JP2001342287A - Method for recycling foamed polystyrene resin and apparatus for recycling treatment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for recycling a foamed polystyrene resin by which the foamed polystyrene resin can be recycled without causing deterioration by heat and an apparatus for recycling treatment used for practicing the method for recycling. SOLUTION: A molded product of the foamed polystyrene such as a tray for foods is charged into a volume reducing solvent to provide a viscous material, which is then charged into a separator 2 while being stirred. Steam is added from an addition means 23 to the separator 2 to evaporate and separate the volume reducing agent and water from the viscous material at a lower temperature than that of the volume reducing agent by an azeotropic phenomenon. During the process, the viscous material is cut with a finely dividing means 22 such as a cutter in the separator 2. The volume reducing agent and water are respectively recovered from the mixed evaporated material of the evaporated and separated volume reducing agent and water and reutilized for recycling treatment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for regenerating a styrene resin from a styrofoam resin, and a regeneration apparatus used for carrying out the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as a method of regenerating a styrene resin from a molded article of a foamed styrene resin, a method of heating and melting the molded article, or reducing the volume of the molded article with a solvent, and then separating the solvent by distillation. There are methods.

[0003]

However, among the above-mentioned regenerating methods, in the case of hot melting, various foreign substances adhering to the styrofoam molded product, for example, labels, invoices, gum tape, other residue of contents, dust, etc. And the like cannot be separated by being mixed in the melt, and the use of the regenerated material is extremely limited.

[0004] Further, the volume of the product reduced by the volume reducing agent can be filtered off by setting the viscosity to a suitable level, so that the value of recycled products can be increased. Here, the boiling point of the volume reducing agent is a very important factor. That is, while the melting temperature of the styrene resin is about 200 ° C., it is necessary to heat the styrene resin to 220 ° C. or more in order to evaporate and separate the volume reducing agent, and the heat at this time promotes the deterioration of the styrene resin. There's a problem. Therefore, if a low boiling point solvent such as toluene or xylene is used as the volume reducing agent, the deterioration of the styrene resin can be prevented, but since the boiling point is lower than the melting temperature of the styrene resin, the low boiling point solvent evaporates. Then, the styrene resin becomes a foam again. Further, low-boiling solvents such as toluene and xylene are unsuitable for use because they have a large volatilization loss during use and a high risk of ignition. Generally, it is appropriate to use a volume reducing agent having a boiling point of about 160 to 190 ° C., but in order to reduce the residual volume reducing agent in the distillation step as much as possible, distillation under reduced pressure at a temperature of 220 ° C. to 240 ° C. , The molecular weight is reduced by as much as 20% to 50%, which limits the use of recycled products.

[0005] In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide:
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for regenerating a styrofoam resin capable of regenerating the styrofoam resin without causing deterioration due to heat, and a regeneration processing apparatus used for implementing the regenerating method.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method for regenerating styrofoam resin, wherein the styrofoam resin is softened without dissolving and is reduced in volume by using a volume reducing agent capable of reducing the volume. After preparing the resin into a viscous material, incompatible with the volume reducing agent, and adding a low-boiling substance having a lower boiling point than the volume reducing agent to the viscous material, the boiling point of the volume reducing agent or less And evaporating and separating the volume reducing agent from the viscous substance and recovering the volume reducing agent and the substance having a low boiling point, which are separated by evaporation.

In the present invention, as a volume reducing agent capable of softening and reducing the volume of the expanded styrene resin without dissolving,
For example, it is possible to use at least a first component having solubility in styrene foam resin and a second component having no solubility in styrene resin, and by using such a volume reducing agent, The viscous material becomes a rice cake-like intermediate product.

In the present invention, a liquid (low-boiling substance) which is incompatible with the volume reducing agent of the expanded styrene resin is used in the distillation step. The volume reducing agent can be removed under a temperature condition much lower than the boiling point. For this reason, it is possible to regenerate the styrene foam resin without deteriorating it. In addition, since a low-boiling substance that is incompatible with the volume reducing agent is used, it is easy to recover the volume reducing agent from the collected mixed evaporate, and reuse the volume reducing agent. It is possible to

In the present invention, the substance having a low boiling point is preferably water added in a steam state.

