Environmentally friendly recycled cat litter and its manufacturing method

Abstract

The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter disclosed in this invention comprises a cat litter base and a cat litter surface layer. The cat litter base is composed of cut and crushed sanitary waste materials, is cylindrical in shape, has a diameter of 3 to 8 mm, and a length of 3 to 10 mm. The cat litter base accounts for 40% to 88% of the total weight of the cat litter. The cat litter surface layer is provided so as to tightly surround the cat litter base, and the material of the cat litter surface layer is composed of a mixture of dust recovered by dust collection equipment in the sanitary products industry and starch. The recovered dust accounts for 10 to 58% of the total weight of the cat litter, and the starch accounts for 1 to 2% of the total weight. This invention relates to the field of cat litter technology, specifically to environmentally friendly recycled cat litter and a method for producing the same. The cat litter of this invention uses recovered sanitary materials as its main material, primarily using scraps and dust from recovered sanitary materials as raw materials, and effectively utilizes the dust from recovered sanitary materials, thus belonging to the category of environmentally friendly cat litter products.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of cat litter, and particularly relates to an environmentally friendly recycled cat litter and a method for manufacturing the same.

Background Art

[0002] Cat litter is used by pet owners to cover the excrement (feces and urine) of the cats they raise. It has excellent water absorption and is usually used in combination with a cat toilet (cat litter box). A predetermined amount of cat litter is put into the container, and trained cats will enter the container when excreting and do so on it. One of the important advancements in cat culture is the use of cat litter. The mainstream of the initial cat litter was the non-solidifying type, which aimed at containing excrement. However, with the progress of technology, various cat litters have been developed, such as solidifying sand, wood-based sand, silica gel-based sand, bentonite sand, etc., not just limited to simple containment. Common cat litters include those made by processing pulp into small particles to simulate soil and endowing it with water absorption, or those made by granulating desiccants such as silica gel. Generally, chemical additives such as antibacterial agents, deodorants, and preservatives are often added.

Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of the above situation, in order to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide an environmentally friendly recycled cat litter and a method for manufacturing the same. The present invention uses the recycled sanitary materials as the main material, mainly uses the end materials and dust of the recycled sanitary materials as raw materials, effectively utilizes the dust of the recycled sanitary materials, and belongs to the environmentally friendly cat litter products.

[0004] The technical means of the present invention are as follows: The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter of the present invention comprises a cat litter base and a cat litter surface layer. The cat litter base is composed of cut and crushed sanitary material waste, is cylindrical in shape, has a diameter of 3 to 8 mm and a length of 3 to 10 mm. The cat litter base accounts for 40% to 88% of the total weight of the cat litter. The cat litter surface layer is provided so as to tightly surround the cat litter base, and the material of the cat litter surface layer is composed of a mixture of dust recovered by dust collection equipment in the sanitary products industry and starch. The recovered dust accounts for 10 to 58% of the total weight of the cat litter, and the starch accounts for 1 to 2% of the total weight. Furthermore, the materials used for the cat litter substrate and the cat litter surface are composed in the following weight ratios: 40 to 88 parts by weight of sanitary waste and 10 to 58 parts by weight of dust. Furthermore, the main components of the aforementioned sanitary waste are plant fibers and superabsorbent polymer materials. The manufacturing method for environmentally friendly recycled cat litter includes the following steps: Step 1: Sort out sanitary material scraps and remove contaminated scraps. Step 2: The sorted scraps are fed into a cutting machine for soft materials and cut to obtain mixed scraps. Step 3: The mixed cut material is transported by conveyor, fed into a crusher, and crushed to obtain crushed scrap material. Step 4: The crushed scrap material is transported to a granulator and granulated to obtain a cat litter base. Step 5: The cat litter substrate is transported to a rotary sieving machine to remove any granules with poor shape. During this sieving process, the cat litter substrate particles are compressed together, making the internal structure denser and strengthening the aggregation of the scraps. Step 6: The defective cat litter substrate is fed back into the crusher and granulator for re-granulation. Step 7: The approved cat litter substrate is cooled with a blower cooler and then fed into the mixer. Step 8: The cat litter substrate is placed in the mixer and atomized water is sprayed onto it using a high-pressure spray, then mixed and rotated within the mixer. The size of the cat litter substrate after humidification is four-fifths of the finished cat litter, and the humidification level is 10-20%. Step 9: While continuing to rotate the cat litter substrate with a moistened surface, the mixture of starch and recovered sanitary material dust is applied to it until the entire surface of the substrate is covered with the mixture. Step 10: Cat litter particles coated with starch and recovered dust are transported by conveyor and fed into a rotating disc device, where a strong blast of air is blown to remove any loosely adhering dust from the particle surface. Step 11: The cat litter particles, after dust removal, are transported by conveyor to a rotary sieving machine and sorted by particle size. The sorted cat litter particles then pass through different passages according to their particle size and are distributed according to the predetermined packaging specifications. Step 12: The sieved cat litter particles are transported by conveyor to a dryer for drying. Drying causes the internal material to further shrink and cohesive, making it less likely for dust to be generated by damage from external forces. Step 13: The dried cat litter particles are transported by conveyor belt and sorted again using a rotary sieve to obtain the finished cat litter product. Process 14: The cat litter product is transported to the packaging process via a conveyor belt, and is air-cooled by a blower during the transport process. Furthermore, in step 5, cat litter substrates with a diameter of less than 3 mm and cat litter substrates with a diameter of more than 8 mm are considered unacceptable. Furthermore, in step 8, the spray pressure is 1.5 to 2.0 MPa, and the surface humidity of the cat litter substrate humidified in step 8 is 80 to 100%. Furthermore, in step 12, the outer surface hardness of the completely dried cat litter particles reaches 30-65N.

