Continuous production method of water-absorbing composite

a production method and water-absorbing technology, applied in weaving, transportation and packaging, other chemical processes, etc., can solve the problems of increasing the cost of materials, destroying the water-absorbing property intrinsic to water-absorbing resin powder, and material bulkyness

Inactive Publication Date: 2005-01-06
MITSUBISHI CHEM CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

10 to 50 times their own weights, so that absorption or retention of a large volume of water require a large volume of such materials, which makes such materials very bulky, Such materials were also disadvantageous in that readily releasing water when they are pressurized after absorbing water.
It is also undesirable that swollen gel produced after water absorption will not stably be immobilized onto the fibrous substrate and will be ready to migrate therefrom.
One possible method for preventing such migration is to adhere the water-absorbing resin powder using an adhesive to fluffed pulp or the like, which however ruin the water absorption property intrinsic to the water-absorbing resin powder since the adhesive inhibits the swelling of such powder.
Moreover in the foregoing method for homogeneously dispersing the water-absorbing resin powder onto the fibrous substrate to thereby obtain a water-absorbing material, the polymer powder is not only likely to drop out from the fibrous substrate but is also inconvenient to handle and thus requires additional consideration on a process for ensuring the homogeneous dispersion, which inevitably raised the costs to a significant degree.

Method used

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  • Continuous production method of water-absorbing composite
  • Continuous production method of water-absorbing composite
  • Continuous production method of water-absorbing composite

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

To 125 weight parts of an 80 wt % aqueous solution of acrylic acid, 57.3 weight parts of a 48.5% aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, 6.4 weight parts of water, 0.15 weight parts of a crosslinking agent (N,N′-methylene-bisacrylamide) and 5.0 weight parts of a 30 wt % aqueous solution of hydrogenperoxide as an oxidizing agent were added to prepare solution “A”. The monomer concentration and the degree of neutralization of the solution “A” were 60 wt % and 50 molt, respectively.

Separately to 125 weight parts of an 80 wt % aqueous solution of acrylic acid, 57.3 weight parts of a 48.5% aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, 9.9 weight parts of water, 0.15 weight parts of a crosslinking agent (N,N′-methylene-bisacrylamide) and 1.5 weight parts of L-ascorbic acid as a reducing agent were added to prepare solution “B” The monomer concentration and the degree of neutralization of the solution “B” were same as those for solution “A”.

Solutions “A” and “B” were respectively heated to 40° ...

example 2

Process steps up to the complexation step were conducted similarly to those in Example 1, to thereby obtain a substrate having immobilized thereon the water-absorbing polymer (composite) with a water content of 20 wt %.

Such composite was then sprayed with a 0.5 wt % ethanol solution of ethyleneglycol diglycidyl ether (EGDGE) so as to attain an amount of EGDGE of 3,000 weight ppm relative to the immobilized polymer (on the dry polymer basis). The composite sprayed with the ethanol solution of EGDGE was sent to a vent band-type drier equipped with a steam supplier, and was further blown at right angles with steam set at a temperature of 130° C. and a dew point of 120° C., where the contact of the composite with the steam was effected for 2 minutes at a linear velocity of 0.5 m / second. Thus the water-absorbing composite was completed. The polymer immobilized on the composite was found to have a water content of 5% and to be immobilized in an amount of 200 g / m2.

example 3

To 125 weight parts of an 80 wt % aqueous solution of acrylic acid, 57.3 weight parts of a 48.5% aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, 68.8 weight parts of water, 0.15 weight parts of a crosslinking agent (N,N′-methylene-bisacrylamide) and 5.0 weight parts of a 30 wt % aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent were added to prepare solution “A”. The monomer concentration and the degree of neutralization of the solution “A” were 45 wt % and 50 mol %, respectively.

Separately to 125 weight parts of an 80 wt % aqueous solution of acrylic acid, 57.3 weight parts of a 48.5% aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, 72.5 weight parts of water, 0.15 weight parts of a crosslinking agent (N,N′-methylene-bisacrylamide) and 1.5 weight parts of L-ascorbic acid as a reducing agent were added to prepare solution “B”. The monomer concentration and the degree of neutralization of the solution “B” were same as those for solution “A”.

Solutions “A” and “B” were respectively heated to...

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Abstract

This invention discloses a continuous production method of water-absorbing composite which comprises a complexation step for producing a particle-substrate composite by dropwisely supplying an aqueous solution of polymerizable monomers consisting mainly of an unsaturated carboxylic acid where 20% or more of the carboxyl groups in the unsaturated acid is neutralized, while allowing polymerization to proceed in the droplets, onto a fibrous substrate fed to the drop point to allow the incompletely polymerized polymer particles to adhere thereon, and by completing the polymerization thereafter; and a surface crosslinking step for reacting the composite with a crosslinking agent, having two or more functional groups capable of reacting with carboxyl group and / or carboxylate group, in the presence of 1 to 100 weight parts of water per 100 weight parts of polymer particles derived from the polymerizable monomer contained in the composite. Such continuous production method is successful in producing, in a continuous and efficient manner, a water-absorbing composite excellent in water absorption property and water retention property.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for continuously producing a water-absorbing composite comprising a fibrous substrate such as non-woven fabric and water-absorbing polymer particles bound thereon. The water-absorbing composite produced by the production method of the present invention is preferably used for producing water-absorbing articles such as paper diaper and sanitary napkin. RELATED ART Paper, pulp, non-woven fabric, spongy urethane resin, etc. have been widely used as a water retainer for a variety of sanitary goods such as sanitary napkin and paper diaper, and agricultural materials by virtue of their excellent water absorption property. These materials can, however, absorb water only as much as approx. 10 to 50 times their own weights, so that absorption or retention of a large volume of water require a large volume of such materials, which makes such materials very bulky, Such materials were also disadvantageous in that readily releasing...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & AuthorityApplications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B01J20/26B01J20/28B01J20/32C08F2/00D04H1/64D06M15/263D06M23/08
CPCB01J20/26B01J20/261B01J20/267B01J20/28004B01J20/28028B01J20/2803D06M23/08B01J20/28038B01J20/32B01J20/3293B01J2220/68D04H1/641D06M15/263B01J20/28033B01J20/262B01J20/3028B01J20/3212B01J20/327B01J20/3282D04H1/587D04H1/64Y10T442/699Y10T428/249924Y10T442/2484
InventorKATOH, KOUJIITOH, KIICHIMORI, YOSHIAKI
OwnerMITSUBISHI CHEM CORP