JP2001305501A - Method for treating waste liquid crystal panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an economical method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel capable of ideal recycling in which and waste is hardly discharged. SOLUTION: The method for treating the liquid crystal panel is provided with a polarizing plate releasing step (S1) to release the polarizing plates from the liquid crystal panel, a panel cutting step (S2) to cut glass substrates of the liquid crystal panel, a liquid crystal recovering step (S3) to recover the liquid crystal contained in the liquid crystal panel, a glass sorting step (S4) to sort out the cut glass substrates separately according to the kinds of the glasses, a glass crushing step (S5) to crush the glass substrates sorted out separately according to the kinds of the glasses and a thin film removing step (S6) to remove thin films formed on the glass substrates. Metals such as indium and chromium are recovered from the thin films. The glass consists of a single species of glass and easily reused for example, by adding to and mixing with a starting material for the glass.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to, for example, a waste liquid crystal panel discarded in a liquid crystal panel manufacturing plant and a waste liquid crystal discharged by disassembling a liquid crystal display device discarded in a liquid crystal display assembly plant. Panels, waste liquid crystal panels that are discharged after dismantling products discarded in factories that manufacture products that use liquid crystal, and information display devices and video display devices that are discarded in the market and disassembled and discharged The present invention relates to a waste liquid crystal panel processing method for processing a waste liquid crystal panel to be reused.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the amount of general waste and industrial waste has increased, and the remaining years of landfills have been concerned. In addition, due to increasing environmental awareness, more environmentally friendly industrial activities are required. Under these circumstances, some governments have requested reductions and promotion of recycling of industrial waste discharged from factories and waste of unnecessary home appliances and information devices. Is up. Such a demand is the same for a liquid crystal display device and a liquid crystal panel.

At present, most defective waste liquid crystal panels discharged from liquid crystal panel manufacturing factories are landfilled. In addition, liquid crystal display devices and liquid crystal panels contained in waste products such as home appliances and information devices may have a small amount of waste. It has been landfilled or incinerated with a large amount of shredder dust.

[0004] On the other hand, with respect to the same CRT as a display device, an appropriate recycling technique has already been proposed (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-267455), and some of them are implemented. This is a technique in which the CRT glass is cut to remove the electron gun and the phosphor, and then the obtained glass is culled, that is, crushed, and reused as CRT glass.

[0005]

For the above-mentioned CRTs and other home appliances and parts, appropriate treatment methods for recycling have been established, whereas for liquid crystal panels, such techniques have not been developed. Not yet established.

[0006] Because of the characteristics of the liquid crystal panel, which can be driven with less power and save resources, with the advance of the advanced information society, the production volume will increase rapidly and those with a large display area will increase in the future. Is predicted. Therefore, the amount of waste liquid crystal panels is expected to increase rapidly. However, in the landfill treatment and incineration treatment that are now possible due to the small volume of liquid crystal panels and the small production volume as compared with CRTs, It is almost certain that this will not be possible. For this reason, there is an urgent need to develop a liquid crystal panel recycling technology.

[0007] Since liquid crystal is a very expensive material, it is considered desirable to collect and recycle it by some method.

Further, in some liquid crystal panels, metallic chrome is used for a color filter substrate for the purpose of preventing reflection. Therefore, when this liquid crystal panel is directly landfilled, there is a voice that the chromium becomes hexavalent chromium due to the reaction with the acid rain and adversely affects the environment. Further, indium, which is a rare metal, is used for a transparent electrode of a liquid crystal panel. Therefore, for such a liquid crystal panel, it is desirable to perform a recovery process of chromium and indium.

Further, it is desirable to recycle glass, which accounts for the majority of the weight of the liquid crystal panel, from the viewpoint of conserving resources. However, the glass used for the liquid crystal panel has a larger number of manufacturers and types (kinds) than those of the CRT. For this reason, in order to reuse the glass taken out of the liquid crystal panel, it is necessary to perform a sorting process to sort the glass by type,
An effective method for extracting glass from a liquid crystal panel and sorting the various kinds of glass in a short time and economically has not been developed yet.

