Claims
- 1. A method for producing substantially round and spherical titanium dioxide scouring media comprising:
(a) mixing water, hydrophobic titanium dioxide dust and a surface tension reducing amount of at least one surfactant, in a high intensity mixer to form green pellets; (b) drying the titanium dioxide green pellets; and (c) sintering the dried titanium dioxide pellets.
- 2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising mixing a binder with the water, the titanium dioxide dust and the surfactant to form the green pellets.
- 3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the green pellets are dried at a temperature ranging from about 65° C. to about 121° C.
- 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the green pellets are sintered from about 938° to about 1121° C.
- 5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising screening the green pellets prior to sintering.
- 6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising screening the sintered pellets.
- 7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one surfactant is selected from the group consisting of anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, cationic surfactants and ampholytic surfactants.
- 8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one surfactant is selected from the group consisting of saturated long-chain fatty acids or acid salts, unsaturated long-chain fatty acids or acid salts, long-chain alcohols, polyalcohols, dimethylpolysiloxane and polyethylhydrosiloxane.
- 9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one surfactant is selected from the group consisting of linear and branched carboxylic acids and acid salts having from about 4 to about 30 carbon atoms; linear and branched alkyl sulfonic acids and acid salts having from about 4 to about 30 carbon atoms; linear alkyl benzene sulfonate wherein the linear alkyl chain includes from about 4 to about 30 carbon atoms; sulfosuccinates; phosphates; phosphonates; phospholipids; ethoxylated compounds, carboxylates, sulfonates and sulfates, polyglycol ethers, amines, salts of acrylic acid, pyrophosphate and mixtures thereof.
- 10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one surfactant is selected from the group consisting of sodium stearate; octadecanoic acid; hexadecyl sulfonate; lauryl sulfate; sodium oleate; and combinations thereof.
- 11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one surfactant comprises an anionic surfactant and a nonionic surfactant.
- 12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the surface tension reducing amount of the at least one surfactant is an amount sufficient to reduce surface tension of the hydrophobic titanium dioxide dust to a surface tension such that the green pellets are formed.
- 13. The method according to claim 1 wherein about 300 pounds of the hydrophobic titanium dioxide dust is mixed with about 6.5 to about 7.5 gallons of water and about 2.5 to about 4.5 milliliters of the at least one surfactant.
- 14. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sintered pellets have a crush strength of less than about 40% at 4000 psi.
- 15. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sintered pellets have a density of about 1.66 g/cc.
- 16. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sintering is performed at a temperature of about 1015° C.
- 17. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sintering is performed at a temperature of about 1015° C., and the sintered pellets have a crush strength of less than about 40% at 4000 psi and a density of about 1.66 g/cc.
- 18. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sintered pellets have a density of from about 1.55 g/cc to about 1.85 g/cc.
- 19. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sintering of the dried titanium dioxide pellets further comprises manipulating a property of the dried titanium dioxide pellets selected from the group consisting of density and crush strength, which manipulation is achieved by controlling sintering temperature in a range of from about 938° C. to about 1121° C.
- 20. The method according to claim 19 wherein the sintering temperature is in a range of from about 938° C. to about 1015° C., and the sintered pellets have a density of less than about 1.66 g/cc.
- 21. The method according to claim 19 wherein the sintering temperature is in a range of from about 1015° C. to about 1121° C., and the sintered pellets have a density of greater than about 1.66 g/cc.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of prior application Ser. No. 10/396,279 filed Mar. 24, 2003, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10396279 |
Mar 2003 |
US |
Child |
10837433 |
Apr 2004 |
US |