Daicel Chemical Industries, Ltd.

Shinto Kogio, Ltd.

Katsumi Hirao

Masanori Itoh

Atsunobu Kiyose

Kazuyuki Nishikawa

Hiroshi Suzuki

Kazuhiko Mizuguchi

The composition comprising a cellulose ester including at least 10 weight % of a low-substituted cellulose ester having an average degree of substitu- tion not exceeding 2.15 and giving a 4-week decomposition rate of at least 60 weight % as determined using the amount of evolution of carbon dioxide as an indicator in accordance with ASTM 125209-91. The composition may contains a plasticizer, an aliphatic polyester, a photolysis accelerator such as anatase type titanium dioxide or a biodegradation accelerator such as organic acids and their esters. The low-substituted cellulose ester may be a cellulose ester having an average degree of polymerization from 50 to 250, an average degree of substitution from 1.0 to 2.15 and a residual alkali metal/alkaline earth metal-to-residual sulfuric acid equivalent ratio of 0.1 to 1.1. The biodegradable cellulose ester composition is suitable for the manufacture of various articles including fibrous articles such as tobacco filters.

Biodegradable cellulose ester composition and article

The composition comprising a cellulose ester including at least 10 weight % of a low-substituted cellulose ester having an average degree of substitution not exceeding 2.15 and giving a 4-week decomposition rate of at least 60 weight % as determined using the amount of evolution of carbon dioxide as an indicator in accordance with ASTM 125209-91. The composition may contains a plasticizer, an aliphatic polyester, a photolysis accelerator such as anatase type titanium dioxide or a biodegradation accelerator such as organic acids and their esters. The low-substituted cellulose ester may be a cellulose ester having an average degree of polymerization from 50 to 250, an average degree of substitution from 1.0 to 2.15 and a residual alkali metal/alkaline earth metal-to-residual sulfuric acid equivalent ratio of 0.1 to 1.1. The biodegradable cellulose ester composition is suitable for the manufacture of various articles including fibrous articles such as tobacco filters.

Foundry sand grains coated with a binder composition which comprises 100 wt. parts of methylolmelamine or alkylated methylolmelamine and 5 to 100 wt. parts of a water-soluble organic compound having a hydroxyl group. The sand grains coated with the composition are effective in a low-temperature foundry, especially for forming a core in an aluminum-alloy foundry.

Binder coated foundry sand grains

A binder for casting sand of the present invention comprises 5-95 wt. % of cellulose acetate and 5-95 wt. % of a thermosetting resin precondensate such as an alkylated methylolmelamine, alkylated methylolurea or a mixture of them, and it is used particularly for the casting carried out at a relatively low casting temperature. Up to about 50% of cellulose acetate may be replaced with an acetate of an aliphatic polyhydric alcohol or an alkyl phthalate. In the resin-coated grains of sand of the present invention, the grains of sand are coated with a binder comprising 5-95 wt. % of cellulose acetate and 5-95 wt. % of a thermosetting resin precondensate.

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Akashi, Japan

Katsumi Hirao