Process for polyester regeneration by adding a reactor

Abstract

To provide an improved method for recycling polyester.SOLUTION: A method can include: providing a feed of recycled polyester 420; providing a feed of polyester precursors 422; depolymerizing the recycled polyester 420 to obtain depolymerized polyester monomers 421; polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers 421 with the polyester precursors 422 to form a reclaimed polyester 423; and providing the reclaimed polyester 423 as an output (or a product) 402.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Cross - reference to related applications

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 850,160, filed on May 20, 2019, and U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 808,939, filed on March 4, 2020, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a crystallizable polymer, and in crystallizable polymers, crystallization affects many properties such as the transparency, rigidity, and strength of PET products. PET has slow crystallization, which results in long cycle times that are not commercially feasible. Furthermore, PET has a low heat distortion temperature (HDT), and PET articles can soften at relatively low temperatures.

[0003] Currently, PET is widely used in large quantities in beverage containers, among other things, especially for packaging items in foodstuffs or other commodities. In order to protect the environment, reduce landfill requirements, and also reduce the demand for more oil for manufacturing PET, PET recycling technology needs to be developed. However, recycled PET is often plagued by the memory of its manufacture, and as a result, recycled PET (hereinafter referred to as "rPET") will have unfavorable properties that do not exist in virgin PET. However, recycling PET is important, and thus a recycling protocol for PET that produces rPET with properties similar to virgin PET would be beneficial. As such, recycled PET polymers with better properties, faster crystallization, and higher HDT while maintaining the good properties of PET are desirable.

[0004]

Chemical formula

[0005] Therefore, having improved PET recycling technology would be advantageous. [Overview of the project]

[0006] In some embodiments, a method for regenerating polyester is The present invention provides a feed material for recycled polyester, wherein the feed material for recycled polyester comprises polyester particles, off-spec polyester flakes, off-spec polyester resin, or other forms of polyester; a feed material for polyester precursors; and the conversion of recycled polyester and polyester precursors into recycled polyester. In some aspects, the recycled polyester feed material is depolymerized in a depolymerization reaction vessel, and / or the recycled polyester feed material is depolymerized from a polymerization reaction vessel. In some aspects, the depolymerization reaction vessel and / or the polymerization reaction vessel receive one or more of water; methanol; an acid or base; or ethylene glycol. In some aspects, water depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; methanol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol; an acid or base, in aqueous form, depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; or ethylene glycol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET). In some aspects, recycled polyester is characterized as virgin polyester or indistinguishable from virgin polyester. In some aspects, the raw materials for polyester include PAT. In some aspects, the raw materials for polyester include PET.

[0007] In some embodiments, the depolymerization vessel and / or polymerization vessel is any batch or continuous reaction vessel, which can be configured as a mixer capable of mixing liquid polyester in batch or continuous, such as a single-screw mixer, twin-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, two-stage extruder, or continuous plow mixer. In some aspects, the depolymerization vessel and / or polymerization vessel also perform one or more of the following: degassing, homogenization, dispersion, or heating.

[0008] In some embodiments, the method includes providing recycled polyester to an output system as an output product. In some aspects, the output system provides recycled polyester to a storage unit or a polyester product forming system or an analysis system. In some aspects, the analysis system includes one or more analysis systems capable of determining the intrinsic viscosity of the recycled polyester; determining the flow velocity of the recycled polyester; determining the melting point of the recycled polyester; determining the crystallization temperature of the recycled polyester; determining the differential scanning calorimetry profile of the recycled polyester; or determining the thermal strain temperature of the recycled polyester. In some aspects, the polyester product forming system is configured to form a product from recycled polyester alone; or to combine recycled polyester with a second polyester feed (second PAT feed) to produce a polyester constituent product.

[0009] In some embodiments, the feedstock for recycled polyester does not contain any other polymer, and / or the polyester precursor does not contain any other polymer. In some aspects, the feedstock for recycled polyester consists essentially of (or consists of) PAT, and / or the polyester precursor consists essentially of (or consists of) a PAT precursor. In some aspects, the feedstock for recycled polyester consists essentially of (or consists of) PET, and / or the polyester precursor consists essentially of (or consists of) a PET precursor. In some aspects, the recycled polyester contains recycled PET flakes or off-spec PET resin. In some aspects, the feedstock for recycled polyester contains less than 5%, less than 1%, less than 0.1%, trace amounts of water, or no water. In some aspects, the recycled PET flakes or off-spec PET resin consists essentially of (or consists of, or contains) 0-100% PET. In some cases, recycled PET flakes or off-spec PET resins consist essentially of (or comprise) 0-10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100% PET. In some cases, the raw materials for recycled polyester consist essentially of (or comprise, or include) 0-100% PET. In some cases, the raw materials for recycled polyester consist essentially of (or comprise) 0-10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100% PET.

[0010] In some embodiments, the method may include depolymerizing the recycled polyester before mixing it with a polyester precursor; and / or depolymerizing the recycled polyester during or after mixing it with the polyester precursor. In some aspects, the method may include polymerizing a depolymerized polyester monomer with a polyester precursor to form a recycled polyester from polymerizable reagents that polymerize to form PET. In some aspects, a polymerization reaction vessel receives the polyester precursor from a precursor storage container, and each precursor is stored separately or in any unreacted combination. In some aspects, the polyester precursor comprises a first precursor, the first precursor reacting with a second precursor to form a polyester. In some aspects, the polyester precursor comprises a PET precursor, the PET precursor comprising (1) a first PET precursor comprising PTA and / or DMT, and (2) a second PET precursor comprising MEG and / or DEG. In some aspects, the polyester precursor comprises cyclohexanedimethanol, and the product is a glycolated polyester. In some aspects, the polyester precursor comprises IPA. In some aspects, the first precursor is provided separately from the second precursor. In some cases, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor under non-polymerization conditions. In some cases, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and recycled polyester is mixed into the precursor mixture. In some cases, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and recycled polyester and / or depolymerized polyester monomer is mixed into the precursor mixture. In some cases, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and depolymerized polyester monomer is mixed into the precursor mixture.

[0011] In some embodiments, the method may include mixing a first precursor with a second precursor to form a precursor mixture; mixing recycled polyester with the precursor mixture to form a depolymerization mixture; and performing depolymerization with the depolymerization mixture. In some aspects, the method may include mixing a first precursor with a second precursor to form a precursor mixture; mixing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the precursor mixture to form a polymerization mixture; and performing polymerization using the polymerization mixture. In some aspects, the method may include performing depolymerization with recycled polyester before mixing with the first and second precursors.

[0012] In some embodiments, this method may include performing a first depolymerization; performing a first polymerization; performing a second depolymerization; performing a second polymerization; and repeating the depolymerization-polymerization cycle n times (where n is an integer).

[0013] In some embodiments, the method may include introducing recycled polyester into a continuous reactor stream; depolymerizing the recycled polyester in the continuous reactor stream; and polymerizing the polyester precursor and the depolymerized polyester monomer in the continuous reactor stream. In some aspects, polymerization occurs between approximately 200°C and approximately 330°C. In some aspects, the polyester precursor comprises (1) a first precursor containing PTA and / or DMT and / or IPA; and (2) a second PET precursor containing MEG and / or DEG and / or PETG. In some aspects, the recycled polyester constitutes a weight percentage between 1 and 50% of the total weight of the recycled polyester polymerization composition.

[0014] In some embodiments, this method may include outputting recycled polyester as: a chip stream for forming pellets; and / or as a polyester sheet.

[0015] In some embodiments, the method may include controlling at least one output mass flow rate by controlling the pressure of the recycled polyester molten material using a pressure control loop prior to forming the aforementioned product. In some aspects, the control is located within a die flow system, including the use of an outlet pump, which directly controls the flow within the die flow system.

[0016] In some embodiments, this method may include depolymerizing recycled polyester to obtain a depolymerized polyester monomer, and polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with a polyester precursor to form a recycled polyester. In some cases, recycled polyester may include post-industrial flakes, cleaned and / or washed used flakes.

[0017] In some embodiments, a system for regenerating polyester may include: a feed material for recycled polyester, the feed material for recycled polyester comprising polyester particles, off-spec polyester flakes, off-spec polyester resin, or other forms of polyester; a feed material for polyester precursors; a reactor configured to convert recycled polyester and polyester precursors into recycled polyester; and an output for recycled polyester. In some aspects, the reactor is a depolymerization reactor having recycled polyester feed material; and / or a polymerization reactor having recycled polyester feed material. In some aspects, the depolymerization reactor and / or polymerization reactor are operably connected to one or more sources of water, methanol, acid or base, or ethylene glycol.

[0018] In some embodiments, the reactor is configured for depolymerizing recycled polyester to obtain depolymerized polyester monomers; and / or polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomers with a polyester precursor to form recycled polyester. In some aspects, the polyester feedstock includes PAT. In some aspects, the polyester feedstock includes PET. In some aspects, the reactor is any batch or continuous reaction vessel, and the reaction vessel can be configured as a mixer capable of mixing liquid polyester in batch or continuous, such as a single-screw mixer, twin-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, two-stage extruder, or continuous plow mixer. In some aspects, the reactor is configured to perform one or more of the following: degassing, homogenizing, dispersing, or heating.

[0019] In some embodiments, the system includes an output system. In some aspects, the output system is configured to provide recycled polyester to a storage unit or a polyester product formation system or an analysis system by being operably coupled with them. In some aspects, the polyester product formation system is configured to form a product from recycled polyester alone; or to produce a polyester constituent product by combining recycled polyester with a second polyester feed (second PAT feed).

