Patent Description:
Cellulose acetate (CA) is an environmentally friendly product from production to degradation processes. Like all other cellulose derivatives, the synthesis thereof is based on the replacement of the cellulose hydroxyl groups with other functional groups which in this case are the acetyl group.

Although three processes exist for producing cellulose acetate (the process with acetic anhydride, the process with methylene chloride, and the heterogeneous process), today only the acetic anhydride process is used, which uses cellulose as a raw material, which is nature's most abundant renewable source.

<CIT> discloses a method for obtaining acetic acid from waste cellulose acetate slurry, which comprises an acid degradation treatment in the presence of sulfuric acid at <NUM>-<NUM>. Then, acetic acid is extracted with isopropyl acetate and separated by distillation.

The recovery of cellulose acetate waste and scrap assumes a primary economic value, especially in the production of eyeglasses.

It is known that eyeglasses have become a fashion accessory in recent decades which, in addition to responding to the need to accommodate a pair of corrective sun lenses, have taken on an aesthetic value. For this reason, numerous fashion brands are present on the distribution market worldwide, reaffirming the brand concept and the perceived value of a pair of eyeglasses.

Plastic eyeglasses are better suited to the role of eyeglasses as an expression of fashion as, in addition to the model, plastic creates games of colors and structures through the three-dimensionality thereof.

When mention is made of plastic, reference is mostly made to eyeglasses milled from a sheet of cellulose acetate, a polymer of natural origin which is synthesized from cotton or wood pulp with the addition of acetic acid. The production of eyeglasses from sheets includes cutting a rectangle (170x70mm) from a sheet of different sizes (600x1400m; 170x1400mm; 170x700mm). The thickness of the sheet varies from <NUM> to <NUM>.

The weight of the eyeglasses can be about <NUM>, while the rectangle can weigh from <NUM> to <NUM>, with waste therefore ranging from <NUM>% to <NUM>%. The eyeglasses production process, although virtuous from the "aesthetic result" point of view, is flawed from the point of view of "efficiency," as it registers significant scraps in sheets which go partly to landfill and are partly used as a by-product (in the form of granules obtained from the extrusion of the waste) for items without performance expectations.

To this must be added the waste of the acetate sheet production according to the extrusion or solvent manufacturing process. Part of this waste is reused in the sheet manufacturing process itself and part is destined for the production of semi-finished products for products without performance expectations.

The sheet production centers are in Italy for about <NUM>,<NUM> tons/year and China for about <NUM>,<NUM> tons/year and the eyeglasses production centers are also located in Italy and China with some exceptions for some productions of little importance in Europe.

Considering the sheet production waste and eyeglasses production scraps together, we can estimate the European volume equal to about <NUM>,<NUM> tons/year, while in China mention can be made of about <NUM>,<NUM> tons/year.

Not using this waste and these scraps means resorting to the synthesis of new volumes of polymer (based on cellulose and acetic anhydride) and plasticizer necessary for processing, by means of extrusion and solvent, the cellulose acetate plates. This results in a consumption of new polymers of about <NUM>,<NUM> tons/year of polymer and <NUM>,<NUM> tons/ year of cellulose acetate and <NUM>,<NUM> tons/year of diethyl phthalate.

Currently, the only way to recover the waste and scraps from the sector is to gasify the waste, with the production of primary elements such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and water.

Hence the need for and value of a process such as that which is the object of the present invention that instead allows decomposing cellulose acetate so as to chemically recover valuable components such as acetic acid, cellulose (even in degraded form) and diethyl phthalate used as a plasticizer.

The use of acetic anhydride for the production of cellulose acetate dates back to the <NUM> with studies on synthetic-artificial plastic materials, what we commonly call "plastic" today. It was discovered then that by reacting cellulose not with nitric acid, but with acetic anhydride, a new material is obtained: cellulose acetate. It is non-flammable and the production process is simple and fast. It can perfectly replace the use of celluloid, so much so that it is still among the most used materials today.