[0010] For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-197641 proposes a method of recovering glass by removing films from the glass surface of a liquid crystal panel. However, in this method, after crushing the glass, the glass piece is treated with an abrasive in a tank, and further chemically cleaned. That is, in this method, there is no study on sorting glass by its type.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ideal (almost closed) recycling method that generates little waste by collecting and reusing liquid crystal. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel that can be reused.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention comprises the steps of: separating a polarizing plate from a liquid crystal panel; and cutting a glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel. Panel cutting step, a liquid crystal collecting step of collecting liquid crystal contained in the liquid crystal panel, a sorting step of sorting the cut glass substrates by glass type, and removing a thin film formed on the glass substrate. And a thin film removing step.

According to the above configuration, since the liquid crystal is recovered without being subjected to the heat treatment, the deterioration can be prevented.
Therefore, high-quality liquid crystal, which is an expensive material,
It can be collected easily and inexpensively. In addition, the thin film can be collected simply and inexpensively and reliably, and the metal content of the metal powder obtained by collecting the thin film can be increased, so that metals such as chromium and indium can be removed from the metal powder. It can be recovered and regenerated economically and with high purity. Furthermore, since the glass piece (glass substrate) obtained by removing the thin film is a single type of glass, it is easy to reuse the glass piece as a glass material.

Therefore, according to the above configuration, liquid crystal, which is an expensive material, can be reused, and glass pieces and metal can be reproduced and used. In addition, the liquid crystal panel after cutting the glass substrate can be reused as a quartzite substitute material or a tile material. Therefore, ideal (almost closed) recycling (reuse) with little waste is possible, and an economical waste liquid crystal panel processing method can be provided.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention is characterized in that, in the panel cutting step, the glass substrate is cut without cutting the sealing material enclosing the liquid crystal. I have. According to the above configuration,
Since it is possible to prevent cutting chips of the sealing material from being mixed into the collected liquid crystal, the liquid crystal can be collected in a state of high purity.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention comprises the steps of:
It is characterized by performing a panel cutting step. According to the above configuration, it is possible to prevent the cutting waste of the polarizing plate from being mixed into the collected liquid crystal, so that the liquid crystal can be collected in a highly pure state. Further, the polarizing plate can be reused as a pulverized coal substitute material or fuel.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention is characterized in that a liquid crystal dissolving solvent is used in the liquid crystal recovery step. According to the above configuration, the liquid crystal can be collected simply and reliably.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention is characterized in that the liquid crystal is scraped off in the liquid crystal recovery step. According to the above configuration, the liquid crystal can be collected simply and reliably.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the waste liquid crystal panel processing method of the present invention is characterized in that in the sorting step, the type of glass is sorted using fluorescent X-rays. According to the above configuration, the sorting of the glass in a short time, reliably,
It can be done economically.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention includes a crushing step of crushing a glass substrate selected for each type of glass, as a step before the thin film removing step. It is characterized by. According to the above configuration, it is easy to reuse a glass piece obtained by the thin film removing step as a glass material. Also, since the glass pieces are in the state of glass cullet,
Space required for transportation and reprocessing can be reduced, and storage and transportation can be easily performed.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention is characterized in that the thin film is mechanically peeled and collected in the thin film removing step. According to the above configuration, the film formed on the glass substrate can be reliably removed.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
It is as follows.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a longitudinal sectional view of a liquid crystal panel serving as a waste liquid crystal panel. This liquid crystal panel is, for example, a waste liquid crystal panel discarded in a liquid crystal panel manufacturing factory,
Waste liquid crystal panels that are disassembled and disassembled in liquid crystal display device assembly factories and discharged, and waste liquid crystals that are disassembled and disassembled in liquid crystal product manufacturing plants. Panels and waste liquid crystal panels that are discharged after dismantling information display devices and video display devices that are disposed of in the market. The liquid crystal panel shown in FIG.
An active liquid crystal panel such as an FT liquid crystal panel. still,
In the figure, active elements are omitted.
Further, the processing method according to the present embodiment is similarly applicable to a duty liquid crystal panel.