[0020] In some embodiments, the feedstock for recycled polyester does not contain any other polymer, and / or the polyester precursor does not contain any other polymer. In some aspects, the feedstock for recycled polyester consists essentially of (or consists of) PAT, and / or the polyester precursor consists essentially of (or consists of) a PAT precursor. In some aspects, the feedstock for recycled polyester consists essentially of (or consists of) PET, and / or the polyester precursor consists essentially of (or consists of) a PET precursor. In some aspects, the recycled polyester contains recycled PET flakes or off-spec resin. In some aspects, the feedstock for recycled polyester contains less than 5%, less than 1%, less than 0.1%, or trace amounts of water, or does not contain water. In some aspects, the recycled PET flakes or off-spec PET resin consists essentially of (or consists of, or contains) 0-100% PET. In some cases, recycled PET flakes or off-spec PET resin consist essentially of (or comprise) 0-10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100% PET. In some cases, the raw material for recycled polyester consists essentially of (or comprises, or includes) 0-100% PET. In some cases, the raw material for recycled polyester consists essentially of (or comprises, or includes) 10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100% PET. In some embodiments, the system may include a controller having a tangible non-temporary memory device with computer-executable instructions for controlling the system to perform one method of the embodiment. In some cases, the controller is configured to depolymerize the recycled polyester before mixing it with the polyester precursor, and / or to depolymerize the recycled polyester during or after mixing it with the polyester precursor.In some aspects, the controller is configured to control the polymerization of a depolymerized polyester monomer and a polyester precursor to form a recycled polyester from a polymerizable reagent that polymerizes to form PET. In some aspects, the controller is configured to control a polymerization reaction vessel to receive polyester precursors from a precursor storage container, each precursor stored separately or in any unreacted combination. In some aspects, the controller is configured to control the mixing of a first precursor with a second precursor to form a precursor mixture; the mixing of recycled polyester with the precursor mixture to form a depolymerization mixture; and the depolymerization using the depolymerization mixture. In some aspects, the controller is configured to control the mixing of a first precursor with a second precursor to form a precursor mixture; the mixing of depolymerized polyester monomer with the precursor mixture to form a polymerization mixture; and the polymerization using the polymerization mixture. In some aspects, the controller is configured to depolymerize with the recycled polyester before mixing with the first and second precursors.

[0021] In some embodiments, recycled polyester 423 is provided, produced by a method for regenerating polyester according to one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0022] In some embodiments, methods for manufacturing polyester objects are provided: The method is: To provide a polyester molten product, wherein the polyester is recycled polyester 423 according to any one of the examples disclosed herein; Flowing a polyester molten material into a valve having multiple outlets; Flowing a polyester molten material from a valve having multiple outlets into a die forming system, wherein the die forming system includes multiple dies and a tip system; Forming a polyester object from a polyester molten material, Includes.

[0023] In some embodiments of the method for manufacturing a polyester object, the polyester object is a polyester sheet or pellet.

[0024] In some embodiments, a polyester object produced by the method for manufacturing a polyester object is provided in one or any of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0025] The above and following information, as well as other features of the present disclosure, will become more fully apparent from the following description and the appended claims, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is understood that these drawings depict only some embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure and should not be regarded as limiting its scope, and the present disclosure will be described with further specificity and detail by using the accompanying drawings.

[0026] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a PET recycling system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 illustrates a control loop for the pumps of the system of FIG. 1, such as for a PET recycling system. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 illustrates individual loops used to control the output of the last pump to maintain quality in both the sheet line loop and the cutter loop of the system of FIG. 1. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows a method and system for recycling polyester. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 shows the path of depolymerization. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary computing device that can be configured to effect the performance of the method (or a part thereof) described herein, such as by being a controller, in some embodiments. [Figure 7]Figure 7 shows a graph of haze as a function of PET sheet thickness.

[0027] The elements in the figure are arranged according to at least one of the embodiments described herein, and the arrangement may be modified according to the disclosures provided herein by those skilled in the art. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0028] The following detailed explanation relies on the attached drawings, which form part of it. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components unless the context indicates otherwise. The exemplary embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not intended to be restrictive. Other embodiments may be available, and other modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily apparent that aspects of this disclosure can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, as generally described herein and illustrated in the drawings, all of which are expressly intended herein.

[0029] In outline, this technology relates to a method for adding recycled PET polymer back into the feed stream of a PET reactor. The resulting PET polymer produced from this process has properties that allow it to be used to produce new products without any limitations, which means that the resulting PET polymer, including recycled PET, can be used in virtually any PET product. The PET regeneration process combines recycled PET with a new PET reagent to form recycled PET, and the recycled PET can be treated as virgin (unused) PET. The PET regeneration process produces a cost-effective method for regenerating clean used PET flakes and off-spec PET resin.

[0030] The PET recycling process described herein can use recycled PET from any source. Recycled PET may be in any form, such as flakes (e.g., crushed material manufactured from recycled products), resins within specifications, or any other form of recycled PET. The PET recycling process can also use other recycled PETs, such as mixed re-extruded recycled PET (e.g., recycled PET co-extruded with or without virgin PET or other recycled PET, at the option of), co-extruded sheet PET with recycled PET as the central layer and virgin PET as the outer layer, and depolymerized PET (e.g., treated with solvents, or other treatments, enzymatic depolymerization). Previously, these recycled PETs were either substandard or excessively expensive (e.g., depolymerized), as known in the prior art. Therefore, any recycled PET source or depolymerized PET source can be used in the PET recycling process described herein.

[0031] Herein, the PET recycling technology uses substantially any form of recycled PET or any used product PET that does not have any depolymerized state. While the PET recycling technology can use depolymerized PET, it has been developed to omit or avoid the entire PET depolymerization process. Accordingly, the aspect of the present invention specifically excludes the use of depolymerized PET as a reagent material or source material in a PET recycling reactor.

[0032] This PET recycling technology yields recycled PET polymers that do not have any markings, compositional or shape memory, and / or processing history indicating that the PET in the products formed from them was previously contained in consumer products such as bottles, sheets, spoons, or any other items. The properties of the recycled PET polymers produced by this PET recycling process can be considered, chemically characterized, and / or physically characterized to be the same as virgin PET formed from virgin PET resin. Therefore, this PET recycling technology can effectively use PET flakes or off-spec resins as raw materials when producing recycled PET resin that is equivalent to virgin PET resin.

[0033] In some embodiments, the PET recycling technology involves chemically decomposing any PET polymer (e.g., recycled PET polymer) back into its original monomer and / or small polymers, and then repolymerizing the monomer and / or small polymers back into a complete polymer. The small polymers may contain "n" monomers, where "n" can be 2 to 50, more preferably 2 to 25, more preferably 2 to 15, more preferably 2 to 10, or any integer less than 10. The chemical decomposition of PET results in the loss of any previous chemical and / or physical markings, previous composition or shape memory, and / or processing history of the recycled PET in the product formed therefrom (from the recycled PET polymer) that it was once present in the consuming product. Thus, the recycled PET can behave or be characterized (e.g., chemically and / or physically) independently of the original recycled polymer and as a new polymer.

[0034] The recycled PET produced as described herein overcomes the problems associated with conventional PET recycling. In conventional PET recycling processes, recycled PET is simply melted and mixed with other recycled PET and / or virgin PET resins. The resulting mixed PET polymer is melted and mixed, but the individual PET polymers largely remain those of the various PET resins involved. For example, if the intrinsic viscosity (IV) of one resin is 0.60 and the IV of another resin is 0.80, when these are mixed in a 50:50 ratio, the resulting resin may have an IV of 0.70 (e.g., 50 x 0.60 = 0.30, 50 x 0.80 = 0.40, 0.30 + 0.40 = 0.70). The reason why consumed recycled PET is recovered at a low level is that its uses are limited due to its impaired chemical and / or physical properties. Currently, this PET recycling technology eliminates these limitations and provides recycled PET that is substantially chemically and physically identical to virgin PET resin.

[0035] In some embodiments, this PET recycling technology mixes recycled PET with water containing a PET reagent, which is then treated in a depolymerization reaction, so that the recycled PET polymer absorbs water, causing monomer separation and producing monomers and small PET polymers. At some point, a polymerization reaction occurs with the monomers and / or small PET polymers to form longer polymer chains and also produce a PET resin. This PET resin is considered to be a recycled PET polymer because it contains recycled PET and virgin PET in indistinguishable manner.

[0036] In some embodiments, PET polymerization is a condensation reaction. A condensation reaction is when two molecules react to form a new molecule, releasing water molecules along with the reaction. PET polymerization chemistry begins with PET reagents such as terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG), which bond and react to form what is called the PET monomer bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)-terephthalate (BHET). Thus, the first step of polymerization involves PTA molecules reacting with MEG molecules to form BHET, with one water molecule being formed with each reaction. For this reaction and subsequent reactions to continue, the formed water must be removed (for example, used to break up recycled PET chains). Once all the PTA has reacted, then BHET (e.g., monomer) molecules begin to react with each other to form small PET polymers, and these small PET polymers then react with each other and with any BHET to form longer PET polymer chains. During the polymerization stage, the process may include removing water from the reaction zone (e.g., by evaporation) to prevent it from reacting with other PET polymer molecules. Accordingly, a liquid-phase PET polymerization process may include a series of process steps, each having a lower pressure to keep the water byproducts evaporating and leaving the reaction zone (e.g., leaving the reaction vessel), and each step also having a higher temperature.

