JP2001096268A - Method and device for solidification treating photographic waste solution - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of solidification treating waste solutions, by which the problems in the waste solution treatment, which problems are related to mini-laboratories and are such that the waste solution is difficult to handle, or the like, can be solved, and to provide a treating device. SOLUTION: The method of solidification treating a photographic waste solution is characterized in that a paper material is added and diffused into the photographic waste solution and then the paper material is utilized as a solidifying and bonding material of the photographic waste solution when the photographic waste solution is concentrated to solid by evaporation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for solidifying a photographic waste liquid produced by evaporating and concentrating a photographic waste liquid resulting from photographic processing and then solidifying and discarding the waste liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Waste liquid for photographic processing (hereinafter simply referred to as waste liquid)
Since it contains harmful components, it is not preferable to dispose it in the sewer even if diluted, and it is necessary to collect and treat it harmlessly. When photographic processing is performed in a large-scale facility called a so-called laboratory, the processing can be performed relatively easily by arranging waste liquid processing facilities in parallel.
However, it has become popular to provide DPE services by arranging small automatic developing machines and printers called so-called minilabs in small stores in the city. In such a case, how to treat waste liquid is a problem. Has become.

Hitherto, as a method of treating a photographic waste liquid in a minilab, photographic waste liquid has been concentrated by evaporation or evaporated to dryness, or solidified with a solid agent, and various new proposals have been made.

A technique for evaporating and concentrating a photographic processing waste liquid is described in, for example, JP-A-63-319097 and JP-A-64-79.
Nos. 86 and 64-63093, JP-A-3-18975
No. 3-18976, No. 4-35800, No. 4-
Nos. 45886 and 4-45887.

Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-201442
Discloses that a concentrated solution of photographic processing waste liquid is absorbed by an absorbent resin or a solidifying agent.

Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
No. 0 discloses a viscosity of a concentrated liquid obtained by feeding a processing liquid prepared from a solid processing agent containing an organic solvent (eg, polyethylene glycol) into a waste liquid to be processed and performing concentration by a distillation method. There is disclosed a technique for reducing the size of the sheet and facilitating the handling.

The use of a heat pump for concentration by evaporation under reduced pressure is disclosed in JP-A-3-288587 and JP-A-3-288587.
4085 and 4-11984.

[0008]

There is a problem to be solved when processing a photographic waste liquid in a mini lab. The problem is, for example, simplicity or easiness of processing, low processing cost, downsizing of equipment, and the like. The simplicity or easiness of the treatment means that no special skill is required, no complicated work is required, and no odor is generated or the surroundings are not contaminated by the waste liquid treatment. Yes, low processing cost means that equipment can be provided at low cost, running cost is low, and miniaturization of equipment means that stores where minilabs are arranged are relatively narrow. Saving space for waste liquid treatment, which is often not directly profitable, is to be avoided.

The above-mentioned prior art is mainly concerned with solving various problems associated with waste liquid treatment in such a minilab. For example, if the water is completely evaporated by the evaporation to dryness method, solidification can be achieved by drying.However, after drying, how to discharge and dispose of the dried matter, including mechanical problems, Handling is a problem.

In the vacuum evaporation concentration method using a heat pump, the slurry can be concentrated to about 10 times to obtain a slurry state in which a solid and a liquid coexist. Conventionally, this is stored in a closed container with a cap and collected. I went there, but because it contains liquid content, it overflows on the floor when storing, moves,
During the transfer, the cap sometimes became leaky due to loosening of the cap.

An object of the present invention is to clarify a method and an apparatus for solidifying waste liquid which have solved the problem of waste liquid treatment relating to such minilabs and the like.

[0012]

The method for solidifying waste liquid according to the present invention has the following arrangement. 1. A method for solidifying a photographic waste liquid, comprising adding a paper material to the photographic waste liquid to disperse the photographic waste liquid and solidifying the photographic waste liquid when the photographic waste liquid is solidified by evaporation. 2. A solidification process for photographic waste liquid characterized by adding paper material to the photographic waste liquid before or during evaporation concentration and stirring, and evaporating and concentrating the photographic waste liquid in which the paper material is in a dispersed state by evaporation. Method. 3. 3. The method for solidifying photographic waste liquid according to claim 1, wherein the amount of the solidified binder added is 1/5000 to 1/20 by weight relative to the photographic waste liquid. 4. A method for solidifying photographic waste liquid, comprising adding carbon to the waste liquid when solidifying the photographic waste liquid.

