Method and apparatus for separating and recovering fractional components of carpet
First Claim
1. A method of separating and recovering fractional components of carpet, comprising the steps of:
- conditioning said carpet by reducing said carpet to pieces of a pre-determined range of sizes;
feeding said carpet pieces into an air flow of a cyclonic dehumidifying comminuter to separate the fractional components of said carpet pieces to create a mass of separated, entwined fractional component fibers discharged from a discharge opening of said comminuter;
filtering the air flow after being exhausted from said comminuter through a filtering mechanism to recovered fractional component fibers carried out of the comminuter with the air flow;
passing said mass of entwined fractional component fibers through a separating mechanism to separate the entwined fractional component fibers from said mass discharged from said comminuter; and
collecting said fractional component fibers from said filtering mechanism and said separating mechanism.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A process is disclosed for the separation and recovery of fractional components of used carpet. Although the disclosed process is operable with either jute-backed or vinyl-backed carpet, an alternative process is preferred for vinyl-backed carpet to permit the sequential removal of the vinyl backing with most of the fiberglass stabilizer intact. The process includes the pre-cutting and preferable pre-soaking of the used carpet into appropriate sized pieces, followed by the introduction of the pre-conditioned used carpet pieces into a cyclonic comminuter which reduces the carpet pieces into fractional components. Processes for the recovery of the separated fractional components include collecting the components from the respective discharges from the cyclonic comminuter, washing, and separating by carding, static charges, pressure gradients and the like. This effective process will allow for greater utilization of carpet recycling operations to prevent used carpet from being disposed in land fills.
26 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of separating and recovering fractional components of carpet, comprising the steps of:
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conditioning said carpet by reducing said carpet to pieces of a pre-determined range of sizes; feeding said carpet pieces into an air flow of a cyclonic dehumidifying comminuter to separate the fractional components of said carpet pieces to create a mass of separated, entwined fractional component fibers discharged from a discharge opening of said comminuter; filtering the air flow after being exhausted from said comminuter through a filtering mechanism to recovered fractional component fibers carried out of the comminuter with the air flow; passing said mass of entwined fractional component fibers through a separating mechanism to separate the entwined fractional component fibers from said mass discharged from said comminuter; and collecting said fractional component fibers from said filtering mechanism and said separating mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of separating and recovering fractional components of vinyl-backed carpet, comprising the steps of:
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conditioning said carpet by reducing said carpet to pieces of a pre-determined range of sizes; feeding said carpet pieces into an air flow of a first cyclonic dehumidifying comminute set at a low comminution level to effect only a separation of a backing material and stabilizer material from the carpet pieces to create a first remnant carpet material; collecting said first remnant carpet material; running said collected remnant carpet material through a second cyclonic dehumidifying comminuter set at a high comminution level to separate the fractional components of said first remnant carpet material to create a mass of separated, entwined fractional component fibers discharged from a discharge opening of said comminuter; filtering the air flow after being exhausted from said comminuter through a filtering mechanism to recovered fractional component fibers carried out of the comminuter with the air flow; passing said mass of entwined fractional component fibers through a separating mechanism to separate the entwined fractional component fibers from said mass discharged from said comminuter; and collecting said fractional component fibers from said filtering mechanism and said separating mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of separating and recovering fractional components of carpet, comprising the steps of:
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conditioning said carpet by reducing said carpet to carpet pieces having a size within a pre-determined range of sizes; feeding said carpet pieces into an air flow of a cyclonic dehumidifying comminuter to separate the fractional components of said carpet pieces to create a mass of separated, entwined fractional component fibers discharged from a discharge opening of said comminuter; washing said entwined mass of component fibers to remove any powdery residue therefrom; passing said mass of entwined fractional component fibers through a separating mechanism to separate the entwined fractional component fibers from said mass discharged from said comminuter; and collecting said fractional component fibers from said separating mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification