Fluoropolymer resin treatment employing sorbent to reduce fluoropolymer resin discoloration

1. Process for reducing thermally induced discoloration of fluoropolymer resin, said fluoropolymer resin produced by polymerizing in the presence of hydrocarbon surfactant which causes said thermally induced discoloration and wherein all of the monovalent substituents on the carbon atoms of the hydrocarbon surfactant are hydrogen and wherein said fluoropolymer resin has an initial thermally induced discoloration value (L i ) about 20 L units on the CIELAB color scale below the L value of equivalent fluoropolymer resin of commercial quality manufactured using ammonium perfluorooctanoate fluorosurfactant, said process comprising:

polymerizing fluoromonomer in the presence of said hydrocarbon surfactant in an aqueous dispersion medium to form aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion;

contacting the aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion with sorbent; and

isolating said fluoropolymer from said aqueous medium to obtain said fluoropolymer resin.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein said process reduces thermally induced discoloration by at least about 10% as measured by % change in L* on the CIELAB color scale.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the solids content of said dispersion during said contacting with sorbent is about 2 weight percent to about 60 weight percent.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein said contacting the aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion with sorbent is carried out at a temperature of about 5° C. to about 80° C.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein said contacting of said aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion with sorbent is carried out by mixing sorbent into said aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion and subsequently separating said sorbent from said dispersion.

6. The process of claim 1 wherein said contacting of said aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion with sorbent is carried out by passing said aqueous fluoropolymer dispersion though a bed of sorbent.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein said sorbent is selected from the group consisting of activated carbon, ion exchange resin, silica gel, polymer sorbents, diatomaceous earth and zeolites.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein said sorbent comprises activated carbon.

9. The process of claim 1 wherein said sorbent comprises ion exchange resin.

10. The process of claim 1 further comprising post-treating the fluoropolymer resin to reduce thermally induced discoloration after isolation from said aqueous dispersion medium.

11. The process of claim 10 wherein said post-treating comprises exposing the fluoropolymer resin to oxidizing agent.

12. The process of claim 11 wherein said isolating said fluoropolymer from said aqueous medium to obtain said fluoropolymer resin comprises separating wet fluoropolymer resin from the aqueous medium and drying to produce said fluoropolymer resin and wherein said post treating by exposing the fluoropolymer resin to oxidizing agent comprises exposing said wet fluoropolymer resin to an oxygen source during drying.

13. The process of claim 12 wherein said oxygen source is ozone containing gas.