JP2001142180A - Waste photographic processing liquid treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a waste photographic processing liquid treating device which divides the concentrating process of a waste photographic processing liquid to two steps and can recover the waste photographic processing liquid as a solid free of concentration unevenness, and to provide the waste photographic processing liquid treating device which divides the concentrating process of the waste photographic processing liquid to three steps and solidifies a small volume of the waste liquid of about 1 to 20 liters/day suitable for a mini- laboratory, etc. SOLUTION: The waste photographic processing liquid is evaporated and concentrated to the concentrated waste photographic processing liquid decreased in its volume to <=1/3 within a range where its flow property is not lost. The waste photographic processing liquid is then diffused in a laminated form of <=5 mm in thickness and is further evaporated and concentrated to slid. After the waste photographic processing liquid is evaporated and concentrated to the concentrated waste photographic processing liquid, the waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated to the concentrated waste photographic processing liquid exhibiting a slurry-like form and is further concentrated and solidified to solid not containing liquid-components.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus for processing photographic waste liquid, and an automatic developing machine for developing a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material, which is generated during the development processing of a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material. The present invention relates to a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus disposed inside or near an automatic developing machine to concentrate photographic waste liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus for processing photographic waste liquid, an evaporating section for evaporating the photographic waste liquid, a condensing section for liquefying the evaporated vapor to obtain a condensed liquid, the evaporating section and the condensing section And a heat pump type waste liquid evaporating and concentrating apparatus that heats the evaporating unit and cools the condensing unit using a heat pump circuit to condense photographic waste liquid. It has been known. Alternatively, the photographic waste liquid is diffused over a large area at normal pressure,
An atmospheric pressure low temperature type waste liquid evaporating and concentrating apparatus for evaporating and concentrating at low temperature is also known.

Further, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-201442, there is known a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus in which a concentrated liquid obtained by heating and evaporating photographic waste liquid is absorbed by a carrier and solidified. ing. As a method of solidifying, a method of adding a solidifying agent to a concentrated solution, a drum dryer method, and the like are generally known.

[0004]

In recent years, minilabs for automatically processing silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials have become remarkably widespread, and photographic development processing using minilabs has been widely performed in small-scale photo shops in the market. Have been done.

[0005] The photographic waste liquid generated therefrom contains various pollutants and cannot be discharged to sewage or the like as it is.
In order to concentrate or solidify the generated photographic waste liquid, and to facilitate collection and processing by a collection company, a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus is required.

On the other hand, the waste liquid evaporating and concentrating apparatus using the above-described reduced pressure type heat pump circuit has been remarkably developed in recent years, and is capable of efficiently evaporating and condensing photographic waste liquid with less energy than the amount of waste liquid. It is widely used in large-scale photographic development laboratories and the like that require waste liquid processing capacity (for example, 2 liters / hour or more).

However, a waste liquid evaporating and concentrating apparatus using a reduced pressure heat pump circuit has a complicated structure and requires a large and expensive heat exchanger. Processing capacity (for example, 0.2 to
Even if it is desired to reduce the size to about 0.5 liter / hour), the structure requires the same number of parts and scale as in the case of a high-capacity device. However, there is a problem that cost reduction is difficult.

Also, due to its structure, the system is unsuitable for evaporating and solidifying all of the evaporating components in the photographic waste liquid. The system is to be taken out as a liquid concentrate, and an apparatus capable of concentrating until solidification is desired. I was On the other hand, the above-mentioned normal-pressure low-temperature system waste liquid evaporating and concentrating apparatus is suitable for cost reduction and miniaturization. However, solidification of photographic waste liquid is similarly insufficient.

Further, the method of solidifying by absorbing a concentrated solution into a carrier to facilitate the treatment requires a large amount of a special absorbent resin and a solidifying agent for absorbing the concentrated solution, resulting in poor operability. However, there is a problem that the cost is high.

Further, the solidifying apparatus employing the above-described drum dryer system has a large size, is expensive, is difficult to prevent odor, and is hardly applicable to a minilab.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and to develop a small and low-cost photographic waste liquid processing apparatus suitable for application to a minilab, the inventors of the present invention have conducted various studies and experiments, and as a result, the conventional photographic waste liquid processing apparatus described above. Concentration of photographic waste liquid to the final target solids by a single concentration method like a photographic waste liquid treatment device results in an inevitable increase in size and cost of the device, which is unreasonable. I understood.

For example, when a method is employed in which photographic waste liquid is diffused to a thickness of 5 mm or less on a waste liquid evaporating dish to evaporate and concentrate to solids, an extremely large evaporation area is required, resulting in poor efficiency. There is a problem that it can hardly be realized.

Alternatively, new photographic waste liquid is further applied on the solid film deposited on the waste liquid evaporating dish to evaporate.
In the method of concentrating, there is a problem that a new photographic waste liquid wraps under the film formed first and cannot be solidified efficiently in order.In addition, in the method of concentrating while supplementing the amount evaporated from the photographic waste liquid with the new photographic waste liquid. It has been found that there is a problem that a film is formed on the surface and evaporation is not performed efficiently.