The features of cellulose acetate depend on the average degree of substitution (DS) or the amount of acetic acid in terms of percentage "acetic acid %". The conversion of DS can be calculated according to the following equation: <MAT> where:.

The relationship between cellulose acetate DS and acetyl content is also reported in the following Table <NUM>.

For commercial applications, the cellulose acetate DS is always greater than <NUM> and typically <NUM>. Cellulose acetate needs to be plasticized to be used as a polymer so as to lower the melting temperature thereof, which in the absence of the plasticizer is too close to the decomposition temperature thereof. The use of the plasticizer makes the polymer more flexible, durable and workable, lowering the transition temperature of the macromolecule.

Traditional cellulose acetate plasticizers are triacetin (TA) and diethyl phthalate (DEP). Diethyl phthalate is one of the most common plasticizers of cellulose acetate but, due to some toxicity/safety issues, its industrial use will be reduced in the near future and replaced by the more ecological triacetin plasticizers. A significant amount of plasticizer is generally used (between <NUM> and <NUM>% by weight depending on the type of use).

The task which the inventors of the present application set themselves was to experimentally evaluate the possibility of chemically recycling cellulose acetate so as to recover valuable compounds such as acetic acid (intermediate for the production of acetic anhydride used in the synthesis of diacetate (DA), cellulose (also in degraded form) and diethyl phthalate that is used as plasticizer.

Following a preliminary research, the task of the inventors was to develop a technology for decomposing cellulose acetate which had the advantage of producing mainly acetic acid and diethyl phthalate, focusing on hydrothermal liquefaction.

Hydrothermal liquefaction is a thermochemical process which occurs at medium temperature (about <NUM>-<NUM>) and at high pressure (<NUM>-<NUM> MPa) in the presence of water. During the process, the water is in a subcritical state and acts as a solvent and reagent. The decomposition mechanism of cellulose acetate is hydrolysis starting from the ester bonds of the side chain which bind acetic acid to cellulose and then proceeding with the hydrolysis of the cellulose polymer.

According to the invention, the following treatment was developed:.

In the typical route, <NUM> of cellulose acetate and <NUM> of water were fed into a micro-reactor. After having sealed it, the reactor was brought to operating temperature (<NUM>-<NUM>) by means of a preheated sand bath. The reactor was maintained at that temperature for a constant time (<NUM>-<NUM>), after which it was extracted and cooled with cold water to room temperature.

After filtration, the aqueous phase was analyzed by means of GC-MS and GC-FID.

The solid residue was washed several times with distilled water, then oven dried at <NUM> for <NUM> and weighed.

The equation for calculating the degradation rate was as follows: <MAT>.

The description will be better followed by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:.

The first investigation carried out was to analyze the degradation rate of cellulose acetate under hydrothermal conditions at different temperatures and reaction times.

As shown in <FIG>, higher temperature and reaction time are favorable to the degradation of cellulose acetate and the conditions required for an almost complete decomposition are: <NUM> <NUM>; <NUM> <NUM>; <NUM> <NUM>; and <NUM> <NUM>. At <NUM>, higher reaction times (<NUM>) are needed to have a complete decomposition of the polymer, while at <NUM>, only <NUM> are needed.

So as to accelerate the cellulose acetate hydrolysis process, acidic and basic catalysts were used.

<FIG> shows the degradation rate of hydrothermal treatment with cellulose acetate with acidic and basic catalysts at <NUM>.

As shown in said <FIG>, using <NUM> NaOH solution where NaOH is an example of basic catalyst, after reaction at <NUM> for <NUM>, <NUM>% cellulose acetate was decomposed. Acidic catalysis appears not to be active in this process, indeed small amounts of acetic acid were added to the aqueous solution to check whether the reaction can be autocatalytic. An amount of <NUM> acetic acid solution does not seem to produce any positive effect.