[0037] In some embodiments, PET recycling technology is based on the principle that polymer molecules do not want to exist in the presence of their monomers, especially when water is present in the same environment. When recycled polymers are introduced into an environment rich in BHET monomers and water, the natural forces of chemical equilibrium prevail, the polymer begins to absorb water, and its monomers begin to separate very rapidly. Virgin PTA and MEG are also introduced into the reaction zone, as in a typical polymerization process. This results in the reaction zone containing virtually only monomers, partly from the reaction of virgin PTA and MEG, and partly from the depolymerization of recycled PET. This mixture then allows the monomers to begin forming small polymers, and then long PET polymer chains, thus advancing the reaction process much further, resulting in the PET resin being recycled PET resin.

[0038] In some embodiments, recycled PET, such as flakes or off-spec resin (for example, in this specification, off-spec resin is considered to be recycled PET, however flakes and off-spec resin may be different in some embodiments), is introduced into the reaction vessel.

[0039] In some embodiments, PET reagents such as PTA and MEG are introduced into the reaction vessel along with recycled PET. In some aspects, the PET reagent may include dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) together with or instead of PTA. In some aspects, the PET reagent may include diethylene glycol (DEG) together with or instead of MEG. In some aspects, the PET reagent may include glycolated polyester (PETG) together with or instead of MEG and / or DEG.

[0040] In some embodiments, bulk liquid water is not specifically introduced into the reaction vessel (e.g., not provided). Instead, the water used in the depolymerization reaction may include water molecules that are attached to the recycled PET by means of condensation (concentration, compression), bulk attachment, molecular attachment, etc.

[0041] In some embodiments, bulk water is actively introduced into the reaction vessel, for example, by supplying it to the vessel. For instance, the reaction vessel may include a port attached to a water source. Alternatively, water can be supplied to the reaction vessel along with the PET reagent. Furthermore, water can be mixed with recycled PET, such as PET flakes, and supplied to the reaction vessel along with the recycled PET.

[0042] In some embodiments, the PET depolymerizer can be actively introduced into the reaction vessel by being supplied to the reaction vessel. For example, the reaction vessel may include a port attached to the PET depolymerizer source. Alternatively, the PET depolymer can be mixed with the PET reagent and supplied to the reaction vessel. The PET depolymerizer can also be mixed with recycled PET, such as PET flakes, and supplied to the reaction vessel together with the recycled PET. The PET depolymerizer can include water, acidic water, alkaline water, methanol, aqueous methanol (aqueous methanol, aqueous methanol), ethylene glycol, aqueous ethylene glycol (aqueous ethylene glycol), and mixtures thereof. Acidic water can be any suitable acid (e.g., HCl). Alkaline water can be any suitable base (e.g., sodium hydroxide). In such cases, the PET depolymerizer can result in the depolymerization of recycled PET, as shown in Figure 5. In such cases, methanol can result in DMT and ethylene glycol (EG) via methanolysis (methanol decomposition). Water, whether neutral, alkaline, or acidic, can produce TP and EG via hydrolysis. EG can produce BHET and PET oligomers (e.g., small PET molecules) via glycolysis (glycolysis). However, in some embodiments, the PET depolymerizer may not be actively introduced but rather provided by being attached to or contained in a reagent such as recycled PET.

[0043] The polymerization of depolymerized recycled PET and virgin PET reagents can be carried out as is known in the field of PET polymerization, as can be seen from the included references.

[0044] Figure 1 shows an example of a PET recycling system 100, which can be used to produce PET sheets. A first feedstock 102 of a PET precursor and a second feedstock 104 of recycled PET are supplied to a reactor 106 of the system for making recycled PET. In one embodiment, the PET precursor comprises (1) a first PET precursor containing feedstock PTA and / or DMT, and (2) a second PET precursor containing feedstock MEG and / or DEG.

[0045] In another aspect of the present invention, a third feedstock 103 of a second precursor, such as cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM), can be used in combination with a first precursor, such as MEG or DEG. In this aspect, the final product is PETG.

[0046] In one embodiment, two feed materials 102 and 104 are processed together in reactor 106 to depolymerize recycled PET.

[0047] In one embodiment, the first feed material 102 is added to the reactor 106 to undergo depolymerization, and then, following at least partial or complete depolymerization, the second feed material 104 is added to the reactor 106.

[0048] In one embodiment, following the depolymerization of recycled PET, two feedstocks 102 and 104 are used in reactor 106 to produce an intermediate BHET, which can be converted to polyethylene terephthalate by heating at a temperature above the boiling point of ethylene glycol or the reaction mixture under conditions that allow for the removal of glycol or water or other depolymerizing agents. Feedstocks 102 and 104 are reacted in reactor 106 by esterification and polymerization to produce a PET molten product. Heating in reactor 106 can be carried out at a high temperature of approximately 325°C if desired. During heating, the pressure is reduced to allow for rapid distillation of excess glycol, water, or other depolymerizing agents.

[0049] The recycled PET polymer produced in reactor 106 may have an IV greater than 0.3 dl / gm when measured in orthochlorophenol at 25°C. More preferably, the IV of the recycled PET polymer is in the range of about 0.4 to about 1.0 dl / gm and is measured in orthochlorophenol at 25°C. Even more preferably, the recycled PET polymer is chemically and physically sufficient for use in this system to produce PET sheets 101. Such recycled PET polymer may have an IV of about 0.5 to about 0.7 dl / gm as measured in orthochlorophenol at 25°C. The thermoplastic polyester-containing polymer of this PET recycling system 100 for producing PET sheets 101 has a preferred melting point in the range of about 200°C to about 330°C, more preferably about 220°C to about 290°C, and most preferably about 250°C to about 275°C.

[0050] One aspect of this PET recycling system is the production of a PET sheet 101. In another aspect, this PET recycling system for producing a PET sheet 101 is used with all other types of molten polymers to produce all types of products, including sheets. Another exemplary molten polymer is linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) polymer. In addition to homopolymers, this system for producing a PET sheet 101 may be used with copolymers of PET, such as by adding isophthalic acid (IPA) instead of some of the terephthalate units, or CHDM instead of ethylene glycol, to a second feed material 104 (e.g., a first PET precursor).

[0051] In one embodiment, the recycled PET can be any recycled polyalkyl terephthalate (PAT), and the PET reagent can be any reagent that reacts to form PAT. PAT can be the following:

[0052] [ka]

[0053] In PAT, n can be any reasonable integer such as 1 (polymethylene terephthalate (PMT)), 2 (polyethylene terephthalate (PET)), 3 (polypropylene terephthalate (PPT)), 4 (polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)), or 5 (polypentylene terephthalate (PPentT)) (for example, n can be 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.).

[0054] Many different types of additives can be added to the PET melt depending on the properties of the desired characteristics in the finished product. Such additives may include, but are not limited to, colorants, antioxidants, stabilizers such as acetaldehyde reducing agents, UV stabilizers and heat stabilizers, impact modifiers, polymerization catalyst deactivators, melt strength enhancers, chain extenders, antistatic agents, lubricants, nucleating agents, solvents, fillers, plasticizers, etc. Preferably, these additives are added inside reactor 106, but may also be added elsewhere in the system to produce the PET sheet 101.

[0055] Recycled PET polymer in the form of PET molten polymer can be supplied via pipe 108 to a master pump 110, which is pumped via pipe 112 to a filter 114. In this embodiment, the master pump 110 supplies the PET molten polymer to the entire distribution subsystem. The PET molten polymer is passed through the filter 114 to remove any foreign particles from the PET molten polymer, either introduced through the feed stream or generated by the reaction. Preferably, the filter 114 is used to filter out any large gels, degraded particles, or external materials that would be harmful to the downstream melt pump or the final product. One or more filter media of various grades (mechanical screen, sand, sintered metal, etc.) can be used. Proper design of the filter 114 (volume, pressure drop, and residence time) is important for maintaining the appropriate pressure throughout the entire PET regeneration system 101.

[0056] In some embodiments, recycled PET is obtained directly from the reactor 106 without passing through the pump 110 or filter 114.

[0057] The PET molten material can be supplied via pipe 116 to a process discharge pump having a distribution pump 118. In this particular embodiment, the process discharge pump with the distribution pump 118 has a distribution box with multiple outlets. Preferably, the distribution pump 118 may have any number of outlets to suit the desired application. As shown, two flows 119, 120 produce PET pellets 126. This material can be sold directly for bottles or utilized in a co-extrusion process to produce multilayer films. Two cutter lines may be used to maintain maximum control. The two cutters are sized such that the maximum output of reactor 106 is handled by these cutters.

[0058] In addition, the process discharge pump 118 supplies PET molten material to three sheet production processes 121, 122, and 123. Although only three sheet lines are shown, multiple lines may be added.

[0059] The system design minimizes melt flow to prevent deterioration and acetaldehyde issues. Each individual process has a control valve that is used in the final control channel and allows for complete closure of branch channels.