[0005] After employing the above technical means, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: It provides an environmentally friendly recycled cat litter and a method for producing the same, using recovered sanitary materials as the main material, mainly using scraps and dust of recovered sanitary materials as raw materials, and effectively utilizing the dust of recovered sanitary materials, thus belonging to the category of environmentally friendly cat litter products. This invention solves the problem of low hardness in cat litter. Furthermore, the cat litter of this application generates almost no dust, or very little dust, so it does not pollute the air. In addition, it has very high impermeability, good solidification performance and deodorizing function, directly absorbs urine, and can be disposed of by flushing it down the toilet, eliminating the need for excessive daily cleaning. Moreover, because the cat litter of this invention has high hardness, it is difficult for cats to trample on it, has excellent water absorption performance, has little odor, has a low consumption rate, a long service life, and is easy to handle. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0006] The technical means in the embodiments of the present invention are described below clearly and completely. Clearly, the embodiments described are only a selection of embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without ingenuity based on the embodiments of the present invention are within the scope of the protection of the present invention.

[0007] Example 1: The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter of the present invention comprises a cat litter base and a cat litter surface layer. The cat litter base is composed of cut and crushed sanitary waste materials, is cylindrical in shape, has a diameter of 3 mm and a length of 3 mm. The cat litter base accounts for 40% of the total weight of the cat litter. The cat litter surface layer is provided so as to tightly surround the cat litter base, and the material of the cat litter surface layer is composed of a mixture of dust and starch recovered by dust collection equipment in the sanitary products industry. The recovered dust accounts for 10% of the total weight of the cat litter, and the starch accounts for 1% of the total weight. The materials used for the cat litter substrate and the cat litter surface are composed in the following weight ratios: 40 parts by weight of sanitary waste materials and 10 parts by weight of dust. The main components of the aforementioned sanitary waste are plant fibers and superabsorbent polymer materials.

