The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 17, 1993
Filed:
Mar. 12, 1992
Etheridge O Oakley, Matthews, NC (US);
Frederick J Gorman, Charlotte, NC (US);
James D Mason, Alexandria, VA (US);
Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Somerville, NJ (US);
Abstract
A process for recycling polyester/cotton blends by reducing the polyester to a lower dialkyl ester of terephthalic acid and reducing the cotton to cellulose acetate. The novel process to recycle the polyester/cotton blends includes the steps of (a) providing a blend of polyester and cotton fibers; (b) subjecting the polyester/cotton blend to a first alcoholysis in a bath containing an alcohol and an effective catalyst at a suitable temperature until the polyester is depolymerized to a lower molecular weight polyester oligomer; (c) remove the cotton fibers from the alcoholic solution of oligomers and process the recovered cotton fibers by pulping and acetylyzing processes to recover the cellulose acetate; and (d) alcoholyze the low molecular weight polyester oligomers to produce the lower dialkyl ester of terephthalic acid.