In the present invention, the volume reducing agent is separated by evaporation.
It is preferable that the heating temperature of the viscous material at the time of recovering the mixed evaporate of the volume reducing agent and the low-boiling substance is 150 ° C. or lower.

In the present invention, the operation of liquefying the mixed evaporate of the volume reducing agent and the substance having a low boiling point, which is separated by evaporation, and the operation of separating the volume reducing agent from the liquefied material of the mixed evaporant are performed by It is preferable to perform a volume reducing agent recovery step of recovering the volume reducing agent from the mixed evaporant.

In the present invention, the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent is preferably performed while the viscous material is subdivided. As described above, when the volume reducing agent is evaporated and separated from the viscous material while refining the viscous material by using a high-speed rotation of a mixer or the like, re-foaming can be prevented. Can be obtained.

[0013] In the present invention, the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent and the recovery of the mixed evaporant are performed in a separator, and the addition of the viscous substance into the separator is performed by the viscous substance. Is preferably carried out by continuously adding a small amount of

In the present invention, the continuous addition of the viscous substance into the separation device in small amounts may be performed, for example, by adding the viscous substance in a finely divided state or by linearizing the viscous substance. Can be performed.

In the present invention, there is provided a filler adding step of adding a filler to the viscous material before, during, or after the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent, or after the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent. Is preferred. The filler used here is, for example, wood powder, ceramic powder, resin, lubricant,
It is at least one selected from pigments, stabilizers, paper powder, and fibers.

In the present invention, the regeneration processing apparatus used for carrying out the method for regenerating styrofoam resin includes a regeneration processing object containing a regeneration processing additive liquid capable of softening and reducing the volume of the styrofoam resin without dissolving it. In addition to a separation device to be charged, the separation device is provided with a low-boiling substance for causing a reduction in boiling point due to azeotropy or the like in an additive liquid for regeneration treatment added to an object of regeneration treatment. Means for adding a substance having a low boiling point to be added to the inside, a means for subdividing a substance to be regenerated in the separation apparatus, and a mixed evaporate of an additive for regeneration treatment and a substance having a low boiling point is recovered. A mixed evaporant recovery means and a heating means for heating the inside of the separation device are provided.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the apparatus further comprises a regenerated material supply means for supplying the regenerated material to be separated or linearized containing the regenerating additive liquid into the separation device.

In the present invention, the mixed evaporant recovery means includes a liquefaction means for liquefying the mixed evaporate, a tank for containing the liquefied matter liquefied by the liquefaction means, and a separate regenerating process in the tank. It is preferable to provide a collecting means for collecting an additive for regeneration treatment from the additive and the substance having a low boiling point.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to the drawings, a description will be given of a method and apparatus for regenerating styrofoam resin to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the overall configuration of a styrofoam resin recycling apparatus to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a configuration of a separation device used in the styrene foam resin regeneration treatment device shown in FIG.

The method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to the present invention comprises the steps of: reducing the volume of the styrofoam resin to a rice cake-like viscous material by using a volume reducing agent having a volume reducing action on the styrofoam resin; Adding a low-boiling substance (low-boiling additive) having a lower boiling point than the volume reducing agent to the viscous substance, separating the volume reducing agent from the viscous substance, and separating A mixture recovery step of recovering the reduced volume agent together with the substance having a low boiling point (volume reduction agent recovery step).

Examples of the volume reducing agent used herein include xylene, ethylbenzene, mixed C9 aromatics, isopropylbenzene, diethylbenzene, sec-butylbenzene, triethylbenzene, polyethylbenzene, hydrocarbons such as high-boiling aromatics, and chlorides. Butyl chloride such as butyl, ethylene dichloride, propylene dichloride, dicyclopentane,
Chloride hydrocarbons such as 1,1,2-trichloroethane, 1,2,3-trichloropropane, 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, monochlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, trichlorobenzene, monochlorotoluene, and methylcyclohexanone N-octane, n-nonane with respect to a ketone such as methyl isobutyl ketone, a terpene compound such as d-limonene, pinene, dipentene, or a first component containing one or two or more thereof. , N-decane, isodecane, aliphatic hydrocarbons such as n-undecane, alcohols such as n-hexanol, n-heptanol, n-octanol, 2-ethylhexanol, nonanol, trimethylhexanol,
Ethylene glycol, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, diethylene glycol, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, propylene glycol, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monoethyl ether,
Glycols such as dipropylene glycol and dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether;
A second component containing more than one kind is used in combination. Here, the first
Is soluble in the expanded styrene resin, but the second component is not soluble in the expanded styrene resin. By using a volume reducing agent in which such components are used in combination, the foamed styrene resin can be softened and reduced to a rice cake-like viscous substance (intermediate product) without dissolving.

