Claims
- 1. A finely divided polysaccharide derivative product prepared by a process comprising:
a) forming an aqueous composition comprising a polysaccharide derivative and water, said composition containing water in an amount of 35 to 99 wt. %, based on the total weight of said aqueous composition, said polysaccharide derivative being soaked or dissolved in said composition; b) converting the polysaccharide derivative of said aqueous composition into finely divided solid particles by,
(i) contacting said aqueous composition with superheated water vapor in a dryer-pulverizer, thereby converting the water of said aqueous composition into the vapor phase, and converting the polysaccharide derivative of said aqueous composition into finely divided solid particles; or (ii) causing the polysaccharide derivative of said aqueous composition to flocculate, thereby converting the polysaccharide derivative of said aqueous composition into finely divided solid particles; and c) optionally drying the finely divided solid particles of step b), wherein the primary structures which result from the polysaccharide starting material have been largely removed, and the product has a shape factor of less than 5 and greater than or equal to 1.
- 2. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 1, wherein 100 wt. % of the finely divided solid particles can pass through a 1 mm screen.
- 3. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 1, wherein it is a cellulose derivative product.
- 4. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 2, wherein it is a methyl cellulose product, methyl hydroxyethyl cellulose product, methyl hydroxypropyl cellulose product or hydroxypropyl cellulose product.
- 5. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 1 wherein greater than 50 wt. % of the product has a shape factor of less than or equal to 2.
- 6. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 2 wherein 100 wt. % of the finely divided solid particles can pass through a 0.315 mm screen.
- 7. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 2 wherein more than 95 wt. % of the finely divided solid particles can pass through a 0.16 mm screen.
- 8. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 2 wherein more than 95 wt. % of the finely divided solid particles can pass through a 0.1 mm screen, less than 10 wt. % of the finely divided solid particles can pass through a 0.01 mm screen, and more than 10 wt. % of the finely divided solid particles are retained on a 0.03 mm screen.
- 9. The polysaccharide derivative product of claim 3 wherein the polysaccharide product is a cellulose ether product.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
PCT/EP99/09775 |
Dec 1999 |
EP |
|
198 59 689.9 |
Dec 1998 |
DE |
|
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present patent application is a continuation-in-part of and claims the right of priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/341,412, filed Jul. 8, 1999, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6, ______ , ______ , which claims the right of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 and 35 U.S.C. 365 of International Application No. PCT/EP99/09775, filed Dec. 10, 1999, which was published in German as International Patent Publication No. WO 00/39200 on Jul. 6, 2000, which is entitled to the right of priority of German Patent Application No. 198 59 689.9, filed Dec. 23, 1998.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09341412 |
Jul 1999 |
US |
Child |
09968497 |
Oct 2001 |
US |