The waste liquid solidifying apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration. 5. A means for guiding and supplying photographic waste liquid discharged from the automatic developing machine into the apparatus, a means for temporarily storing the guided and supplied waste liquid, a means for adding paper to the stored waste liquid, a waste liquid with paper added , A means for evaporating and concentrating the stirred waste liquid while conveying it to solidify it in a jelly or konjac form, a means for forming the solidified waste liquid in a beret shape or a small piece, the pellets or small pieces Means for storing a solidified waste liquid in a container in a container. 6. An apparatus for solidifying photographic waste liquid, comprising means for supplying carbon to the waste liquid to be solidified.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The waste liquid to be processed is stored in an automatic developing machine (not shown) or in a waste liquid stock tank 10 provided in a gantry of the automatic developing machine and taken out to the outside.
It is set in the waste liquid solidification processing device 20 according to the present invention.
In the present invention, only the waste liquid is introduced into the guide tube 20 while the waste liquid stock tank 10 is set in the automatic developing machine or on the gantry.
2, and a mode in which the waste liquid solidification processing apparatus 20 according to the present invention is incorporated in an automatic developing machine or a gantry.

The waste liquid discharged from the processing tank of the automatic developing machine is stored in a waste liquid stock tank 10 and is operated by a pump 201 through guide pipes 202 and 203 to a hopper 205 of a mixer 204 (an overflow type as shown in the figure). Are preferable.). Hopper 20
In 5, the additive is added by the additive supply means 206, and the mixture is stirred and mixed by the stirring means 207.

When an overflow type hopper is used as the hopper 205, there is an advantage that the dispersion state of the solidified binder such as paper becomes uniform. This overflow liquid may be returned to the waste liquid stock tank 10, or may be separately stored and returned to the hopper 205, or the overflow liquid may be dropped on the upper surface of the drying belt 208 (in this case, The release by the operation of the illustrated valve is omitted.)

The waste liquid, which has been stirred and mixed with the additive, is released by operating the valve of the mixer 204 and is dropped on the upper surface of the drying belt 208. As the drying belt 208 travels, the additive mixed waste liquid is heated by the heater 209 and blown by the fan 210 to evaporate moisture, and is gradually solidified. Here, the solidification is different from the solidification in which water content is almost zero, and is a jelly-like to konjac-like material, and even a hardened material is a clay-like material having plasticity by hand, and the contained water oozes out. Means something that is not. The solidified waste liquid is scraped off from the surface of the drying belt 208 by the scraper 211, and collected in the collection bag 2.
12.

In the scraping by the scraper 211, it is preferable that the solidified waste liquid is formed in pellets or small particles, not in large lumps. For this purpose, it is necessary to devise, for example, the shape of the tip of the scraper 211 or the angle at which the tip of the scraper 211 contacts the drying belt 208. When the solidified waste liquid is scraped off from the drying belt 208 and deformed at a large angle in a direction away from the belt, the solidified waste liquid is broken into small pieces, and in the opposite case, becomes a large aggregate. In addition, by providing a plurality of vertical blades at the tip of the scraper 211 in the vertical direction (at an angle of about 90 degrees with the tip blade), the scraped solidified waste liquid can be cut into an arbitrary width.

The meaning of the solidification of the waste liquid is as described above. Here, a description will be given of what configuration the present invention employs to solidify the waste liquid.

Evaporation concentration or drying is not carried out only by heating by the heater 209 during the conveyance of the waste liquid by the drying belt 208 or by air blowing by the fan 210. Prior to the evaporation treatment, a solidified binder is used as an additive. Is a feature of the present invention.

The solidified binder (additive) that can be used is firstly paper, especially recycled paper. As the additive, for example, one that dissolves and disperses in a fibrous form when added to water or waste liquid, such as toilet paper, is preferable.
As the recycled paper, not only those formed in a thin leaf shape like toilet paper, but also those in a pellet shape or a nodule shape are used. In the former mode, it can be supplied by being hung in the hopper 205 little by little as shown in the figure, but in the latter mode, the agglomerate is broken down by the stirring of the stirring means 207 and easily dispersed. It is preferable to use water (preferably using a waste liquid to be treated) which has been softened in advance before being charged into the hopper 205. Paper that can be used as a solidifying binder includes paper cut by a shredder. Such a paper is difficult to use as a general recycled paper because a large number of papers are mixed, but can be used without any problem as the solidified binder in the present invention. In this case, it is preferable to perform a water immersion treatment before putting into the hopper 205. Further, it is more preferable to use the waste liquid for performing the immersion treatment.

The added amount of the solidified binder is 1/5000 to 1/20 by weight relative to the waste liquid. Weight ratio is 1/5
If it is less than 000, it is difficult to solidify the waste liquid according to the present invention, and if the amount exceeds 1/20, stirring and mixing may be hindered, and the amount of the solidified waste liquid after the waste liquid treatment is more than necessary. It is not preferable because it increases.