In the recycling method of the present invention, first, the volume of the foamed styrene resin molded product is reduced to a rice cake-like viscous material with a volume reducing agent. The volume reducing agent used at this time has a flash point of 40 ° C. or more and a boiling point of 1 in consideration of volatilization loss and danger of ignition.
Those having a temperature of 50 to 200 ° C are preferred. When performing this volume reduction operation, the concentration of the expanded polystyrene resin is 30 to 45.
% Is appropriate. Although there is no problem even at a high concentration, considering the filtration step, the viscosity is easily set to about 50 to 100 ps at room temperature, so the above concentration range is preferable.

Next, the addition of a low-boiling substance which is incompatible with the volume reducing agent to the viscous substance, and the temperature condition below the boiling point of the volume reducing agent utilizing the low-boiling phenomenon caused by the low-boiling substance. A mixed evaporant recovery step of recovering the evaporating mixture while evaporating and separating the volume reducing agent from the viscous material of the styrene foam resin will be described below.

The resin regeneration by the separation of the volume reducing agent and the recovery of the mixed evaporant can be performed by using the regeneration processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1.
The mixed evaporant recovery step will be described.

In FIG. 1, the reproduction processing apparatus 1 generally includes
A first stirring tank 3, a second stirring tank 4, a third stirring tank 5, a separating device 2, a mixed evaporant recovery tank 6, a condenser 7 for liquefying an evaporative mixed gas, a volume reducing agent recovery tank 8, a low boiling point And a recycled styrene resin packing mechanism 10.

In the regenerating apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied, the drum 11a in which a viscous material in which the volume of the styrene foam resin has been reduced by a solvent is sealed is heated by steam or the like as necessary to reduce the viscosity of the viscous material. At this time, the viscosity is desirably 30 to 50 ps.

The viscous material in the drum 11a is
Is sent to the first stirring tank 3 and stirred. The stirring is performed while heating the viscous material to 40 to 60 ° C. by the heating means 33 provided around the stirring tank 3. The stirring is performed until the viscosity becomes about 30 to 50 ps so that the filter can be easily passed through the filter of the filtration device 14 described later. Here, the stirring of the viscous material in the first stirring tank 3 is performed as follows.
It is performed continuously from being sent to being discharged.

Next, the viscous substance stirred in the first stirring tank 3 is passed through a filter of a filtration device 14 by a pump 13 to remove solid substances contained in the viscous substance. As the filter, a filter capable of capturing a solid matter of about 0.01 mm or more is used. The viscous material filtered by the filtration device 14 is sent to the second stirring tank 4 by the pump 13. The stirring is performed while heating to 40 to 60 ° C. by a heating means 34 provided around the stirring tank 4 until the viscosity becomes 30 to 50 ps.

The viscous substance stirred in the second stirring tank is adjusted by the pump 16 while the flow rate is adjusted by the valve 15.
Is sent to the stirring tank 5 and stirred. Stirring is performed by heating means 35 provided around the stirring tank 5 while heating to 40 to 60 ° C. until the viscosity becomes 30 to 50 ps.

In the reproduction processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment,
The viscous material is sent in the order of the first stirring tank 3, the second stirring tank 4, and the third stirring tank 5, but the present invention is not limited thereto. May be sent directly to the third stirring tank 5 via
It may be directly sent to the separation device 2 from the first stirring tank 3 via the filtration device 14.

Next, the addition of a low-boiling substance which is incompatible with the volume reducing agent and has a lower boiling point than that of the volume reducing agent, and which has a boiling point lower than the boiling point of the volume reducing agent and higher than the boiling point of the lower boiling substance. Separation of a volume reducing agent from a viscous substance under temperature conditions, and separation of a volume reducing agent that recovers the separated volume reducing agent together with a substance having a low boiling point.
Perform a mixture recovery step.

