JPH06298992A - Agent for dissolving polystyrene, method for treating polystyrene and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently and safely recover polystyrene from polystyrene waste materials using a polystyrene-dissolving agent excellent in solubility and not causing environmental pollution. CONSTITUTION:A polystyrene-dissolving agent 20 containing 100-50wt.% terpene and 0-50wt.% surfactant is brought into contact with polystyrene 30 in a dissolving device 1 to dissolve the polystyrene in the dissolving agent and the solution is divided into two layers of a polystyrene dissolving liquid layer and a dissolving agent layer and the resultant polystyrene-dissolving liquid is washed using a washing water in a separation device 2 to separate the surfactant and distilled in a distillation device 3 to separate the polystyrene from the dissolving agent.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dissolving agent for polystyrene (including expanded polystyrene), a method for treating polystyrene, and a treating apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, polystyrene has hardly been recovered from waste materials of polystyrene (including expanded polystyrene), and the waste materials are either incinerated or buried at the final disposal site and disposed of. Not used effectively. Further, when polystyrene is incinerated, toxic gas is emitted, which may impair the health of workers, and the exhaust gas also causes air pollution. Therefore, there is a demand for a safe and efficient treatment method capable of recovering polystyrene.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a polystyrene solubilizer which has excellent solubility, is harmless, and does not cause environmental pollution. Another object of the present invention is to propose a method for treating polystyrene which is efficient, safe, and capable of recovering polystyrene without causing environmental pollution. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a polystyrene treating apparatus which is efficient, safe, and capable of recovering polystyrene without causing environmental pollution.

[0004]

The present invention provides the following polystyrene dissolving agent, polystyrene treating method and treating apparatus. (1) A polystyrene solubilizer characterized by containing a terpene. (2) A polystyrene solubilizer characterized by containing a terpene and a surfactant. (3) The polystyrene dissolving agent according to the above (1) or (2), wherein the terpene is d-limonene, l-limonene or dipentene. (4) The surfactant is a linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, a linear or branched alcohol ethoxylate,
Dissolution of polystyrene according to the above (2) or (3), which is a straight-chain or branched-chain alcohol ethoxysulfate, alkylsuccinates, dialkylsuccinates, fatty acid ethanolamides or ethoxylated alkylphenols Agent. (5) A method for treating polystyrene, characterized in that polystyrene is brought into contact with a dissolving agent containing terpene to dissolve the polystyrene, and the polystyrene and the dissolving agent are separated from the polystyrene solution. (6) Polystyrene is dissolved by contacting with a dissolving agent containing a terpene and a surfactant, and the solution in which polystyrene is dissolved is separated into a layer of a polystyrene dissolving solution having a high polystyrene concentration and a layer of a dissolving agent having a low polystyrene concentration. After that, the method for treating polystyrene is characterized in that the polystyrene and the dissolving agent are separated from the polystyrene solution. (7) A polystyrene characterized by comprising: a dissolving device for contacting and dissolving polystyrene with a terpene-containing dissolving agent; and a distillation device for distilling a polystyrene solution in which polystyrene is dissolved in the dissolving device. Processing equipment. (8) A dissolving device that dissolves polystyrene by bringing it into contact with a dissolving agent containing a terpene and a surfactant, a separating device that separates the surfactant from a polystyrene dissolving solution in which polystyrene is dissolved in the dissolving device, and a surfactant. A polystyrene treatment device comprising a distillation device for distilling a polystyrene solution from which the agent has been separated to separate the polystyrene and the solvent.

The polystyrene soluble with the solubilizer of the present invention includes homopolymers of styrene and copolymers of styrene containing styrene as a main component, such as impact-resistant polystyrene and acrylonitrile-styrene resin (AS resin). , Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (ABS resin), or these polystyrenes with n-
Examples thereof include expanded polystyrene foamed with a blowing agent such as pentane, nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide, sodium carbonate and azodicarbonamide.

The terpene used in the present invention is not limited, but d-limonene, l-limonene, dipentene (d
l-limonene), d-α-pinene, d-β-pinene, α
-Terpinene, β-terpinene, γ-terpinene, d-
2-carene, d-3-carene, 1-2 curene, 1-3
-Calene and the like are preferred. Among these, d-limonene, l-limonene and dipentene are particularly preferable. The terpenes may be used alone or in combination of two or more.

[0007] Terpenes have excellent solubility in polystyrene, are natural organic compounds contained in sebum of citrus fruits, etc., and are harmless and safe. Moreover, since it is easily decomposed by microorganisms, there is no concern about environmental pollution. Furthermore, since it has a citrus scent, it does not produce an offensive odor during use and is easy to handle.