[0008] The manufacturing method for environmentally friendly recycled cat litter includes the following steps: Step 1: Sort out sanitary material scraps and remove contaminated scraps. Step 2: The sorted scraps are fed into a cutting machine for soft materials and cut to obtain mixed scraps. Step 3: The mixed cut material is transported by conveyor, fed into a crusher, and crushed to obtain crushed scrap material. Step 4: The crushed scrap material is transported to a granulator and granulated to obtain a cat litter base. Step 5: The cat litter substrate is transported to a rotary sieving machine to remove any granules with poor shape. During this sieving process, the cat litter substrate particles are compressed together, making the internal structure denser and strengthening the aggregation of the scraps. Step 6: The defective cat litter substrate is fed back into the crusher and granulator for re-granulation. Step 7: The approved cat litter substrate is cooled with a blower cooler and then fed into the mixer. Step 8: The cat litter substrate is placed in the mixer and atomized water is sprayed onto it using a high-pressure spray, then mixed and rotated within the mixer. The size of the cat litter substrate after humidification is four-fifths of the finished cat litter, and the humidification humidity is 10%. Step 9: While continuing to rotate the cat litter substrate with a moistened surface, the mixture of starch and recovered sanitary material dust is applied to it until the entire surface of the substrate is covered with the mixture. Step 10: Cat litter particles coated with starch and recovered dust are transported by conveyor and fed into a rotating disc device, where a strong blast of air is blown to remove any loosely adhering dust from the particle surface. Step 11: The cat litter particles, after dust removal, are transported by conveyor to a rotary sieving machine and sorted by particle size. The sorted cat litter particles then pass through different passages according to their particle size and are distributed according to the predetermined packaging specifications. Step 12: The sieved cat litter particles are transported by conveyor to a dryer for drying. Drying causes the internal material to further shrink and cohesive, making it less likely for dust to be generated by damage from external forces. Step 13: The dried cat litter particles are transported by conveyor belt and sorted again using a rotary sieve to obtain the finished cat litter product. Process 14: The cat litter product is transported to the packaging process via a conveyor belt, and is air-cooled by a blower during the transport process. In step 5 described above, cat litter substrates with a diameter of less than 3 mm and cat litter substrates with a diameter of more than 8 mm are deemed unacceptable. In step 8, the spray pressure is 1.5 MPa, and the surface humidity of the cat litter substrate humidified in step 8 is 80%. In step 12, the outer surface hardness of the completely dried cat litter particles reaches 30N.

[0009] Example 2: The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter of the present invention comprises a cat litter base and a cat litter surface layer. The cat litter base is composed of cut and crushed sanitary waste materials, is cylindrical in shape, has a diameter of 5.5 mm and a length of 6.5 mm. The cat litter base accounts for 64% of the total weight of the cat litter. The cat litter surface layer is provided so as to tightly surround the cat litter base, and the material of the cat litter surface layer is composed of a mixture of dust recovered by dust collection equipment in the sanitary products industry and starch. The recovered dust accounts for 34% of the total weight of the cat litter, and the starch accounts for 1.5% of the total weight. The materials used for the cat litter substrate and the cat litter surface are composed in the following weight ratios: 64 parts by weight of sanitary waste materials and 34 parts by weight of dust. The main components of the aforementioned sanitary waste are plant fibers and superabsorbent polymer materials.

[0010] The manufacturing method for environmentally friendly recycled cat litter includes the following steps: Step 1: Sort out sanitary material scraps and remove contaminated scraps. Step 2: The sorted scraps are fed into a cutting machine for soft materials and cut to obtain mixed scraps. Step 3: The mixed cut material is transported by conveyor, fed into a crusher, and crushed to obtain crushed scrap material. Step 4: The crushed scrap material is transported to a granulator and granulated to obtain a cat litter base. Step 5: The cat litter substrate is transported to a rotary sieving machine to remove any granules with poor shape. During this sieving process, the cat litter substrate particles are compressed together, making the internal structure denser and strengthening the aggregation of the scraps. Step 6: The defective cat litter substrate is fed back into the crusher and granulator for re-granulation. Step 7: The approved cat litter substrate is cooled with a blower cooler and then fed into the mixer. Step 8: The cat litter substrate is placed in the mixer and atomized water is sprayed onto it using a high-pressure spray, then mixed and rotated within the mixer. The size of the cat litter substrate after humidification is four-fifths of the finished cat litter, and the humidification humidity is 10%. Step 9: While continuously rotating the cat litter substrate with a wet surface, apply a mixture of starch and recovered hygiene material dust until the entire surface layer of the substrate is covered with the mixture. Step 10: Convey the cat litter particles coated with starch and recovered dust by a conveyor, feed them into a rotary disk device, blow strong wind on them, and remove the dust loosely adhering to the particle surface. Step 11: Convey the dust-removed cat litter particles by a conveyor to a rotary sieve, and sort them by particle size. The sorted cat litter particles pass through different passages according to particle size and are respectively distributed into predetermined packaging specifications. Step 12: Convey the sieved cat litter particles by a conveyor to a dryer and dry them. Through drying, the internal material further shrinks and aggregates, making it less likely to generate dust due to breakage by external force. Step 13: Convey the dried cat litter particles by a conveyor, and sort them again by a rotary sieve to obtain the product cat litter. Step 14: Convey the product cat litter by a conveyor to the packaging process, and air-cool it by a blower during the conveying process. In the above Step 5, the cat litter substrate with a diameter less than 3 mm and the cat litter substrate with a diameter exceeding 8 mm are unqualified cat litter substrates. In the above Step 8, the spraying pressure is 1.75 MPa, and the surface humidity of the humidified cat litter substrate in Step 8 is 90%. In the above Step 12, the outer surface hardness of the completely dried cat litter particles reaches 47.5 N.

