JPH08238162A - Recycling method for needle punch carpet or tuft carpet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To effectively make recycling by washing a needle punch carpet using an emulsion soluble in an alkali aqueous solution as a binder with an alkaline solution after it is scrapped and recovered, solving and removing the binder, then forming it into recovered wool or re-pelletizing it after it is dried. CONSTITUTION: Fiber webs of a needle punch carpet or a tuft carpet are coated with an emulsion type resin denatured with a poymer having the molecular weight of about 10,000-100,000 by an acid monomer as a binder, then the required needle punch carpet or tuft carpet is manufactured after drying. After the manufactured carpet is scrapped and recovered, it is washed with an alkaline solution to remove the binder, then it is formed into recovered wool or re- pelletized after drying as recycling. Acrylate, styrene acrylate, or EVA is used for the emulsion type polymer, and the carboxyl group is used for the acid monomer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for recycling needle punch carpets and tufted carpets laid on floors of automobiles, general houses and exhibition halls.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Needle punched carpets and tufted carpets have a latex layer on the back surface for holding fibers.

Latex is a kind of sizing agent and adheres to the entanglement points of the fibers to prevent the fibers from falling out and has a shape-retaining property to maintain the shape of the carpet in a predetermined shape.

[0004] Recycling of these needle punched carpets and the like is generally carried out by a method such as mechanically dehairing with a dehairing machine or garnet machine, or re-melting and re-pelleting.

[0005]

However, in a carpet coated with latex, it is difficult to repel hair because the lower part of the fiber is fixed by the hardened latex.
In addition, when heating and melting the entire fiber portion of the carpet and the resin portion such as latex to re-pellet, the latex and fibers are restricted, the process becomes very complicated, and dust etc. are mixed in the product. Therefore, the quality of the finished product is unstable.

Therefore, according to the present invention, an emulsion soluble in an alkaline aqueous solution is used as a binder so that the hair can be easily replied even on a hard carpet, and the needle punched carpet and the tufted carpet can be recycled more easily and cheaply than before. The purpose is to do so.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a method for recycling a needle punched carpet or a tufted carpet according to the present invention has a molecular weight of about 10,000 to about 100 in a fiber web such as a needle punched carpet or a tufted carpet. A process of applying an emulsion (dispersion) type resin obtained by modifying 100,000 polymers with an acid monomer as a binder, discarding and collecting the needle punched carpet and tufted carpet that are dried after the application and are made into an alkaline solution. And a step of removing the binder, and a step of repelling or repelleting the needle punched carpet or tufted carpet from which the binder has been removed after drying.

In the method for recycling needle punched carpet and tufted carpet according to the present invention, the emulsion type polymer is acrylic, SBR,
You can use either styrene acrylic or EVA,
As the acid monomer, any one of a carboxyl group, a sulfonic acid group and a phosphoric acid group is used.

Further, the alkaline solution is characterized by being sodium hydroxide or aqueous ammonia.

[0010]

For example, an emulsion obtained by modifying a polymer such as an acrylic resin with an acid monomer such as a carboxyl group is applied to the back surface of the carpet so as to be inserted between the fibers. This acrylic resin adheres to the entanglement points of the fibers and dries to function as a binder, preventing the fibers from falling off and maintaining the carpet in a predetermined shape.

The carpet is used as a deck mat, a tractor mat or the like of an automobile and then discarded and collected. When the recovered carpet is washed with sodium hydroxide, the binder portion is simultaneously dissolved by the alkaline solution, so that the entire carpet is softened.

As a result, dirt attached to the fiber surface and the like flows off together with the binder, and the carpet becomes only cotton-like fiber portions. At the stage where the cotton-like fiber portion is dried, the fibers are sufficiently soft, so that they can be easily loosened, and the fibers can be napped easily and quickly using a napping machine or the like.

The same effect can be obtained by using any of SBR, styrene acryl or EVA as the polymer. The same effect can be obtained by using either a sulfonic acid group or a phosphoric acid group as the acid monomer. Furthermore, the same effect can be obtained by using aqueous ammonia as the alkaline solution.

However, it is most preferable to modify the acrylic resin with a carboxyl group and dissolve the binder with sodium hydroxide.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This recyclable needle punch carpet manufacturing method comprises the following steps (1) to (4).

(1) Thickness 5d (denier) x length 51mm
After laminating a certain degree of polyester fiber to a predetermined thickness, needle punching is performed to obtain a needle punch carpet having a predetermined basis weight and shape. As the fibers, other materials such as polypropylene which can withstand relatively alkali may be used.