It has also been found that the above problem is particularly significant when a fixing agent containing sodium thiosulfate as a main component is used as a fixing agent which makes it easier to condense the evaporated components and has a low odor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and the results of studies on the problems. A first object of the present invention is to divide the photographic waste liquid concentration process into two stages. In the first stage, the photographic waste liquid is concentrated in a fluidized state, and in the second stage, it is evaporated and concentrated to solids in a state of being dispersed in a layered form, so that it is suitable for minilabs and the like that require low cost and miniaturization. Another object of the present invention is to provide a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus which has good operability and can collect photographic waste liquid as solids without concentration unevenness.

Further, a second object of the present invention is to divide the photographic waste liquid concentration process into three stages, in the first stage the photographic waste solution is concentrated in a fluid state, and in the second stage the concentrated precipitate and the concentrated solution are concentrated. Evaporates and concentrates to a slurry in which is mixed, and in the third stage, evaporates and concentrates to solids, making it suitable for minilabs and the like that require low cost and miniaturization, and 1-20 liters with excellent maintainability An object of the present invention is to provide a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus for solidifying a small amount of waste liquid of about / day.

[0017]

In order to achieve the first object, the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a photographic waste liquid introducing means for introducing photographic waste liquid from outside, and heating the photographic waste liquid. A heating means for heating and evaporating the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introduction means by the heating means, and concentrating the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introduction means. A first evaporating and concentrating means for evaporating and concentrating the concentrated photographic waste liquid whose volume has been reduced to 1/3 or less, and a concentrated photographic waste liquid having a thickness of 5 mm or less,
Further, there is provided a second evaporating and concentrating means for evaporating and concentrating to a solid, and the photographic waste liquid is condensed and solidified to the solid through at least the two-stage evaporation and concentrating process.

In order to achieve the first object, a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 2 is characterized in that the photographic waste liquid mainly comprises sodium thiosulfate. It is characterized by containing a fixing agent as a component.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the first evaporative concentration is performed. The means has a plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes for diffusing and evaporating the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means, and the plurality of photographic waste liquids are arranged at intervals while being heated by the heating means. The photographic waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated to the concentrated photographic waste liquid by passing through a waste liquid evaporating dish.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes are
Each of the waste liquid evaporating dishes is tilted from the horizontal plane and has a structure in which the waste liquid evaporating dishes are introduced alternately in the vertical direction. The concentrated photographic waste liquid drops onto a dish, and drops from the lowermost waste liquid evaporating dish to the second evaporative concentration means.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects. The evaporating and concentrating means has an absorbent member that absorbs the concentrated photographic waste liquid. After the concentrated photographic waste liquid is absorbed by the liquid absorbing member, the heating means further heats and evaporates the solid waste. It is characterized in that it is concentrated and solidified to a product.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, wherein the liquid absorbing member has a long length. A liquid sheet material, wherein the solid material is fixed to the inside or the surface of the liquid absorbing sheet material and can be collected by folding or winding.

Further, in order to achieve the first object, the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 7 is the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the second evaporating and concentrating means further comprises: A cartridge-type easily absorbable liquid-absorbing member container, wherein the liquid-absorbing member is a pellet-shaped paper material obtained by molding a material mainly composed of paper into a pellet shape in the liquid-absorbing member container. It is configured to be mounted.

In order to achieve the second object, the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a photographic waste liquid introducing means for introducing photographic waste liquid from outside and a heating means for heating the photographic waste liquid. In the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus for heating and evaporating the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means by the heating means and concentrating the photographic waste liquid, the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means includes a concentrated precipitate. A first evaporating and concentrating means for evaporating and concentrating the concentrated photographic waste liquid to the first stage, and the second photographic waste liquid of the first stage is further mixed with a concentrated precipitate and a concentrated liquid to form a slurry. A second evaporating and concentrating means for evaporating and concentrating the concentrated photographic waste liquid; and a third evaporating and concentrating means for further concentrating and solidifying the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the second stage to a solid substance containing no liquid component. To And butterflies.

In order to achieve the second object, the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the ninth aspect of the present invention is the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the eighth aspect, wherein the first evaporating and concentrating means comprises: A plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes for dispersing and evaporating the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means, wherein the plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes are arranged at intervals while the photographic waste liquid is heated by the heating means; , The photographic waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated to the first-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the ninth aspect, wherein the plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes are provided with respective waste liquid evaporating dishes. The evaporating dish is inclined from the horizontal plane and has a structure arranged alternately in the vertical direction, and the photographic waste liquid introduced to the uppermost waste liquid evaporating dish is diffused and evaporated on each waste liquid evaporating dish, and to the lower waste evaporating dish. It is characterized in that it falls, and the first-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid drops from the lowermost waste liquid evaporating dish to the second evaporative concentration means.

