Patents by Inventor Michael Paul Ekart

Michael Paul Ekart has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230139587
    Abstract: A process and system for liquefying and plasticizing a waste plastic in a pyrolysis film reactor are provided. More particularly, a liquefied waste plastic, which may include halogen-depleted molten waste plastics, may be pyrolyzed in a pyrolysis film reactor to form a pyrolysis oil and a pyrolysis gas. The pyrolysis film reactors may include a falling film reactor and/or an upflow film reactor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2021
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Bruce Roger DeBruin, Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, Michael Paul Ekart, David Milton Lange, Aaron Nathanial Edens
  • Publication number: 20230135304
    Abstract: A polyethylene composition having a recycle content value is obtained by reacting a recycle content feedstock to make a recycle content polyethylene or by deducting from a recycle inventory a recycle content value applied to a polyethylene composition. At least a portion of the recycle content value in the feedstock or in an allotment obtained by a polyethylene manufacturer has its origin in recycled waste plastics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2021
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Bruce Roger DeBruin, Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, Michael Paul Ekart, David Milton Lange, Aaron Nathanial Edens
  • Publication number: 20230110481
    Abstract: Chemical recycling facilities for processing mixed plastic waste are provided herein. Such facilities have the capability of processing mixed plastic waste streams and utilize a variety of recycling facilities, such as, for example, solvolysis facility, a pyrolysis facility, a cracker facility, a partial oxidation gasification facility, an energy generation/energy production facility, and a solidification facility. Streams from one or more of these individual facilities may be used as feed to one or more of the other facilities, thereby maximizing recovery of valuable chemical components and minimizing unusable waste streams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2021
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Bruce Roger DeBruin, Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, William Lewis Trapp, Travis Wynn Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Jaclyn Erin Shuman, Timothy Glenn Schaefer, Justin William Murphy, David Milton Lange, Aaron Nathaniel Edens
  • Publication number: 20230116183
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for the conversion of waste plastics into various useful downstream recycle-content products. More particularly, the present system and method involves integrating a pyrolysis facility with a cracker facility by introducing at least a stream of r-pyrolysis gas into the cracker facility. In the cracker facility, the r-pyrolysis gas may be separated to form one or more recycle content products, and can enhance the operation of the facility.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2021
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, Michael Paul Ekart, Bruce Roger DeBruin
  • Publication number: 20230103080
    Abstract: Chemical recycling facilities for processing mixed plastic waste are provided herein. Such facilities have the capability of processing mixed plastic waste streams and utilize a variety of recycling facilities, such as, for example, solvolysis facility, a pyrolysis facility, a cracker facility, a partial oxidation gasification facility, an energy generation/energy production facility, and a solidification facility. Streams from one or more of these individual facilities may be used as feed to one or more of the other facilities, thereby maximizing recovery of valuable chemical components and minimizing unusable waste streams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2021
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Bruce Roger DeBruin, Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, Travis Wynn Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Jaclyn Erin Shuman, Timothy Glenn Schaefer, Justin William Murphy, David Milton Lange, Aaron Nathaniel Edens
  • Publication number: 20230066496
    Abstract: Chemical recycling facilities for processing mixed plastic waste are provided herein. Such facilities have the capability of processing mixed plastic waste streams and utilize a variety of recycling facilities, such as, for example, solvolysis facility, a pyrolysis facility, a cracker facility, a partial oxidation gasification facility, an energy generation/energy production facility, and a solidification facility. Streams from one or more of these individual facilities may be used as feed to one or more of the other facilities, thereby maximizing recovery of valuable chemical components and minimizing unusable waste streams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2021
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Bruce Roger DeBruin, Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, Travis Wynn Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Jaclyn Erin Shuman, Timothy Glenn Schaefer, Justin William Murphy, David Milton Lange, Aaron Nathaniel Edens
  • Publication number: 20230068710
    Abstract: Chemical recycling facilities for processing mixed plastic waste are provided herein. Such facilities have the capability of processing mixed plastic waste streams and utilize a variety of recycling facilities, such as, for example, solvolysis facility, a pyrolysis facility, a cracker facility, a partial oxidation gasification facility, an energy generation/energy production facility, and a solidification facility. Streams from one or more of these individual facilities may be used as feed to one or more of the other facilities, thereby maximizing recovery of valuable chemical components and minimizing unusable waste streams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2021
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Bruce Roger DeBruin, Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, William Lewis Trapp, Travis Wynn Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Jaclyn Erin Shuman, Timothy Glenn Schaefer, Justin William Murphy, David Milton Lange, Aaron Nathaniel Edens