This can be explained by considering that acetic acid is the hydrolysis product of cellulose acetate, and the high concentration of acetic acid can promote the reverse reaction. NaOH significantly increased the degradation rate of cellulose acetate from <NUM>% of the blank to <NUM>% (<NUM> for <NUM>).

The aqueous phase products were analyzed by means of GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) and GC-FID (Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector). The main compounds are acetic acid, levulinic acid, diethyl phthalate and HMF, and the percentages related to the peak area are shown in <FIG>.

Diethyl phthalate is the plasticizer used in the production of cellulose acetate. Acetic acid could be produced by the hydrolysis of the acetyl group and also by the decomposition of the cellulose structure. Levulinic acid and HMF are the typical products of the hydrothermal liquefaction of cellulose in an acidic environment. The possible reaction route of the hydrothermal degradation of cellulose was proposed by Sudong Yin and Zhongchao Tan [l]. The cellulose was first hydrolyzed in monosaccharide (glucose), then converted into <NUM>-HMF and finally transformed into levulinic acid and formic acid. The same phenomenon was found in the Applicant's work: together with the progress of the reaction, HMF was generated first, then levulinic acid was observed. Sudong Yin and Zhongchao Tan found that in an acidic reaction environment (pH=<NUM>, using HCl), the main products of the hydrothermal liquefaction of cellulose (<NUM>, <NUM>), are HMF (<NUM>%), acetic acid (<NUM>%) and levulinic acid (<NUM>%).

The quantification analysis of the aqueous phase products is carried out on GC-FID. The concentration of acetic acid in the aqueous phase product and the total molar amounts are reported in Table <NUM>. Since the molecular weight of the repeating unit of cellulose acetate depends on the degree of substitution, as in the formula: <MAT>.

For a degree of substitution of <NUM> it is <NUM>/mol, the complete hydrolysis of the acetyl group of <NUM> of pure cellulose acetate should lead to <NUM> mol of acetic acid, meaning <NUM>/gcA. The acetic acid recovered from the hydrothermal process is calculated as: Acetic acid produced in the process/Amount of acetic acid in <NUM> of cellulose.

From the experimentation conducted on cellulose acetate, it can be concluded that the hydrothermal liquefaction process can be used for recovering acetic acid from cellulose acetate waste and scrap, useful for the production of acetic anhydride and other valuable materials, by virtue of the high recovery rate thereof.

On the basis of the aforesaid laboratory results, an industrial process for recovering acetic acid and other valuable materials from cellulose acetate waste has thus been developed, where said cellulose acetate waste is subjected to a hydrothermal process operating at a temperature between <NUM> and <NUM> with reaction times between <NUM> and <NUM>, feeding the process reactor with a feed of cellulose acetate and water having a weight ratio between <NUM>:<NUM> and <NUM>:<NUM>.

The liquid phase is first separated from the residual solid, for example by decantation or filtration, and then subjected to a recovery process of acetic acid and diethyl phthalate including a first solvent extraction through which all the organic components are extracted and then a distillation to separate the different components from each other.

The acetic acid thus recovered can be sent to a plant for the traditional production of cellulose acetate, while advantageously the recovered diethyl phthalate can be mixed with the cellulose acetate produced, thus lowering the consumption of total diethyl phthalate.

Claim 1:
A process for recovering acetic acid and other valuable materials from cellulose acetate waste, characterized in that it includes:
a) subjecting the cellulose acetate waste to a hydrothermal process operating at high pressure between <NUM> and <NUM> Mpa , at a temperature between <NUM> and <NUM> with reaction times between <NUM> and <NUM>, feeding the reactor with a feed of cellulose acetate and water having a weight ratio between <NUM>:<NUM> and <NUM>:<NUM>, in presence of acidic and basic catalysts;
b) separating the liquid phase from the residual solid;
c) sending the separated liquid phase to a process for recovering acetic acid and diethyl phthalate; and
d) sending the recovered acetic acid to the plant for the traditional production of cellulose acetate.