A graphene cat litter for odor adsorption and antibacterial property

Abstract

The present invention relates to a graphene cat litter with 2.5-12 mm. of size, and having odor adsorption, antibacterial, and eco-friendly properties, wherein the graphene material is prepared from the carbon byproducts from thermochemical process, for examples, direct combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification. The advantages of this invention are the combination of graphene with biomass which is biodegradable residues from tofu or soybeans as the matrix, which reduce pollution and enhance the pet's health. This graphene cat litter of present invention is prepared by using ultrasonic for reducing the agglomeration and maintain the quality of graphene via vacuum infusion for enhancing the stability and preventing the precipitation, in order to obtain the preferable graphene cat litter. The graphene cat litter of present invention also have the property of reducing ammonia emission from cat urine, and further comprises the additives selected from vitamin and flavoring agent to enhance the pet care efficiency and pet hygiene, along with the higher sustainability and reduces environmental pollution. This present invention shows the progress of graphene application in everyday products, with the response in performance and sustainability, corresponding to the trend of developing products for the environment and consumer health.

Description

[0001] A GRAPHENE CAT LITTER FOR ODOR ADSORPTION AND ANTIBACTERIAL

[0002] PROPERTY

[0003] Field of the invention

[0004] Material engineering and environmental science, especially related to a graphene cat litter for odor adsorption and antibacterial property.

[0005] Background of the invention

[0006] Graphene is a carbon material with a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice pattern. It has unique properties, including higher strength than steel, but only 0.34 nm thin. This makes higher electrical conductivity compared with copper, and also transparent and has high tensile strength. Furthermore, graphene also antibacterial and odor adsorption properties, which is suitable for applications in various products, such as, electronic devices, sensors, and filtration materials.

[0007] Generally, a cat litter from bentonite and silica gel faces several limitations, including their non-biodegradability, ineffective long-term in odor adsorption, and pollution production during the manufacturing process. Therefore, there is a need to develop environmentally friendly and antibacterial products, which can extend the lifespan and reduce the burden of pet care. From researches and patents regarding the cat litter using graphene and biomaterials in products to enhance odor adsorption and antibacterial property have been developed. For example, CN111264401 A discloses the combination of graphene with mineral and cementitious materials to obtain a product with effective antimicrobial and odor-reducing properties. This patent also discloses a composite material including minerals, active cementitious materials, and graphene to enhance the antimicrobial properties and extends lifespan in product. This patent shows the potential for graphene to be applied to cat litter, reflecting the trend towards developing environmentally friendly products with additional properties for improving pet hygiene. Moreover, researchers from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the USA have developed the cat litter made from biomass materials, such as cedar sawdust and biochar, which have the high organic absorption that causes the cat urine odor. Guar gum is also used as a coagulant, allowing the litter to agglomerate quickly and easy for disposal.

[0008] The use of biomass material and technology in the cat litter production is environmentally friendly innovation by using residues from tofu made from soybeans, to develop biodegradable cat litter that does not cause the environmental problems. Biomass, for example, tofu, also has a property in agglomeration prevention when contacting with moisture. This make easy to dispose, and allows the graphene to be dispersed within tofu. This process has been developed by using ultrasonic technology to assist the dispersion in nanoparticles which prevents the graphene agglomeration and deterioration during use. In addition, ultrasonic also enhance the mixing efficiency of various materials, resulting in high stability in products. Eco-friendly products are increasing worldwide popularity. In response to the trend towards sustainable product, the graphene cat litter from tofu has been developed, and not only meets consumer demand in efficiency, but also reduces pollution and creates a positive long-term environmental impact. This present invention of cat litter focuses on reducing environmental impact and promoting pet health by using biodegradable materials and reducing dust generation. Furthermore, this product also effectively reduces ammonia emissions from cat urine, increasing market demand for these products.

[0009] This present invention combines nanotechnology with biomaterials to obtain the cat litter product excellent in cleanliness, safety, and environmental friendliness. Graphene is mixed with tofu to reduce odor, enhance antibacterial properties, and maintain environmental sustainability. Biomass conversion using thermochemical processes can be divided to direct combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification. Each process has difference in the use of oxygen for combustion. Direct combustion uses oxygen, while pyrolysis does not. The gasification process uses some oxygen, and after combustion, heat energy is generated which can be used to boil water to produce steam to drive a steam turbine, or to use combustible gas in a generator to generate electricity. In addition to this energy, a carbon byproduct of the process, char or biochar, is also produced. This waste is disposed by, for examples, landfilling, fertilizer, or compressing it into charcoal.

[0010] Graphene materials can be prepared from high purity graphite with few metal impurities, which makes graphene expensive in manufacturing. Graphene can be prepared from, for examples, micromechanical cleavage, chemical synthesis via oxidation of graphite, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), solvothermal synthesis and electrolytic exfoliation. However, these processes are still limited by up-scaling, expensive equipment, and environmentally unfriendly processes.