As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid crystal panel has two glass substrates 1.1 having a thickness of about 0.7 to 1.1 mm, which are opposed to each other. These glass substrates 1.1
A seal resin body (seal material) 2 is provided between these inner surfaces along the periphery thereof. A liquid crystal is filled (enclosed) in a region sealed by the glass substrate 1.1 and the sealing resin body 2 so that
The liquid crystal layer 3 having a thickness of about 6 μm is formed. A polarizing plate 4 having a thickness of about 0.2 to 0.4 mm is attached to the outer surface of each glass substrate 1 with an adhesive. The polarizing plate 4 is made of an organic material.

On the inner surface of one glass substrate 1, a color filter 5, an antireflection film 6, a transparent electrode 7, and an alignment film 8 are provided.
Are formed. The color filter 5 is made of a material mainly composed of an organic substance. The anti-reflection film 6 is made of a thin film of chromium metal or the like. The transparent electrode 7 is made of a thin film containing indium or the like. The alignment film 8 is made of an organic material. On the inner surface of the other glass substrate 1, a pixel electrode 9, a bus electrode 10, and an alignment film 8 are formed. The pixel electrode 9 is made of a transparent thin film containing indium or the like. The bus electrode 10 is made of a thin film of any metal such as tantalum, aluminum or titanium. The thicknesses of the color filter 5, the antireflection film 6, the transparent electrode 7, the alignment film 8, the pixel electrode 9, and the bus electrode 10 are sufficiently smaller than the thickness of the glass substrate 1.

The liquid crystal panel processing method according to the present embodiment includes a polarizing plate peeling step of peeling (removing) a polarizing plate from a liquid crystal panel, a panel cutting step of cutting a glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel, A liquid crystal collecting step of collecting contained liquid crystal, a glass sorting step of sorting the cut glass substrate by glass type, and a thin film removing step of removing a thin film formed on the glass substrate, preferably, Prepared in order. In addition, the liquid crystal panel processing method according to the present embodiment includes, as necessary, a glass crushing step of crushing a glass substrate selected according to the type of glass, as a step before the thin film removing step. Next, a processing method (process) of the waste liquid crystal panel for recycling when the liquid crystal panel having the polarizing plate 4 is used as a waste liquid crystal panel will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the method for processing a liquid crystal panel (a liquid crystal panel with a polarizing plate) according to the present embodiment, first, the polarizing plates 4 are separated (removed) from the liquid crystal panel (S1, Polarizing plate peeling step). A more specific method of peeling the polarizing plate will be described later.

Next, the glass substrate 1.1 of the liquid crystal panel was used.
Is cut (S2, panel cutting step). As a result, the liquid crystal sealed in the liquid crystal panel is exposed.
The liquid crystal is collected (S3, liquid crystal collecting step). Therefore, liquid crystal, which is an expensive material, can be easily and inexpensively collected. A more specific method of cutting the panel and collecting the liquid crystal will be described later.

Next, the glass substrate 1 obtained in S2 is irradiated with soft X-rays, and the fluorescent X-rays emitted from the glass are analyzed using, for example, a fluorescent X-ray analyzer. That is, using the fluorescent X-ray analysis method,
Are sorted by type (kind) (S4, glass sorting step). Thereafter, the glass substrate 1 is crushed (S5, glass crushing step). It is not preferable to perform the glass crushing step of S5 before performing the glass sorting step of S4, because it becomes very difficult to sort the glass using a fluorescent X-ray analyzer. A more specific method of the glass sorting and the glass crushing will be described later.

Subsequently, for example, a crushed material (a piece of glass with a thin film) is placed in a cylindrical container, and the container is capped. Then, the container is violently vibrated in the vertical and horizontal directions or rotated to rotate the glass. A metal film or a metal oxide film remaining on the substrate 1, that is, a thin film such as the antireflection film 6, the transparent electrode 7, the pixel electrode 9, and the bus electrode 10 is mechanically (physical) removed from the glass substrate 1. It is peeled (removed) by a method. Thereafter, the thin film is separated and removed, whereby the thin film and glass (glass substrate 1) are separately collected (S6, thin film removing step).