[0060] Each line may include a valve 125 for selectively controlling the flow. Such a valve 125 may be controlled by a controller, which may be a computer containing software stored in a tangible non-temporary memory device with executable instructions for operating the PET regeneration system 100. This includes a controller that controls not only the valve 125 but also the reactor 106, pump 110, and cutter. Various sensors, such as thermocouples, pressure sensors, flow sensors, viscosity sensors, turbidity sensors, absorbance sensors, transmittance sensors, clarity sensors, translucency sensors, opacity sensors, or other sensors, may be distributed throughout the system 100 to acquire process data. The controller processes the process data and also provides operational instruction data back to the components of the system 100, such as for controlling the reactor 106 and pump 110. In one example, the reactor 106 includes a mixing device and / or a heating device, thereby the controller controls the mixing and heating of the reactor 106. The controller can also control a valve between reactor 106 and depolymerizer discharger 107, which receives the depolymerizer discharged from reactor 106 during the polymerization stage. The controller can provide the depolymerizer back to reactor 106 during the depolymerization stage. Although shown horizontally, the outlet from reactor 106 for discharged depolymerization may be located at the top of reactor 106.

[0061] In one embodiment, a PET regeneration system 100 for producing recycled PET is a continuous process that, once started, is not shut down. One way to control the mass flow rate of PET molten material through system 100 is by adjusting the mass flow rate of feedstocks 102 and 104 (e.g., and / or 103) supplied to reactor 106. A pressure feedback loop can be used to control a process discharge pump, which may function as a pressure feedback pump 118. As shown in Figure 1, pump 118 to a bypass tip stream (bypass tip flow, bypass tip channel) 119 can be opened more or less to regulate the amount of PET molten material entering each process leg of the entire system 100. Pumps 110 and 118 are controlled by a controller or similar device through continuous feedback of calculated flow rates required to maintain pressure at each of the system branch paths. These values ​​are collected from the branch paths and fed back to a main controller (e.g., PLC) for subsequent use as main speed control. A pressure loop within system 100 trims the speed. In this way, sufficient flow is distributed to system 100. The pumps in each subsystem can then adjust the pressure to a final value. For example, each line may include a valve 125 and a pump. Excess flow can be introduced into system 100 to allow one cutter line to operate. When the flow rate in system 100 decreases or increases, the cutter system reacts to maintain the flow rate and pressure to the seat line within the operating parameters.

[0062] Figure 2 shows the control loops for pumps 110 and 118. The melting pumps operate under the assumption that a constant volume is maintained with each rotation of the pump. When using melting pumps with plastic molten materials, the compressibility of the material is a factor. For any given polymer in a given temperature and inlet / outlet pressure configuration, there is a calculable throughput for a given pump. To precisely control the throughput in the sheet line in the process developed here, the control system uses the calculated flow rates of all pumps as control parameters.

[0063] As illustrated in Figure 2, the embodiment shows that there are three traveling sheet lines and at least one traveling cutter line. The calculated flow rate parameter (CFP) 501 is calculated for each traveling line and fed back to the main system controls 502, 503, and 504. The main system controller can then control the main product discharge pumps 118 and 110 to discharge enough polymer molten material to maintain the suction side of all working pumps. The pressure can be trimmed by operating a pressure valve in the loop. This main control loop is constantly controlled to compensate for any line speed changes in any of the sheet lines. As the line changes speed, more or less material is directed towards the cutter process. The cutter speed (SC) 506 is constantly trimmed by the main system to maintain optimal pellet quality through the cutter.

[0064] Figure 3 details the individual loops used to control the output of the final pump to maintain quality on both the cutter loop and the sheet line loop. The input to each loop is controlled by the main loop, while the output speed of each loop is used to maintain pressure within a specified 1 bar using speed control (SC) 525 and motor speed (MS) 526. The sheet line speed depends on the die gap and width. Sheet thickness is a critical parameter. As the sheet line speed increases or decreases, the speed of the final pump must track these changes to maintain thickness accuracy.

[0065] The main process pump supplies material to the system based on calculated flow rate values ​​provided by the controller. The values ​​within the system help direct the appropriate flow to each of the branches. The flow from the main pump is directed to the primary seat line pump 507. The speed of this pump is controlled by a feedback loop primarily configured within the inlet pressure 508 to the outlet pump 509. To effectively control the flow and pressure, the system further includes various flow controllers and indicators (FCI) 527, flow indicators (FI) 528, pressure indicators (PI) 529, pressure indicators and controllers (PIC) 531, speed indicators (SI) 530, and speed controllers (SC) 525. The inlet suction pressure to the outlet pump is maintained at a constant pressure. When the sheet line speed is changed, the loop is designed to provide feedback to all three pumps: the main, primary, and outlet pumps. When the sheet line is substantially slowed down, the material can be diverted to the cutter line to prevent excessive overflow of the sheet line. Similarly, when the sheet line speed is increased, the material from the cutter can be diverted back to the sheet line. The use of this higher-order control stream allows the system to maintain a constant pressure and a thickness tolerance of less than 1%. Preferably, multiple pumps provide constant pressure to the die forming units 121, 122, and 123 for highly dependent thickness control. The first pump adjusts for large fluctuations in pressure. The second pump and each preceding pump further reduce any changes to less than + / - 1 bar after the final pump. This provides an independent forming line (output) that can therefore be slowed down, started, stopped, or increased in speed independently of other die forming units. A pressure control loop with bypass tip stream 119 will provide this functionality.

[0066] The cutter loop is flow-dependent. The cutter line can accommodate minimum and maximum throughput. There are two available cutter lines, and therefore, when one line approaches maximum flow rate, the second line can be brought online. Flow rate and speed are controlled, and therefore, uniform pellet dimensions are maintained by the cutter. Material from the main process pump is pumped to the manifold, and appropriately placed valves allow the flow rate to be diverted to the primary cutter pump (P) 510. In one embodiment, the system for making PET products (e.g., PET sheet 101) produces PET products from feed materials 102, 104 in a continuous mode, directly from the molten phase of reactor 106 to the extruder die, without nitrogen treatment, extrusion and other processes, and without longitudinal stretching or non-stretching. In another embodiment, the system 100 flows PET molten material directly from reactor 106 and the extruder die onto a rotary die for manufacturing packaging materials and other articles.

[0067] In one embodiment, the die-forming units 121, 122, and 123 shown in Figure 1 are three roll stacks or air knife systems. More preferably, the die-forming unit is a horizontal three-roll stack system. Typically, downstream of the roll stacks are auxiliary systems such as coating machines, processing machines, and cutting devices that supply material to the winder. These units are appropriately specified for the individual legs of the system and the overall capacity of the reactor 106.

[0068] In another embodiment, another type of unit would be a low-draw rotary die that forms parts such as bottle caps or lids directly onto a rotary die from a formed sheet. In one embodiment, there is one pump 110 supplying systems 119-123. Preferably, there are one or two separate pumps 507 and 509 at the ends of each leg in front of the die and sheet or rotary die. Preferably, pump 118 maintains pressure into the system. This pump 118 is controlled by a main controller (PLC) using continuous flow information from a system branch pump. When the pressure drops, pump 118 increases the pressure. When the pressure rises, pump 118 slows down or the PET molten material is switched to a bypass tip stream (flow path) 119. Preferably, if any system would have lower throughput over an extended period, such as several hours, then a flow system value signal would be given to the main pump 110 and reactor 106 to slow down the material supply to compensate for the lower throughput. If pumps 507 and 509 include two pumps in series, the first pump of the multiple pump array is used to regulate the pressure of the entire system. In this configuration, the first pump in the series of pumps including pumps 507 and 509 maintains a constant pressure head into the second pump in the series of pumps. Preferably, the multiple pumps provide a constant pressure from the die forming unit 119 to 123 for highly dependent thickness control. The first pump adjusts for large fluctuations in pressure. The second pump and each preceding pump further reduce any adjustment to less than + / - 1 bar before leaving the final pump and entering the forming die. This provides an independent forming line (output), and therefore the pump can decelerate, start, stop, or increase speed independently of other die forming units. A pressure control loop with a bypass tip stream 119 will provide this function. In one embodiment, the pump is a positive displacement pump as described herein.

[0069] The controller controls the continuous reactor 106, the response time of which is typically greater than the response time at the output ends of the die forming units 119-123 to control the thickness of the final product or sheet. In one embodiment, this is achieved while each output leg remains independent of the other output legs. In one embodiment, the control loop is designed to accommodate sudden process upsets (malfunctions), such as starting or stopping one of the output legs. In this embodiment, a bypass chip stream 119 allows for chip production to increase or decrease based on any process upset. The upset can be a planned upset, such as a line stop for maintenance or other reasons, or an unplanned upset, such as equipment failure.

[0070] In addition to the above, the control loop preferably compensates for the increasing or decreasing rate of a particular leg while the entire system continues to produce the PET sheet 101 in a steady state. Pump 118 and associated valves (not shown) would react by diverting (splitting) the flow to or from the bypass tip stream 124. This may cause short spikes or changes in pressure, to which pumps 507 and 509 at the ends of each system branch would react. In this embodiment, individual pumps, including pumps 507 and 510, would experience and react to pressure spikes, while second pumps in systems 509 and 511 would experience modulations of upset magnitudes low enough to be regulated to magnitudes on the order of less than one second. In another embodiment, each line configuration is different, and therefore, each system is applicable to its own system.

[0071] As illustrated, the resulting product or PET sheet is identified by die molding units 121-123. The system for manufacturing the PET sheet 101 controls the die molding units 121-123 with such precision (similar to an extrusion system) that the object produced by this system is limited only by the manufacturer's creativity. Similarly, the number of die molding units can be changed from the three shown to any number that does not exceed the capacity of reactor 106.

[0072] In one embodiment, the PET recycling system 100 controls the pressure from a continuous reactor 106 to multiple channels (flow paths). Each channel is connected to a molding section that produces a different object. Each channel operates as an individual extruder without an extruder. In another embodiment, a single pump can be used if the pump dynamics are configured in the process control algorithm.