  • Publication number: 20230067427
    Abstract: Chemical recycling facilities for processing mixed plastic waste are provided herein. Such facilities have the capability of processing mixed plastic waste streams and utilize a variety of recycling facilities, such as, for example, solvolysis facility, a pyrolysis facility, a cracker facility, a partial oxidation gasification facility, an energy generation/energy production facility, and a solidification facility. Streams from one or more of these individual facilities may be used as feed to one or more of the other facilities, thereby maximizing recovery of valuable chemical components and minimizing unusable waste streams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2021
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Bruce Roger DeBruin, Daryl Bitting, David Eugene Slivensky, Xianchun Wu, William Lewis Trapp, Travis Wynn Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Jaclyn Erin Shuman, Timothy Glenn Schaefer, Justin William Murphy, David Milton Lange, Aaron Nathaniel Edens
  • Publication number: 20230026172
    Abstract: A method for manufacture of polyesters with recycle content is described in various aspects. The methods of the present disclosure effectively and cost-efficiently incorporates recycled DMT into existing TPA-based polyester manufacturing systems. Recycle feed compositions for manufacture of polyesters with recycle content and recycled content polyesters are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Publication date: January 26, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Earl Edmondson Howell, Jr., Michael Paul Ekart, Travis Wynn Keever, Bob N. Jack, Jonathan Michael Horton, Daniel Lee Martin
  • Publication number: 20230022664
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for treating the product stream from a polyester methanolysis depolymerization process wherein the product stream includes dimethyl terephthalate and one or more side species selected from the group consisting of dimethyl phthalate, dimethyl isophthalate, bisphenol-A, an adipic acid diester and colorants. The method includes a) hydrogenating said dimethyl terephthalate to form one or more of dimethyl 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylate and 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol; and (b) hydrogenating one or more of said one or more side species of said product stream. A method for depolymerization of polyester is also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Publication date: January 26, 2023
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: William Christopher Ketchie, Noah Glenn McMillan, Michael Paul Ekart, Travis Wynn Keever
  • Publication number: 20220372217
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a catalyst system to produce crystallizable polyester compositions which comprise residues of terephthalic acid, neopentyl glycol (NRG), 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM), ethylene glycol (EG), and diethylene glycol (DEG), in certain compositional ranges having certain advantages and improved properties including recyclability. The present disclosure also relates to a catalyst system to produce crystallizable polyester compositions which comprise residues of recycled terephthalic acid, recycled neopentyl glycol (NRG), recycled 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM), recycled ethylene glycol (EG), and/or recycled diethylene glycol (DEG), in certain compositional ranges having certain advantages and improved properties including recyclability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Publication date: November 24, 2022
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Earl Edmondson Howell, Jr., Aaron Nathaniel Edens, Anne-Martine Sherbeck Jackson, Donna Rice Quillen, Carol Julliard Greene, Mark Allen Peters, Jonathan Michael Horton, Travis Wynn Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Erin G. Ekart
  • Publication number: 20220372216
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a catalyst system to produce crystallizable polyester compositions which comprise residues of terephthalic acid, neopentyl glycol (NRG), 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM), ethylene glycol (EG), and diethylene glycol (DEG), in certain compositional ranges having certain advantages and improved properties including recyclability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Publication date: November 24, 2022
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Earl Edmondson Howell, Jr., Aaron Nathaniel Edens, Anne-Martine Sherbeck Jackson, Donna Rice Quillen, Carol Julliard Greene, Mark Allen Peters, Jonathan Michael Horton, Travis Wynn Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Erin G. Ekart
  • Publication number: 20220363822
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to crystallizable shrinkable films and thermoformable films or sheets comprising amorphous polyester compositions which comprise residues of terephthalic acid, neopentyl glycol (NRG), 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol CHDM), ethylene glycol (EG), and diethylene glycol (DEG), in certain compositional ranges having certain advantages and improved properties. The present disclosure also relates to crystallizable shrinkable films and thermoformable film(s) and/or sheet(s) comprising polyester compositions which comprise residues of recycled terephthalic acid, recycled neopentyl glycol (NRG), recycled 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM), recycled ethylene glycol (EG), and recycled diethylene glycol (DEG), in certain compositional ranges having certain advantages and improved properties.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Publication date: November 17, 2022
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Mark Allen Peters, Jonathan Michael Horton, Travis Wynne Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Erin G. Ekart
  • Publication number: 20220348715