Further, in order to achieve the second object, the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the eleventh aspect of the present invention has the following features.
The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to any one of the above, wherein the second evaporating and concentrating means has a pair of concentrating rollers installed in a substantially horizontal direction in multiple stages in the vertical direction, and the first-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid is It is characterized in that it is configured to adhere to the surface of a pair of concentration rollers and to evaporate and concentrate to the concentrated photographic waste liquid in the second stage.

Further, in order to achieve the second object, the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention has the following features.
5. The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the third evaporating and concentrating unit has a liquid absorbing member that absorbs the second-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid, and the second-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid. Is absorbed by the liquid-absorbent member, and is further heated and evaporated by the heating means to be concentrated and solidified to the solid matter.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the twelfth aspect, wherein the liquid absorbing member has a long length. A liquid sheet material, wherein the solid material is fixed to the inside or the surface of the liquid absorbing sheet material and can be collected by folding or winding.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the twelfth aspect, further comprising: A cartridge-type easily absorbable liquid-absorbing member container, wherein the liquid-absorbing member is a pellet-shaped paper material obtained by molding a material mainly composed of paper into a pellet shape in the liquid-absorbing member container. It is configured to be mounted.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the first object, in the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the third evaporating and concentrating means includes: A liquid-absorbing member for absorbing the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the second step, and after the liquid-absorbing member absorbs the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the second step, it does not undergo a solidification process by further heating and evaporation; Characterized in that it can be recovered as a solid containing concentrated photographic waste liquid.

[0032]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention in which a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus and an automatic developing machine for a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material are integrated and incorporated in the automatic developing machine. It is a schematic structure figure showing a 1st embodiment. In FIG. 1, a photographic waste liquid processing section 2 is separated by a pseudo seal with a drying section 30 of a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P as a common part, with a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material automatic development section 1 and a partition 3 therebetween. I have.

First, the construction and operation of the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material automatic developing section 1 will be described.

Silver halide photographic light-sensitive material automatic developing unit 1
Has a cutting step of cutting the silver halide photographic material P before processing. In the cutting step, the original roll magazine 4 in which the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P is wound into a roll is set, and the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P is pulled out from the magazine 4 and cut by the cutter 5. The cut sheet-shaped silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P is conveyed along a conveyance path 7 formed by a cascade of pairs of conveyance rollers 8, and is subjected to the steps of exposure, color development, bleach-fixing, stabilization, and drying. It is processed according to.

In the exposure step, a conveyor belt (not shown) is provided, and the exposure unit 6 installed opposite to the conveyor belt places the conveyor belt on the conveyor belt based on image data of a negative color film obtained from a film scanner (not shown). B, G, and R (blue, green,
By scanning and exposing a light spot obtained by combining the three colors (red), a latent image obtained by positively converting the image of the negative color film is formed.

Exposed silver halide photographic material P
Is transported to a color development step, in which a transport path 7 for transporting the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P is provided in the horizontal direction. The sheet-shaped silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P cut before being carried into the color developing step is
The sheet is transported along the transport path 7 with the image forming surface facing upward.

In the transport path 7 in the color development step, a developer spray unit 10 for spray-applying the developer onto the image forming surface by a two-liquid spray mixing valve jet method is provided above the transport path 7, and a developer spray unit 10 is provided below the transport path. A heater 9a is provided as a heating means for heating to the development processing temperature. The silver halide photographic material P is heated to 40 ° C.
Heating to 95 ° C., preferably heating to 50 ° C. to 90 ° C. further accelerates development (in the present embodiment, 50 ° C.
Is set to.)

The partial solution containing the color developing agent and the partial solution containing the alkaline agent are respectively sent to the developer spray unit 10 from a replenisher tank (not shown) by a compressor pump (not shown).

The silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P coated with the two-liquid mixed developer by the developer spray unit 10 is
After the heating is maintained by the heater 9b and the development is sufficiently promoted, it is carried into the bleach-fixing step. In the bleach-fixing step, similarly to the color developing step, a bleach-fixing solution spray unit 11 for spray-applying a bleach-fixing solution onto the image forming surface by a two-liquid spray mixing valve jet method is provided above the transport path 7. On the side, a heater 9c as a heating means for heating to the bleach-fix processing temperature is provided.

The silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P which has passed through the bleach-fixing step is heated by the heater 9d and is carried into the stabilizing step. In the stabilization step, similarly to the above steps, two stable liquid spray units 12 and 13 for spray-coating the stable liquid on the image forming surface by a one-liquid valve jet method are installed on the upper side of the transport path 7, On the lower side, heaters 9e and 9f are provided as heating means for heating to the stabilization processing temperature. That is, the developer and the bleach-fix solution are sprayed once, but the stabilizer is sprayed twice.