[0073] In one embodiment, the PET recycling system 100 favorably influences the mechanical and optical properties of the manufactured PET sheet, and enables the manufacture of PET sheets with a lower caliper when the PET sheet is manufactured for packaging applications or other applications such as sheets, strapping materials, and / or building articles.

[0074] This PET recycling system 100 produces PET objects and PET articles with trim quality, and the manufacturing process is of high quality so that it can be mixed with virgin PET molten material at a high percentage without adversely affecting the need to increase the final sheet quality and caliper.

[0075] In addition to the aforementioned embodiments and examples of the PET recycling system 100, the present invention further includes methods for producing these recycled PET polymers and their products (e.g., sheets 101 or pellets 126).

[0076] In one embodiment, a method for regenerating substandard resin and recycled polyester flakes is provided. This method may include: directly adding the substandard resin and / or recycled polyester flakes to a continuous reactor system; depolymerizing the recycled polyester flakes and / or substandard polyester resin in the continuous reactor stream to produce a depolymerized product (depolymerization product); and repolymerizing the depolymerization product from depolymerization with virgin reagents (e.g., reagents, monomers, catalysts) in the continuous reactor system to produce a new regenerated polyester resin that meets the virgin resin specifications. That is, the regenerated polyester resin is chemically and / or physically identical to the virgin polyester resin. In one aspect, the reaction occurs between 200°C and about 330°C. In one aspect, the first PET precursor is selected from the group consisting of PTA, dimethyl terephthalate (DMT), and IPA. In another aspect, the second PET precursor is selected from the group consisting of MEG, DEG, and PETG. In one scenario, the weight percentage of flakes and off-spec resin added to the combination of the first and second PET precursors is 1-50% of the total reaction weight of the components in the reactor. However, the recycled PET may contain 1-50% recycled PET and 50-99% virgin precursor, or 1-60% recycled PET and 40-99% virgin precursor, or 1-70% recycled PET and 30-99% virgin precursor, or 1-80% recycled PET and 20-99% virgin precursor, or 1-90% recycled PET and 10-99% virgin precursor, or any range in between.In one aspect, recycled PET may contain 1-40% recycled PET and 60-99% virgin precursor, or 1-30% recycled PET and 70-99% virgin precursor, or 1-20% recycled PET and 80-99% virgin precursor, or 1-10% recycled PET and 90-99% virgin precursor, or 1-5% recycled PET and 95-99% virgin precursor, or 1-2% recycled PET and 98-99% virgin precursor, or any range in between. The method can yield recycled polyester resins (PATs such as PET, for example), which can be provided as polymer melts such as PET melts. While PET melts are described herein, it should be understood that any PAT may be used instead of, or together with, the PET described herein.

[0077] In one embodiment, the method may include supplying the PAT molten material from one of the plurality of outlets to form a polyester product such as a chip stream for forming pellets; a polyester sheet; or a PAT product.

[0078] In one embodiment, this method may include individually controlling the mass flow rate of the PAT molten material, which may include controlling the pressure of the PAT molten material using a pressure control loop before forming any PAT object.

[0079] This method may include controlling an outlet pump, which directly controls the flow rate within the system.

[0080] In one embodiment, undried, substandard polyester resin pellets or powder are added to the reactor and recycled into new polyester resin.

[0081] In one embodiment, post-industrial flakes and cleaned and washed post-use flakes are added to a reactor and regenerated into new polyester resin.

[0082] In one embodiment, preferred products of the polyester recycling process are pellets, sheets, or other products of new polyester resin.

[0083] Figure 4 shows a method for regenerating polyester. This method may include providing a feed material for recycled polyester 420; providing a feed material for polyester precursor 422; depolymerizing the recycled polyester 420 to obtain depolymerized polyester monomer 421; polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer 421 with the polyester precursor 422 to form recycled polyester 423; and providing the recycled polyester 423 as output 402. In one aspect, the recycled polyester feed material 420 is depolymerized in a depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and / or the recycled polyester feed material 420 is depolymerized from a polymerization reaction vessel 410. In one aspect, the depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and / or the polymerization reaction vessel 410 receive one or more of water 428, methanol 430, acid or base 432, or ethylene glycol 434. In one aspect, water 428 depolymerizes recycled polyester 420 to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; methanol 430 depolymerizes recycled polyester 420 to produce dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol; an acid or base 432, in aqueous form, depolymerizes recycled polyester 420 to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; or ethylene glycol 434 depolymerizes recycled polyester 420 to produce bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET). In one aspect, the feedstock for polyester 420 includes polyester particles or other forms of polyester in a fluid form (format). In one aspect, the feedstock for polyester 420 includes PAT. In another aspect, the feedstock for polyester 420 includes PET.

[0084] In one embodiment, the depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and / or the polymerization reaction vessel 410 are any batch or continuous reaction vessels, which can be configured as mixers capable of mixing liquid polyester in batch or continuous formats, such as a single-screw mixer, twin-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, two-stage screw extruder, continuous plow mixer, etc. In one aspect, the depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and the polymerization reaction vessel 410 are a single continuous reaction vessel. In another aspect, the depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and the polymerization reaction vessel 410 are also two stages of a continuous process. In another aspect, the depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and / or the polymerization reaction vessel 410 perform one or more of the following: degassing, homogenization, dispersion, or heating.

[0085] In one embodiment, the method includes supplying a product 402 of recycled polyester 423 to an output system 436. In one aspect, the output system 436 supplies the recycled polyester 423 to a storage unit 438, a polyester product formation system 439, or an analysis system 440. In one aspect, the analysis system 440 includes one or more analysis systems capable of determining the intrinsic viscosity of the recycled polyester 423; determining the flow rate of the recycled polyester 423; determining the melting point of the recycled polyester 423; determining the crystallization temperature of the recycled polyester 423; determining the differential scanning calorimetry profile of the recycled polyester 423; or determining the thermal strain temperature of the recycled polyester 423. In one aspect, the polyester product formation system 439 is configured to form a product 403 from recycled polyester 423 alone; or to combine recycled polyester 423 with a second feed of polyester 441 (second PAT feed) to produce a polyester alloy product 403.

[0086] In one aspect, the recycled polyester 420 supply lacks other polymers; and / or, the polyester precursor 422 lacks other polymers or polymer precursors. In one aspect, the raw materials for the recycled polyester 420 consist essentially of PAT; and / or, the polyester precursor 422 consists essentially of PAT precursors. In one aspect, the raw materials for the recycled polyester 420 consist essentially of PET, and / or, the polyester precursor 422 consists essentially of PET precursors. In one aspect, the recycled polyester 420 contains recycled PET flakes or off-spec resin. In one aspect, the raw materials for the recycled polyester 420 contain less than 5%, less than 1%, less than 0.1%, or trace amounts of water, or contain no water. In some cases, recycled PET flakes or off-spec PET resin consist essentially of 0-100% PET (or consist of 0-100% PET, or contain 0-100% PET). In some cases, recycled PET flakes or off-spec PET resin consist essentially of 0-10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100% PET (or consist of, or contain, such PET). In some cases, the raw material for recycled polyester 420 consists essentially of 0-100% PET (or consist of, or contain, such PET). In some aspects, the raw materials for recycled polyester 420 consist of (or consist of, or contain) PET in amounts of 0-10%, 0-20%, 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-70%, 0-80%, 0-90%, or 0-100%.

[0087] In one embodiment, the method comprises depolymerizing the recycled polyester 420 before mixing it with the polyester precursor 422; or depolymerizing the recycled polyester 420 after or during mixing it with the polyester precursor 422. In one embodiment, the method comprises polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer 421 with the polyester precursor 422 to form a recycled polyester 423 from polymerizable reagents to form PET. In one aspect, the polymerization reaction vessel 410 receives the polyester precursor 422 from the precursor storage section 426, where each precursor is stored separately or in any unreacted combination.

[0088] In one embodiment, the polyester precursor 422 comprises a first precursor that reacts with a second precursor to form a polyester. In one aspect, the polyester precursor 422 comprises a PET precursor comprising (1) a first PET precursor containing PTA and / or DMT, and (2) a second PET precursor containing MEG and / or DEG. In one aspect, the polyester precursor 422 contains CHDM, and the product is a glycolated polyester. In another aspect, the polyester precursor 422 contains IPA.

[0089] In one embodiment, the first precursor is provided separately from the second precursor. In one aspect, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor under non-polymerization conditions. In another aspect, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and recycled polyester 420 is mixed into the precursor mixture. In another aspect, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and recycled polyester 420 and / or depolymerized polyester monomer 421 are mixed into the precursor mixture. In another aspect, the first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and depolymerized polyester monomer 421 is mixed into the precursor mixture.

[0090] In one embodiment, the method includes: mixing a first precursor with a second precursor to form a precursor mixture; mixing recycled polyester 420 with the precursor mixture to form a depolymerization mixture; and carrying out depolymerization using the depolymerization mixture.

[0091] In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of: mixing a first precursor with a second precursor to form a precursor mixture; mixing a depolymerized polyester monomer 421 with the precursor mixture to form a polymerization mixture; and performing polymerization with the polymerization mixture.

[0092] In one embodiment, the method includes depolymerizing the recycled polyester 420 before mixing it with the first and second precursors.

