Ground grain animal litter

Abstract

The present invention pertains to a natural product litter composition as well as methods of preparing and using a natural product litter as a sorbent for liquids. The sorbent contains 1% to 50% by weight wood particles and 50% to 99% by weight ground grain. The sorbency of a ground grain litter can be improved by pelletization and crumbling. Addition of up to 50% of wood particles to a ground grain litter further enhances the sorbency while maintaining suitable swelling and clumping characteristics.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A sorbent composition for sorbing a liquid comprising a mixture of: 
 (a) 50% to 99% by weight of a ground grain; and    (b) 1 to 50% by weight of wood particles.    
     
     
         2 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the ground grain is selected from the group consisting of white wheat, spring wheat, winter wheat, durum and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         3 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the wood particles are a sorbent material.  
     
     
         4 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the wood particles sorb an amount of liquid based on weight between about 0.5 times to about 5 times the weight of the wood particles.  
     
     
         5 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the wood particles sorb an amount of liquid based on weight equal to at least about the weight of the wood particles.  
     
     
         6 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the wood particles are aspen.  
     
     
         7 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the ground grain is hard red spring wheat and the wood particles are aspen.  
     
     
         8 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the mixture comprises about 5% to about 35% wood particles.  
     
     
         9 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the mixture comprises about 10% to about 30% wood particles.  
     
     
         10 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the mixture can sorb an amount of liquid based on weight equal to about 0.5 times to about 5 times the weight of the mixture.  
     
     
         11 . The sorbent composition of  claim 1 , wherein the mixture can sorb an amount of liquid based on weight equal to at least about the weight of the mixture.  
     
     
         12 . The sorbent composition of  claim 11 , wherein the mixture sorbing a maximum amount of liquid swells to less than about 10% based on the volume of the sorbent.  
     
     
         13 . The sorbent composition of  claim 11 , wherein the litter clumps upon contact with the liquid.  
     
     
         14 . A method for sorbing a liquid comprising the steps of: 
 (a) selecting a ground grain;    (b) selecting wood particles;    (c) mixing the ground grain from step (a) and the wood particles from step (b) to produce a litter mixture, wherein the litter mixture comprises 50% to 99% by weight grain particles and 1% to 50% by weight wood particles; and    (d) situating the litter mixture of step (c) to be contacted by a liquid to be sorbed; and    (e) contacting the litter mixture with a liquid to be sorbed.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the whole grain of step (a) is hard red spring wheat and the wood particles of step (b) are aspen.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the litter mixture can sorb an amount of liquid based on weight equal to at least about the weight of the mixture.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the litter mixture clumps upon contact with a liquid.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the liquid is urine.  
     
     
         19 . A method of producing a sorbent for a liquid comprising the steps of: 
 (a) selecting a ground grain;    (b) selecting wood particles; and    (c) mixing the ground grain of step (a) and the wood particles of step    (b) to produce a litter mixture, wherein the litter mixture comprises 50% to 99% by weight ground grain and 1% to 50% by weight wood particles.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising the step of extruding pellets from the litter mixture of step (c).  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising the step of crumbling the pellets to produce a crumbled litter.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the ground grain of step (a) is selected from the group consisting of white wheat, spring wheat, winter wheat, durum and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the mixture comprises about 5% to about 35% wood particles.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the mixture comprises about 10% to about 30% wood particles.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the mixture can sorb an amount of liquid based on weight between about 0.5 times and about 5 times the weight of the mixture.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the litter mixture can sorb an amount of liquid based on weight equal to at least the weight of the mixture.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the wood particles sorb an amount of liquid based on weight between about 0.5 times and about 5.0 times the weight of the wood particles.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the wood particles sorb an amount of liquid based on weight equal to at least about the weight of the wood particles.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the whole grain of step (a) is hard red spring wheat and the wood particles of step (b) are aspen.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the litter mixture clumps upon contact with the liquid.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the litter mixture sorbing a maximum amount of liquid swells to less than 10% based on the volume of the litter mixture.  
     
     
         32 . A method of producing a sorbent for a liquid comprising the steps of: 
 (a) selecting a ground grain; and    (b) extruding the ground grain from step (a) to form pellets.    
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 24  further comprising the step of crumbling the pellets to produce a crumbled litter.  
     
     
         34 . The method according to  claim 32 , wherein the ground grain of step (a) is selected from the group consisting of white wheat, spring wheat, winter wheat, durum and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         35 . The method according to  claim 32 , wherein the ground grain can sorb an amount of liquid based on weight equal to at least the weight of the pellets.  
     
     
         36 . The method according to  claim 32 , wherein the ground grain can sorb an amount of liquid based on weight between about 0.5 times and about 5.0 times the weight of the pellets.  
     
     
         37 . The method according to  claim 36 , wherein the ground grain clumps upon contact with liquid.  
     
     
         38 . The method according to  claim 36 , wherein the ground grain sorbing a maximum amount of sorbed liquid swells to less than 10% based on the volume of the sorbent.  
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 32  further comprising selecting wood particles and mixing the wood particles with the ground grain.