The bleach-fixing solution and the stabilizing solution are pressure-fed to the bleach-fixing solution spray unit 11 and the stabilizing solution spray units 12 and 13 from a replenisher tank (not shown) by a compressor pump (not shown), similarly to the developer. I have. In the present embodiment, the bleach-fix processing temperature and the stabilization processing temperature are set between 50 ° C. and 60 ° C. Next, the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P after the stabilization processing is completed.
Denotes a drying unit 30 which is common to the photographic waste liquid processing unit 2
It is carried into. In the drying section 30, the cross flow fan 1
The heated air is heated by the heater 17 and the hot air is blown onto the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P moving in the transport path 7 in the drying unit 30 to thereby produce the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P.
Is performed. Then, the sheet-shaped silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P on which all the processing is completed is discharged to a mounting tray (not shown) installed outside the automatic developing machine.

Next, the configuration and operation of the photographic waste liquid processing section 2 according to the present invention will be described. Each of the photographic processing solutions sprayed in the respective steps of the color development, bleach-fixing, and stabilization functions after a chemical reaction on the emulsion surface of the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P. It is stored as a photographic waste liquid 14 below the photosensitive material automatic developing section 1. When the liquid level of the stored photographic waste liquid 14 is detected by a liquid level sensor (not shown) to be higher than a predetermined level, the bellows pump 15 is operated to suck up the photographic waste liquid 14 and the waste liquid outlet 19a. Through a hose (not shown) from a waste liquid inlet 19b located above the photographic waste liquid processing unit 2.
It is led to.

The photographic waste liquid 14 injected from the waste liquid inlet 19b passes through a pipe 19c as a photographic waste liquid introducing means, and is supplied to a plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes 18a installed in a waste liquid evaporating unit 18 as a first evaporative concentration means. It is dropped at the top. As shown in FIG. 4, the waste liquid evaporating dish 18a is closed on three sides by a bank 18b, and one side is set as a release end 18c, and the photographic waste liquid 14 is dropped from the release end 18c to the next waste liquid evaporating dish 18a. It has a structure. Further, as shown in the figure, the waste liquid evaporating dishes 18a are inclined from the horizontal plane and are arranged alternately in the vertical direction, so that the photographic waste introduced into the uppermost waste liquid evaporating dish 18a is diffused and evaporated on each waste liquid evaporating dish. While falling to the lower waste liquid evaporating dish, and the lowermost waste liquid evaporating dish 18a
A concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a described later drops into a concentrated waste liquid evaporating section 40 described later.

The waste liquid evaporator 18 is a cross flow fan 16
And the heater 17 as a heating means, the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material P is constantly exposed to the warm air after drying, so that the photographic waste liquid 14 flowing downward while diffusing on the waste liquid evaporating dish 18a is The evaporating component evaporates as it travels to the lower waste liquid evaporating dish 18a, and is gradually concentrated. In the waste liquid evaporating dish 18a located at the lowermost position, the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a whose volume has been reduced to 1/3 or less is evaporated and concentrated within a range not to lose the fluidity.

In the concentrated waste liquid evaporating section 40 as the second evaporating and concentrating means, the liquid absorbing sheet material 20 as the liquid absorbing member is provided.
Is drawn out from the liquid-absorbent sheet material roll 20a rotatably held by the holding shaft 21 by the conveying roller pair 23a, and is supported by the supporting member 24 and the conveying rollers 23b and 23c, which form a fan-shaped supporting curved surface, as shown in the drawing. It is stretched and wound around a collection shaft 22 as a liquid-absorbent sheet material collection unit.

Since the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a dropped from the waste liquid evaporating dish 18a at the bottom is sufficiently concentrated, the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a is dropped little by little onto the liquid absorbing sheet material 20 stretched further downward. 5m after being absorbed by the liquid absorbing sheet material 20
m or less in the form of a layer.

Next, the liquid-absorbent sheet material 20 having absorbed the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a gradually moves on the curved surface of the support member 24 by pulling out the conveying roller pair 23 and winding up the collecting shaft 22. Since the far-infrared heaters 25 and 26 as heating means are installed with the far-infrared reflecting plates 27 and 28 in opposition to the curved surface of the support member 24, the liquid-absorbent sheet material 20 that has absorbed the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a is supported. While moving on the curved surface of the member 24, all the evaporation components contained in the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a evaporate due to the heat received from the far-infrared heaters 25 and 26, and only the solid matter of the liquid-absorbent sheet material 20, e.g. Remains immersed in the fiber.

The liquid-absorbent sheet material 20 in which only the solid matter contained in the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a is immersed, is wound up on a collection shaft 22 as the waste liquid treatment proceeds. When all of the liquid-absorbent sheet material 20 of the original roll 21 has been consumed, the operator recognizes that the liquid-absorbent sheet material has run out, for example, by a method of displaying a warning by detecting a sensor, and the like. The used liquid-absorbent sheet material 20 in which the solid component is immersed is collected from the collection shaft 22, and a new original winding 21 is set.