The terpene can be used alone as a polystyrene dissolving agent, but can also be used as a polystyrene dissolving agent as a terpene composition together with a surfactant and other additives. If the terpene is used alone and no surfactant is used, the polystyrene will dissolve in the dissolving agent,
Maintain a homogeneous solution. On the other hand, when a surfactant is blended, the solution in which polystyrene is dissolved is allowed to stand, so that it is clearly separated into two layers, a layer of polystyrene solution with high polystyrene concentration and a layer of solvent with low polystyrene concentration. Since it is easy to do, it is preferable to add a surfactant. The content of terpene in the terpene composition is 100-
The content of the surfactant is 50% by weight, preferably 90 to 70% by weight, and the content of the surfactant is 0 to 50% by weight, preferably 10 to 30% by weight.

The surfactant used in the present invention may be one which can separate a dissolving agent in which polystyrene is dissolved into a layer of a polystyrene dissolving solution having a high polystyrene concentration and a layer of a dissolving agent having a low polystyrene concentration, for example, a linear chain. Alkylbenzene sulfonates, linear or branched alcohol ethoxylates, linear or branched alcohol ethoxysulfates, alkyl succinates, dialkyl succinates, fatty acid ethanolamides,
Alternatively, ethoxylated alkylphenols containing 5 to 20 ethylene oxide units may be mentioned. Specific examples thereof include sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate, polyethoxynonylphenol, coconut fatty acid ethanolamide and sodium alkyl sulfate ester. The surfactant may be used alone or in combination of two or more.

In addition to the above components, the solubilizer of the present invention may contain other components such as diethanolamine within a range not impairing the object of the present invention. The dissolving agent of the present invention is 1
At 0 to 80 ° C, at least about 70 parts by weight of polystyrene can be dissolved in 100 parts by weight of the solubilizer.

In the method for treating polystyrene of the present invention, a waste polystyrene material is brought into contact with the polystyrene dissolving agent to dissolve the polystyrene dissolving agent, and the polystyrene dissolving agent is separated from the polystyrene dissolving solution by distillation or the like. When a surfactant is added to the dissolving agent, when the polystyrene and the dissolving agent are separated from the polystyrene dissolving solution, the solution in which polystyrene having a high polystyrene concentration is dissolved by standing and the phase is separated into the dissolving agent having a low polystyrene concentration, A method of distilling a polystyrene solution having a high polystyrene concentration to separate polystyrene and a dissolving agent is preferable.

The contact temperature is 10 to 80 ° C., preferably 20.
It is desirable to set the temperature to -40C. The amount of polystyrene dissolved is 95 to 50 parts by weight, preferably 90 to 70 parts by weight, and 5 to 50 parts by weight, preferably 10 to 30 parts by weight (total 100 parts by weight) with respect to 90 to 70 parts by weight. Is preferable, and it is particularly preferable to use 10 parts by weight of polystyrene for 90 parts by weight of the dissolving agent. As the polystyrene dissolution amount increases, the viscosity of the dissolution liquid increases and the gel becomes gelled. Therefore, the above dissolution amount is preferable.

When a solubilizer containing a surfactant is used as the solubilizer, the surfactant is separated by a method such as adding water to the polystyrene solution prior to distillation and moving the surfactant to the aqueous phase. After that, the polystyrene solution is preferably distilled. Of course, distillation may be performed without separating the surfactant in advance, and the surfactant may be separated by washing with water after the distillation. The recovered polystyrene can be reused as a raw material for foamed or non-foamed molded products, and also as a raw material for miscellaneous products, volatile oil, tar and the like.

The dissolving device constituting the polystyrene treating apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus for bringing polystyrene into contact with a dissolving agent to dissolve the polystyrene. The melting device preferably has a structure capable of sealing the inside of the melting device. The distillation apparatus constituting the polystyrene treating apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus for distilling a polystyrene solution in which polystyrene is dissolved to separate the polystyrene and the dissolving agent. The separation device constituting the polystyrene treating apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus for separating the surfactant from the polystyrene solution, and can be omitted when the surfactant is not contained. Further, in the polystyrene treatment apparatus of the present invention, when the polystyrene that has a small specific gravity such as expanded polystyrene and floats in the dissolving agent is dissolved, a pushing device for pushing the polystyrene into the dissolving agent of the dissolving device and immersing it is provided. preferable.

[0015]

The present invention will now be described with reference to the embodiments of the drawings.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are system diagrams showing a polystyrene treating apparatus of an example. FIG. 1 shows a dissolved state and FIG. 2 shows a separated state. In the figure, the polystyrene treatment device is a dissolving device 1,
It is composed of a separation device 2 and a distillation device 3.

The dissolving device 1 is constructed so that the dissolving agent 20 and polystyrene 30 are introduced into and brought into contact with each other to dissolve the polystyrene 30, and a heater 4 is provided at the bottom, a viewing window 5 is provided on the side surface, and opening / closing is possible at the top. A lid 6 is provided.
A pushing device 7 is provided above the melting device 1, and the pushing tool 1 is provided at the tip of the rod 9 of the fluid pressure cylinder 8.
0, polystyrene (particularly expanded polystyrene) 30 is pushed into the dissolving agent 20 and dissolved.