[0011] Example 3: The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter of the present invention includes a cat litter substrate and a cat litter surface layer. The cat litter substrate is composed of cut and crushed hygiene material waste, is cylindrical, has a diameter of 8 mm and a length of 10 mm. The cat litter substrate accounts for 88% of the total weight of the cat litter. The cat litter surface layer is provided to closely surround the cat litter substrate, and the material of the cat litter surface layer is composed of a mixture of dust recovered by a dust collector in the hygiene product industry and starch. The recovered dust accounts for 58% of the total weight of the cat litter, and the starch accounts for 2% of the total weight. The materials used for the cat litter substrate and the cat litter surface are composed in the following weight ratios: 88 parts by weight of sanitary waste materials and 58 parts by weight of dust. The main components of the aforementioned sanitary waste are plant fibers and superabsorbent polymer materials.

[0012] The manufacturing method for environmentally friendly recycled cat litter includes the following steps: Step 1: Sort out sanitary material scraps and remove contaminated scraps. Step 2: The sorted scraps are fed into a cutting machine for soft materials and cut to obtain mixed scraps. Step 3: The mixed cut material is transported by conveyor, fed into a crusher, and crushed to obtain crushed scrap material. Step 4: The crushed scrap material is transported to a granulator and granulated to obtain a cat litter base. Step 5: The cat litter substrate is transported to a rotary sieving machine to remove any granules with poor shape. During this sieving process, the cat litter substrate particles are compressed together, making the internal structure denser and strengthening the aggregation of the scraps. Step 6: The defective cat litter substrate is fed back into the crusher and granulator for re-granulation. Step 7: The approved cat litter substrate is cooled with a blower cooler and then fed into the mixer. Step 8: The cat litter substrate is placed in the mixer and atomized water is sprayed onto it using a high-pressure spray, causing it to mix and rotate within the mixer. After humidification, the size of the cat litter substrate is four-fifths the size of the finished cat litter, and the humidification level is 20%. Step 9: While continuing to rotate the cat litter substrate with a moistened surface, the mixture of starch and recovered sanitary material dust is applied to it until the entire surface of the substrate is covered with the mixture. Step 10: Cat litter particles coated with starch and recovered dust are transported by conveyor and fed into a rotating disc device, where a strong blast of air is blown to remove any loosely adhering dust from the particle surface. Step 11: The cat litter particles, after dust removal, are transported by conveyor to a rotary sieving machine and sorted by particle size. The sorted cat litter particles then pass through different passages according to their particle size and are distributed according to the predetermined packaging specifications. Step 12: The sieved cat litter particles are transported by conveyor to a dryer for drying. Drying causes the internal material to further shrink and cohesive, making it less likely for dust to be generated by damage from external forces. Step 13: The dried cat litter particles are transported by conveyor belt and sorted again using a rotary sieve to obtain the finished cat litter product. Process 14: The cat litter product is transported to the packaging process via a conveyor belt, and is air-cooled by a blower during the transport process. In step 5 described above, cat litter substrates with a diameter of less than 3 mm and cat litter substrates with a diameter of more than 8 mm are deemed unacceptable. In step 8, the spray pressure is 2.0 MPa, and the surface humidity of the cat litter substrate humidified in step 8 is 100%. In step 12, the outer surface hardness of the completely dried cat litter particles reaches 65N.

