Vartega Inc.

Jordan Gray Harris

Andrew Timothy Maxey

Sean Paul Kline

Kylie Marie Van Aken

Sean Louis Hankins

Recycled carbon fibers are processed by rotational tumbling in a mixture with binder material to prepare fiber-containing particles having a dual-tapered shape and general alignment of fibers with a longitudinal direction of the particles. Bulk products including such fiber-containing particles are compounded with polymer and pelletized to prepare fiber-reinforced composite pellets, which are useful for applications such as injection molding to prepare molded products of carbon fiber-reinforced composite material with recycled carbon fibers.

Fiber-containing particles with dual-tapered shape

Methods of making and using bulk products including fiber-containing particles with dual-tapered shape

Processing sized fiber products to recover reinforcing fibers by removing fiber sizing material from the reinforcing fibers. The processing includes first treating the sized fiber product with a normally-liquid first solvent for fiber sizing material followed by removal of the first solvent from the first solid residue including reinforcing fibers. The removal of the first solvent from the continuous reinforcing fibers may include heating the fibers and/or second treating the first solid residue with a normally-gaseous material contacted with the solid residue under conditions of temperature and pressure at which the normally-gaseous material is in a liquid or supercritical fluid form. The processing may be performed in a continuous manner to recover the continuous reinforcing fibers in a continuous form.

Removal of sizing material from reinforcing fibers for recycling of reinforcing fibers

Processing fiber-reinforced composite to recover continuous reinforcing fibers in a continuous form. The processing includes first treating the composite with a normally-liquid first solvent for material of the matrix followed by removal of the first solvent from the first solid residue including reinforcing fibers. The removal of the first solvent from the continuous reinforcing fibers may heating the fibers and/or second treating the first solid residue with a normally-gaseous material contacted with the solid residue under conditions of temperature and pressure at which the normally-gaseous material is in a liquid or supercritical fluid form. The processing may be performed in a continuous manner to recover the continuous reinforcing fibers in a continuous form.

Recovery of reinforcing fibers from continuous fiber-reinforced composites

Processing reinforcing fiber products to recover reinforcing fibers by removing other material, such fiber sizing material and/or matrix material from the reinforcing fibers. The processing includes cosolvent treating the reinforcing fiber product with a cosolvent composition including a normally-liquid first solvent portion and a normally-gaseous second solvent portion under conditions of temperature and pressure at which the cosolvent composition is in the form of a single fluid phase that is a liquid or a supercritical fluid. The processing may be performed in a continuous manner to recover the continuous reinforcing fibers in a continuous form.

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Denver, CO, United States of America

Jordan Gray Harris