In the polarizing plate peeling step S1, the polarizing plate 4 formed on the glass substrate 1 is peeled (removed) and collected by a mechanical (physical) method. As a specific method of peeling the polarizing plate 4, for example,
After partially exfoliating one end (for example, a corner) of the polarizing plate 4 using a tool such as a cutter, the entire exfoliated polarizing plate 4 is exfoliated by pulling the exfoliated portion with an appropriate force as shown in FIG. ) Methods. Alternatively, the polarizing plate 4 may be peeled off using a commercially available polarizing plate peeling device, and the polarizing plate 4 may be peeled off manually. Since the liquid crystal is not subjected to heat treatment in the polarizing plate peeling step, the deterioration can be prevented, and therefore, the liquid crystal can be recovered in a high quality state. Further, since the glass substrate 1 is cut after the polarizing plate 4 is peeled off, it is possible to prevent the cutting waste of the polarizing plate 4 from being mixed into the liquid crystal collected in the liquid crystal collecting step.

However, the adhesive used when attaching the polarizing plate 4 to the glass substrate 1 generally shows a tendency (phenomenon) that the adhesive strength to glass increases with time. Therefore, when peeling off the polarizing plate 4, the speed and direction of pulling the polarizing plate 4 should be sufficiently adjusted so that the polarizing plate 4 does not break off in the middle or the adhesive does not remain on the glass substrate 1. It is important to be careful. Even if a part of the polarizing plate 4 and a part of the adhesive remain on the glass substrate 1, the polarizing plate 4 and the adhesive adversely affect the panel cutting step in S2 and the liquid crystal collecting step in S3. Has almost no effect. In addition, there is no adverse effect when regenerating and using metal powder and glass cullet.

As shown in FIG. 1, the recovered polarizing plate 4 can be suitably reused (material recycling), for example, as a substitute for pulverized coal in a blast furnace, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, thermal recycling is possible by burning in an incinerator and utilizing combustion heat.

In the panel cutting step of S2, for example, the glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel is cut without cutting the sealing resin body 2 which is provided along the peripheral edge of the glass substrate 1.1 and encloses the liquid crystal. Cut 1.1.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, four sides of the one glass substrate 1 inside the seal resin body 2 are arranged along the seal resin body 2 (for example, the location of arrow C in the figure), for example, Cutting into a rectangular shape using a cutting tool such as a diamond saw or a glass cutter (so-called dicing or scribing). Similarly, four sides of the other glass substrate 1 inside the sealing resin body 2 are cut into a rectangular shape along the sealing resin body 2. Thereafter, by applying an external force as needed, the glass substrate 1.1 having a size slightly smaller than the original size (hereinafter, for convenience of description, the same reference numeral as the original glass substrate) is attached to the liquid crystal panel. Disconnect and remove from When the glass substrate 1 is removed, the sealed liquid crystal layer 3 is opened, and the liquid crystal is exposed while being attached to the glass substrate 1. The diamond saw is obtained by sintering diamond fine particles on the periphery of a flat disk, and is commercially available in an apparatus state, and is generally used for dicing a wafer.

Since the glass substrate 1 is cut without cutting the sealing resin body 2, it is possible to prevent the cutting waste of the sealing resin body 2 from being mixed with the liquid crystal collected in the liquid crystal collecting step. . Further, at a portion (near the resin body) of the liquid crystal layer 3 which is in contact with the sealing resin body 2 or the injection port sealing resin body (not shown), the uncured material (residual monomer) of the resin body elutes into the liquid crystal. However, since the inside of the glass substrate 1 is cut away from the sealing resin body 2, it is necessary to prevent the uncured resin body from entering the liquid crystal recovered in the liquid crystal recovery step. Can be. Therefore, the liquid crystal can be recovered in a high purity state.

On the other hand, the liquid crystal panel after the glass substrate 1.1 has been cut in the panel cutting step, that is, a large amount of glass cut pieces (peripheral portions including the sealing resin body 2) remaining in a frame shape in the liquid crystal panel are large. because it contains the SiO _2, it was crushed or ground to a suitable size, as shown in FIG. 1, as silica stone substitute material is introduced for example in non-ferrous smelting furnace, or as a tile material, suitably re Can be used. When glass cut pieces are used as a substitute for silica, the chemical reaction in the non-ferrous smelting furnace causes
Since iO ₂ is bonded to iron or the like, impurities such as iron existing in the non-ferrous smelting furnace can be removed as slag.
In addition, although organic substances, such as the sealing resin body 2 and liquid crystal, are mixed in the glass cut pieces, the organic substances serve as combustion materials, which can contribute to energy saving when heating the nonferrous smelting furnace. Further, since the organic matter is burned in a non-ferrous smelting furnace having a temperature higher than 1000 ° C., the organic matter can be safely treated. Further, chromium used in some liquid crystal panels is converted into chromium oxide and is rendered harmless, so that it can be processed safely.

