JP2001170648A - Chitosan eluting utensil - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a chitosan eluting utensil capable of slowly eluting chitosan into drinking water for the suppression of microorganism growth or the anti bacteria. SOLUTION: The bag like or cylindrical chitosan eluting utensil houses solid chitosan or a chitosan solution inside. The chitosan eluting utensil is composed of a porous membrane having a pore diameter enough to release chitosan molecule.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to a device in which chitosan is gradually eluted into drinking water, and more particularly to a bag-shaped or cylindrical chitosan eluter made of a porous membrane. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Chitosan is a polysaccharide obtained by deaminating chitin, B- (1,4) -poly-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, and is a substance obtained from crabs and shrimp shells. . Such chitosan is not only used as a cationic flocculant in wastewater treatment, but also exhibits a physiological or biochemical function when absorbed by the human body, and has an excellent antibacterial function. R & D is also actively pursued for other uses.

[0003] Publications related to such chitosan include, for example, US Pat. No. 5,620,587 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-151104, which have applications for removing chlorine generated from a cathode. As an application for preventing contamination of drinking water for a long time, an example using chitosan in electrolyzed water is disclosed. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-087
No. 302 discloses that chitosan has an effect of lowering the concentration of LDL cholesterol and triglyceride in human blood and other useful effects.

[0004] Chitosan can be ingested in the form of a capsule containing chitosan or in a drinking water state containing chitosan.

[0005] For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-085227 discloses an apparatus in which a mechanical device such as an adjustable valve is attached to a line through which water passes so that chitosan is put into drinking water. I have.

[0006] The publication also discloses a method in which one line is further attached to the side of a pipe through which water flows, and a chitosan solid mass is attached to the line, from which chitosan is gradually eluted into a water purification line. It has been described. That is, a certain amount of water flowing out of the main channel pipe enters a side line attached to the side surface, dissolves chitosan there, and the chitosan solution flows into the main channel. This method is inconvenient for consumers because chitosan must be frequently supplied to a storage tank.

On the other hand, water is often used at home after purifying water with a membrane filter such as a carbon filter, a reverse osmosis membrane (RO), an ultrafiltration membrane (UF), and a microfiltration membrane (MF). Have been done. In particular, the reverse osmosis membrane can remove molecules having a molecular weight of 100 or more.

[0008]

However, microorganisms are sometimes detected in purified water. The fact that microorganisms are detected despite the use of the filter system indicates that microorganisms have passed through the defective part of the filter, or that the storage tank and water purification line have already been contaminated when the water purifier is installed. It is considered that it is done.

Microorganisms can be removed using disinfectants such as chlorine, chloroamine, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, etc., but it is not easy to handle such chemicals at home, so it is safer, There is a need for more convenient germicides or antimicrobial agents.

Accordingly, the present invention is to gradually elute chitosan into drinking water so that chitosan exhibiting a useful function for the human body can be ingested together with water, and the bacterial growth by the antibacterial action of chitosan. It is another object of the present invention to provide a chitosan eluter capable of suppressing generation.

[0011]

A chitosan eluter according to the present invention that has achieved the above objects contains chitosan therein,
It is a gist of the present invention that the chitosan molecule is a bag-shaped or cylindrical eluter provided with a porous membrane that can be eluted to the outside.

When the chitosan dissolving device is immersed in water, for example, drinking water, chitosan is gradually eluted into the water from the pores of the dissolving device made of the porous membrane material as described above. The pore size of this porous membrane is so large that chitosan molecules can be released into external water. That is, the chitosan eluter according to the present invention uses a membrane having various pore sizes corresponding to the size of the chitosan molecule, so that the chitosan molecule is gradually diffused and exited through the pores of the membrane at a relatively constant speed. . And a cylindrical or bag-shaped chitosan dissolver is well suited for installation in a water flow line below the filter system.

In general, the degree of dissolution of chitosan in water differs depending on the molecular weight. Therefore, the porous membrane to be used should be selected according to the molecular weight of chitosan. For example, since chitosan having a molecular weight in the range of 400 to 2,000 is relatively well dissolved in water, it is preferable to use a membrane having a pore size of about 0.005 μm, and a molecular weight of 2,000 to 50,000. Is dissolved in water in a small amount (approximately 5% inside or outside), so that about 0.005 to 0.0
It is preferred to use a membrane having a pore size in the range of 2 μm.

[0014] In addition, in the present invention, the porous membrane is preferably one or more membranes selected from the group consisting of a nanofiltration membrane, an ultrafiltration membrane, and a microfiltration membrane.

It is preferable that the chitosan eluter contains chitosan alone or as a mixture of chitosan and an organic acid.

