Importance

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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 chilling of appropriately sized carpet pieces and preferably pre-soaking the used carpet pieces before chilling, followed by the introduction of the pre-conditioned used carpet pieces into a cyclonic comminuter which reduces the carpet pieces into fractional components. The chilling step could lower the temperature of the soaked carpet pieces to or below freezing to stiffen the backing material and enhance the comminution process. 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.

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First Claim