In the liquid crystal recovery step of S2, the liquid crystal adhered to the glass substrate 1 is recovered by, for example, dissolving using a solvent that dissolves the liquid crystal, or by scraping. This allows
Liquid crystals can be collected easily and reliably.

Specific examples of the above-mentioned solvent include acetone and isopropyl alcohol (IPA), but are not particularly limited. As a specific method of dissolving and recovering the liquid crystal, for example, a solvent is applied to the glass substrate 1 to wash the liquid crystal, the solvent containing the liquid crystal is collected in a collection container, and the solvent is removed by distillation under reduced pressure or the like. To obtain a liquid crystal.

As a specific method for scraping and collecting the liquid crystal, for example, as shown in FIG.
6, the surface of the glass substrate 1 is scraped in the direction of arrow D in the figure, and the attached liquid crystal layer 3 is scraped and collected. The plate 16 is desirably formed of a material which is softer than the thin film formed on the glass substrate 1 and which is hardly worn, specifically, for example, a fluororesin, Plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene are preferred. The use of the plate-like material 16 made of the above material can prevent foreign matter such as a thin film from being mixed into the collected liquid crystal.

In the liquid crystal recovery step, the liquid crystal is filtered in order to remove cutting debris such as the glass substrate 1 mixed as foreign matter into the recovered liquid crystal. Thereby, cutting chips are easily separated and removed from the liquid crystal. In the panel cutting step and the liquid crystal recovery step, the liquid crystal is not subjected to a heat treatment, so that the deterioration can be prevented. Therefore, the liquid crystal can be recovered in a high quality state,
As shown in FIG. 1, it is suitable for reuse. The collected liquid crystal may be further subjected to removal or purification of impurities as necessary. In addition, it is desirable that the glass substrate 1 after collecting the liquid crystal be washed in order to easily perform the glass selection using the fluorescent X-ray analysis method.

In the glass sorting step of S4, the glass on the glass substrate 1 is sorted by product type using X-ray fluorescence analysis. Glass has a different composition depending on the glass maker or the type of glass or product number. Therefore, in order to reuse the recovered glass, for example, as a material for the glass substrate 1, it is necessary to sort a wide variety of glasses by product type. Also, when the recovered glass is reused, for example, as a material for general glass, to a certain extent,
It may be required to sort the glass by type.

Here, Table 1 shows a typical chemical composition of glass used as a material of the glass substrate 1 of the liquid crystal panel. The glass type “S” in the table is soda glass. Since this glass contains sodium and potassium, it can be easily identified using a fluorescent X-ray analyzer. Glass types "A" to "E" are mainly TF
It is non-alkali glass called aluminoborosilicate glass used for T liquid crystal panels. This glass is S
It is characterized by containing iO ₂ , Al ₂ O ₃ , B ₂ O ₃ and BaO as main components.

[0043]

[Table 1]

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part of a general energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analyzer. X-ray fluorescence analyzers
There are a wavelength dispersion type and an energy dispersion type, and both can be used. Here, an inexpensive energy dispersion type will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 6, an X-ray fluorescence analyzer 61 as an identification / selection apparatus has a table 62 and a measurement chamber 64 sealed by an openable / closable bell jar 63. The table 62 is provided with a measuring table (not shown) on which an object to be measured is placed, an X-ray tube 65 for irradiating soft X-rays, a fluorescent X-ray sensor 66, and the like. Further, a vacuum pump 67 is attached to the table 62 in order to increase the measurement accuracy by reducing the pressure inside the measurement chamber 64.

In the above configuration, a liquid crystal panel (liquid crystal panel with a thin film) as an object to be measured is placed on a measuring table.
At this time, the liquid crystal panel is positioned so that the soft X-ray is directly irradiated on the surface of the glass substrate 1 where the thin film 1a is not formed (the surface on which the polarizing plate 4 is formed), and the liquid crystal panel is placed on the measuring table. Place on. The thin film 1a indicates the antireflection film 6 and the transparent electrode 7, or the pixel electrode 9 and the bus electrode 10.

