JP-7854971-B2 - Process for polyester regeneration by adding a reactor

JP7854971B2JP 7854971 B2JP7854971 B2JP 7854971B2JP-7854971-B2

Inventors

ジョシ，タルン
シディックイ，ミューティブ
ハーマン，クラウス
ブラッドナム，ジェリー
ブラウン，ショーン
ラジーム，モハメッド
バレンバーグ，ウィリアムジェイ．
バラカット，ニコラスピー．

Assignees

オクタルエスエイオーシーエフゼットシー，ソルタネイトオブオマーン

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20230818
Priority Date: 20200304

Claims (13)

A method for regenerating polyester in a continuous process, wherein, once the continuous process is started, it enables the continuous production of recycled polyester . The aforementioned method, The present invention provides a feedstock for recycled polyester to the continuous process, supplying the feedstock for recycled polyester to the depolymerization and/or polymerization reactors in a continuous reactor stream, wherein the feedstock for recycled polyester is polyester particles, off-spec polyester flakes, off-spec polyester resin, or other forms of polyester; The present invention provides a PET depolymerizer to the continuous process, providing the PET depolymerizer to the depolymerization reaction vessel and/or the polymerization reaction vessel in a continuous reactor stream, wherein the PET depolymerizer is one or more selected from the group consisting of water, acidic water, alkaline water, methanol, aqueous methanol, ethylene glycol, and aqueous ethylene glycol; The PET depolymerizer is made to mix with the recycled polyester feedstock, thereby depolymerizing the recycled polyester feedstock via glycolysis, methanolysis, or hydrolysis to obtain a depolymerized polyester monomer; Supplying a polyester precursor to the continuous process and providing it to the polymerization reaction vessel, wherein the polyester precursor is supplied such that it is mixed with the depolymerized polyester monomer; Following the depolymerization of the recycled polyester, the PET depolymerizing agent is removed from the polymerization reaction vessel; After removing the PET depolymerizing agent, the depolymerized polyester monomer and the polyester precursor are polymerized in the polymerization reaction vessel to form a regenerated polyester. Equipped with, The raw material for the recycled polyester is depolymerized in the depolymerization reaction vessel, and the raw material for the recycled polyester is depolymerized from the polymerization reaction vessel . How to recycle polyester.
(a) The depolymerization reaction vessel and/or the polymerization reaction vessel receive one or more PET depolymerizers selected from the following: (1) Water; (2) methanol; (3) Acids or bases; and (4) Ethylene glycol; (b) One or more of the following: (1) The PET depolymerizing agent is water, and the water depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; (2) The PET depolymerizing agent is methanol, and the methanol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol; (3) The PET depolymerizing agent is an acid or a base, and the acid or base is in aqueous form and depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; (4) The PET depolymerizing agent is ethylene glycol, and the ethylene glycol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET); One or more of the following: The method according to claim 1.
The raw materials for the recycled polyester include PAT, The raw materials for the recycled polyester include PET. The method according to claim 1.
The depolymerization reaction vessel and/or the polymerization reaction vessel is any continuous reaction vessel, which can be configured as a mixer, single-screw mixer, twin-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, two-stage screw extruder, or continuous plow mixer capable of continuously mixing liquid polyester. The depolymerization reaction vessel and/or the polymerization reaction vessel also perform one or more of the following: degassing, homogenizing, dispersion, or heating. The method according to claim 2.
The method further includes supplying the recycled polyester to an output system as output, The output system provides the recycled polyester to a storage unit, a polyester product formation system, or an analysis system; The aforementioned analysis system, Identifying the intrinsic viscosity of recycled polyester; Identifying the flow rate of recycled polyester; Identifying the melting point of recycled polyester; To determine the crystallization temperature of recycled polyester; Identifying the differential scanning calorimetry profile of recycled polyester; and determining the thermal strain temperature of recycled polyester. Includes one or more analytical systems capable of doing the following: The method according to claim 1.
The method further includes supplying the recycled polyester to the output system as output, The output system provides the recycled polyester to a storage unit, a polyester product formation system, or an analysis system, and the polyester product formation system To form a product solely from the recycled polyester, or to combine the recycled polyester with a second polyester supply material (second PAT supply material) to produce a polyester mixture product. One or more of the following are configured: The method according to claim 1.
