Method of Recycling Synthetic Turf and Infill Product

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method for recycling synthetic turf that includes agglomerating a plurality of synthetic turf fragments and extruding the agglomerated material. The method produces a recycled material suitable for use as infill in a synthetic turf. Accordingly, an infill for synthetic turf and a synthetic turf including that infill are also disclosed herein.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of recycling synthetic turf comprising: providing synthetic turf fragments comprising a backing and face fibers and including infill contained therein, wherein the turf fragments further comprise a thermoset polyurethane; removing from at least 80% to 98% of the infill from the synthetic turf fragments; agglomerating the synthetic turf fragments to form granules; placing the granules in an extruder; extruding the granules to form an extrudate; and cutting the extrudate into pellets. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the synthetic turf comprises:
 face fibers;   a primary backing; and,   a primary coating.   
     
     
         3 . The pellets made by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         4 . An infill comprising the pellets of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         5 . The infill of  claim 4 , further comprising a filler, sand or rubber, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         6 . A synthetic turf comprising the infill of  claim 4 . 
     
     
         7 . An object comprising the pellets of  claim 1 , wherein the object is an athletic field, tennis court, landscaping, putting green, a backing, track, playground material, baseboard, fiber, or a container. 
     
     
         8 . A pellet comprising:
 a. polyethylene, polypropylene or nylon or a combination thereof;   b. polyester or polypropylene or a combination thereof; and,   c. polyurethane, latex, hot melt, or a thermoplastic, or a combination thereof.   
     
     
         9 . The pellet of  claim 8 , wherein the pellet comprises:
 the polyethylene, polypropylene or nylon or the combination thereof at 19 wt % to 80 wt % of the pellet:   the polyester or polypropylene or the combination thereof at 1 wt % to 25 wt % of the pellet; and,   the polyurethane, latex, hot melt, or thermoplastic, or the combination thereof at 15 wt % to 80 wt % of the pellet.   
     
     
         10 . The pellet of  claim 8 , wherein the pellet further comprises a filler or a modifier or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         11 . The pellet of  claim 10 , wherein the filler is calcium carbonate, barium sulfate, coal fly ash, or iron oxide or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The pellet of  claim 10 , wherein the modifier is polypropylene, polyethylene, rubber, Exxon Vista Max 3000, Exxon PX 9361, Exxon PX 9371, or Faraprene 381-35A, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The pellet of  claim 11 , wherein the filler is absent or present in an amount of about 0 wt % to about 50 wt % of the pellet. 
     
     
         14 . The pellet of  claim 12 , wherein the modifier is present in an amount of about 10 wt % to about 90 wt % of the pellet. 
     
     
         15 . The pellet of  claim 8 , having a size of from about 0.05 mm to about 9.0 mm. 
     
     
         16 . The pellet of  claim 8 , having a durometer value of from about 50 to about 90 Shore 00.