JP2003019477A - Treating apparatus of food remainder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fermenting apparatus and a drying apparatus which has a powerful stirring force to food remainder, uniformly stires and mixs, scarcely causes fault and has high reliability. SOLUTION: This treating apparatus of food remainder is provided with main spindle screws 40, 41 which are arranged in the horizontal direction in a treating tank 20 and move the food remainder toward a central part of the treating tank 20, an elevating screw 30 which is vertically disposed on the middle part of the axial direction of the main spindle screw and elevates the food remainder which is moved to the central part, return screws 50, 51 which are horizontally disposed on the upper part of the main spindle screws and move the elevated food remainder to both sides of the treating tank 20 and an air supplying means for blowing air into the treating tank 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for efficiently treating food residues, and more particularly to an apparatus for treating food residues through a fermentation process and a drying process to obtain feed or fertilizer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The processing of a large amount of food resources such as residues of general foods discharged from restaurants and homes and by-products during production in the food industry such as okara has become a problem. Conventionally, these food resources have been treated by being buried and discarded, incinerated, etc., but there are major social problems in terms of treatment cost, treatment space, environmental load, etc. Various alternative solutions have been investigated as alternatives.

As an example of the above-mentioned method for treating food resources, it is practiced to use food residues as feeds and fertilizers through a fermentation process and a drying process and, if necessary, pelletize them for distribution. Various fermenters and dryers are known for this purpose. In this case, in order to efficiently ferment and dry the food residue, it is necessary to carry out uniform mixing continuously by stirring, which can shorten the processing time of the food residue, and also provide a homogeneous feed or fertilizer. Can be manufactured.

As this stirring method, it is generally known to provide a blade for stirring inside the processing tank. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-257833 has a casing made of a heat conductive material. A stirring tank, a stirring blade for rotating and sliding the inner surface of the casing to stir and stir the raw material, a heating device for heating the casing of the stirring tank, and an inside of the stirring tank for exchanging heat of the heated exhaust gas with the outer surface of the casing. Disclosed is a fermentation device comprising a gas passage for leading to, a casing inner wall and a temperature measurement control device for raw materials in a tank, and a ribbon-shaped stirring blade is attached in the stirring tank,
A technique of rotating this to stir the food residue is disclosed.

[0005]

However, food residues generally have a high viscosity, and continuous fermentation for a long time is required for fermentation and drying. Therefore, the above-mentioned JP-A-2-2578.
In a ribbon-shaped stirring blade that swings and slides the inner surface of the casing to stir and stir the raw material as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 33, a load is easily applied to the root portion of the blade, and the blade easily breaks, which easily causes a failure. There is a problem that the reliability of the device is reduced.

Further, in order to carry out the fermentation and the drying efficiently in a short time, it is necessary to always mix the food residues uniformly.
The method using a stirring blade has a problem that the fermentation and the drying process take a long time due to insufficient stirring and unevenness, and the feed and fertilizer finally obtained by pelletizing are not homogeneous.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a device for producing feed and fertilizer from a food residue through fermentation and drying processes, which has strong stirring power and is capable of uniform stirring, and has less trouble and is reliable. The object is to provide a highly efficient processing device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a food residue treating apparatus of the present invention comprises a treatment tank having an openable / closable inlet, and the food residue is disposed horizontally in the treatment tank. A main screw for moving toward the central part of the treatment tank, and a vertical screw arranged in the axial middle part of the main screw, and a raising screw for raising the food residue moved to the central part, Arranged horizontally above the main screw, having a return screw for returning the raised food residue to both sides of the treatment tank, and an air supply means for blowing air into the treatment tank. It is characterized by being provided.

According to the processing apparatus of the present invention, food residues are
As the main screw rotates, it is collected in the central part of the main screw, then moved upward by the ascending screw, and then moved to both sides of the return screw and circulates in the processing tank. During the circulation, they collide with each other at the center of the main screw and collide with the inner wall of the processing tank at both ends of the return screw, so that they are uniformly and efficiently stirred. Further, since the screw is used, it is structurally stronger than the case where a normal stirring blade is used, and it is possible to reduce failures and withstand long-term use.

Further, since it has an air supply means, it can be used as a fermentation apparatus for aeration fermentation treatment, and can also be used as a drying apparatus by supplying heated air. it can.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the main screw and / or the return screw are provided with a screw blade provided on one end side from an intermediate portion thereof and on the other end side from the intermediate portion. The provided screw blade has blades in the opposite direction. According to this aspect, the structure is simple because the food residue can be brought close to the central part of the main screw by rotating one main screw, and the food residue from both sides collides at the central part. The force is improved and uniform mixing is possible.

Further, according to a further preferred aspect of the present invention, both ends and / or a central part of the screw are supported by bearings, and a case for covering the bearing is provided, and a feeding device for pressurizing the inside of the case is provided. Qi means are provided. According to this aspect, by introducing compressed air or the like through the air supply pipe into the bearing case surrounding the bearing, it is possible to prevent food residue from entering the bearing case, and to avoid the inconvenience that the food residue is clogged in the bearing. It can be avoided.