(2) A carboxyl group is partially mixed (substitution / addition polymerization) into a polymer of a resin containing acrylic as a main component to produce an emulsion (suspension) soluble in an alkaline solution. The emulsion is a resin in which an acrylic resin having a molecular weight of at least about 10,000 to 100,000 is modified with a carboxyl group.

(3) The resin is applied to the fiber web of the needle punch carpet by spraying. Instead of this spray processing, the resin may be applied to the back surface of the carpet by floss (foaming) processing or impregnation (impregnation) processing.

(4) The resin applied to the needle punch carpet is dried to obtain a binder. The needle punched carpet commercialized in this way can be used not only on automobile floors, decks, trunk mats, but also in general houses and exhibition halls. In general, the possibility that an alkaline solution will adhere to a floor or the like is extremely low as compared with the possibility that an acidic solution (for example, acid rain) will adhere. for that reason,
Even if you lay this needle punch carpet on the floor,
Since the binder is attached to the entanglement points of the fibers, the fibers do not come off and fall apart in a normal use state.

After being used, this needle punched carpet is recycled through the following steps (5) and (6).

(5) Disposal The collected needle punch carpet is washed with 5% sodium hydroxide for 5 minutes to remove the binder together with foreign matters.

That is, since the binder of the needle punch carpet has a high affinity with water and is relatively easily dissolved in an alkaline solution to some extent, it is made into a cotton-like polyester fiber by washing with sodium hydroxide. However, only the fibers are three-dimensionally entangled.

It should be noted that cotton such as polyester fiber is 5% to
There is no change in the properties of the fiber when washed with 10% sodium hydroxide for about 5 minutes.

(6) The needle punched carpet from which the binder has been removed is dried and then fluffed by a fluffing machine. Since the binder has already been removed and it has become soft, each polyester fiber can be napped easily and quickly with a napping machine.

Since the mud, dust and the like have been removed from the polyester fiber washed and fluffed in this way, there is a relatively small risk of inclusion of foreign matter even when recycled.

For example, the polyester fiber regenerated by this embodiment can be returned to the needle punch manufacturing process again.

As a second embodiment, the needle punch carpet is washed with 5% sodium hydroxide for 5 minutes to remove the binder and dried, and then the cotton needle punch is remelted by heating. Then, it may be formed into pellets.

The pelletized polyester can be processed into a container, a fiber or the like with an extruder or the like.

In each of the above examples, acrylic was used as the polymer and a carboxyl group was used as the acid monomer. However, in place of these, any of SBR, styrene acrylic or EVA may be used as the polymer. As the acid monomer, either a sulfonic acid group or a phosphoric acid group may be used. Moreover, the same action and effect can be obtained by using aqueous ammonia as the alkaline solution.

[0030]

According to the present invention, since the binder of the carpet is made of a material soluble in an alkaline aqueous solution,
By washing the discarded and collected carpet with, for example, sodium hydroxide, the carpet can be quickly made into only the cotton portion of the fiber, and dirt and the like attached to the carpet can be washed off together therewith.

Further, since each fiber can be easily separated from the entanglement point of the fiber, the operation of re-fibering the fiber can be performed extremely quickly and easily. Therefore, the quality of the product is better than that of the fluff with the resin attached, and there are few troubles even if it is reused.

Further, even when remelted and repelletized, there is no influence or limitation of the resin, and it can be easily carried out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process drawing showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A fiber web such as a needle punched carpet or a tufted carpet has a molecular weight of about 10,000 to 10.
A step of applying an emulsion or dispersion type resin in which 000 polymers are modified with an acid monomer as a binder, discarding and collecting the needle punched carpet or tufted carpet which is dried after the application and is commercialized, and then uses an alkaline solution. A method for recycling a needle punch carpet or a tuft carpet, which comprises a step of washing and dissolving and removing the binder, and a step of drying and then re-pelleting the needle punch carpet or tuft carpet from which the binder is removed. 2. The method for recycling a needle punched carpet or tufted carpet according to claim 1, wherein the emulsion type polymer is any one of acrylic, SBR, styrene acrylic and EVA. 3. The method for recycling a needle punch carpet or a tufted carpet according to claim 1, wherein the acid monomer is any of a carboxyl group, a sulfonic acid group and a phosphoric acid group. 4. The method for recycling needle punch carpet or tufted carpet according to claim 1, wherein the alkaline solution is sodium hydroxide or ammonia water.