Dissolution of polyurethane foams and re-use of the products therefrom

Claim 1

In a method for recovery of flexible urethane foam made from reacting a mixture comprising polyisocyanate and polyol having a number average weight exceeding about 1000, wherein the foam is liquified at elevated temperatures in the presence of aliphatic diol of the formula HO-A-OH wherein A is oxy interrupted alkylene and up to 6 carbons, an improvement that permits recovery of products suitable for use in preparing new flexible foam, which comprises: (a) dissolving the foam in the presence of the diol at a temperature in a range up to 210° C. for a time sufficient to form a single or subtantially single liquid layer; (b) admixing after the dissolution of (a), liquid polyol (B) having a number average molecular weight of about 1000-10,000, that is suitable for use in preparation of flexible foam; (c) removing under vacuum at least about 70% by weight of the diol from the liquid admixture of (b) at a temperature in a range exceeding about 100° C.; and (d) collecting the liquid polyol residue from the distilled admixture.