    Abstract: A process for producing a polyester composition from recycled polyesters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Publication date: November 3, 2022
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Mark Allen Peters, Jonathan Michael Horton, Travis Wynne Keever, Michael Paul Ekart, Erin G. Ekart
  • Publication number: 20220325036
    Abstract: A process for producing recycle polyesters made from organic compounds, e.g., acids and alcohols, derived from recycled, reused or other environmentally favored raw materials by obtaining a recycle monomer composition derived directly or indirectly from cracking a recycle content pyrolysis oil composition and reacting the recycle monomer with recycle DMT obtained directly or indirectly from the depolymerization of terephthalate polyesters to prepare a recycle polyester.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Michael Paul Ekart, Travis Wynn Keever, David Eugene Slivensky, Kenny Randolph Parker, William Lewis Trapp, Daryl Bitting, Michael Gary Polasek, Xianchun Wu
  • Publication number: 20220073676
    Abstract: Copolyesters made from the direct esterification of terephthalic acid with diols including ethylene glycol, but which contain low diethylene glycol (DEG) content, and processes for making the copolyesters. The copolyesters are characterized by comprising 1.0 wt % or less of DEG without requiring the use of DEG-suppressing additives. The processes are characterized by features including operating at lower pressures and lower EG:TPA feed mole ratios in the first esterification zone, while simultaneously at higher temperatures than typical operation in order to lower incorporation of DEG into the final polymer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Publication date: March 10, 2022
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Anne-Martine Sherbeck Jackson, Rachel Elizabeth McLendon, Bruce Roger DeBruin, Michael Paul Ekart, Dale Milton Blakely, Robert Todd Harris
  • Publication number: 20220049050
    Abstract: Copolyesters made from the direct esterification of terephthalic acid with diols including ethylene glycol, but which contain low diethylene glycol (DEG) content, and processes for making the copolyesters. The copolyesters are characterized by comprising 1.0 wt % or less of DEG without requiring the use of DEG-suppressing additives. The processes are characterized by features including operating at lower pressures and lower EG:TPA feed mole ratios in the first reaction zone, while simultaneously at higher temperatures than typical operation in order to lower incorporation of DEG into the final polymer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Publication date: February 17, 2022
    Applicant: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Anne-Martine Sherbeck Jackson, Rachel Elizabeth McLendon, Bruce Roger DeBruin, Michael Paul Ekart, Dale Milton Blakely, Robert Todd Harris
  • Patent number: 10370486
    Abstract: Polyester polymer particle spheroids comprising a polyester polymer including: a carboxylic acid component containing at least 90 mole % of the residues of terephthalic acid, derivates of terephthalic acid, naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid, and/or derivatives of naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid, and a hydroxyl component containing from 90 to 96 mole % of the residues of ethylene glycol, based on 100 mole percent of the carboxylic acid component residues and 100 mole percent hydroxyl component residues in the polyester polymer, wherein said particle has an It.V. of at least 0.72 dL/g, and the It.V. at the surface of the particle is from 0.02 dL/g to less than 0.25 dL/g higher than the It.V. at the center of the particle, and wherein the polyester polymer spheroids are not solid state polymerized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: GRUPO PETROTEMEX S.A. DE C.V.
    Inventors: Frederick Leslie Colhoun, Michael Paul Ekart, Mary Therese Jernigan, Stephen Weinhold
  • Publication number: 20170009009
    Abstract: Polyester polymer particle spheroids comprising a polyester polymer including: a carboxylic acid component containing at least 90 mole % of the residues of terephthalic acid, derivates of terephthalic acid, naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid, and/or derivatives of naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid,; and a hydroxyl component containing from 90 to 96 mole % of the residues of ethylene glycol, based on 100 mole percent of the carboxylic acid component residues and 100 mole percent hydroxyl component residues in the polyester polymer, wherein said particle has an kV. of at least 0.72 dL/g, and the It.V. at the surface of the particle is from 0.02 dL/g to less than 0.25 dL/g higher than the It.V. at the center of the particle, and wherein the polyester polymer spheroids are not solid state polymerized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Publication date: January 12, 2017
    Applicant: GRUPO PETROTEMEX, S.A. DE C.V.
    Inventors: Frederick Leslie COLHOUN, Michael Paul EKART, Mary Therese JERNIGAN, Stephen WEINHOLD
  • Patent number: 8968615
    Abstract: A bulk of polyester polymer particles comprising polyester polymer comprising greater than 75% virgin polyester polymer, the particles having: A) an It.V. of at least 0.72 dl/g, and B) 10 ppm or less of residual acetaldehyde; and C) at least two melting peaks, wherein one of said at least two melting peaks is a low peak melting point within a range of 140° C. to 220° C. and having a melting endotherm area of at least the absolute value of 1 J/g. The particles may also have a degree of crystallinity within a range of 20% and a maximum degree of crystallinity Tcmax defined by the equation: Tcmax=50%?CA?OH where CA is the total mole % of all carboxylic acid residues other than terephthalic acid residues, based on 100 mole % of carboxylic acid residues, and OH is the total mole % of all hydroxyl functional compound residues other than ethylene glycol residues, based on 100 mole % of hydroxyl functional compounds residues.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Michael Paul Ekart, Frederick Leslie Colhoun, Mary Therese Jernigan, Stephen Weinhold, Rodney Scott Armentrout