For example, chitosan having a molecular weight of 50,000 or more is hardly dissolved in water as it is, but can be used by dissolving it in an organic acid solution such as succinic acid or citric acid. In this case, it is preferable to use a membrane having a pore diameter of 0.02 μm to 1 μm. It goes without saying that chitosan having a molecular weight of less than 50,000 may be stored as a mixture with an organic acid.

Further, in the present invention, the mixture of chitosan and organic acid is preferably in a solution state or a solid state obtained by drying the mixture.

In the present invention, the organic acid is preferably at least one selected from the group consisting of tartaric acid, glutaric acid, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and citric acid.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION As a method for producing a chitosan dissolution apparatus of the present invention, first, an outer shape of a dissolution apparatus is produced in a cylindrical or bag shape using a porous membrane, and the side and bottom surfaces of the dissolution apparatus are ultrasonically melted. For example, a method of attaching with a dresser or an adhesive, adding solid chitosan or a chitosan solution thereto, and then sealing the upper portion in the same manner may be used. Then, the device manufactured in this way is installed in a central pipe or a carbon filter of a filter system, or installed in a water purification tank of a water purifier so that purified water chitosan is gradually eluted. Good.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a chitosan dissolution apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, which shows a cylindrical dissolution apparatus. The chitosan dissolution apparatus has an upper lid 3 and a lower lid 2 provided above and below a cylindrical main body 1 and contains a chitosan 4 therein. The main body 1, the top cover 3 and the bottom cover 2 are made of a porous membrane, and the pore diameter of the porous membrane is large enough to allow chitosan molecules to be released into external water.

In manufacturing the cylindrical body 1, both ends of the plane are sealed with an ultrasonic fuser or attached with an adhesive to form a hollow tube. Such a hollow tube can also be manufactured by a mechanical manufacturing process.

Next, a bottom cover 2 made of a film of the same material as the main body 1 is adhered to the main body 1 with an adhesive so as to form a bottom surface of the tube, and chitosan 4 is introduced through the open upper portion. An upper lid 3 made of a film is attached with an adhesive and sealed.

2 and 3 show a bag-like chitosan dissolution apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway front view, and FIG. 3 is a side view. The chitosan eluter contains chitosan 4 inside and has a side surface formed of a porous membrane. The pore size of the porous membrane is such that the chitosan molecules can be released into external water.

As a method for producing this chitosan dissolution apparatus,
First, the flat porous membrane was folded in two, the right side 6 and the left side 5 of the folded membrane were sealed with an ultrasonic fuser or an adhesive, and the chitosan 4 was put through the unsealed upper part 7. rear,
The upper part 7 is also sealed with an ultrasonic fuser or an adhesive. In this case, the shape of the bag is not limited to a rectangle as shown in the figure, but may be any shape such as a triangle, a polygon, a sphere, an ellipse, and a spindle.

The chitosan dissolvers of Embodiments 1 and 2 can release chitosan in all directions.

As the porous membrane, a nanofiltration membrane, an ultrafiltration membrane, a microfiltration membrane, or the like is used. These materials include cellulose acetate, polysulfone, polyamide, polyvinyl alcohol, polyacrylonitrile, and polyethyl methacrylate. Etc. can be used. Most membranes made from polyamide and cellulose acetate exhibit hydrophobic properties.To overcome this, use membranes immersed in ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and glycerol and then dried. Is preferred. In this case, since ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are harmful, it is more preferable to use glycerol as a humectant.

The solid chitosan or chitosan solution used in the present invention uses a chitosan substance alone, but in some cases, may be used by mixing an organic acid having compatibility with chitosan. In this case, it can be used as a liquid mixture or a solid substance obtained by drying the mixture.

On the other hand, in the present invention, the molecular weight is 50,000
Organic acids that dissolve 0 or more chitosans or are mixed with chitosans are non-hazardous organic acids, such as succinic acid, tartaric acid, and glutaric acid. aci
d), glutamic acid (glutamic acid), aspartic acid (aspartic acid), adipic acid (adipic acid), citric acid (citric acid) and the like.

[0030]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically based on examples.

Example 1 Polysulfone was dissolved in 82% N, N-dimethylformamide at 40 ° C. so as to have a concentration of 18%, and this solution was cast on a polyester nonwoven fabric and immersed in water at room temperature to obtain polysulfone UF. A membrane was obtained. The membrane was further immersed in an aqueous solution containing 5% by mass of glycerol for 30 minutes to remove excess solution,
For 30 minutes.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a bag-shaped dissolution unit containing chitosan was manufactured from the obtained sheet-like membrane. Next, 5 g of chitosan having an average molecular weight of about 40,000 was placed in the bag-shaped eluator, and then the inlet of the eluator was sealed with an ultrasonic fuser.