This volume reducing agent separation / mixture recovery step is performed using the separation device 2. This separation apparatus 2 is a low-boiling point for adding a substance having a low boiling point to cause a decrease in boiling point due to azeotrope or the like to a regenerating additive liquid (volume reducing agent) contained in a viscous substance to be regenerated. Substance addition means, fragmentation means such as a cutter for fragmenting the object of regeneration treatment in the separation device, mixed evaporation recovery liquid of regeneration treatment additive liquid and low boiling substance, and Heating means for heating.

Specifically, the separation apparatus 2 has, as means for adding a substance having a low boiling point, an addition means 23 composed of an injection for adding the components in the regenerative distillation target and a substance having a low boiling point for reducing the boiling point. . Further, the separation device 2 includes a subdivision unit 22 composed of a cutter that subdivides the object to be regenerated (solvent-containing viscous substance), an evaporative gas outlet 25 provided at an upper portion for recovering an evaporative mixture, and a viscous substance. And a styrofoam resin sampling port 26 for taking out the styrofoam resin (hereinafter, regenerated styrofoam resin) after removing the volume reducing agent at the lower part of the separation device 2.
And When depressurizing the inside of the separation device 1, a decompression device (not shown) is connected.

Here, as the substance having a low boiling point, any substance may be used as long as it is incompatible with the volume reducing agent and has a lower boiling point than the volume reducing agent. Specifically, it is water, and the form when it is added is water vapor. In addition, alcohols such as ethyl alcohol and butyl alcohol can be used as the substance having a low boiling point. By using a low-boiling substance that is incompatible with the volume-reducing agent, it is easy to remove the low-boiling substance from the recovered evaporation mixture. It is easy to reuse the agent. As the substance having a low boiling point, a substance which is difficult to ignite or ignite is preferable. Further, the low-boiling substance preferably has a boiling point of 120 ° C. or lower, and the boiling point is 5 ° C. lower than the thermal decomposition temperature of the regenerated foamed styrene resin.
It is desirable that the temperature is lower than 0 ° C. or more, and it is more desirable that the temperature is 40 ° C. or lower than the boiling point of the volume reducing agent.

With respect to the separation device 2 configured as described above,
The viscous substance stirred in the third stirring tank 5 is injected from the viscous substance inlet 24 until the internal volume of the separation device 2 becomes 40 vol% to 70 vol% while adjusting the flow rate by the valve 16.

Then, in a state where the inside of the separation device 2 is heated to 120 to 140 ° C. by a heater (heating means / not shown), water in a steam state is added under normal pressure by addition means 23 consisting of injection or the like. . This allows
In the separator 2, the solvent reduced in the viscous material evaporates together with the water due to the low boiling point irrespective of the temperature below the boiling point. Therefore, the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent is performed at a temperature lower than the boiling point of the volume reducing agent. The volume reducing agent in the viscous material is
The boiling point is lowered by the partial pressure of water vapor (low boiling point phenomenon), so that it is sufficiently evaporated even at a low temperature.

As described above, by utilizing the phenomenon of lowering the boiling point, the volume reducing agent can be separated (removed) at a low temperature, so that the thermal decomposition of the styrene foam resin can be prevented. Here, the temperature in the solvent separation / mixed evaporant recovery step is preferably 150 ° C. or lower. At such a low temperature, thermal decomposition of the styrene resin can be reliably prevented.

In the volume reducing agent separation / mixed evaporant recovery step, the low-boiling substance (specifically, water) to be added is added in an amount sufficient for the amount of the volume reducing agent in the viscous substance. Specifically, it is preferable to add about 120 to 150 parts by weight to 100 parts by weight of the volume reducing agent in the viscous material.

Further, the solvent separation / mixed evaporant recovery step includes:
It is preferable to perform the treatment while the viscous material is subdivided. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the separation is performed while chopping a viscous material containing a volume reducing agent (solvent) by a rotatable cutter (segmentation means 22) provided near the lower portion of the separation device 2. As a result, the specific surface area of the solvent-containing viscous material increases, so that the volume reducing agent can be sufficiently and quickly removed from the viscous material.

