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The Dow Chemical Company

Luis C Mulford

Gerald M Lancaster

Wilhelm E Walles

Solid organic polymers, for example, rubber and plastic particles, which may include coated papers, to especially include as recovered from recycle streams, can be made to have a sulfonated outer layer by treatment with a reactant gas containing sulfur trioxide. A silo apparatus can be employed to make these sulfonated particles, wherein untreated particles fall through the silo which is provided with a reactant gas supply. The sulfonated particles may optionally be neutralized, for example, with moist ammonia. These sulfonated particles can be used in articles of manufacture such as aggregates in cements, organic resins, cellulosics, and so forth, with beneficial properties being imparted to the composite. When used in a Portland cement, for example, increased performance concrete can result. Also, sulfonated sheets may be correspondingly employed for the sulfonated particles.

Skin sulfonated particles in matrices

Heavy metal values can be removed and separated from a substance having a suitable amount of the heavy metal values by contacting the substance with a fluid containing sulfur trioxide to prepare a corresponding heavy metal sulfate, which is followed by leaching the sulfate therefrom and separating the leached sulfate. For example, mercury metal, oxide or sulfide, or methyl mercury, such as can be found in used fluorescent lamps and household batteries, in industrial flue sands, fly ash, contaminated soils, etc., can be removed by contact of crushed lamps or batteries, samples of the flue sands, fly ash, or contaminated soils, etc., with a mixture of sulfur trioxide in air to form mercuric sulfate, which is leached with a suitable leaching agent such as water, aqueous hydrochloric acid, hot dilute sulfuric acid, or concentrated sodium chloride solution, and sequestered by use of an ion exchange resin or precipitated as sulfides for further isolation of mercury value.

Removal of mercury heavy metal values employing sulfur trioxide

Olefin interpolymers having carbon monoxide polymerized as a comonomer therein are found to be useful as an HF-bondable layer between various substrates, including, e.g., a foam layer and a surface layer, whereby laminated foams are obtained.

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Midland, MI, United States of America

Luis C Mulford