After the pressure inside the measurement chamber 64 is reduced, the X-ray tube 6
When the LED 5 is turned on, soft X-rays traveling in the direction of arrow A in the figure are irradiated on the glass substrate 1, and fluorescent X-rays having energy specific to each element contained in the glass substrate 1 are emitted in the direction of arrow B in the figure. Emitted to

By counting the fluorescent X-rays for each energy by the fluorescent X-ray sensor 66, it is possible to measure (analyze) what elements are contained in the glass substrate 1 and in what proportion. . Therefore, for example, by previously examining the chemical composition of glass for each product type, and comparing those values with the measured values of the glass substrate 1, the glass substrate 1 can be reliably and quickly set for each product type. It can be sorted economically. In the present invention, the glass used as the material for the glass substrate 1 is relatively easy to identify and sort because the chemical composition of the glass for each type is known in advance. In addition, this identification / sorting can be performed only by comparing measured values of some elements because of the characteristics of each glass type. Thereby, identification and selection can be performed in a shorter time.

In general, energy-dispersive fluorescent light
X-ray analyzer cannot measure oxygen and boron
These elements are designated as residual components. However
In this case, as is clear from Table 1,
SiO as chemical composition_Two, Al_TwoO _Three, BaO, CaO,
SrO, MgO, As_TwoO_ThreeBy measuring etc.
It can be seen that the glass substrate 1 can be easily sorted.
You. Note that the glass types "B" and "E" in Table 1
The chemical composition is almost identical, so it is difficult to sort
No. On the other hand, if the chemical compositions are almost the same,
Problems in reusing glass, even if you cannot sort
It can not be said that.

In the analysis of glass using the fluorescent X-ray analyzer 61, although the measurement error generally increases, the measurement error is reduced in the present invention because the glass substrate 1 to be measured has excellent flatness. Since the types of the glass substrates 1 are limited and the chemical composition of the glass for each type is known in advance, there is no practical problem in performing identification and sorting. Further, since the chemical composition of the glass for each product type is known in advance, it is possible to identify and sort by analyzing a part of the chemical composition as described above.

Further, a thin film 1a, that is, an anti-reflection film 6
In addition, since the transparent electrode 7 or the pixel electrode 9 and the bus electrode 10 are formed, when irradiating with soft X-rays, fluorescent X-rays caused by these thin films are generated as noise.
However, since soft X-rays applied to various thin films pass through the glass substrate 1, a part of the soft X-rays is absorbed by the glass and the intensity is reduced. Therefore, the intensity of the fluorescent X-ray generated as noise is lower than the intensity of the fluorescent X-ray emitted from the glass substrate 1. Further, the composition is completely different between glass and the above-mentioned thin film (excluding the aluminum component). Therefore, even if the above noise occurs,
There is no practical problem for sorting.

A commercially available fluorescent X-ray analyzer, which is an identification / selection device, requires a simple addition of a load / unload mechanism (loader / unloader) and a positioning mechanism to this fluorescent X-ray analyzer. Thereby, automation can be easily performed.

In the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel, a glass sorting step is performed after a polarizing plate peeling step, a panel cutting step, and a liquid crystal collecting step, so that glass sorting can be performed in a short time, reliably, and economically. Can be done. That is, in the processing method of the waste liquid crystal panel, the above S1 to S
Through each of the steps 3, the occurrence of bending deformation or unintended cracking (crushing) in the glass substrate 1 is minimized, and a constant shape (for example, a rectangular shape) is maintained.
Therefore, the sorting of the glass substrate 1 by the X-ray fluorescence analyzer 61 can be easily performed. If the glass substrate 1 is crushed before performing the glass sorting, the number of measurements by the fluorescent X-ray analyzer 61 increases, so that it takes a long time for the measurement and the sorting operation itself becomes difficult.