[0011] This present invention generally relates to a process for preparing graphene cat litter from carbon byproduct by using thermochemical process, purification, and restacking processes of the graphene material through ultrasonic horn sonotrode in order to obtain high quality and pure graphene material.

[0012] Summary of the invention

[0013] This invention is directly related to development of a graphene cat litter using tofu mixed with graphene to enhance odor adsorption, antibacterial, and environmentally friendly properties. This product addresses consumer demand for products that reduce pollution and enhance pet care efficiency. The composition of the graphene cat litter includes matrix mixture material, binder, graphene, and a dispersing agent. The graphene is functionalized and embedded in a polymer solution, along with a binder, a dispersing agent, in order to enhance dispersion of the mixtures, prevent the agglomeration and precipitation, and additives. This process is carried out under vacuum using a vacuum infusion system.

[0014] The preparation for graphene cat litter includes the following steps:

[0015] (A) Preparation of graphene from carbon byproduct material from thermochemical process, including direct combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification.

[0016] (B) Purification and restacking process of the graphene through sonotrode horn ultrasonic.

[0017] (C) Mixing a binder and graphene mixture in a container.

[0018] (D) Mixing a dispersing agent to enhance the dispersion of the mixtures, and prevent the agglomeration precipitation.

[0019] (E) Mixing the mixtures from (E) into the matrix mixture material.

[0020] (F) Homogenizing mixtures of the graphene in the matrix fluid. A one-step ultrasonic is provided, including a cooling tank for initial mixtures, connected to the progressive cavity pump which providing cooling system, and the pressure is controlled by a pressure gauge before entering the flow cell. The ultrasonic is set to a predetermined value, and the graphene matrix is collected in a cooling tank. The mixtures is then processed into cat litter by using a screw-driven process, producing litter with diameters of 2.5 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm, or 12 mm, as desired. The litter are then dried with hot air to stabilize the litter at a temperature of 60-100 degrees Celsius for 30-90 minutes.

[0021] The objectives of this invention is to integrate the beneficial properties of graphene with tofu residues, which is a matrix to reduce odors, enhance antibacterial properties, and maintain environmental sustainability. This results in a product with the highest efficiency and market prominence, combining odor adsorption, antibacterial, and environmentally friendly properties.

[0022] This meets consumer demand for products that reduce pollution and enhance pet care efficiency.

[0023] Various purposes and features of the present invention will become clearer when considered together with the accompanying drawings and the best detailed description of the invention which will be described below.

[0024] Brief description of the drawings

[0025] The accompanying drawings, which are included herein to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure and are incorporated herein to constitute a part of the present specification. The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and are used in conjunction with the following description to illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 1 illustrates process flow diagram of preparation of the graphene cat litter from carbon byproduct material from thermochemical process.

[0027] Detailed description of the invention

[0028] This description of this invention will be made by illustrating the invention and referring to it by means of drawings and photographs to illustrate and clarify the description, and identical parts in these drawings will be represented by the same reference numbers. This is without any limitation and the scope of the invention will be in accordance with the appended claims.

[0029] Figure 1 illustrates process flow diagram of preparation of the graphene. The carbon byproduct from thermochemical process is purified to remove organic substances and impurities using a leaching process combined with centrifugation and the carbon material is then dried. The carbon material without organic and impurities is dispersed in media for separation and restacking via a sonotrode horn ultrasonic shear reactor which utilizes the reactor's unique vortex flow to produce a multi-step batch reaction. These reactors are commonly used in biology, physics, and chemistry to induce reactions in response to specific environments for mixing, extraction, crystallization, separation, and cultivation. However, the reactor has not been reported for graphene material preparation. As a result, the fluid flow is unstable and forms a double vortex that not only flows in the direction of the shaft rotation, but also in the opposite direction. This type of fluid flow within the reactor is called a " Taylor Vortex". When a carbon byproduct material is introduced into the reactor, and the reactor is operating, the eddy currents induce shearing stress on the carbon byproduct material. This shear stress is transmitted in the opposite direction along the side of the carbon byproduct material, to easily open each carbon layer. Meanwhile, carbon layer is peeled by using the reactor as mentioned above. Each carbon layer is opened by the shearing force inside the reactor. The controller is used to accelerate the rotation of the reactor and peel the carbon into sheets to obtain the graphene material. The graphene material is applied for various applications in nano-scale electrical and electronic devices, nano sensors, optoelectronic devices, and high-performance composites. The graphene material is filtered to separate the medium, and then dried and reduced by grinding to obtain the graphene material, respectively.

[0030] Formulation of the graphene cat litter

[0031] - Matrix mixture material 75 - 99.8% by weight

[0032] - Binder 0.1 - 5% by weight

[0033] - Graphene 0.1 - 5% by weight

[0034] - Dispersing agent 0.1 - 5% by weight

[0035] The preparation of the graphene cat litter

[0036] The preparation of graphene solution

[0037] The graphene is embedded in the polymer solution, selected from starch, thermoplastic of polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, nylon, polyamide, polyacrylonitrile or a combination thereof, preferably starch.