The rotation speed of the cutter (stirring blade) is 30
0-700 rpm, preferably 325-650 rpm,
The rotation time of the cutter is preferably 30 to 60 minutes. In addition, the recycled styrofoam resin granules can be manufactured to an arbitrary size depending on the rotation speed and the rotation time of the cutter. In addition, since the viscous material gradually becomes harder as the volume reducing agent is removed from the viscous material, it is preferable that the viscous material be quickly divided. Here, the cutter continues to rotate during this process, and the regenerated resin from which the volume reducing agent has been almost removed is cut into flakes to obtain flake-shaped regenerated resin raw materials.

In the step of separating the volume reducing agent and recovering the mixed evaporant, the addition of the viscous substance into the treatment apparatus may be performed by continuously adding the viscous substance little by little. Such a continuous addition of the viscous substance little by little is provided in the vicinity of the upper portion of the separation apparatus 2 with a regenerated material supply means for supplying the viscous substance to the separation apparatus 2 in a state where the viscous substance is fragmented or linearized. This can be achieved by: Here, the continuous addition of the viscous substance little by little and the addition of the substance having a low boiling point are preferably performed simultaneously. By simultaneously adding the small amount of the viscous substance and the addition of the substance having a low boiling point at the same time, the specific surface area of the viscous substance is further increased, so that the evaporation of the volume reducing agent utilizing the low boiling point phenomenon is sufficiently performed. , And quickly.

This step may be performed under reduced pressure in the separation apparatus. In this case, the pressure reduction degree of the separation device 2 is preferably about 50 to 200 Torr.

Next, the regenerated styrene resin from which the volume reducing agent has been substantially completely removed is taken out from the separation device 2 and used as a regenerated raw material. Specifically, the recycled styrene resin taken out from the styrene resin sampling port 26 is cooled by blowing, and then transported by the belt conveyor 21 to the recycled styrofoam resin packing device 10 to be weighed and bagged. Then, the recycled styrofoam resin is used again as a material of the styrofoam resin molded product.

Further, in the present invention, a volume reducing agent recovering step of separating the volume reducing agent from the mixed evaporated material of the volume reducing agent and the volume reducing agent collected by the volume reducing agent separation / recovery of the mixed evaporated material may be performed. preferable.

In the volume reducing agent recovery step, the mixed evaporant (mixed evaporant of the volume reducing agent and water) recovered in the volume reducing agent evaporating and separating step is mixed and evaporated by the regenerating apparatus 1 shown in FIG. It is sent to the thing collection means. In this mixed evaporant recovery means, the mixed evaporate of the volume reducing agent and water is first liquefied by the condenser 7 (liquefaction means) communicating with the evaporative gas discharge port 25, and thereafter, the mixed evaporate recovery as the collection means is performed. It is stored in the tank 6. In the tank 6, since the volume reducing agent and the substance having a low boiling point are not compatible with each other, they are naturally separated from each other. As a result, an upper layer is formed by a material having a lower specific gravity, and a lower layer is formed by a device having a higher specific gravity. In the example shown here, the specific gravity of the volume reducing agent is smaller than the specific gravity of water,
A volume reducing agent phase 61 is formed on the upper side, and an aqueous phase 62 is formed on the lower side.

The separated volume reducing agent is sent to a volume reducing agent recovery device (not shown) by a pump 19 from a discharge port formed near the center of the mixed evaporant recovery tank 6 as shown in FIG. After being dehydrated there, it is sealed in a drum 8 for collecting a volume reducing agent, and is used again for regeneration of the styrene foam resin. The separated water is recovered by a pump 20 from a discharge port provided at a lower portion of the mixed evaporant recovery tank 6 into a low-boiling substance recovery tank 9 and used again as a low-boiling substance.

It is preferable to perform a filler addition step of adding a filler to the viscous material before, during or after the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent. When performing the filler addition step before the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent, it is preferable to add the filler after filtering the viscous substance to remove impurities. In particular, it is preferable to add the filler during the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent. If the filler is added at such a timing, the cutter (separating means 22) of the separation device 2 can be used without performing a special stirring operation. By the agitation function of (1), the filler can be dispersed in the resin without fail.

