Recovery of chlorinated polyethylene wax from solution by spray drying

Claim 1

THE PROCESS FOR REMOVING SOLVENT FROM CHLORINATED POLYETHYLENE RESINS CONTAINING BETWEEN ABOUT 65% AND ABOUT 72% CHLORINE AND HAVING FUSION POINTS OF AT LEAST ABOUT 165*C. WHEN SOLVENT-FREE, WHICH COMPRISES ATOMIZING A FLUID SOLUTION OF SAID RESIN IN A CHLORINE-STABLE, WATER-IMMISCIBLE SOLVENT HAVING A NORMAL BOILING POINT BELOW ABOUT 100*C., AT A TEMPERATURE ABOVE THE NORMAL BOILING POINT OFF SAID SOLVENT AND AT A PRESSURE SUFFICIENT TO INHIBIT VOLATILIZATION OF SAID SOLVENT, DOWNWARDLY INTO A GASEOUS ZONE OF LOW PRESSURE COUNTER-CURRENT TO AN ASCENDING CURRENT OF TEAM, SIMULTANEOUSLY INTRODUCING INTO SAID ZONE OF LOWER PRESSURE, BELOW THE POINT OF ATOMIZATION OF THE RESIN SOLUTION, STEAM UNDER A PRESSURE BETWEEN ABOUT 50 P.S.I.G. AND ABOUT 75 P.S.I.G. AND AT A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 100*C. AND ABOUT 160*C. AT A RATE BETWEEN ABOUT 0.4 PART AND ABOUT 0.8 PART OF STEAM PER PART OF SOLVENT IN THE RESIN SOLUTION INTRODUCED, WHEREBY SOLVENT IN THE ATOMIZED RESIN SOLUTION IS SUBSTANTIALLY IMMEDIATELY VOLATILIZED TO THE EXTENT THAT A SOLID, PARTICULATE RESIN PRODUCT IS FORMED CONTINUING, COUNTER-CURRENTLY CONTACTING SAID DESCENDING PARTICULATE SOLID RESIN PRODUCT WITH SAID ASCENDING STEAM AT SAID ELEVATED TEMPERATURE UNTIL THE PARTICULATE PRODUCT CONTAINS NOT MORE THAN ABOUT 10% SOLVENT.