In the above embodiment, when the photographic waste liquid processing capacity is about 200 ml / hour, the liquid absorbing sheet material 20 is used.
Moves on the curved surface of the support member 24 at a speed of 2 to 0.1 m.
/ Hour range. Therefore, the liquid absorbing sheet material 20
When a roll paper of 20 cm width is used, the length is 1
100ml to 2000ml for m roll paper
Is subjected to a solidification treatment.

As the material of the liquid-absorbent sheet material, woven fabric, non-woven fabric, paper (synthetic or natural), porous sheet material and the like can be used, and preferably, non-woven fabric or paper is used, and paper is used. In such a case, a material that is relatively strong against water is preferable.

In the above embodiment, a commercially available cooking paper or the like can be used as the roll paper for the liquid-absorbent sheet material 20. The roll paper confirmed by the inventors of the present invention to be usable after experiments is shown below.

Crecia Cooking Paper L75 Cut 2R Crecia Food Specialty 2R Crecia Food Wrap 2R manufactured by Crecia Co., Ltd. Among the above, especially and without perforations, it is preferable.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention, the volume of the waste liquid evaporating section as the first evaporating and concentrating means is set within a range not to lose fluidity. Is concentrated and reduced to 1/3 or less, and then the concentrated photographic waste liquid having a thickness of 5 mm is concentrated in a concentrated waste liquid evaporating section as a second evaporative concentration means.
The photographic waste liquid is concentrated and solidified by a two-stage evaporation / concentration process of diffusing it into the following layers and further evaporating / concentrating it to solids. With a low-cost configuration, the photographic waste liquid can be efficiently recovered as a solid without concentration unevenness, and the photographic waste liquid stored in the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material automatic developing section 1 is absorbed in the photographic waste liquid processing section 2. It can be recovered as a solid immersed in the liquid sheet material.

Further, since the solid matter can be immersed in a liquid-absorbent sheet material wound up in a roll shape and recovered in a dried form,
For minilab operators in small photo shops, etc., no special attention or knowledge is required for handling,
Handling of solids becomes extremely easy. In addition, as described above, by using a commercially available inexpensive cooking paper or the like as the liquid-absorbing sheet material, it has become possible to reduce the cost of processing the photographic waste liquid.

As is well known, photographic waste liquid contains silver, sulfur, etc., and is classified as a valuable resource among industrial wastes and is subject to recycling. Thus, according to the present invention,
The collection waste can also be collected as a dried paper roll by the collection company, making it much easier to handle as compared to the conventional slime concentrate or photographic waste solidified with a solidifying agent. The value as a valuable resource can be further increased. Incidentally, the recovered paper roll can be recovered by incineration as it is in a furnace of a silver mine or the like as it is.

A vapor cooling / condensing unit (not shown) is connected to the photographic waste liquid processing section 2 to cool the evaporating component and recover it as condensed water. The material can be reused as washing water, which is preferable. In this case, if a fixing agent containing sodium thiosulfate as a main component is contained in the photographic waste liquid,
The condensation efficiency is improved, which is more preferable.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the following description of the second embodiment, the same parts and members as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 2, in a concentrated waste liquid evaporating section 40 as a second evaporating and concentrating means, a collection cartridge 42 as a liquid absorbing member container containing a large number of pellet-shaped paper materials 41 as liquid absorbing members. Are positioned on a cartridge mounting table 43 by a guide rail (not shown) and are detachably mounted. The pellet-shaped paper 41 is a liquid-absorbing pellet formed by molding a material mainly composed of paper into a pellet shape, and the collection cartridge 42 is a container formed of a material having both heat resistance and water resistance.

Since the upper surface of the collection cartridge 42 is open, the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a dripped from the lowermost waste liquid evaporating dish 18a is dropped little by little onto the pellet-shaped paper 41, and the pellet-shaped paper 41 is dropped. Is absorbed by

Next, since the far-infrared heaters 25 and 26 as heating means are installed along with the far-infrared reflecting plates 27 and 28 in opposition to the collection cartridge 42, the concentrated photograph absorbed by the pellet-shaped paper 41. All the evaporated components of the waste liquid 14a are evaporated by the heat received from the far-infrared heaters 25 and 26, and only the solid remains in the pellet-shaped paper material 41, for example, immersed in cellulose fibers.

The waste liquid treatment proceeds, and concentrated photographic waste liquid 1 is added to all the pellet-shaped paper materials stored in the collection cartridge 42.
When the solid matter contained in 4a is sufficiently immersed, for example,
The operator recognizes the replacement time of the collection cartridge 42 by a method such as a warning display by setting a timer, and places the collection cartridge 42 containing the used pellet-shaped paper material 41 in which the solid component is immersed from the replacement door 29 into the cartridge setting table. 43, and a new collection cartridge 42 is set.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention, in the concentrated waste liquid evaporating section as the second evaporating and concentrating means, the collection cartridge storing the pelleted paper material. As a result, the structure of the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus can be simplified, the apparatus itself can be reduced in size and cost, maintenance can be facilitated, and costs related to photographic waste liquid processing can be reduced.

