JP2001120415A - Naturally degradable chopstick - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide chopsticks easily molded as chopsticks to be biodegraded or naturally degraded left in nature after having been used as chopsticks, excellently preservable and adaptable for mass production. SOLUTION: A chopstick material W is molder of a biodegradable material. A coating solution produced by dissolving ethyl cellulose in ethanol is sprayed on the surface of the tableware material W using a spray nozzle to form a coating layer 2 with a prescribed thickness on the surface of the chopstick material W.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to naturally degradable chopsticks, and more particularly, to a chopsticks molded from a biodegradable material and having a material surface coated with a biodegradable or naturally degradable material. The present invention relates to biodegradable or naturally degradable chopsticks, and is also applicable to forks, spoons, knives and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional chopsticks, forks, spoons, knives and the like of this kind are known to be formed of bamboo or wood. In particular, disposable chopsticks made of wood are discarded once used. In addition, if other chopsticks are discarded in the natural world after use, if the discarded chopsticks are left in the natural world, they will be naturally decomposed by water or heat in the natural world. It must take several years for the natural decomposition to take place. Therefore, various kinds of dust problems may occur before the natural decomposition.

[0003] Therefore, it is conceivable that chopsticks are formed by, for example, charging cereal granules or cereal powder into a mold and subjecting them to high pressure and high heat treatment.

[0004] Since such chopsticks have the property of decomposing naturally, even if they are discarded in the natural world and left alone,
The problem that the chopsticks biodegrade or spontaneously decompose at an early stage and remain in the natural world as garbage is solved. However, when the chopsticks are poured with hot water of about 100 ° C.,
Melting starts at the quantile, and the chopsticks can no longer function.

[0005] Therefore, it is necessary to solve the problem by obtaining chopsticks formed of a biodegradable substance, which have an appropriate strength and which do not dissolve early even when hot water is poured. A technical problem arises, and an object of the present invention is to solve the problem.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been proposed in order to achieve the above object, and is a material for chopsticks formed of a biodegradable substance.
A coating solution produced by dissolving ethyl cellulose in ethanol is sprayed using a spray nozzle, and a spontaneously degradable chopsticks having a predetermined thickness of a coating layer formed on the surface of the material, and a chopstick material formed of a biodegradable material And a cellulose acetate (cellulose) on the surface of the material.
ose acetat) and propionic acid (propionic ac)
id) is sprayed using a spray nozzle to form a naturally decomposable chopsticks having a coating layer of a predetermined thickness formed on the surface of the material, and chopsticks formed of a biodegradable material, A coating solution formed by dissolving ethylcellulose, cellulose acetat and propionic acid in ethanol is sprayed on the surface of the material using a spray nozzle to form a coating layer having a predetermined thickness on the surface of the material. It is intended to provide naturally degradable chopsticks.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes chopsticks of the present invention. The chopsticks 1 include a chopstick 1a, a fork 1b, a knife 1c, a spoon 1d, and the like. However, the chopsticks 1 should not be limited to this.

The chopsticks 1 are, as in the prior art, prepared by throwing, for example, threshed cereal granules or powder into a chopstick mold, and coating the surface of a chopstick material W formed under a high-pressure and high-temperature atmosphere with a coating described later. Become. However, the chopsticks 1 are not limited to these, and include all those that are decomposed by microorganisms, water, and the like when the chopsticks are left in nature after use.

However, the chopsticks material W formed from the above-mentioned material is weak to hot water and deteriorates quickly, so that it cannot be put to practical use in ordinary use as chopsticks. Then, the invention of claim 1 sprays a coating solution produced by dissolving ethyl cellulose in ethanol onto the surface of the chopstick material W using a spray nozzle, and
By completely drying, the chopsticks 1 according to the first aspect of the present invention is completed.

[0010] Thus, the ethyl cellulose is 60% to
After dissolving 1-2% by volume in 100% ethanol, homogenize to produce the coating solution. The coating solution is sprayed onto the surface of the chopstick material W by using hot air heated to 60 ° C. or higher by a spraying system including a nozzle, a compressor, and the like. And 6
After completely dried in a high temperature atmosphere of 0 ° C. or more, the particle size of ethyl cellulose is about 5 μm on the surface of the chopstick material W.
A coating layer 2 of less than μ is formed. The coating layer 2 made of ethylcellulose is uniformly diffused on the surface of the chopstick material W to form a transparent body. Thus, the surface of the chopsticks material W does not cause crystallization of ethyl cellulose due to the complete drying, and therefore, even if the coating layer 2 has a thickness of about 5 μ, the chopsticks 1 are appropriate. This means that the strength has been given.