From the upper part and the middle part of the melting device 1, the flow path 1 is formed.
1 and 12 communicate with the separation device 2, and a flow path 13 communicates with the bottom from the outside of the system, and valves 14, 15, 16 respectively.
Is provided.

The separating device 2 brings the polystyrene solution taken out from the channel 11 or 12 into contact with the washing water introduced from the channel 21 to separate the surfactant, and the washing drainage from the channel 22. It is configured to discharge. If the polystyrene solution does not contain a surfactant, this separator 2 can be omitted.

The distillation apparatus 3 heats the polystyrene solution, from which the surfactant introduced from the flow path 23 is separated, by means of the heater 24 to distill it, and guides the terpene vapor from the flow path 25 to the condenser 26 for condensation. , So as to flow out from the flow path 27. 28 is a polystyrene take-out path.

In order to recover polystyrene by treating polystyrene, for example, expanded polystyrene with such a polystyrene treating apparatus, the following is carried out. Figure 1
As shown in, the valve 16 is opened with the valves 14 and 15 closed, the dissolving agent 20 is supplied from the flow path 13 into the dissolving apparatus 1, and heated by the heater 4. Next, the polystyrene 30 is put into the dissolution apparatus 1 and brought into contact with the dissolution agent 20,
Dissolve.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, the fluid pressure cylinder 8 of the pushing device 7 is driven to lower the pushing tool 10, whereby the polystyrene 30 having a small specific gravity is pushed and immersed in the dissolving agent 20. As described above, the amount of polystyrene added is 10 parts by weight of polystyrene based on 90 parts by weight of the dissolving agent.
Most preferably, it is part by weight. By setting the temperature of the dissolving agent 20 to 10 to 80 ° C. as described above, polystyrene is dissolved in a short time.

When dissolution is completed, the push-in tool 10 is pulled up, and when it is left still for a while while being sealed with the lid 6, a polystyrene solution 20a having a high polystyrene concentration is obtained as shown in FIG.
And a layer of the solubilizer 20b having a low polystyrene concentration are separated. Usually, in about 24 hours, the upper layer is completely separated into two layers of the polystyrene solution 20a and the lower layer is the layer of the dissolving agent 20b. The separation can be visually confirmed from the viewing window 5. If the surfactant is not added to the dissolving agent, layer separation does not occur, so the dissolving liquid is sent to the distillation apparatus 3 as it is for distillation.

With the two layers separated as described above, the valve 15 of the flow path 12 on the upper layer side immediately adjacent to the interface between the upper layer and the lower layer is opened, and the polystyrene solution 20a is taken out by its own weight. In addition to this, a method by suction, a method in which the valves 14 and 16 are opened, and the dissolving agent 2 is newly added from the flow path 13 is used.
For example, a method of injecting 0 and causing the polystyrene solution 20a to flow out from the channel 11 and take it out can be adopted. The dissolving agent 20b remaining in the dissolving apparatus 1 can be reused as it is, or by supplying a new dissolving agent 20 and reusing it in the next dissolving.

The polystyrene solution 20a having a high polystyrene concentration that was taken out was introduced into the separation device 2, and the washing water was introduced from the flow path 21 and mixed well, and then allowed to stand to separate the aqueous surfactant solution and the surfactant. Separated from the separated polystyrene solution, the aqueous surfactant solution is taken out from the flow path 22. This operation is repeated several times to separate the surfactant. If a solubilizer containing no surfactant is used, this separation operation can be omitted. The extracted aqueous surfactant solution can be reused as a raw material for the solubilizer by separating and recovering water by a method such as distillation.

The polystyrene dissolved solution from which the surfactant has been separated is introduced into the distillation apparatus 3 through the flow path 23, and the polystyrene and the dissolving agent (terpene) are separated by distillation. By the distillation, the terpene and other solvents become vapor, which is condensed in the condenser 26 and recovered from the flow path 27. The recovered dissolution agent containing terpene can be reused for the dissolution of polystyrene. At this time, a surfactant that has been separately recovered is mixed to prepare a new dissolving agent.

Polystyrene is concentrated in the distillation apparatus 3 and is collected from the polystyrene outlet 28. The distillation can be performed using the polystyrene solution as it is, but can also be performed by adding water or other solvent. The polystyrene taken out is obtained in the form of a lump, a mud, a powder or the like depending on the distillation method or the like. The polystyrene thus recovered is regenerated and reused as a high-purity polystyrene raw material. At this time, the remaining surfactant and the like can be further separated for purification.