In the above-described second embodiment, the pellet-shaped paper 41 is a liquid-absorbing pellet formed by molding a material mainly composed of paper into a pellet.
2 is a container formed of a material having both heat resistance and water resistance. However, in order to further reduce costs, pellet paper 41 is obtained by cutting toilet paper or the like into an appropriate size and rounding it. The collecting cartridge 42 may be a cardboard container that does not lose its shape even if it contains concentrated photographic waste liquid. In this case, the collection cartridge 42 can be handed over to a collection company or the like with the pellet-shaped paper 41 stored therein, thereby further facilitating photographic waste liquid treatment.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the following description of the third embodiment, the same parts and members as those in the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The photographic waste liquid 14 introduced through the pipe 19c is supplied to the waste liquid evaporator 18 as the first evaporating and concentrating means within a range where sludge (concentrated sediment) is not generated.
The concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a of the first stage whose volume has been reduced to about 1/5 is evaporated and concentrated, and the waste liquid evaporating dish 18 at the bottom
From a, it is dropped onto the concentration roller unit 50 described later.

In the concentration roller section 50 as a second evaporative concentration means, a pair of concentration rollers 51 installed in a horizontal direction are installed in five stages in a vertical direction, and a cross flow fan 52
The drying air is constantly blown onto the five-stage concentration roller pair 51.

The concentrating roller pair 51 of each stage is composed of a plurality of elastic rollers, and is rotated in a direction indicated by an arrow by a driving mechanism (not shown). Further, a far-infrared heater 53 as a heating means is provided together with a far-infrared reflecting plate 54 to heat the concentrating roller pair 51 and the pellet-shaped paper 41.

The first-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid 14 a dropped on the first-stage concentration roller pair 51 of the concentration roller unit 50 adheres to the surface of the concentration roller pair 51, and
After the evaporation and concentration further proceed by the drying air sent from 2 and the heating of the far-infrared heater 53, the concentration roller pair 5
It is dripped at 1. The concentrated photographic waste liquid 14a has a higher concentration as it is dropped onto the lower concentration roller pair 51, and the second stage concentrated photographic waste liquid 14c which forms a muddy slurry by the compression action of the concentration roller pair 51 while depositing sludge. Changes to

The concentrated photographic waste liquid 14c in the form of a slurry concentrated just before solidification is dropped from the lowermost concentration roller pair 51 to the concentrated waste liquid evaporating section 40 as the third evaporating / concentrating means. The concentrated waste liquid evaporating section 40 has the same configuration as that described in the second embodiment, and evaporates until only a solid substance remains in the pellet-shaped paper material 41, for example, in a state of being immersed in cellulose fiber. The concentration is performed, and the pellet-shaped paper material 41 is collected by pulling out the collection cartridge 42 from the lowermost portion.

According to the third embodiment, as described above, the concentrated photographic waste liquid 14c in the second stage is concentrated to a slurry state one step before solidification, so that the pellet-shaped paper absorbing the waste liquid is concentrated. The material 41 can be handled almost as a solid. Therefore, the pellet-shaped paper material 41 is concentrated photographic waste liquid 1
After absorbing 4c, the pellet-shaped paper material 41 may be recovered without undergoing a further solidification process by heating and evaporation.

As described above, according to the third embodiment of the photographic waste liquid treating apparatus according to the present invention, the waste liquid evaporating section as the first evaporating and concentrating means is provided within a range that does not include concentrated precipitates. After evaporating and concentrating the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the first stage, the volume of which has been reduced to about 1/5, the concentrated roller section serving as the second evaporating and concentrating means presents a slurry in which the concentrated sediment and the concentrated liquid are mixed. A method of evaporating and concentrating to a two-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid, and further concentrating and solidifying to a solid containing no liquid component in a concentrated waste liquid evaporating unit as a third evaporating and concentrating means, ie, a three-stage evaporation and concentration Since the method of solidifying the photographic waste liquid by the process is adopted, the solidification processing of the photographic waste liquid can be performed more reliably and efficiently with a small and low-cost configuration than the conventional method, and the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material can be used. It has become possible to recover as a solid immersed into pellets sheet material 41 stored in the developing unit 1 photographic effluents in a photographic waste solution processing unit 2.

In the above-described first embodiment, the liquid-absorbent sheet material is supplied from the original roll wound in the form of a roll, and is wound on the collection shaft 22, but as shown in FIG.
As the liquid-absorbent sheet material 20, a liquid-absorbent sheet material cartridge 6 formed by sewing a paper with a perforated hole and a fold and sewn and folded.
1 may be used.

