Claims
- 1. A method for preparing a polyphenylene ether resin substantially free from odoriferous impurities comprising by-products of monomer and polymer synthesis, said process consisting essentially of:
- (a) mixing
- (i) a polyphenylene ether in particulate form having a content of said odoriferous by-products, and
- (ii) water; to form an aqueous suspension;
- (b) distilling the aqueous suspension obtained in (a) to boil off a portion of said water to remove substantially all of said content of odoriferous by-products from the particulate polyphenylene ether resin; and
- (c) recovering said polyphenylene ether resin substantially free of said content of odoriferous by-products, from the residue of step (b).
- 2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said polyphenylene ether resin is selected from the group consisting of poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether), poly(2,6-dimethyl-co-2,3,6-tri-methyl-1,4-phenylene ether) and mixtures thereof.
- 3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said polyphenylene ether resin is poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether).
- 4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said odoriferous by-products are selected from the group consisting of aromatic hydrocarbons, oxygen-containing compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds and mixtures thereof.
- 5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said water comprises deionized water.
- 6. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said aqueous suspension is distilled to boil off from about 1 to about 99 weight percent water based on the weight of the added water.
- 7. A method as defined in claim 6 wherein said aqueous suspension is distilled to boil off from about 25 to about 75 weight percent of water based on the weight of the added water.
- 8. A method as defined in claim 6 wherein the distillation occurs at from about 50 to about 210.degree. C. at pressures ranging from below atmospheric to above atmospheric.
- 9. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said aqueous suspension is an aqueous resin slurry.
- 10. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein step (c) comprises filtering or vacuum filtering.
- 11. A method as defined in claim 10 wherein said step (c) also comprises drying said polyphenylene ether resin after said filtering or vacuum filtering.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/291,706, filed Dec. 29, 1988 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Weissberger, "Distillation", 1965, Second Edition, pp. 2-3, vol. IV. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
291706 |
Dec 1988 |
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