper containing cellulose ester fiber

An efficient process for recovering raw materials from scrap coated and uncoated cellophane, including usable cellulose, coating resin, and softener, comprising (a) shredding the scrap cellophane, (b) extracting softener and coating resin jointly by washing the shredded film with a tetrahydrofuran solution containing from 2 to 15% by weight water in an extractor, (c) removing the spent wash solution containing softener, coating resin, tetrahydrofuran, and water and rapidly evaporating tetrahydrofuran therefrom while allowing the coating resin to inherently precipitate from the softener, (d) drying the shredded cellophane after removal of the spent wash solution to recover retained tetrahydrofuran and pure cellulose, (e) recycling tetrahydrofuran obtained from the flash evaporating and drying steps to the extractor, and (f) separating the precipitated coating resin from the softener. The recovered cellulose can be used in many ways, such as recycled directly back into the process for the manufacture of cellophane. Recovered softener and coating resin are also suitable for reuse in the production of cellophane.

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Brevard, NC, United States of America

Donald Wayne Monk