Abstract:
A process for preparing cellulose ether includes (a) alkylation and etherification of cellulose to form an initial cellulose ether, (b) washing and filtering of the initial cellulose ether; (c) optionally granulating the cellulose ether; (d) compounding the cellulose ether to form a dough; (e) optionally disposing the cellulose ether into a buffer tank; and (f) drying the cellulose ether dough to obtain a final cellulose ether with a lower viscosity than the initial cellulose ether; where the process is characterized by introducing an aqueous catalyst and a peroxy-containing oxidizer to the cellulose ether during at least one of steps (c)-(f), introducing an aqueous enhancer during at least one of steps (c)-(e) and wherein the process is free of drying an isolating cellulose ether after (a) and before drying the final cellulose ether.
Abstract:
A process for recovering an esterified cellulose ether from a reaction product mixture obtained from a reaction of (a) a cellulose ether with (b) an aliphatic monocarboxylic acid anhydride or a di- or tricarboxylic acid anhydride or a combination of an aliphatic monocarboxylic acid anhydride and a di- or tricarboxylic acid anhydride, comprises the steps of (i) contacting the reaction product mixture with an aqueous liquid to precipitate the esterified cellulose ether from the reaction product mixture, (ii) isolating the precipitated esterified cellulose ether from the mixture obtained in step (i), and (iii) suspending the isolated esterified cellulose ether in an aqueous liquid to provide a suspension having a temperature of at least 28° C., and (iv) recovering the esterified cellulose ether from the suspension of step (iii).
Abstract:
A process for recovering an esterified cellulose ether from a reaction product mixture obtained from a reaction of (a) a cellulose ether with (b) an aliphatic monocarboxylic acid anhydride or a di- or tricarboxylic acid anhydride or a combination of an aliphatic monocarboxylic acid anhydride and a di- or tricarboxylic acid anhydride, comprises the steps of (i) contacting the reaction product mixture with an aqueous liquid to precipitate the esterified cellulose ether from the reaction product mixture, (ii) isolating the precipitated esterified cellulose ether from the mixture obtained in step (i), and (iii) suspending the isolated esterified cellulose ether in an aqueous liquid to provide a suspension having a temperature of at least 28° C., and (iv) recovering the esterified cellulose ether from the suspension of step (iii).