In this case, the paper is easily fed simply by pulling out the paper from the cartridge, and the liquid-absorbent sheet material collecting section 62 bends naturally from the fold of the paper, and is folded to deposit the paper. Therefore, the structures of the liquid-absorbent sheet material holding means and the liquid-absorbent sheet material recovery means can be further simplified.

In the first, second and third embodiments described above, the present invention is integrated with an automatic developing machine for silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials adopting a method of spray-coating a photographic processing agent by a valve jet method. Although the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus was shown, the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention has a processing liquid container for storing a processing liquid to be brought into contact with the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material,
Contacting the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material with the processing liquid stored in the processing liquid container to integrate with a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material automatic developing machine for continuously processing the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material; It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to the processing of a photographic waste liquid generated therefrom.

[0076]

As described above in detail, according to the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the range in which the liquidity is not lost in the waste liquid evaporating section as the first evaporative concentration means. After evaporating and concentrating the concentrated photographic waste liquid whose volume has been reduced to 1/3 or less, the concentrated photographic waste liquid is diffused in a layered form having a thickness of 5 mm or less in a concentrated waste liquid evaporating section as a second evaporative concentration means. And evaporate to solids.
By adopting a method of concentrating and solidifying photographic waste liquid into solids by a two-stage evaporation / concentration process of concentrating, compared to the conventional method, the photographic waste liquid can be efficiently concentrated with a small and low-cost configuration. This makes it possible to provide a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus that is suitable for mini-labs and the like, has good operability, and can collect photographic waste liquid as solids.

Further, according to the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the concentrated photographic waste liquid is absorbed by the absorbent sheet material, and furthermore, the solid substance is evaporated and concentrated to a solid substance. Provided is a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus that can be immersed in a liquid-absorbent sheet material wound in a roll shape and recovered in a dried form, and can collect photographic waste liquid as a solid immersed in the liquid-absorbent sheet material. It has the effect of being able to.

According to the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus of the present invention, the concentrated photographic waste liquid is absorbed by the pellet-shaped paper material, and furthermore, the solid matter is rolled by being evaporated and concentrated to a solid matter. Can be recovered in a dried form after being immersed in a pellet-shaped paper material wound up in a shape, and the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus capable of recovering a photographic waste liquid as a solid immersed in the pellet-shaped paper material can be provided. To play. In addition, by using a collection cartridge containing pelleted paper material, the structure of the photographic waste liquid treatment device is simplified, the device itself is low-cost and small, maintenance is easy, and maintenance costs are reduced. It is possible to provide a possible photographic waste liquid processing apparatus.

Further, according to the photographic waste liquid treating apparatus according to the present invention, the waste liquid evaporating section as the first evaporating and concentrating means is provided within a range not containing concentrated sediment.
Evaporates to the first stage concentrated photographic waste liquid whose volume has decreased.
After concentrating, in a concentrating roller section as a second evaporative concentrating means, evaporating and concentrating to a second-stage condensed photographic waste liquid in the form of a slurry in which a concentrated sediment and a concentrated liquid are mixed, In the concentrated waste liquid evaporator as a means, by adopting a method of concentrating and solidifying to solids not containing liquid components, a reliable and efficient photographic waste liquid with a small and low-cost structure compared to the conventional method It is possible to provide a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus that can be solidified, is suitable for mini-labs and the like, has excellent maintainability, and solidifies small amounts of waste liquid.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention incorporated in an automatic processor for a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view showing a second embodiment of a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention incorporated in an automatic developing machine for a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material.

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural view showing a third embodiment of a photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention incorporated in an automatic developing machine for a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing first and second photographic waste liquid treatment apparatuses according to the present invention.
It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the waste liquid evaporating dish used for 3rd Embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a liquid-absorbent sheet material cartridge that is applicable to the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention and that has a sewing hole and a fold formed on paper and is stitched and folded;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 silver halide photographic light-sensitive material automatic developing section 2 photographic waste liquid processing section 3 partition 7 transport path 14 photographic waste liquid 18 waste liquid evaporating section 20 liquid absorbing sheet material 21 holding shaft 22 collecting shaft 30 drying section 40 concentrated waste liquid evaporating section 50 concentrating roller Part P Silver halide photographic material