The glass crushing step of S5 is performed for each glass substrate 1 of a single type. In the glass crushing step of S5, by using crushers of various types commercially available,
The glass substrate 1 is crushed to obtain a glass cullet (glass piece) as a crushed material. The type of the crusher is not particularly limited, but from the viewpoint that the generation of dust is small and the crusher can be easily crushed, does not adversely affect the environment, and the running cost is inexpensive. Crushers of the type are more preferred. The crusher is suitable for being subjected to the thin film removing step of S6, and it is easy to obtain a crushed material having a size of several centimeters in size, the generation ratio of fine powder is small, and the crushed material is reused as glass cullet. It also has advantages such as being easy and being able to increase the metal content of the metal powder obtained by collecting the thin film.

In the thin film removing step of S6, a ball mill or the like generally used as a fine pulverizer is diverted.
A thin film containing a large amount of metal is mechanically peeled (removed) from the glass substrate 1, and both are separately separated and collected. By performing peeling by a mechanical method, the thin film formed on the glass substrate 1 can be surely removed.

More specifically, for example, a container with a lid (sealed container) made of a hard material such as metal or ceramic is used. The crushed material crushed to a size of several cm is put in a container, closed with a lid, and then vibrated (shake) vigorously in the vertical and horizontal directions. As a result, the crushed materials in the container rub against each other or collide with each other, and the surfaces thereof are ground, so that the thin films (metals) such as the antireflection film 6, the transparent electrode 7, the pixel electrode 9, and the bus electrode 10 are formed. Film or metal oxide film) can be mechanically peeled from glass as metal powder (grinding waste). Further, in order to increase the grinding speed and shorten the processing time, a plurality of balls made of a hard material such as metal or ceramic and larger than the crushed material may be put in a container and vibrated.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, a ball mill 41 having a cylindrical container and a lid made of a hard material such as metal or ceramic is used, and two rubber rollers 51. The ball mill 41
May be rotated. The rubber roller 51 is rotatably driven by a motor (not shown) in the direction of arrow E in the figure, and the rubber roller 52 is freely rotated (followed). Therefore, when the ball mill 41 in which the crushed material crushed to a size of several centimeters is placed in a container is placed on the rubber rollers 51 and 52 and the rubber roller 51 is driven to rotate, the ball mill 41 is moved in the direction of arrow F in the figure ( (The direction opposite to the E direction). As a result, the crushed materials in the container 42 rub against each other or collide with each other, and the surface thereof is ground, so that the thin film can be mechanically peeled from the glass as metal powder (grinding waste).

Further, in order to increase the grinding speed and shorten the processing time, a plurality of balls made of a hard material such as metal or ceramic and larger than the crushed material may be put in the container 42 and rotated.

The metal powder and the glass cullet (glass piece) taken out of the container with a lid or the ball mill 41 can be easily separated by, for example, classification using a sieve or the like. By performing the above-described thin film removing step, as shown in FIG. 1, the metal powder and the glass cullet are separately collected as the collected items. The glass cullet is
If necessary, it may be washed.

The metal powder recovered by performing the thin film removing step contains a relatively high content of rare metals such as indium and chromium, which are useful metals. Therefore, since these metals can be economically and highly purely recovered and regenerated from metal powder, material recycling becomes possible, which can contribute to resource saving, and
There is no risk of adversely affecting the environment.

On the other hand, the glass cullet recovered by performing the thin film removing step has already been sorted by glass type in the sorting step. That is, the glass cullet is a single kind of glass and has a chemical composition that is not different from that of the raw glass for the glass substrate. Therefore, the glass cullet can be reused (material recycling) by being added to and mixed with the raw glass, or replaced with the raw glass. When reused, for example, the glass cullet may be melted together with the raw material glass in a melting furnace. Further, the recovered glass cullet can be reused, for example, as a material for general glass. In addition, since the glass substrate of the waste liquid crystal panel is collected in a state of a glass cullet, the space required for storage, transportation and reprocessing can be reduced, and storage and transportation can be easily performed. Can be.

According to the processing method according to the present embodiment,
The liquid crystal, which is an expensive material, can be reused, and the metal powder and glass cullet can be reproduced and used. Further, the polarizing plate 4 can be reused as a pulverized coal substitute material or fuel. Furthermore, the glass substrate 1.1
The liquid crystal panel (the glass cut piece remaining in the shape of a frame) after cutting the glass can be reused as a quartzite substitute material or a tile material. That is, each collected material can be obtained in a state where it can be easily recycled. Therefore, ideal (almost closed) recycling (reuse) with little waste is possible, and an economical waste liquid crystal panel processing method can be provided.