[0013] It should be noted that the relational terms such as "first," "second," etc., used herein are merely used to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or suggest that there is an actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, "includes," "incorporates," or any variation thereof are intended to be non-exclusive inclusions, so that a process, method, article, or apparatus containing certain elements may include not only the elements described, but also other elements not explicitly stated, or elements specific to that process, method, article, or apparatus. While embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications, alterations, substitutions, and variations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention. The scope of the present invention shall be defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. The present invention and its embodiments have been described above, but this description is not limiting, and actual applications are not restricted thereto. In other words, any structural configurations and examples similar to the technical means, designed by a person skilled in the art based on its suggestions and without departing from the spirit of the invention, should all fall within the scope of the protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. This is an environmentally friendly recycled cat litter, and it includes a cat litter base and a cat litter surface layer. The cat litter base is composed of cut and crushed sanitary waste materials, is cylindrical in shape with a diameter of 3 to 8 mm and a length of 3 to 10 mm, the cat litter base accounts for 40% to 88% of the total weight of the cat litter, the cat litter surface layer is provided so as to tightly surround the cat litter base, the material of the cat litter surface layer is composed of a mixture of dust and starch recovered by dust collection equipment in the sanitary products industry, the recovered dust accounts for 10 to 58% of the total weight of the cat litter, and the starch accounts for 1 to 2% of the total weight, characterized in that it is an environmentally friendly recycled cat litter.

2. The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter according to claim 1 is characterized in that the materials used for the cat litter substrate and the cat litter surface layer include 40 to 88 parts by weight of sanitary waste and 10 to 58 parts by weight of dust.

3. The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter according to claim 2, characterized in that the main components of the aforementioned sanitary waste are plant fibers and superabsorbent polymer materials.

4. A method for producing environmentally friendly recycled cat litter according to any one of claims 1 to 3, A method for producing environmentally friendly recycled cat litter, characterized by including the following steps. Step 1: Sort out sanitary material scraps and remove contaminated scraps. Step 2: The sorted scraps are fed into a cutting machine for soft materials and cut to obtain mixed scraps. Step 3: The mixed cut material is transported by conveyor, fed into a crusher, and crushed to obtain crushed scrap material. Step 4: The crushed scrap material is transported to a granulator and granulated to obtain a cat litter base. Step 5: The cat litter substrate is transported to a rotary sieving machine to remove any granules with poor shape. During this sieving process, the cat litter substrate particles are compressed together, making the internal structure denser and strengthening the aggregation of the scraps. Step 6: The defective cat litter substrate is fed back into the crusher and granulator for re-granulation. Step 7: The approved cat litter substrate is cooled with a blower cooler and then fed into the mixer. Step 8: The cat litter substrate is placed in the mixer and atomized water is sprayed onto it using a high-pressure spray, causing it to mix and rotate within the mixer. After humidification, the size of the cat litter substrate is four-fifths the size of the finished cat litter, and the humidification level is 10-20%. Step 9: While continuing to rotate the cat litter substrate with a moistened surface, the mixture of starch and recovered sanitary material dust is applied to it until the entire surface of the substrate is covered with the mixture. Step 10: Cat litter particles coated with starch and recovered dust are transported by conveyor and fed into a rotating disc device, where a strong blast of air is blown to remove any loosely adhering dust from the particle surface. Step 11: The cat litter particles, after dust removal, are transported by conveyor to a rotary sieving machine and sorted by particle size. The sorted cat litter particles pass through different passages according to their particle size and are then distributed according to the predetermined packaging specifications. Step 12: The sieved cat litter particles are transported by conveyor to a dryer for drying. Drying causes the internal material to further shrink and cohesive, making it less likely for dust to be generated by damage from external forces. Step 13: The dried cat litter particles are transported by conveyor belt and sorted again using a rotary sieve to obtain the finished cat litter product. Step 14: The cat litter product is transported to the packaging process via a conveyor belt, and is air-cooled using a blower during the transport process.

5. The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter according to claim 4, characterized in that, in step 5, cat litter substrates with a diameter of less than 3 mm and cat litter substrates with a diameter of more than 8 mm are defective cat litter substrates.

6. The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter according to claim 4, characterized in that in step 8, the spray pressure is 1.5 to 2.0 MPa, and the surface humidity of the cat litter substrate humidified in step 8 is 80 to 100%.

7. The environmentally friendly recycled cat litter according to claim 4, characterized in that, in step 12, the outer surface hardness of the completely dried cat litter particles reaches 30 to 65 N.

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