(A) (1) The raw materials for the recycled polyester do not contain any other polymers; and, (2) The polyester precursor does not contain any other polymer; one or more of the following: (B) (1) The raw material supplied for the recycled polyester consists of PAT, and (2) The polyester precursor consists of a PAT precursor, one or more of the above; (C) (1) The raw material supplied for the recycled polyester consists of PET, and (2) The polyester precursor consists of a PET precursor. One or more of; (D) The recycled polyester has a weight percentage between 1% and 50% of the total polymer composition weight of the recycled polyester; (E) The raw materials for the recycled polyester contain water in amounts of less than 5%, less than 1%, or less than 0.1%, or are water-free. and, (F) The polymerization reaction vessel receives the polyester precursor from the precursor storage, and each precursor is stored separately or in any unreacted combination. At least one of the following: The method according to claim 1.
The said method, One or more of the following: Depolymerizing the recycled polyester before mixing it with the polyester precursor, and depolymerizing the recycled polyester during or after mixing with the polyester precursor; The method includes at least one of the following: polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the polyester precursor to form a regenerated polyester from a polymerizable reagent to form PET. The method according to claim 1.
The method further includes polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the polyester precursor to form a regenerated polyester from a polymerizable reagent that polymerizes to form PET. The polyester precursor comprises a first precursor, the first precursor reacts with a second precursor to form a polyester. And one or more of the following: The polyester precursor comprises a PET precursor including (1) a first PET precursor containing PTA and/or DMT, and (2) a second PET precursor containing MEG and/or DEG; The polyester precursor comprises cyclohexanedimethanol, and the resulting product is a glycolated polyester; The polyester precursor contains IPA; The first precursor is provided separately from the second precursor; The first precursor is mixed with the second precursor under non-polymerization conditions; The first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and the recycled polyester is mixed into the precursor mixture; The first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and the recycled polyester and/or the depolymerized polyester monomer is mixed into the precursor mixture; and the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and the depolymerized polyester monomer is mixed into the precursor mixture. One or more of the following: The method according to claim 1.
The method further comprises polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the polyester precursor to form a regenerated polyester from a polymerizable reagent that polymerizes to form PET; The polyester precursor comprises a first precursor, which reacts with a second precursor to form a polyester; and, This method is (1) Mixing the first precursor with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, The recycled polyester is mixed with the precursor mixture to form a depolymerization mixture, Depolymerization with the aforementioned depolymerization mixture, (2) The first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture; The process involves mixing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the precursor mixture to form a polymerization mixture, Polymerization with the aforementioned polymerization mixture, and (3) The method further includes at least one of the following: depolymerizing the recycled polyester before mixing the first precursor and the second precursor, The method according to claim 1.
(a) The said method is Perform the first depolymerization, Perform the first polymerization. Perform the second depolymerization, Perform a second polymerization, and repeat the depolymerization-polymerization cycle n times (where n is an integer). To further include; (b) The method is The recycled polyester is introduced into the continuous process to provide the recycled polyester as a raw material to the depolymerization reaction vessel and/or the polymerization reaction vessel. Depolymerizing the recycled polyester in the depolymerization reaction vessel and/or the polymerization reaction vessel, and polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the polyester precursor in the polymerization reaction vessel. To further include, (c) The polymerization described above occurs between 200°C and 330°C. (d) The polyester precursor comprises a precursor including (1) a first precursor containing PTA and/or DMT and/or IPA, and (2) a second PET precursor containing MEG and/or DEG and/or PETG, (e) The recycled polyester has a weight percentage between 1 and 50% of the total polymer composition weight of the recycled polyester; (f) The method comprises a chip stream for forming pellets from the recycled polyester, and a polyester sheet. Further including outputting as; This method is Depolymerizing the recycled polyester to obtain a depolymerized polyester monomer, and polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the polyester precursor to form a regenerated polyester. To further equip oneself with; and, The recycled polyester includes post-industrial flakes, cleaned and/or washed used flakes. One or more of the following: The method according to claim 1.
The PET depolymerizing agent is one or more selected from the group consisting of water, acidic water, alkaline water, methanol, and ethylene glycol. The method according to claim 1.
The PET depolymerizing agent is removed by distillation. The method according to claim 1.

