Issue 06/2020

Patents
U.S. Patent 10,744,183(September 15, 2020), “Polyarylene
Ether Sulfones”, Narmandakh Taylor, Charles R. Hoppin,
Ahmed Kahn, Henry Bradley and Suresh R. Sriram; Solvay
Specialty Polymers USA, LLC (Alpharetta, Georgia USA)
U.S. Patent 10,793,781(October 6, 2020), “Method for
Producing Biohydrocarbons”, Maija Hakola and Tomi Nyman;
NESTE OYJ(Espoo, Finland)
Reference: WO2016/184893
A method/process is taught for producing biohydrocarbons
which includes providing an isomeric raw material derived
from a bio-renewable feedstock. Chemical processes include
deoxygenation, hydrodeoxygenation, hydrotreatment or
hydrocracking to obtain a stream that is at least 65 % isoparaffin
in character. This isoparaffin stream is thermally cracked
limiting the temperature to no greater than 825 C. The feedstock
taught can be tailored to include a mixture of hydrocarbons in
the C10 – C20 range and/or the C5 – C10 range.
A feedstock that is 49 % isoparaffin and 51 % n-paraffin renders
a thermally cracked biohydrocarbon that is predominantly
ethene(31.95 – 39.55 %) and propene(13.38 – 21.34 %) depending
on the reaction outlet temperature. The ethane and propene
can be used to make bioderived polyethylene and polypropylene
as well as bio derived intermediates such ethylene glycol and
propylene glycol.
This patent teaches a partially renewable high performance
polymer, a poly(arylether sulfone). Polyarylether sulfones
are in the class of engineering resins which typically offer a
good balance of mechanical properties and at least one of
the following performance features; high use temperature
performance, high practical toughness and/or exceptional
chemical resistance. The poly(arylether sulfone)s being
taught here are made via nucleophilic displacement
reaction of a 4,4’dihalodiphenylsulfone and a bioderived
1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitol in a apolar solvent such as sulfolane in
the presence of potassium carbonate at elevated temperature.
The 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitol are produced from starch via
enzymatic degradation into d-glucose and d-mannose followed
by sequential hydrogenation and dehydration rendering
isosorbide and isomannide. These fused ring V-shaped diols
make good candidates for monomers for imparting high
temperature performance to polymers.
The process taught provides very good high temperature
performance materials when the weight per cent of total
monomer in solvent is between 25 – 42 %. Glass transition
temperatures of the formed poly(arylether sulfone)s range of ~
215 – 235 C are achieved which render these materials useful
in electronics, medical devices and other shaped articles having
material renewable content from the isosorbide or isomannide.
U.S. Patent Application 2020/0270652(August 27, 2020),
“Producing Resins From Organic Waste Products”, Dane H.
Anderson and Jeff H. Anderson; Full Cycle Bioplastics(Richmond,
California USA)
An integrated process and design is taught for producing
a polyhydroxyalkanaoate copolymer from an organic waste
product that consists of a first and second volatile fatty acid
where the ratio of the first and second volatile fatty acid
are adjusted prior to introducing the fatty acid mixture to a
polyhydroxyalkanoate producing bacteria and subsequently
extracting the polyhydroxyalkanoate copolymer from the
bacteria.
The volatile fatty acids can be produced using an acidogenic
bacteria with an organic waste stream, for example(but not
limited to) organic liquid lechate extracted from industrial
composting processes.
The process consists of liquefaction of biofeedstock materials,
volatile fatty acid production, volatile fatty acid separation,
bioplastic production and polyhydroxyalkanoate isolation.
The process teaches on line volatile fatty acid mixture
control to achieve the desired polyhydroxyalkanoate copolymer
composition being tailored for end use in films, packaging and
other molded/formed articles.
U. S. Patent Application 2020/0332112(October 22, 2020),
“Biodegradable Filaments and Use Of Such Filaments”, Laurens
Jean-Marc L. Goormachtigh, Femke Faelens and Frans Van
Giel; Beaulieu International Group NV (Waregem, Belgium)
Reference: WO2019/122191
This patent application teaches a filament composition used
to make groundcover where there is a first biodegradable
polymer (40 – 90 % by weight) and a second biodegradable
polymer (10 – 60 weight %) where the first biodegradable
polymer exhibits a visual degradation rate faster than that of
the second biodegradable polymer when is use as woven mat/
netting as groundcover for temporary control of erosion or
protection of ground cover/new growth.
The first biodegradable polymer can be selected
from polycaprolactone, polybutylene succinate-coadipate,
polyhydroxyalkanoate or mixtures; preferred are
polycaprolactone or polyhydroxyalkanoate. The second
biodegradable polymer can be selected from polylactic acid,
polybutylene succinate, polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate;
preferred is polylactic acid. The visual degradation of the first
polymer is 4 – 6 weeks to achieve 80 % degradation and for the
second polymer 25 – 42 weeks to achieve 80 % degradation.
The examples presented teach the balance and trade-offs of
mechanical properties and rates of degradation based of the
content and type of the first and second biodegradable polymers.
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/20] Vol. 15 49