As described above, the solidified waste liquid scraped off by the scraper 211 is a pellet-like or small-grain solid in a jelly-like to konjac-like state.
It can be easily put into the bag, and when it is full, you only need to tie the top of the bag or seal it with heat seal etc.
Unlike the conventional method, it is very easy to handle because it does not cause liquid leakage when collecting in a collection bag or container, or when moving or transferring the collected bag or container, and contaminates the surroundings of the device. There are advantages.

The solidified waste liquid stored in the collection bag 212 is transported to an appropriate facility such as a mine, where it is subjected to a process such as silver recovery (for example, put into a blast furnace for mineral resources such as ore) or incinerated. You.

At the time of incineration, the incineration temperature becomes a problem. It is widely known that when the incineration temperature is low, the harmful components are not decomposed or the harmful components are synthesized, as a problem of dioxin emission from incineration facilities. In the present invention, as a measure to increase the incineration temperature,
Inclusion of carbon with the solidified binder. Usable carbon includes carbon used as a toner in an electrostatic copying machine or a printer (preferably, carbon recovered from equipment), as well as ordinary carbon powder. As the coal powder, it is preferable to use one obtained by disposing of waste materials and the like by dry distillation. The carbon supply means may be provided near the additive supply means 20 as the additive supply means, or may be mixed with a solidified binder (additive) and supplied by the additive supply means 20. Is also good.

By mixing carbon in the waste liquid to be solidified, the combustion temperature in the furnace during incineration can be increased, and the emission of harmful components from the incinerator can be reduced. It is possible. Since the purpose of mixing charcoal powder is to increase the combustion temperature in the furnace during incineration, the adsorptivity of harmful components as in activated carbon does not have to be a problem. In the present invention, carbon is used to increase the combustion temperature at the time of incineration, and if carbon is the main component, known carbon such as the so-called high-temperature incineration main component is subject to special restrictions. Can be mentioned without.

In the description of the present invention, the configuration of the evaporation and solidification of heating by the heater 209 and the blowing by the fan 210 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. The concentration means can be appropriately designed and changed.

As the waste liquid to be processed in the present invention, a photographic processing agent containing substantially sodium thiosulfate as a main component as a fixing agent is most preferable. Such waste liquid is problematic in that it causes pollution due to high-temperature heating. However, according to the present invention, evaporation and concentration can be performed while suppressing generation of odor.

Each of the inventions according to claims 1 to 6 of the present invention is suitable for photographic waste liquid, but is also applicable to all kinds of waste liquid treatment such as so-called factory waste liquid.

[0031]

According to the method and apparatus for solidifying waste liquid according to the present invention, the waste liquid can be recovered as jelly-like or konjac-like pellets or small pieces, so that the handling is extremely difficult as compared with the conventional method. The above-mentioned problem is solved easily.

Further, according to the present invention, in addition to using paper as a binder for solidifying waste liquid, according to the invention in which carbon is added to waste liquid, the solidified waste liquid is incinerated in a furnace when incinerated. It is effective in raising the combustion temperature and preventing harmful components from being discharged outside the furnace.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a waste liquid treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10-Waste liquid stock tank 20-Waste liquid solidification treatment device 201-Pump 202-Guide tube 203-Guide tube 204-Mixer 205-Hopper 206-Adding material supply means 207-Stirring means 208-Drying belt 209-Heater 210 -Fan 211-Scraper 212-Container (collection bag)

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) When photographic waste liquid is solidified by evaporation and concentration,
A method for solidifying photographic waste liquid, wherein a paper material is added to and dispersed in the photographic waste liquid and used as a binder for solidifying the photographic waste liquid. 2. A photograph characterized in that a paper material is added to a photographic waste liquid before or during evaporative concentration and agitated, and the photographic waste liquid in which the paper material is dispersed is evaporated and solidified. Waste liquid solidification method. 3. The solidification treatment of photographic waste liquid according to claim 1, wherein the amount of the solidified binder added is 1/5000 to 1/20 by weight relative to the photographic waste liquid. Method. 4. A method for solidifying photographic waste liquid, comprising adding carbon to the waste liquid when solidifying the photographic waste liquid. 5. A means for guiding and supplying a photographic waste liquid discharged from an automatic developing machine into an apparatus, a means for temporarily storing the waste liquid guided and supplied, a means for adding a paper material to the stored waste liquid, a paper material A means for stirring the waste liquid to which is added, a means for evaporating and concentrating the stirred waste liquid while transporting it to solidify into a jelly or konjac form, a means for forming the solidified waste liquid into a beret-like or small piece- Means for accommodating the solidified waste liquid in the form of pellets or small pieces in a container. 6. An apparatus for solidifying photographic waste liquid, comprising means for supplying carbon to the waste liquid to be solidified.