Description

Reference to related applications This application claims the interests of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/850,160, filed on 20 May 2019, and U.S. Patent Application No. 16/808,939, filed on 4 March 2020, the contents of each of these applications being incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a crystallizable polymer, and in crystallizable polymers, crystallization affects many properties of PET products, such as transparency, rigidity, and strength. PET has a slow crystallization rate, which results in long cycle times that are not commercially viable. Furthermore, PET has a low heat distortion temperature (HDT), allowing PET articles to soften at relatively low temperatures. Currently, PET is used extensively, particularly for packaging food products and other goods, as well as beverage containers. To protect the environment, reduce landfill demand, and decrease the need for oil in PET production, PET recycling technologies need to be developed. However, recycled PET often suffers from manufacturing memory, resulting in recycled PET (hereinafter referred to as "recycled PET") possessing undesirable properties not present in unused PET. Nevertheless, recycling PET is important, and a recycling protocol for PET that produces recycled PET with properties similar to unused PET would be beneficial. Ideally, a recycled PET polymer with better properties, faster crystallization, and higher HDT while maintaining the good properties of PET is desirable. Therefore, having improved PET recycling technology would be advantageous. In some embodiments, a method for regenerating polyester is The present invention provides a feed material for recycled polyester, wherein the feed material for recycled polyester comprises polyester particles, off-spec polyester flakes, off-spec polyester resin, or other forms of polyester; a feed material for polyester precursors; and a method for converting recycled polyester and polyester precursors into recycled polyester. In some aspects, the recycled polyester feed material is depolymerized in a depolymerization reaction vessel, and/or the recycled polyester feed material is depolymerized from a polymerization reaction vessel. In some aspects, the depolymerization reaction vessel and/or the polymerization reaction vessel receive one or more of water; methanol; an acid or base; or ethylene glycol. In some aspects, water depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; methanol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol; an acid or base, in aqueous form, depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; or ethylene glycol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET). In some aspects, recycled polyester is characterized as virgin polyester or indistinguishable from virgin polyester. In some aspects, the raw materials for polyester include PAT. In some aspects, the raw materials for polyester include PET. In some embodiments, the depolymerization vessel and/or polymerization vessel is any batch or continuous reaction vessel, which can be configured as a mixer capable of mixing liquid polyester in batch or continuous, such as a single-screw mixer, twin-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, two-stage extruder, or continuous plow mixer. In some aspects, the depolymerization vessel and/or polymerization vessel also perform one or more of the following: degassing, homogenization, dispersion, or heating. In some embodiments, this method includes providing recycled polyester to an output system as an output product. In some aspects, the output system provides recycled polyester to a storage unit, a polyester product formation system, or an analysis system. In some aspects, the analysis system includes one or more analysis systems capable of determining the intrinsic viscosity of the recycled polyester; determining the flow velocity of the recycled polyester; determining the melting point of the recycled polyester; determining the crystallization temperature of the recycled polyester; determining the differential scanning calorimetry profile of the recycled polyester; or determining the thermal strain temperature of the recycled polyester. In some aspects, the polyester product formation system is configured to form a product solely from recycled polyester; or to combine recycled polyester with a second polyester feed (second PAT feed) to produce a polyester constituent product. In some embodiments, the feedstock for recycled polyester does not contain any other polymer, and/or the polyester precursor does not contain any other polymer. In some aspects, the feedstock for recycled polyester consists essentially of (or consists of) PAT, and/or the polyester precursor consists essentially of (or consists of) a PAT precursor. In some aspects, the feedstock for