Process for reclamation of polyester by reactor addition

1. A method for reclaiming polyester, the method comprising:

providing a feed of recycled polyester in a continuous reactor stream, wherein the feed of recycled polyester includes polyester particles, off spec polyester flake, off spec polyester resin, or other form of polyester particles, flakes, or resin;

depolymerizing the recycled polyester feed via glycolysis, methanolysis, or hydrolysis to obtain depolymerized polyester monomers;

providing a feed of polyester precursors in the continuous reactor stream; and

polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers and the polyester precursors in the continuous reactor stream to form reclaimed polyester.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of:

(a) at least one of:

(1) the recycled polyester feed is depolymerized in a de-polymerization reaction vessel, and

(2) the recycled polyester feed is depolymerized from a polymerization reaction vessel;

(b) the de-polymerization reaction vessel and/or polymerization reaction vessel receives one or more of:

(1) water,

(2) methanol,

(3) acid or base, and

(4) ethylene glycol; and

(c) one or more of:

(1) the water de-polymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol,

(2) the methanol de-polymerizes the recycled polyester to produce dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol,

(3) the acid or base is in aqueous form and de-polymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, and

(4) the ethylene glycol de-polymerizes the recycled polyester to produce bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reclaimed polyester is characterized as virgin polyester or is indistinguishable from virgin polyester.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the feed of polyester includes PAT; and

the feed of polyester includes PET, in the amount of 0-10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100%.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the de-polymerization reaction vessel and/or polymerization reaction vessel is any continuous reaction vessel, which may be configured as a mixer capable of mixing liquid polyester in continuous formats, a single screw mixer, double-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, twin-screw extruder, or continuous plow mixer, or the like; and

the de-polymerization reaction vessel and/or polymerization reaction vessel also performs one or more of: degassing, homogenizing, dispersing, or heating.

6. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

providing the reclaimed polyester as output to an output system; and wherein:

the output system provides the reclaimed polyester to storage or a polyester product formation system or an analytical system; and

the analytical system includes one or more analytical systems capable of:

determining intrinsic viscosity of reclaimed polyester;

determining flow rate of reclaimed polyester;

determining melting point of reclaimed polyester;

determining crystallization temperature of reclaimed polyester;

determining a differential scanning calorimetry profile of reclaimed polyester; and

determining heat distortion temperature of reclaimed polyester.

7. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

providing the reclaimed polyester as output to an output system; and wherein:

the output system provides the reclaimed polyester to storage or a polyester product formation system or an analytical system; and

the polyester product formation system is configured to one or more of:

form a product from only the reclaimed polyester; or

combine the reclaimed polyester with a second feed of polyester (second PAT feed) to produce a product of a polyester alloy.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:

(a) one or more of:

(1) the feed of recycled polyester is devoid of another polymer, and

(2) the polyester precursors is devoid of another polymer;

(b) one or more of:

(1) the feed of recycled polyester consists essentially (or consists of) PAT, and

(2) the polyester precursors consists essentially (or consists of) PAT precursors;

(c) one or more of:

(a) the feed of recycled polyester consists essentially (or consists of) PET, and

(b) the polyester precursors consists essentially (or consists of) PET precursors;

(d) the recycled polyester includes recycled PET flake or off spec PET resin, the recycled PET flake or off spec PET resin includes PET in the amount of 0-10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100%;

(e) the feed of recycled polyester includes water at an amount less than 5%, less than 1%, less than 0.1%, at a trace amount of water, or is devoid of water; and

(f) the polymerization reaction vessel receives the polyester precursors from precursor storage, each precursor being stored separately or in any un-reacting combination.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:

one or more of:

depolymerizing the recycled polyester before mixing with the polyester precursors; and

depolymerizing the recycled polyester during or after mixing with the polyester precursors; and

polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers with the polyester precursors to form a reclaimed polyester from polymerizable reagents that polymerize to form PET.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of:

the method further comprises polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers with the polyester precursors to form a reclaimed polyester from polymerizable reagents that polymerize to form PET;

the polyester precursors include first precursors that react with second precursors to form polyester; and

one or more of:

the polyester precursors comprise PET precursors that include: (1) a first PET precursor including a PTA and/or DMT; and (2) a second PET precursor including a MEG and/or DEG;

the polyester precursors include cyclohexanedimethanol and the product is glycolized polyester;

the polyester precursors include IPA;

the first precursor is provided separately from the second precursor;

the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor under non-polymerizing conditions;

the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and the recycled polyester is mixed into the precursor mixture;

the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and the recycled polyester and/or depolymerized polyester monomers are mixed into the precursor mixture; and

the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and the depolymerized polyester monomers are mixed into the precursor mixture.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the method further comprises polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers with the polyester precursors to form a reclaimed polyester from polymerizable reagents that polymerize to form PET;

the polyester precursors include first precursors that react with second precursors to form polyester; and

the method further comprises at least one of:

(1)

mixing the first precursor with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture;

mixing the recycled polyester into the precursor mixture to form a depolymerization mixture; and

performing the depolymerization with the depolymerization mixture;

(2)

mixing the first precursor with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture;

mixing the depolymerized polyester monomers into the precursor mixture to form a polymerization mixture; and

performing the polymerization with the polymerization mixture; and

(3) performing the depolymerization with the recycled polyester before being mixed with the first precursor and second precursor.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of:

the method further comprises:

performing a first depolymerization;

performing a first polymerization;

performing a second depolymerization;

performing a second polymerization; and

repeating a depolymerization-polymerization cycle for n cycles, wherein n is an integer;

the method further comprises:

introducing the recycled polyester into a continuous reactor stream;

depolymerizing the recycled polyester in the continuous reactor stream; and

polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers with the polyester precursors in the continuous reactor stream;

the polymerizing occurs between about 200° C. and about 330° C.;

the polyester precursors comprise precursors that include: (1) a first precursor including a PTA and/or DMT and/or IPA; and (2) a second PET precursor including a MEG and/or DEG and/or PETG;

the recycled polyester has a weight percentage of between 1 and 50% of total polymerizing composition weight of the reclaimed polyester;

the method further comprises outputting the reclaimed polyester as:

a chip stream for forming pellets; and

a polyester sheet;

the method further comprises:

depolymerizing the recycled polyester to obtain depolymerized polyester monomers; and

polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers with the polyester precursors to form a reclaimed polyester; and

the recycled polyester includes post-industrial flake, cleaned and/or washed post-consumer flake.

13. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

controlling at least one output mass flow by controlling the pressure of a reclaimed polyester melt with pressure control loops prior to said forming a product, wherein

the controlling is in a die flowing system that includes the use of an outlet pump, the outlet pump directly controlling the flow in the die flowing system.