[0093] In one embodiment, the method comprises: performing a first depolymerization; performing a first polymerization; performing a second depolymerization; performing a second polymerization; and repeating the depolymerization-polymerization cycle n times, where n is an integer. In one aspect, the depolymerization is performed at a lower temperature than the polymerization, where the polymerization is performed at the temperature at which the depolymerizing agent vaporizes from the polymerized composition.

[0094] In one embodiment, the method includes: introducing recycled polyester 420 into a continuous reactor stream (e.g., 410); depolymerizing the recycled polyester 420 in the continuous reactor stream; and polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer 420 with a polyester precursor 422 in the continuous reactor stream.

[0095] In one embodiment, polymerization occurs between 200°C and approximately 330°C.

[0096] In one embodiment, the polyester precursor 422 comprises a precursor including (1) a first precursor containing PTA and / or DMT and / or IPA, and (2) a second PET precursor containing MEG and / or DEG and / or PETG.

[0097] In one embodiment, the recycled polyester is present in a weight percentage between 1% and 50% of the total polymer composition weight of the recycled polyester 423.

[0098] In one embodiment, the method further includes outputting the recycled polyester 423 as a chip stream and / or polyester sheet for forming pellets.

[0099] In one embodiment, the method includes controlling the mass flow rate of at least one output product 402 by controlling the pressure of the recycled polyester 423 molten using a pressure control loop prior to forming the aforementioned product. In one aspect, the control is within a die flow system, including the use of an outlet pump, which directly controls the flow rate within the die flow system.

[0100] In one embodiment, the recycled polyester includes undried, off-spec polyester resin pellets and / or powder. In another aspect, the recycled polyester includes post-industrial flakes, cleaned and / or washed post-use flakes.

[0101] Figure 4 also shows a system 400 for regenerating polyester, comprising: feed material for recycled polyester 420; feed material for polyester precursor 422; a reactor configured to depolymerize the recycled polyester 420 to obtain a depolymerized polyester monomer 421, and / or polymerize the depolymerized polyester monomer 421 with the depolymerized polyester precursor 422 to form a regenerated polyester 423; and the regenerated polyester 423 of the output 402. In one aspect, the reactor is a depolymerization reaction vessel having recycled polyester feed material 420, and / or a polymerization reaction vessel 410 having recycled polyester feed material 420. In one aspect, the depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and / or the polymerization reaction vessel 410 are operably coupled to one or more sources of water 428; methanol 430; acid or base 432; or ethylene glycol 434. In one aspect, the feed material for polyester 420 contains polyester particles or other forms of polyester in a fluid format. In another aspect, the feed material for polyester 420 contains PAT. In one aspect, the feedstock for polyester 420 includes PET. In one embodiment, the reactor, such as the depolymerization reaction vessel 424 and / or polymerization reaction vessel 410, is any batch or continuous reaction vessel, which can be configured as a mixer capable of mixing liquid polyester in batch or continuous, such as a single-screw mixer, twin-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, two-stage screw extruder, continuous plow mixer, etc. In one aspect, the reactor is configured to perform one or more of the following: degassing, homogenizing, dispersing, or heating.

[0102] In one embodiment, the system 400 includes an output system 436. In one aspect, the output system 436 is configured to supply recycled polyester 423 to a storage unit 438 or a polyester product forming system 439 or an analysis system 440, which is done by being operably coupled with these. In one aspect, the polyester product forming system 439 is configured to form product 403 from recycled polyester 423 alone; or to combine recycled polyester 423 with a second feed of polyester 441 (second PAT feed) to produce a polyester alloy product 403.

[0103] In one embodiment, the system 400 may include a controller having a tangible non-temporary memory device having computer-executable instructions for controlling the system to perform at least one of the embodiments described herein. The controller may be a computer, such as computer system 600 as shown in Figure 6. The controller may be configured to control the depolymerization of recycled polyester 420 before mixing with polyester precursor 422; and / or the depolymerization of recycled polyester 420 after or during mixing with polyester precursor 422. In one aspect, the controller is configured to control the polymerization of depolymerized polyester monomer 421 with polyester precursor 422 to form recycled polyester 423 from polymerizable reagents to polymerize to form PET. In one aspect, the controller is configured to control the polymerization reaction vessel 410 to receive polyester precursor 422 from precursor storage 426, where each precursor is stored separately or in any unreacted combination. In one aspect, the controller is configured to control: mixing the first precursor with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture; mixing the recycled polyester 420 with the precursor mixture to form a depolymerization mixture; and performing depolymerization with the depolymerization mixture. In another aspect, the controller is configured to control: mixing the first precursor with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture; mixing the depolymerization polyester monomer 421 with the precursor mixture to form a polymerization mixture; and performing polymerization with the polymerization mixture. In yet another aspect, the controller is configured to perform depolymerization with the recycled polyester 420 before it is mixed with the first and second precursors.

[0104] With respect to the methods described in the claims, and other processes and methods disclosed herein, the operations performed in such processes and methods may be carried out in different orders. Furthermore, the operations outlined are provided only as examples, and some operations are optional and may be combined with fewer operations, omitted, supplemented with further operations, or extended with additional operations without compromising the essence of the disclosed embodiments.

[0105] This disclosure should not be limited to the specific embodiments described herein, which are intended to be illustrative of various embodiments. Many modifications and variations can be made without departing from its spirit and scope. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatus within the scope of this disclosure are possible from the foregoing description in addition to those enumerated herein. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. This disclosure is limited only by the terminology of the appended claims, together with the entire scope of equivalents to which such claims qualify. The terminology used herein is for the sole purpose of describing specific embodiments and is not intended to limit them.

[0106] In one embodiment, the method may include aspects performed on a computing system, such as processing and control by a controller. Thus, the computing system may include a memory device having computer-executable instructions for performing the method. The computer-executable instructions may be part of a computer program product comprising one or more algorithms for performing any of the methods of the claims.

[0107] In one embodiment, any of the operations, processes, or methods described herein may be performed or executed in response to the execution of computer-readable instructions executed by one or more processors and stored on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable instructions may be executed by processors in a wide range of computing systems, including desktop computing systems, portable computing systems, tablet computing systems, handheld computing systems, network elements, and / or any other computing devices. The computer-readable medium is not temporary. A computer-readable medium is a physical medium having computer-readable instructions stored in such a way that it can be physically read from the physical medium by a computer / processor.

[0108] Various mediators (e.g., hardware, software, and / or firmware) exist that enable the processes and / or systems and / or other technologies described herein to be realized, and the preferred mediator vehicle will differ depending on the circumstances in which the processes, systems, and / or other technologies are developed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, that implementer may primarily choose hardware and / or firmware mediators; if flexibility is paramount, that implementer may primarily choose software implementations; or again, that implementer may choose some combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0109] The various operations described herein can be implemented individually and / or collectively by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or substantially any combination thereof. In one embodiment, some parts of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other integrated configurations (formats). However, some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein can be equivalently implemented, in whole or in part, in an integrated circuit, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or substantially any combination thereof, and designing circuits, writing code for software, and / or writing code for firmware is possible in terms of this disclosure. In addition, the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein can be distributed as program products in various forms, and the exemplary embodiments of the subject matter described herein apply regardless of the specific type of signal carrier medium used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of physical signal carrier mediums include, but are not limited to, recordable media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives (HDDs), compact discs (CDs), digital multipurpose discs (DVDs), digital tapes, computer memory, or any other physical medium that is not temporary or transmission. Examples of physical media with computer-readable instructions omit temporary or transmission-type media such as digital and / or analog communication media (e.g., fiber optic cables, waveguides, wired communication links, wireless communication links, etc.).

[0110] Apparatus and / or processes are described herein in the manner described herein, and it is common practice to subsequently use engineering practice to integrate such described apparatus and / or processes into a data processing system. That is, at least some of the apparatus and / or processes described herein can be integrated into a data processing system through a reasonable amount of experimentation. A typical data processing system generally includes one or more of the following: a system unit housing, video display devices, memory such as volatile and non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digital signal processors, computing entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, application programs, one or more interaction devices such as touchpads or screens, and / or control systems, where the control systems include feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing position and / or velocity, control motors for moving and / or adjusting components and / or quantities). A typical data processing system can be implemented using any suitable commercially available components, such as those commonly found in data computing / communication and / or network computing / communication systems.

[0111] The subject matter described herein may include different components that are contained within or connected to other different components. Such depicted architectures are merely illustrative, and in practice, many other architectures can be implemented to achieve the same function. Conceptually, any arrangement of components that achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” in such a way that the desired functionality is achieved. Thus, any two components combined herein to achieve a particular function can be understood as being “associated” with each other, regardless of architecture or intermediate components, in such a way that the desired function is achieved. Similarly, any two components thus associated can also be understood as being “operably connected” or “operably coupled” with each other in order to achieve the desired function, and any two components that can be associated in such a way can be considered “operably coupled” with each other in order to achieve the desired function. Specific examples of operable coupling include, but are not limited to, physically coupled and / or physically interacting components, wirelessly interacting and / or wirelessly interacting components, and / or logically interacting and / or logically interacting components.

[0112] Figure 6 shows an exemplary computing device 600 (e.g., a computer used as a controller) that may be configured in some embodiments to perform methods (or parts thereof) described herein, such as being a controller. In a very basic configuration 602, the computing device 600 generally includes one or more processors 604 and system memory 606. A memory bus 608 may be used for communication between the processors 604 and the system memory 606.