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A photographic waste liquid introducing means for introducing photographic waste liquid from outside, and a heating means for heating the photographic waste liquid, wherein the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means is heated and evaporated by the heating means. In the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus for concentrating, the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means is evaporated and concentrated to a concentrated photographic waste liquid having a volume reduced to 1/3 or less within a range not to lose fluidity. And a second evaporating and concentrating means for diffusing the concentrated photographic waste liquid into a layer having a thickness of 5 mm or less, and further evaporating and concentrating the solid waste into solids. A photographic waste liquid processing apparatus, wherein the photographic waste liquid is concentrated and solidified to the solid matter through a concentration process. 2. The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographic waste liquid contains a fixing agent containing sodium thiosulfate as a main component. 3. The first evaporating and concentrating means has a plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes for diffusing and evaporating the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means, wherein the photographic waste liquid is heated by the heating means. The photograph according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the photographic waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated to the concentrated photographic waste liquid by passing through the plurality of waste liquid evaporation dishes provided at intervals. Waste liquid treatment equipment. 4. The plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes have a structure in which each of the waste liquid evaporating dishes is tilted from a horizontal plane and arranged alternately in the vertical direction, and the photographic waste liquid introduced into the uppermost waste liquid evaporating dish is each waste liquid evaporating dish. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the concentrated photographic waste liquid is dropped onto the lower waste liquid evaporating dish while diffusing and evaporating on the evaporating dish, and drops from the lowermost waste liquid evaporating dish to the second evaporating and concentrating means. Waste water treatment equipment. 5. The second evaporative condensing means has a liquid absorbing member for absorbing the concentrated photographic waste liquid, and after absorbing the concentrated photographic waste liquid in the liquid absorbing member, the heating means
The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the apparatus is further heated and evaporated to concentrate and solidify the solid matter. 6. The liquid-absorbent member is a long liquid-absorbent sheet material, and can be collected by folding or winding the solid matter while being fixed to the inside or the surface of the liquid-absorbent sheet material. The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the apparatus is configured as described above. 7. The second evaporating and concentrating means further includes an easily removable liquid-absorbing member container formed in a cartridge, wherein the liquid-absorbing member is formed of a material mainly composed of a paper material in a pellet form. The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the pellet-shaped paper material formed into a shape is placed on the liquid-absorbent member container. 8. A photographic waste liquid introducing means for introducing a photographic waste liquid from outside and a heating means for heating the photographic waste liquid, wherein the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means is heated and evaporated by the heating means. A first evaporating and concentrating means for evaporating and concentrating a photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means to a first-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid containing no concentrated sediment; Second evaporating and concentrating means for evaporating and concentrating the one-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid to a second-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid in which a concentrated precipitate and a concentrated liquid are mixed, and the second-stage concentrated photograph A photographic waste liquid processing apparatus, further comprising third evaporating and concentrating means for concentrating and solidifying the waste liquid to a solid containing no liquid component. 9. The first evaporating and concentrating means has a plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes for diffusing and evaporating the photographic waste liquid introduced by the photographic waste liquid introducing means, wherein the photographic waste liquid is heated by the heating means. 9. The photograph according to claim 8, wherein the photographic waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated to the first-stage concentrated photographic waste liquid while passing through the plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes provided at intervals. Waste liquid treatment equipment. 10. The plurality of waste liquid evaporating dishes have a structure in which each of the waste liquid evaporating dishes is tilted from a horizontal plane and arranged alternately in the vertical direction, and the photographic waste liquid introduced into the uppermost waste liquid evaporating dish is each waste liquid evaporating dish. The method is characterized in that the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the first stage is dropped from the lowermost waste liquid evaporating dish to the second evaporating and concentrating means from the lowermost waste liquid evaporating dish while diffusing and evaporating on the evaporating dish. Item 10. A photographic waste liquid treating apparatus according to Item 9. 11. The second evaporating and concentrating means has a pair of concentrating rollers arranged substantially horizontally in multiple stages in the vertical direction, and causes the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the first stage to adhere to the surface of the pair of concentrating rollers. The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus is configured to evaporate and concentrate the second concentrated photographic waste liquid. 12. The third evaporating and concentrating means according to claim 12, wherein
A liquid absorbing member that absorbs the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the second step, and after the concentrated photographic waste liquid of the second step is absorbed by the liquid absorbing member, is further heated and evaporated by the heating means, and And concentrating and solidifying up to
12. The photographic waste liquid treatment apparatus according to any one of items 11 to 11. 13. The liquid-absorbent member is a long liquid-absorbent sheet material, and can be collected by folding or winding the solid matter while being fixed to the inside or surface of the liquid-absorbent sheet material. 13. A structure according to claim 12, wherein:
2. The photographic waste liquid treatment apparatus according to item 1. 14. The third evaporating and concentrating means further includes an easily removable liquid absorbing member container made into a cartridge.
13. The liquid absorbing member according to claim 12, wherein the liquid absorbing member is configured such that a pellet-shaped paper material formed by molding a material mainly composed of paper into a pellet is placed in the liquid absorbing member container. Photo waste liquid treatment equipment. 15. The third evaporative concentrating means, wherein
A liquid-absorbing member that absorbs the concentrated photographic waste liquid in the second step, and after the liquid-absorbing member absorbs the concentrated photographic waste liquid in the second step, without further solidification by heating and evaporation, the liquid is concentrated. 9. The photographic waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the photographic waste liquid processing apparatus is configured to be collected as a solid containing photographic waste liquid.