The filler used here is preferably at least one selected from wood powder, ceramic powder, paper powder, resin, lubricant, pigment, stabilizer, and fiber. Thereby, the properties of the resin can be improved.
Non-resin fibers such as glass fibers, metal fibers, and carbon fibers are used as the fibers.

In the regeneration treatment apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, when the filler addition step is performed before the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent, the filler is added in the second stirring tank 4 or the third stirring tank 5. do it. On the other hand, when the filler addition step is performed during the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent, the filler is added into the separation device 2 before the viscous substance is solidified by lowering the boiling point,
Mixing is preferred. When the filler addition step is performed after evaporating and separating the volume reducing agent, it is preferable that the foamed styrene resin is heated to a temperature at which it can be molded and added and mixed in a fluidized state.

[0051]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, specific examples of the method for regenerating a styrofoam resin of the present invention will be described.

Example 1 A food tray (made of expanded polystyrene) collected in a supermarket,
About 120 kg was prepared. 18 for 400L capacity reduction machine
A solution containing 0 L of a volume reducing agent was prepared. While the food tray was appropriately broken by hand, it was sequentially put into a volume reducer containing a volume reducing agent, and the food tray of about 120 kg was reduced in volume to produce a viscous material.

Then, the drum 11a filled with the viscous material was transported to the installation place 11 of the regenerating apparatus described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, and the regenerating process was performed.

The drum 11a is heated to about 50 ° C. by steam.
After passing through the first stirring tank 3,
Solid matter of 0.01 mm or more was removed by the filtration device 14, and after passing through the second stirring tank 4 and the third stirring tank 5, the solid matter was injected into the separation device 2.

The temperature in the separation device 2 is set to 120 ° C.
At the same time as the injection of the viscous material at 0 torr into the separation device 2, steam at 120 ° C. was injected by the addition means 23 for 30 minutes. The total amount of steam injected was about 230 kg. The end point of the steam injection was 5 minutes after the temperature of the discharged steam became substantially the same as that of the injected steam. The rotation speed of the cutter as the subdivision means 22 was 450 rpm, and was continued until the end. The mixed evaporant evaporating from the separation device 2 was liquefied by the condenser 7 and then collected in the mixed evaporant recovery tank 6.

The obtained regenerated styrene resin is 118 k
g, the volume reducing agent remaining in the recycled styrene resin is 1.4.
% And the water content was 0.2%. As a result of the measurement of the molecular weight of the recycled styrene resin, the decrease in the molecular weight was 8%.
% Stayed.

(Example 2) 50 kg of wood flour (0.6 mm in average) was prepared as a filler, and the addition of the wood flour into the separation device 2 was started almost simultaneously with the injection of the viscous material into the separation device 2. Except that the entire amount was added in about 25 minutes, the same procedure as in Example 1 was carried out to obtain about 170 kg of flake-like recycled polystyrene containing wood flour. The volume reducing agent content in the regenerated polystyrene was 1.7%, and the water content was 1.8%. The decrease in molecular weight was 8.3%.

[0058]

As described above, according to the method for regenerating styrofoam resin of the present invention, the styrofoam resin obtained by converting the styrofoam resin into a viscous material using a volume reducing agent capable of softening and reducing the volume without dissolving the styrofoam resin. After preparation, addition of a low-boiling substance which is incompatible with the volume reducing agent and has a lower boiling point than the volume reducing agent to the viscous substance, by azeotropic distillation under a temperature condition not higher than the boiling point of the volume reducing agent, etc. It is characterized in that the volume reducing agent is separated by evaporation from the viscous substance by utilizing the boiling point reduction, and the volume reducing agent and the low-boiling substance separated by evaporation are recovered. Therefore, by reducing the boiling point of the volume reducing agent at a low temperature equal to or lower than the boiling point, the expanded styrene resin can be regenerated without deterioration. In addition, since a low-boiling substance that is incompatible with the volume reducing agent is used, it is easy to recover the volume reducing agent from the collected mixed evaporate, and reuse the volume reducing agent. It is possible to