[0113] Depending on the desired configuration, the processor 604 may be any type, including, but not limited to, a microprocessor (μP), a microcontroller (μC), a digital signal processor (DSP), or any combination thereof. The processor 604 may include one or more levels of cache, such as a level 1 cache 610, a level 2 cache 612, a processor core 614, and registers 616. The exemplary processor core 614 may include an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a floating-point unit (FPU), a digital signal processing core (DSP core), or any combination thereof. The exemplary memory controller 618 may also be used with the processor 604, or in some implementations, the memory controller 618 may be an internal part of the processor 604.

[0114] Depending on the desired configuration, the system memory 606 may be of any type, including but not limited to volatile memory (such as RAM), non-volatile memory (such as ROM, flash memory), or any combination thereof. The system memory 606 may include an operating system 620, one or more applications 622, and program data 624. The applications 622 may include a decision application 626 configured to perform operations as described herein, including those described in relation to the methods described herein. The decision application 626 may acquire data such as pressure, flow rate, and / or temperature, and then identify changes to the system to modify the pressure, flow rate, and / or temperature.

[0115] The computing device 600 may have additional features or functionalities and additional interfaces to facilitate communication between the basic configuration 602 and any necessary devices and interfaces. For example, a bus / interface controller 630 may be used to facilitate communication between the basic configuration 602 and one or more data storage devices 632 via a storage interface bus 634. The data storage device 632 may be a removable storage device 636, a non-removable storage device 638, or a combination thereof. Examples of removable and non-removable storage devices include, to name a few, magnetic disk devices such as flexible disk drives and hard disk drives (HDDs), optical disk drives such as compact disk (CD) drives or digital multipurpose disk (DVD) drives, solid-state drives (SSDs), and tape drives. Examples of computer storage media include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technique for storing information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.

[0116] System memory 606, removable storage device 636, and non-removable storage device 638 are examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technologies, CD-ROM, digital multipurpose disk or other optical storage devices, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media used to store desired information and accessible by computing device 600. Such computer storage media may be part of computing device 600.

[0117] The computing device 600 may include an interface bus 640 to facilitate communication from various interface devices (e.g., output device 642, peripheral interface 644, and communication device 646) to the basic configuration 602 via a bus / interface controller 630. An exemplary output device 642 includes a graphics processing unit 648 and an audio processing unit 650, which may be configured to communicate with various external devices such as displays or speakers via one or more A / V ports 652. An exemplary peripheral interface 644 includes a serial interface controller 654 or a parallel interface controller 656, which may be configured to communicate with external devices such as input devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, pens, voice input devices, touch input devices, etc.) or other peripheral devices (e.g., printers, scanners, etc.) via one or more I / O ports 658. An example communication device 646 includes a network controller 660, which may be configured to facilitate communication with one or more other computing devices over a network communication link via one or more communication ports 664.

[0118] A network communication link may be an example of a communication medium. A communication medium can generally be embodied by a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, by computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data, and may include any information distribution medium. A “modulated data signal” can be a signal having one or more of its characteristics set or modified in a manner that encodes information within the signal. Examples, but not limited to, of communication mediums may include wired media such as wired networks or direct wired connections, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), microwave, infrared (IR), and other wireless media. As used herein, the term computer-readable medium may include both storage media and communication media.

[0119] The computing device 600 may be implemented as part of a small form factor (SFF) portable (or mobile) electronic device, such as a mobile phone, personal data assistant (PDA), personal media player device, wireless webwatch device, personal headset device, application-specific device, or hybrid device including any of the above functions. The computing device 600 may also be implemented as a personal computer, including both laptop and non-laptop computer configurations. The computing device 600 may be any type of network computing device. The computing device 600 may be an automated system as described herein.

[0120] In some embodiments, recycled polyester 423 is provided, produced by a method for regenerating polyester according to one or any of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0121] In some embodiments, a method for producing a polyester object is provided, the method being: to provide a polyester molten material, wherein the polyester is recycled polyester 423 according to any one of the embodiments disclosed herein; Flowing molten polyester into a valve having multiple outlets; A method of flowing molten polyester from a valve having multiple outlets into a die forming system, the die forming system comprising multiple dies and a tip system; This includes forming a polyester object from a molten polyester.

[0122] In some embodiments, the method for manufacturing a polyester object is: The method involves individually controlling the mass flow rate of the molten polyester in each of the die forming system and the chip system using combined feedback and feedforward control systems on the die forming system and the chip system, The combined feedback and feedforward control system includes a first pump located adjacent to each die among a plurality of dies and a second pump located upstream of a valve, wherein the first and second pumps individually control the mass flow rate of the polyester melt, controlled by continuous feedback of a calculated flow rate required to maintain the pressure in each of the plurality of dies of the chip system and die forming system; or, The present invention provides for the individual control of the mass flow rate of the polyester molten material in each of the die forming system and the chipping system using a combined feedback and feedforward control system on the die forming system and the chipping system, wherein the die forming system includes a plurality of indicators for flow rate, pressure and velocity, and a controller, a primary sheet line pump, and an outlet pump, the outlet pump being located at the die of the die forming system, the velocity of the primary sheet pump being controlled by a feedback loop including the inlet pressure at the outlet pump, and the inlet pressure being identified by a first indicator among the plurality of indicators for flow rate, pressure and velocity, and the controller, and the individual control of the mass flow rate.

[0123] In some embodiments, the method for producing a polyester object further includes filtering a polyester molten material prior to forming the polyester object.

[0124] In some embodiments, the method for producing a polyester object is a polyester sheet or pellets.

[0125] In some embodiments, a method for producing a polyester object further includes flowing a polyester molten material through a chip stream from one of several outlets to form pellets.

[0126] In some embodiments of the method for producing a polyester object, forming the polyester object further includes adding at least one side extruder to produce a multilayer polyester sheet.

[0127] In some embodiments of a method for producing polyester objects, individually controlling the mass flow rate of the polyester molten material includes controlling the pressure of the polyester molten material using a pressure control loop before forming the polyester object.

[0128] In some embodiments of methods for manufacturing polyester materials, individual control in the die forming system includes the use of an outlet pump, which directly controls the flow rate in the die flow system.

[0129] In some embodiments, polyester objects are provided that are manufactured by a method for manufacturing a polyester object in one or any of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0130] example Various studies were conducted under the guise of regenerating PET. Example 1

[0131] [Table 1]

[0132] Example 2:

[0133] [Table 2]

[0134] [Table 3]

[0135] The non-DPET flakes had an impact-resistant modifier that caused color shifts and reduced cloudiness. (As per specifications) Example 3:

[0136] [Table 4]

[0137] The color value, b, shifted. This shift is likely a result of the test conditions used to process the new resin. The shift is still within specifications. Example 4:

[0138] [Table 5]

[0139] [Table 6]

[0140] The results from the PET recycling process in the examples show that the resulting recycled PET is comparable to products extruded from ordinary virgin PET resin. These results are superior to those of typical recycled resins. As shown in Figure 7, based on the results of these experiments, the sheets extruded from the original PET resin (DPET) exhibit a haze value comparable to that of virgin (unused) PET resin, but the haze value is much lower than that of typical recycled PET properties such as flakes.

[0141] The embodiments described herein may include the use of special-purpose or general-purpose computers, which may include various computer hardware or software modules.

[0142] Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also include computer-readable media for carrying computer-executable instructions or data structures, or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored on the media. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer. Such computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage devices, magnetic disk storage devices, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures, and can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer. When information is transferred to or provided to a computer over a network or another communication connection (hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired and wireless), the computer appropriately views the connection as computer-readable media. For this reason, such a connection is appropriately called computer-readable media. Combinations of the above should be encompassed within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0143] Computer executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data that cause a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or a special-purpose processing device to perform a specific function or a set of functions. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological behavior, it should be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or behavior described above. Rather, the specific features and behavior described above are disclosed as exemplary formations for implementing the claims.

[0144] With regard to the use of substantially any plural and / or singular terms herein, those skilled in the art can convert from plural to singular and / or singular to plural as appropriate to the context and / or use. Various singular / plural substitutions may be expressly described herein for clarity.

[0145] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in general, the terms used herein, particularly in the appended claims (e.g., the body of the appended claims), are intended to be "open" terms (e.g., the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but not limited to," the term "have" should be interpreted as "have at least," and so on). It will also be understood by those skilled in the art that if a specific number of introduced claims are intended, such intention is explicitly stated in the claims, and if no such enumeration is present, such intention does not exist. For example, to aid understanding, the following appended claims may include the use of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce the claims. However, the use of such phrases should not be interpreted as meaning that the introduction of a claim description with the indefinite article "a" or "an" means that any particular claim containing such introduced claim description is limited to embodiments containing only such description, even if the same claim contains the introductory phrase "one or more" or "at least one" and an indefinite article such as "a" or "an" (for example, "a" and / or "an" should be interpreted as meaning "at least one" or "one or more"); the same remains true for the use of the definite article used to introduce a claim description. In addition, even if a particular number of introduced claim references is explicitly cited, a person skilled in the art will recognize that such references should be interpreted as meaning at least the number described (for example, the literal description of "two descriptions" without other modifiers means at least two references, or two or more descriptions).Furthermore, in examples where a conventional technique similar to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, such a configuration is generally intended in the sense that a person skilled in the art would understand that conventional technique (for example, “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” includes, but is not limited to, systems having A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B and C together, etc.). Moreover, it will be further understood by a person skilled in the art that substantially any disjunctive word and / or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms should be understood as intending the possibility of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both of the terms in any description, claim, or drawing. For example, the phrase “A or B” is understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B”.

