Method of separating and cleaning of post consumer carpet face yarn from carpet backing and yarn product produced therefrom

Abstract

A process for producing a synthetic fiber composition with reclaimed post consumer carpet yarn, wherein face yarn is shaved from post consumer carpet using a shaving device to provide shaved face yarn, the shaved face yarn is reduced in size, contaminants are removed using mechanical screeners, the shaved face yarn is melt filtered, and spun into fiber.

1 . A process for producing a synthetic fiber from reclaimed post-consumer carpet yarn, the process comprising:
 a. shaving face yarn from post-consumer carpet by use of a shaving device to provide a shaved face yarn,   b. reducing the sizes of said shaved face yarn,   c. feeding said shaved face yarn from step (b) to a mechanical screener to produce a mechanically-screened face yarn,   d. melt filtering said mechanically-screened face yarn to form a melt-filtered face yarn, and   e. spinning said melt-filtered face yarn to form a synthetic fiber.   
     
     
         2 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein said shaving device comprises a hide splitting machine. 
     
     
         3 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein said mechanical screener comprises stationary screens with rotating augers, reciprocating screens, gyratory-reciprocating screens, or vibrating screens. 
     
     
         4 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein said shaved face yarn comprises nylon 6, nylon 66, polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polylactic acid, or polypropylene. 
     
     
         5 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein said shaved yarn comprises less than 2% backing material. 
     
     
         6 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein step (c) further comprises washing said mechanically-screened face yarn with an aqueous wash. 
     
     
         7 . A synthetic fiber prepared by the process of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         8 . A synthetic fiber composition comprising a blend of:
 a) at least 2 wt % of a recycled fiber-forming thermoplastic resin from reclaimed post consumer carpet yarn; and   b) a virgin fiber-forming thermoplastic resin,   
       wherein said blend provides a pressure rise of 0.6 psi/gm or less when said blend (i) contains 2 wt % of said recycled fiber forming thermoplastic resin and (ii) is subjected to a melt filter test using a Dutch twilled weave filter screen of 80×700 nominal mesh count using a pilot-scale single screw extruder. 
     
     
         9 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said recycled fiber-forming thermoplastic resin comprises nylon 6, nylon 66, polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polylactic acid, or polypropylene. 
     
     
         10 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said virgin fiber-forming thermoplastic resin comprises nylon 6, nylon 66, polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polylactic acid, or polypropylene. 
     
     
         11 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said recycled fiber-forming thermoplastic resin comprises nylon 6, nylon 66, polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polylactic acid, or polypropylene; and said virgin fiber-forming thermoplastic resin comprises nylon 6, nylon 66, polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polylactic acid, or polypropylene. 
     
     
         12 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said blend provides a pressure rise of less than 1.10 psi/gm when said blend (i) contains 5 wt % of said recycled fiber forming thermoplastic resin and (ii) is subjected to a melt filter test using a Dutch twilled weave filter screen of 80×700 nominal mesh count using a pilot-scale single screw extruder. 
     
     
         13 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said blend comprises at least 5 wt % of said recycled fiber-forming resin. 
     
     
         14 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said blend comprises about 2 to about 10 wt % of said recycled fiber-forming resin. 
     
     
         15 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said recycled fiber-forming resin comprises less than 2 wt % carpet backing material. 
     
     
         16 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said recycled fiber-forming resin comprises less than 0.5 wt % carpet backing material. 
     
     
         17 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said post-consumer carpet yarn comprises poly(ethylene) terephthalate, polylactic acid, nylon 6, or nylon 66. 
     
     
         18 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said post-consumer carpet yarn comprises nylon 6 or nylon 66 and said virgin thermoplastic resin comprises nylon 6 or nylon 66. 
     
     
         19 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said fiber-forming resin consists essentially of said blend. 
     
     
         20 . The synthetic fiber composition according to  claim 8 , wherein said fiber-forming resin consists of said blend.