RECYCLED BUILDING MATERIAL AND METHOD THEREOF
The present invention provides a recycled building material such as roof/Geo membrane that comprises (i) a polyolefin, (ii) a polymer containing a carboxyl group or a hydroxyl group, and (iii) a compatabilizer for the components (i) and (ii) which contains an epoxy group or an anhydride group. The present invention also provides a method of recycling building material as well as an article of manufacture such as a TPO membrane using the recycled building material. The TPO membrane has gained better physical properties such as consistent product quality, tensile strength, tear strength, wind resistance, and avoidance of tedious screening processes, among others.
1 . A method for recycling fabric-reinforced thermoplastic membrane, the method comprising:
i. mechanically reducing the size of a fabric-reinforced membrane to be recycled;
ii. mechanically separating fabric from thermoplastic material within the membrane, where the thermoplastic material includes fabric not separated by said step of mechanically separating;
iii. melting said thermoplastic material that was mechanically separated in said step of mechanically separating to form a molten mass of thermoplastic material and fiber;
iv. introducing a compatiblizer to the molten mass, where the compatiblizer includes an epoxy or an anhydride group; and
v. cooling the molten mass to form a recycled product.
2 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising the step of pelletizing the molten mass.
3 . The process of claim 1 , where said step of mechanically reducing the size of the fabric-reinforced membrane includes shredding the membrane.
4 . The process of claim 1 , where said step of mechanically separating fabric from thermoplastic material includes elutriation.
5 . The process of claim 1 , where said fabric is a polyester-reinforced polyolefin membrane, and where said compatiblizer is selected from the group consisting of a ter-polymer of ethylene/methyl acrylate/glycidyl methacrylate, a ter-polymer of ethylene/ethyl acrylate/glycidyl methacrylate, a ter-polymer of ethylene/butyl acrylate/glycidyl methacrylate, a ter-polymer of ethylene/ethylhexyl acrylate/glycidyl methacrylate, or the mixture thereof.
6 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising the step of combining the recycled product with a thermoplastic material to form a blend, and fabricating the blend into a component of a fabric-reinforced membrane.