Since the chopsticks material W itself is weak to heat and has water permeability or water absorption as in the conventional example,
In some cases, moisture or the like of food may enter the chopsticks material W and deteriorate the quality. However, since the surface of the chopsticks material W is protected by the coating layer 2, it is coated with the coating agent. Chopsticks 1 are not easily dissolved even if immersed in boiling water for more than 30 minutes. Therefore, it is natural that the chopsticks 1 can be practically used in a normal use state.

It should be noted that the coating agent formed by dissolving the ethylcellulose in ethanol has a temperature of 60 ° C.
If it is not sprayed under the above atmosphere, it is not possible to spray uniformly on the surface of the chopsticks material W, so that not only a transparent film cannot be formed, but also a coating is uneven and white portions are scattered. Become. Therefore, the white portion is extremely fragile, so that the strength as a coating agent cannot be sufficiently maintained, and thus the chopsticks 1 cannot be put to practical use. For this reason, the coating agent is sprayed onto the surface of the chopstick material W using high-temperature compressed air of 60 ° C. or more, and is completely dried to obtain a finished product.

Furthermore, since the coated chopsticks 1 are water-resistant to cold water and do not deteriorate for more than one year, the chopsticks 1 can be mass-produced for a long time. It is also possible to save with.

Ethyl cellulose as the coating agent is well decomposed by microorganisms, is harmless to the human body, and is easily digested. After the chopsticks 1 are used as the chopsticks 1, the coating agent made of ethyl cellulose is peeled off from the chopsticks raw material W and then dissolved in ethanol again, so that the chopsticks 1 can be reused.

Next, the second and third aspects of the invention will be described. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the mixture of cellulose acetate and propionic acid is sprayed onto the surface of the chopstick material W by using a hot air heated to 60 ° C. or higher by a spray system including a spray nozzle, a compressor, and the like. I do. Then, the mixture is completely dried in a high-temperature atmosphere of 60 ° C. or more to form a coating layer 2 having a particle size of less than about 5 μ on the surface of the chopstick material W. Thus, the invention according to claim 2 can provide substantially the same operation and effect as the invention according to claim 1.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the coating solution produced by dissolving ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate and propionic acid in ethanol on the surface of the chopstick material W is heated to 60 ° C. or higher by the spray system. Inject using hot air
Further, the coating material 2 is completely dried in a high-temperature atmosphere of 60 ° C. or more to form a coating layer 2 having a particle size of less than about 5 μ on the surface of the chopstick material W. Thus, substantially the same effects as those of the first or second aspect of the invention can be obtained. However, the coating layer 2 according to the second and third aspects of the present invention can form either a transparent body or an opaque body by adjusting the temperature.
It shall be arbitrarily selected as needed.

The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and it goes without saying that the present invention extends to the modified ones.

[0018]

According to the present invention, as described in detail in the above embodiment, the coating solution according to claim 1, 2 or 3 is sprayed onto the surface of a chopstick material formed of a biodegradable substance. Since the chopsticks are coated to a predetermined thickness, it is natural that the chopsticks themselves can be sufficiently used as ordinary chopsticks, and the coating maintains the strength of the chopsticks and is suitable for long-term storage. This improves productivity and contributes to cost reduction.

Furthermore, even if the chopsticks of the present invention are left in the natural world after use, they are naturally decomposed by microorganisms, water, and the like, and are therefore subject to the pollution that they remain as garbage for a long period of time. This is an invention that can be used to solve various problems such as solving the problem.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a perspective view of chopsticks.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 chopsticks 1a chopsticks 1b fork 1c knife 1d spoon 2 coating layer W chopsticks material

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3B115 AA02 AA03 BA02 BA06 BA10 BA12 DA15 4F006 AA00 AB03 AB55 AB64 BA02 BA03 BA04 CA00 DA00 EA05

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A material for chopsticks molded from a biodegradable substance, wherein a coating solution produced by dissolving ethyl cellulose in ethanol is sprayed onto the surface of the material using a spray nozzle to form a coating having a predetermined thickness. Naturally degradable chopsticks, wherein a layer is formed on the surface of the material. 2. A chopstick material formed of a biodegradable material, wherein the surface of the material is cellulose acetat and propionic acid.
ionic acid) using a spray nozzle.
Naturally degradable chopsticks, wherein a coating layer having a predetermined thickness is formed on the surface of the material. 3. A material for chopsticks formed from a biodegradable substance, wherein the coating is formed by dissolving ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetat and propionic acid in ethanol on the surface of the material. Spontaneously degradable chopsticks, wherein a solution is sprayed using a spray nozzle to form a coating layer having a predetermined thickness on the surface of the material.