[0033] The obtained chitosan eluate was placed in 500 m of distilled water.
The amount of chitosan released was periodically measured for 30 days while the sample was immersed in 1 at room temperature and periodically replaced with fresh distilled water. The amount of chitosan released in this case is determined by TOC analyzer
(Shimatzu 5000), the amount of chitosan released from the chitosan dissolution apparatus was about 14 ppm per day on average, and was relatively constant over 30 days. Calculations from this result show that containing 5 g of chitosan gradually releases chitosan continuously for 360 days by the method of the present invention.

Example 2 A chitosan dissolution apparatus was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the following solid chitosan mixture was used instead of chitosan in Example 1 described above. The solid chitosan mixture was prepared by dissolving 10 g of chitosan in 100 ml of water containing 3 g of succinic acid,
It was obtained by drying at 60 ° C. for 10 hours.

The amount of chitosan released was measured using the chitosan dissolution apparatus of Example 2 in the same manner as in Example 1 above. As a result, about 100 ppm was released relatively constantly every day for 30 days.

[Experiment] In order to determine the antibacterial properties of the chitosan solutions released in Examples 1 and 2, a paper disk method, which is a kind of the following diffusion method, was used. That is, Muelle in a sterile Petri dish
r About 20 ml of Hinton agar medium is poured into each plate to make a plate, and then a bacterial solution of the test strain liquid-cultured at 30 ° C. for 12 to 24 hours is applied to the above Millter Hinton agar plate with a sterile cotton swab and inoculated. did. Then, sterile paper disc (8 mm in diameter, Advantec Toyo Co, Japa
n) was placed on the Mueller Hinton agar medium, and then a certain amount of the chitosan solution released using Examples 1 and 2 was injected, followed by culturing at 30 ° C. for 72 hours to form a clear zone around the paper disk (clear). zone) (mm) to determine the presence or absence of antibacterial activity. The strain in the antibacterial experiment was:
Escherichia coli ATCC25992 as a gram-negative bacterium,
Bacillus subtilis KCTC 1021 was used as Gram-positive bacteria. Table 1 shows the results.

[0037]

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, the clear zone of the control was 0 mm for both bacteria, whereas the chitosan solution obtained by using Examples 1 and 2 exhibited antibacterial properties for both bacteria. Presented. B. subtilus, a gram-positive bacterium
Rather, E. coli, a gram-negative bacterium, exhibited a higher antibacterial effect. Further, the case of Example 2 having a higher chitosan concentration exhibited a higher antibacterial effect than that of Example 1.

As described above, the chitosan dissolution apparatus according to the present invention has been specifically described with reference to the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described examples, but may be adapted to the above-described purpose. It is also possible to carry out the present invention with appropriate modifications, and all of them are included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[0040]

When the chitosan dissolving device according to the present invention is applied to, for example, a filter system for supplying drinking water, chitosan is gradually eluted into drinking water at a constant rate. Therefore, by using such a chitosan dissolution apparatus, chitosan having a useful effect on the human body can be ingested together with water, and its usefulness such as inhibiting the generation or growth of bacteria in drinking water is reduced. Demonstrate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a cylindrical chitosan dissolution apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway front view showing a bag-like chitosan dissolution apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a bag-like chitosan dissolution apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Bottom cover 3 Top cover 4 Chitosan 5 Left part 6 Right part 7 Upper part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) B01D 61/14 B01D 61/14 C02F 1/68 510 C02F 1/68 510B 520 520G 530 530F (72) Inventor Song Sik Kim Seoul South Korea, Song Park, Oran-Dong, 101-1301 (72) Inventor Soo Yong Lee Seoul, South Korea, Impyeong-ku, Inam 3-Don, 121-26 (72) Inventor John Sang Park Republic of Korea Dagu, Susan-ku, Shinma-dong, Dasan, apartment. , 235-405 F term (reference) 4D006 GA03 GA06 GA07 JA70A KA03 KD06 KD14 KD30 MA21 MC16 MC39 MC62 PB14 PC52

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A chitosan dissolving device characterized by being a bag-like or cylindrical dissolving device provided with a porous membrane capable of containing chitosan therein and eluting the chitosan molecules to the outside. 2. The chitosan eluator according to claim 1, wherein the porous membrane is one or more membranes selected from the group consisting of a nanofiltration membrane, an ultrafiltration membrane, and a microfiltration membrane. 3. The chitosan dissolution apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the chitosan dissolution apparatus contains chitosan alone or as a mixture of chitosan and an organic acid. 4. The chitosan dissolution apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the mixture of the chitosan and the organic acid is in a solution state or a solid state obtained by drying the mixture. 5. The chitosan dissolution apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the organic acid is at least one selected from the group consisting of tartaric acid, glutaric acid, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and citric acid.