[0146] In addition, if any feature or aspect of the present disclosure is described in relation to the Markush Group, a person skilled in the art will recognize that the present disclosure also describes any individual member or subgroup member of the Markush Group.

[0147] For any and all purposes, such as providing the description provided, as can be understood by those skilled in the art, all scopes disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges. Any scope enumerated can be readily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same scope to be broken down into at least equal parts, three parts, four parts, five parts, ten parts, etc. As a non-limiting example, each scope described herein can readily be broken down into the lower third, middle third, upper third, etc. Also, as can be understood by those skilled in the art, all phrases such as “up to,” “at least,” and “likewise” include the enumerated numbers and refer to the scopes that can subsequently be broken down into the subranges as described above. Finally, as can be understood by those skilled in the art, a scope includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1 to 3 cells refers to a group having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1 to 5 cells refers to a group having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so on.

[0148] From the foregoing, it will be understood that various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein for illustrative purposes only, and that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the various embodiments disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting, and the true scope and spirit are shown by the following claims.

[0149] cross reference The cross-references in this patent application are U.S. Patents No. 9,011,737; No. 8,986,587; No. 8,545,205; and No. 7,931,842; as well as U.S. 2013 / 0126543; U.S. 2012 / 0181715; U.S. 2009 / 0212457; U.S. 2009 / 0026641; and U.S. 2007 / 0063374, all of which are incorporated herein by specific reference.

Claims

1. A method for regenerating polyester in a continuous process, wherein, once the continuous process is started, it enables the continuous production of recycled polyester. The aforementioned method, The present invention provides a feedstock for recycled polyester to the continuous process, supplying the feedstock for recycled polyester to the depolymerization and / or polymerization reactors in a continuous reactor stream, wherein the feedstock for recycled polyester is polyester particles, off-spec polyester flakes, off-spec polyester resin, or other forms of polyester; The present invention provides a PET depolymerizer to the continuous process, providing the PET depolymerizer to the depolymerization reaction vessel and / or the polymerization reaction vessel in a continuous reactor stream, wherein the PET depolymerizer is one or more selected from the group consisting of water, acidic water, alkaline water, methanol, aqueous methanol, ethylene glycol, and aqueous ethylene glycol; The PET depolymerizer is made to mix with the recycled polyester feedstock, thereby depolymerizing the recycled polyester feedstock via glycolysis, methanolysis, or hydrolysis to obtain a depolymerized polyester monomer; Supplying a polyester precursor to the continuous process and providing it to the polymerization reaction vessel, wherein the polyester precursor is supplied such that it is mixed with the depolymerized polyester monomer; Following the depolymerization of the recycled polyester, the PET depolymerizing agent is removed from the polymerization reaction vessel; After removing the PET depolymerizing agent, the depolymerized polyester monomer and the polyester precursor are polymerized in the polymerization reaction vessel to form a regenerated polyester. Equipped with, The raw material for the recycled polyester is depolymerized in the depolymerization reaction vessel, and the raw material for the recycled polyester is depolymerized from the polymerization reaction vessel. How to recycle polyester.

2. (a) The depolymerization reaction vessel and / or the polymerization reaction vessel receive one or more PET depolymerizers selected from the following: (1) Water; (2) methanol; (3) Acids or bases; and (4) Ethylene glycol; and (b) One or more of the following: (1) The PET depolymerizing agent is water, and the water depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; (2) The PET depolymerizing agent is methanol, and the methanol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol; (3) The PET depolymerizing agent is an acid or a base, and the acid or base is in aqueous form and depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; (4) The PET depolymerizing agent is ethylene glycol, and the ethylene glycol depolymerizes the recycled polyester to produce bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET); One or more of the following: The method according to claim 1.

3. The raw materials for the recycled polyester include PAT, The raw materials for the recycled polyester include PET. The method according to claim 1.

4. The depolymerization reaction vessel and / or the polymerization reaction vessel is any continuous reaction vessel, which can be configured as a mixer, single-screw mixer, twin-screw mixer, continuous kneader, reciprocating screw mixer, two-stage screw extruder, or continuous plow mixer capable of continuously mixing liquid polyester. The depolymerization reaction vessel and / or the polymerization reaction vessel also perform one or more of the following: degassing, homogenizing, dispersion, or heating. The method according to claim 2.

5. The method further includes supplying the recycled polyester to an output system as output, The output system provides the recycled polyester to a storage unit, a polyester product formation system, or an analysis system; The aforementioned analysis system, Identifying the intrinsic viscosity of recycled polyester; Identifying the flow rate of recycled polyester; Identifying the melting point of recycled polyester; To determine the crystallization temperature of recycled polyester; Identifying differential scanning calorimetry profiles of recycled polyester; and To identify the thermal strain temperature of recycled polyester, Includes one or more analytical systems capable of doing the following: The method according to claim 1.

6. The method further includes supplying the recycled polyester to the output system as output, The output system provides the recycled polyester to a storage unit, a polyester product formation system, or an analysis system, and The polyester product formation system is Forming the product solely from the recycled polyester, or The recycled polyester is combined with a second polyester supply material (second PAT supply material) to produce a polyester mixture product. One or more of the following are configured: The method according to claim 1.

7. (A) (1) The raw materials for the recycled polyester do not contain any other polymers; and, (2) The polyester precursor does not contain any other polymer. One or more of; (B) (1) The raw material supplied for the recycled polyester consists of PAT, and (2) The polyester precursor consists of a PAT precursor. One or more of; (C) (1) The raw material supplied for the recycled polyester consists of PET, and (2) The polyester precursor consists of a PET precursor. One or more of; (D) The recycled polyester has a weight percentage between 1% and 50% of the total polymer composition weight of the recycled polyester; (E) The raw materials for the recycled polyester contain water in amounts of less than 5%, less than 1%, or less than 0.1%, or are water-free. and, (F) The polymerization reaction vessel receives the polyester precursor from the precursor storage, and each precursor is stored separately or in any unreacted combination. At least one of the following: The method according to claim 1.

8. The said method, One or more of the following: Before mixing with the polyester precursor, the recycled polyester is depolymerized, and Depolymerizing the recycled polyester during or after mixing the polyester precursor; and The depolymerizable polyester monomer is polymerized with the polyester precursor to form PET. A polymerizable reagent is used to form a regenerated polyester. at least one of including, The method according to claim 1.

9. The method further includes polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the polyester precursor to form a regenerated polyester from a polymerizable reagent that polymerizes to form PET. The polyester precursor comprises a first precursor, the first precursor reacts with a second precursor to form a polyester. and One or more of the following: The polyester precursor comprises a PET precursor including (1) a first PET precursor containing PTA and / or DMT, and (2) a second PET precursor containing MEG and / or DEG; The polyester precursor comprises cyclohexanedimethanol, and the resulting product is a glycolated polyester; The polyester precursor contains IPA; The first precursor is provided separately from the second precursor; The first precursor is mixed with the second precursor under non-polymerization 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 the depolymerized polyester monomer is mixed into the precursor mixture; and The first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, and the depolymerized polyester monomer is mixed into the precursor mixture. One or more of the following: The method according to claim 1.

10. The method further comprises polymerizing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the polyester precursor to form a regenerated polyester from a polymerizable reagent that polymerizes to form PET; The polyester precursor comprises a first precursor, which reacts with a second precursor to form a polyester; and, This method is （１） Mixing the first precursor with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture, The recycled polyester is mixed with the precursor mixture to form a depolymerization mixture, Depolymerization with the aforementioned depolymerization mixture, (２) The first precursor is mixed with the second precursor to form a precursor mixture; The process involves mixing the depolymerized polyester monomer with the precursor mixture to form a polymerization mixture, Polymerization with the aforementioned polymerization mixture, and (３) Before mixing the first precursor and the second precursor, depolymerization with the recycled polyester is performed. Further including at least one of the following: The method according to claim 1.

11. (a) The said method is Perform the first depolymerization, Perform the first polymerization. Perform the second depolymerization, To carry out a second polymerization, and The depolymerization-polymerization cycle is repeated n times (where n is an integer). To further include; (b) The method is The recycled polyester is introduced into the continuous process to provide the recycled polyester as a raw material to the depolymerization reaction vessel and / or the polymerization reaction vessel. Depolymerizing the recycled polyester in the depolymerization reaction vessel and / or the polymerization reaction vessel, and In the polymerization reaction vessel, the depolymerized polyester monomer is polymerized with the polyester precursor. To further include, (c) The polymerization described above occurs between 200°C and 330°C. (d) The polyester precursor comprises a precursor including (1) a first precursor containing PTA and / or DMT and / or IPA, and (2) a second PET precursor containing MEG and / or DEG and / or PETG, (e) The recycled polyester has a weight percentage between 1 and 50% of the total polymer composition weight of the recycled polyester; (f) The method involves using the recycled polyester Chip stream for forming pellets, and Polyester sheet, Further including outputting as; This method is Depolymerizing the recycled polyester to obtain a depolymerized polyester monomer, and The depolymerized polyester monomer is polymerized with the polyester precursor to form a regenerated polyester. To further equip oneself with; and, The recycled polyester includes post-industrial flakes, cleaned and / or washed used flakes. One or more of the following: The method according to claim 1.

12. The PET depolymerizing agent is one or more selected from the group consisting of water, acidic water, alkaline water, methanol, and ethylene glycol. The method according to claim 1.

13. The PET depolymerizing agent is removed by distillation. The method according to claim 1.

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