The above-mentioned polystyrene treatment has been described in the case of a treatment device having one dissolving device, but a plurality of dissolving treatments can be carried out in parallel by a treating device having a plurality of dissolving devices. Also, when recovering polystyrene from unfoamed polystyrene, it can be carried out in the same manner as above, but if the immersion can be sufficiently carried out only by putting it in the dissolving agent due to the shape of the unfoamed polystyrene, pushing The device and pushing operation can be omitted.

Test Example 1 When 100 g of expanded polystyrene was added to 1000 g of d-limonene and heated to 30 ° C., the expanded polystyrene was completely dissolved in about 10 minutes, and a d-limonene solution of polystyrene was obtained. Then, when this polystyrene solution was distilled, d-limonene was recovered by evaporation and condensation, and polystyrene was recovered in a concentrated state. Test Example 2 Polystyrene was recovered by the polystyrene processing apparatus shown in FIG. As the solubilizer, an agent containing 85% by weight of d-limonene, 13% by weight of a mixed surfactant of coconut fatty acid ethanolamide and sodium alkylsulfate, and 2% by weight of deethanoramine was used.

1000 g of the above-mentioned dissolving agent and 100 g of polystyrene were placed in the dissolving apparatus 1 and dissolved at 20 ° C. When it was left standing overnight as it was, it was separated into two layers of a polystyrene solution 20a having a high polystyrene concentration and a solvent 20b having a low polystyrene concentration. Of these, the polystyrene solution 20a was introduced into the separator 2 and washed three times with washing water to separate the mixed surfactant. When the polystyrene solution from which the surfactant had been separated was distilled using the distillation apparatus 3, d
Limonene was recovered by evaporation and condensation, polystyrene was recovered in concentrated form.

[0030]

The polystyrene solubilizer of the present invention contains terpene as a component of the solubilizer, and therefore has excellent polystyrene solubility, is harmless, and does not cause environmental pollution. When this dissolving agent contains a surfactant, the separability between the polystyrene dissolving liquid layer having a high polystyrene concentration and the dissolving agent layer having a low polystyrene concentration becomes high.

Further, in the method for treating polystyrene of the present invention, since the above-mentioned dissolving agent is used, the polystyrene can be treated efficiently, safely and without causing environmental pollution.

Further, the polystyrene treating apparatus of the present invention can treat polystyrene efficiently, safely and without causing environmental pollution.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a polystyrene processing apparatus of an example, showing a dissolved state of polystyrene.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram showing a polystyrene treatment apparatus of Example, in which a polystyrene solution having a high polystyrene concentration and
It shows a state in which the solvent is separated into a dissolving agent having a low polystyrene concentration.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dissolution device 2 Separation device 3 Distillation device 4, 24 Heater 5 Peep window 6 Lid 7 Pushing device 8 Fluid pressure cylinder 9 Rod 10 Pushing tool 11, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27 Flow path 14, 15, 16 Valve 20 Solvent 20a Polystyrene solution with high polystyrene concentration 20b Solvent with low polystyrene concentration 26 Condenser 28 Polystyrene extraction path 30 Polystyrene

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A dissolving agent for polystyrene, characterized in that it contains a terpene. 2. A polystyrene solubilizer containing a terpene and a surfactant. 3. The polystyrene dissolving agent according to claim 1, wherein the terpene is d-limonene, l-limonene or dipentene. 4. The surfactant is a linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, a linear or branched alcohol ethoxylate, a linear or branched alcohol ethoxysulfate, an alkyl succinate, a dialkyl succinate, a fatty acid ethanolamide, or The polystyrene solubilizer according to claim 2 or 3, which is an ethoxylated alkylphenol. 5. A method for treating polystyrene, which comprises dissolving polystyrene by contacting it with a terpene-containing dissolving agent, and separating the polystyrene and the dissolving agent from the polystyrene solution. 6. Polystyrene is dissolved by contacting with a dissolving agent containing a terpene and a surfactant, and the solution in which polystyrene is dissolved is formed into a layer of a polystyrene dissolving solution having a high polystyrene concentration and a layer of a dissolving agent having a low polystyrene concentration. A method for treating polystyrene, characterized in that the polystyrene and the solubilizer are separated from the polystyrene solution after the separation. 7. A dissolution apparatus for dissolving polystyrene by contacting with a dissolution agent containing a terpene, and a distillation apparatus for distilling a polystyrene solution in which polystyrene is dissolved in the dissolution apparatus are provided. Polystyrene processing equipment. 8. A dissolving device that dissolves polystyrene by contacting with a dissolving agent containing a terpene and a surfactant, and a separating device that separates the surfactant from the polystyrene dissolving solution in which polystyrene is dissolved in the dissolving device, A processing apparatus for polystyrene, comprising: a distillation device for distilling a polystyrene solution from which a surfactant has been separated to separate the polystyrene and the solution.