Patent ID: 11952714
Assignee: LENZING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC D  B  Y | IPC B  D

Claim 0:
1. A process for separating a fibrous target component from textile waste, said textile waste containing the target component and at least one ancillary component, wherein the target component comprises water-swellable textile fibers with a density higher than the density of water, the process comprising the steps:
a) dispersing a comminuted textile waste in an alkaline aqueous solution to obtain a suspension containing the textile waste, and
b) separating the dispersed textile waste from the suspension into a high-density target fraction comprising the target component and a low-density residual fraction comprising the at least one ancillary component, according to a respective density of the target component and the at least one ancillary component,
wherein the water-swellable textile fibers are swelled in the alkaline aqueous solution prior to step b), thereby increasing a density and weight of said target component relative to a density and weight of the at least one ancillary component.