[0063]

As described above, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention comprises a polarizing plate peeling step of peeling a polarizing plate, a panel cutting step of cutting a glass substrate of a liquid crystal panel, and a liquid crystal of recovering liquid crystal. The configuration includes a collection step, a sorting step of sorting the glass substrates by glass type, and a thin film removing step of removing a thin film formed on the glass substrate.

As a result, the liquid crystal, which is an expensive material, can be reused, and glass pieces and metal can be reproduced and used. Further, the liquid crystal panel after cutting the glass substrate can be reused. Therefore, it is possible to achieve ideal (almost closed) recycling (reuse) with little waste and to provide an economical method for treating waste liquid crystal panels.

As described above, the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention has a configuration in which a glass substrate is cut without cutting a sealing material enclosing liquid crystal. Thereby, there is an effect that the liquid crystal can be collected in a state of high purity.

The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention has a structure in which the polarizing plate peeling step is performed and then the panel cutting step is performed. Thereby, the liquid crystal can be recovered in a state of high purity, and the polarizing plate can be reused.

The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention has a configuration using a solvent that dissolves liquid crystal as described above. This produces an effect that the liquid crystal can be collected simply and reliably.

The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention has a configuration in which the liquid crystal is scraped as described above. This produces an effect that the liquid crystal can be collected simply and reliably.

The waste liquid crystal panel processing method of the present invention has a configuration in which the type of glass is selected using fluorescent X-rays as described above. Thereby, there is an effect that the sorting of the glass can be performed reliably and economically in a short time.

As described above, the waste liquid crystal panel processing method of the present invention has a crushing step of crushing a glass substrate as a step before the thin film removing step. Thereby, there is an effect that it is easy to reuse the obtained glass piece as a glass material.

The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to the present invention is characterized in that the thin film is mechanically peeled off and collected as described above. According to the above configuration, there is an effect that the film formed on the glass substrate can be reliably removed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing schematic steps of a method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a liquid crystal panel processed by the above processing method.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state where a polarizing plate peeling step is being performed in the processing method.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state where a panel cutting step is being performed in the processing method.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing a state in which a liquid crystal recovery step is being performed in the processing method.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a schematic configuration of a fluorescent X-ray analyzer used in a glass sorting step in the processing method.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a ball mill used in a thin film removing step in the processing method is mounted on two rubber rollers arranged in parallel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass substrate 2 Seal resin body (seal material) 3 Liquid crystal layer 4 Polarizer 5 Color filter 6 Anti-reflection film 7 Transparent electrode 8 Alignment film 9 Pixel electrode 10 Bus electrode 16 Plate 41 Ball mill 61 X-ray fluorescence analyzer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H088 FA07 FA22 FA23 FA28 HA01 HA02 HA03 HA06 HA18 MA16 MA20 2H090 JC20 LA01 LA04 LA09 4D004 AA24 BA02 BA03 BA05 BA06 CA02 CA04 CA08 CA12 CA34 CA41 CB13 CC04

Claims (8)

[Claims] A polarizing plate separating step of separating a polarizing plate from a liquid crystal panel; a panel cutting step of cutting a glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel; a liquid crystal collecting step of collecting liquid crystal contained in the liquid crystal panel; A method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel, comprising: a sorting step of sorting a glass substrate according to a type of glass; and a thin film removing step of removing a thin film formed on the glass substrate. 2. The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein in the panel cutting step, the glass substrate is cut without cutting the sealing material enclosing the liquid crystal. 3. The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein a panel cutting step is performed after the polarizing plate peeling step. 4. A method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein a solvent that dissolves the liquid crystal is used in the liquid crystal recovery step. 5. The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal is scraped off in the liquid crystal collecting step. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the selection step, the type of glass is selected using fluorescent X-rays.
Or the method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to 5. 7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising a crushing step of crushing a glass substrate selected for each type of glass, as a step before the thin film removing step. Liquid crystal panel processing method. 8. The method for treating a waste liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein in the thin film removing step, the thin film is mechanically peeled and collected.