[0038] This process is carried out via vacuum infusion system including the following steps.

[0039] (A) Mixing a binder and graphene mixture in a container. The binder is selected from starch, polystyrene, polypropylene, nylon, polyamide, polyacrylonitrile, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyethylene, polytetrafluoroethylene, or a combination thereof, preferably starch. The graphene is byproduct carbon materials from thermochemical processes, including direct combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification.

[0040] (B) Mixing a dispersing agents to enhance the dispersion in mixtures, prevent the agglomeration and precipitation. The dispersing agents is selected from acrylate copolymers, polar compounds, acrylate derivatives, affinic dyes, carboxylic acid derivatives, acrylate compounds, acrylate copolymer BYK- 112, or a combination thereof, preferably acrylate copolymer BYK-112.

[0041] (C) Mixing the mixtures from (B) to the matrix mixture materials, including residues from tofu, beans, lime, or a combination thereof, and additives selected from fragrance, vitamin B3, vitamin E, phenostat, or a combination thereof.

[0042] (D) Homogenizing mixtures of the graphene in the matrix fluid. A one-step ultrasonic is provided, including a cooling tank for initial mixtures, connected to the progressive cavity pump which providing cooling system, and the pressure is controlled by a pressure gauge before entering the flow cell. The ultrasonic is set to a predetermined value, including 20- 40 kHz of frequency, 50-100% of amplitude, and 2 kV of energy, and the graphene matrix is collected in a cooling tank.

[0043] (E) The mixtures is then processed into cat litter by using a screw-driven process, producing litter with diameters of 2.5 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm, or 12 mm, as desired.

[0044] (F) The litter are then dried with hot air to stabilize the litter at a temperature of 60-100 degrees Celsius for 30-90 minutes.

[0045] Table 1: Antistatic test of the graphene cat litter.

[0046] Table 2: Antibacterial test of the graphene cat litter. Although the present invention has been described in detailed description by means of the attached drawings, it is understood that modifications or alterations by a person who skilled in the art and science, within the scope and purpose of the invention, can be made. The scope of the present invention shall be in accordance with the embodiment of the invention as stated in the appended claims, including aspects of the invention, although it is not specifically stated in the claims, have a utility and produce results similar to those of the invention as stated in the claims.

[0047] Best mode for carrying out the invention

[0048] Best mode or preferred embodiment of the invention is as provided in the description of the invention.

Claims

Claims1. A graphene cat litter comprising matrix mixture material from biomass, which added with graphene in the amount of 0.1-5.0% by weight for to enhance the odor adsorption and antibacterial properties, wherein matrix mixture material is biodegradable residues from tofu or soybeans.

2. The graphene cat litter as claimed in claim 1, wherein ultrasonic is applied for graphene dispersion, in order to reduce the agglomeration of graphene, and maintain the quality of graphene.

3. The graphene cat litter as claimed in claim 1, wherein a polymer binder is mixed with graphene, and vacuum infusion is applied for enhancing the stability and preventing the precipitation.

4. The graphene cat litter as claimed in claim 1, having the property of reducing ammonia emission from cat urine, and further comprises the additives selected from vitamin B3, vitamin E, flavoring agent, or a combination thereof to enhance the pet hygiene.

5. A preparation of graphene for the cat litter, using carbon materials from pyrolysis or gasification, and separation using ultrasonic to obtain high quality of graphene.

6. A graphene material, prepared from the carbon byproducts from direct combustion thermochemical process.

7. The graphene material, prepared from the carbon byproducts from pyrolysis.

8. The graphene material, prepared from the carbon byproducts from gasification.

9. The graphene material, prepared from at least two thermochemical process as claimed in claim 6 to 8.

10. The graphene material as claimed in claim 6 to 9, prepared from restacking process by using ultrasonic horn sonotrode.

11. A graphene cat litter composition comprising:- Matrix mixture material 75 - 99.8% by weight- Binder 0.1 - 5% by weight- Graphene 0.1 - 5% by weight- Dispersing agent 0.1 - 5% by weight12. A preparation of graphene cat litter comprising:(A) Mixing the binder with the graphene.(B) Mixing the dispersing agent with the mixtures from step (A). (C) Mixing the matrix mixture material with the mixtures from step (B)(D) Mixing the mixtures from step (C) by using ultrasonic in the system controlled with progressive cavity pump.

13. The preparation of graphene cat litter as claimed in claim 12, wherein the ultrasonic is applied by using 20-40 kHz of frequency, 50-100% of amplitude, and 2 kW of energy.

14. The graphene cat litter as claimed in claim 1, having 2.5-12 mm of size, and drying with hot air at 60-100 degrees Celsius for 30-90 minutes.

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