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of a styrofoam resin regeneration treatment apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a separation device used in the styrene foam resin regeneration treatment device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Styrofoam resin regeneration treatment device 2 Separation device 3 First stirring tank 4 Second stirring tank 5 Third stirring tank 6 Mixed evaporant recovery tank 7 Condenser 8 Drum can for collecting volume reducing agent 9 Low boiling substance recovery Tank 10 recycled styrofoam resin packing means 22 subdivision means 23 addition means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 4F201 AA13 AA50 BA09 BC01 BC02 BC17 BC25 BC29 BT01 4F301 AA15 CA09 CA14 CA41 CA53 CA64 CA72

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A method for regenerating a styrofoam resin, comprising preparing a viscous material of a styrofoam resin using a volume-reducing agent capable of softening the styrofoam resin without dissolving and reducing the volume. Adding a low-boiling substance having a lower boiling point than the volume reducing agent to the viscous substance, and performing the volume reduction from the viscous substance at a temperature not higher than the boiling point of the volume reducing agent. A method for regenerating a styrofoam resin, comprising performing evaporative separation of an agent and recovery of the volume reducing agent and the substance having a low boiling point, which are separated by evaporation. 2. The volume reducing agent comprises at least a first component having solubility in styrofoam resin and a second component having no solubility in styrofoam resin. A method for regenerating the styrofoam resin according to claim 1. 3. The method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to claim 2, wherein the viscous material has a rice cake shape. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the low-boiling substance is water added in a steam state.
A method for regenerating the styrofoam resin according to any one of the above. 5. The heating temperature of the viscous material at the time of performing the evaporation separation of the volume reducing agent and the recovery of a mixed evaporate of the volume reducing agent and the substance having a low boiling point is 150 ° C. or less. A method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The liquefaction operation of a mixed evaporant of the volume reducing agent and the low-boiling substance which evaporates and separates, and the separation operation of the volume reducing agent from the liquefied material of the mixed evaporant, thereby performing the mixing. The method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the volume reducing agent is recovered from the evaporant. 7. The method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to claim 1, wherein the evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent is performed while the viscous material is subdivided. 8. The evaporative separation of the volume reducing agent is performed in a separation device, and the addition of the viscous material into the separation device includes continuously adding the viscous material little by little. The method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the method is carried out by the following method. 9. The continuous addition of the viscous substance little by little into the separation device may be performed by adding the viscous substance in a finely divided state or by adding the viscous substance in a linearized state. The method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to claim 8, wherein the method is performed. 10. A filler is added to the viscous material before evaporating and separating the volume reducing agent, during evaporating and separating the volume reducing agent, or after evaporating and separating the volume reducing agent. 10. The method for regenerating a styrofoam resin according to any one of items 1 to 9. 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the filler is at least one selected from wood powder, ceramic powder, resin, lubricant, pigment, stabilizer, paper powder, and fiber. Method for regenerating styrofoam resin. 12. A regeneration processing apparatus used for carrying out a method for regenerating a styrofoam resin, wherein the object to be reprocessed containing a regenerating treatment additive liquid capable of softening and reducing the volume of the styrofoam resin without dissolving it. In addition to having a separation device to be charged, a low-boiling substance for causing a reduction in the boiling point of the additive for regeneration treatment added to the object of regeneration treatment is added to the separation device. Low-boiling substance adding means, subdivision means for subdividing the object of regeneration processing in the separation apparatus, and mixed evaporation for collecting a mixed evaporate of the regenerating additive liquid and the low-boiling substance An apparatus for regenerating styrofoam resin, comprising: a material recovery unit; and a heating unit for heating the inside of the separation device. 13. A regenerative processing object supply means for supplying a regenerative processing target material containing the regenerating processing additive liquid to the separation apparatus by dividing or linearizing the regenerative processing target object.
A styrofoam resin regeneration treatment apparatus according to item 1. 14. The mixed evaporant recovery means includes a liquefier for liquefying the mixed evaporate, a tank for storing the liquefied matter liquefied by the liquefier, and a regenerating additive liquid separated in the tank. 14. The apparatus for reprocessing a styrofoam resin according to claim 12, further comprising a collecting means for collecting an additive for regeneration treatment from the low-boiling substance.