According to a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the treatment of the food residue is a fermentation process or a drying process. This makes it possible to treat the food residue through a fermentation step and a drying step, pelletize the processed food residue product obtained through the drying step, and use the pellet as a feed or a fertilizer.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show one embodiment of the food residue treating apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the processing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG.

The processing apparatus 10 has a processing tank 20 having an opening / closing opening (not shown) on its upper surface, and two main spindle screws 40 arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction below the processing tank 20. , 41 and these main screws 4
0, 41, and above the main shaft screws 40, 41 and the ascending screw 30 arranged vertically at the intermediate portion in the axial direction between them. Book return screw 50,
And 51.

The spindle screws 40 and 41 basically have the same structure, and one of them is shown in FIG. Hereinafter, one main spindle screw 40 will be described, and the description of the other main spindle screw 41 will be omitted because it has the same structure. Both ends of the main shaft screw 40 are supported by bearings 43a and 43b provided on both side walls of the processing tank 20, and an intermediate portion thereof is supported by a bearing 43c arranged in the processing tank 20. By thus supporting the intermediate portion of the screw shaft with the bearing 43c, it is possible to stably support the main shaft screw 40 even if the total length of the main shaft screw 40 is lengthened.

Each of the bearings 43a, 43b, 43c is covered with a bearing case 42, and an air supply pipe 55 is connected to the bearing case 42. The air supply pipe 55 introduces compressed air (a gas other than air may be introduced) into the bearing case 42 so that food residues in the processing tank 20 do not enter the bearing case 42.
In addition, it is preferable that an appropriate sealing means is provided between the main shaft screw 40 and the bearing case 42.

Further, the main shaft screw 40 has a screw blade 40a on one end side from the intermediate portion thereof, and has a screw blade 40b opposite to the screw blade 40a on the other end side. . When the main screw 40 rotates in a predetermined direction, the two screw blades 40a and 40b move the food residue toward the central portion of the main screw 40, as indicated by arrows A and B in FIG. That is, the food residue is moved to the center.

The return screws 50 and 51 also have the same structure as the main shaft screws 40 and 41. That is, the return screws 50 and 51 have basically the same structure, and one of the return screws 50 is shown in FIG. Hereinafter, one return screw 50 will be described, and the description of the other return screw 51 will be omitted because it has the same structure. The return screw 50 has bearings 53, both ends of which are provided on both side walls of the processing tank 20.
It is supported by a and 53b, and the intermediate part is supported by the processing tank 2
It is supported by a bearing 53c arranged in the zero position. By thus supporting the intermediate portion of the screw shaft with the bearing 53c, it is possible to stably support the return screw 50 even if the total length of the return screw 50 is increased.

Each of the bearings 53a, 53b, 53c is covered with a bearing case 52, and an air supply pipe 55 is connected to the bearing case 52. The air supply pipe 55 introduces compressed air (a gas other than air may be introduced) into the bearing case 52 so that food residues in the processing tank 20 are not mixed into the bearing case 52.
Further, it is preferable that an appropriate sealing means is provided between the return screw 50 and the bearing case 52.

Further, the return screw 50 has a screw blade 50a on one end side from the middle portion thereof, and has a screw blade 50b on the other end side opposite to the screw blade 50a. . Then, when the main screw 50 rotates in a predetermined direction, the two screw blades 50a and 50b move the food residue toward both ends of the return screw 50, as shown by arrows C and D in FIG. That is, the food residue is returned to both sides.

The ascending screw 30 disposed above and below is located between the main shaft screws 40 and 41 and between the return screws 50 and 51, and is rotated in a predetermined direction to be centered by the main shaft screws 40 and 41. The brought food residue is raised as shown by arrow E in FIG. 2 and moved to the center of the return screws 50 and 51.

Therefore, the food residue is indicated by arrows A and B in FIG.
After being moved to the center in the lower part of the processing tank 20 as shown in FIG. 4, it rises as shown by arrow E, is further moved to both sides as shown by arrows C and D, and again as shown by arrows F and G. It circulates in the processing tank 20 through a path of descending again.

An air introduction pipe 62 extending from a fan 61 through the heat exchanger 60 is connected to the bottom of the treatment tank 20. The air introduction pipe 62 branches into a plurality of branch pipes 62a. The air is connected to a plurality of locations on the bottom of the tank 20, and the heated air is introduced into the treatment tank 20 from a plurality of locations if necessary. In addition, a pipe connected to a steam boiler (not shown) is passed through the heat exchanger 60 so that the air sent from the fan 61 can be heat-exchanged to raise the temperature.

A discharge pipe 22 is provided above the processing tank 20 for guiding the generated gas, water vapor and the like to the next step such as a deodorizing step (not shown) and finally discharging them into the atmosphere. ing.

In the present invention, the material constituting the treatment tank 20 and the screws 30, 40, 41, 50, 51 is not particularly limited, but especially when the present treatment apparatus 10 is used in the fermentation process, it is Is preferably a material that is resistant to corrosion because it generates an acidic organic acid, and stainless steel is particularly suitable. Further, the size of the processing tank 20 can be appropriately set according to the amount of food residue to be added at one time. Further, the numbers of the main shaft screws, the raising screws, and the returning screws are not particularly limited to the numbers of the present embodiment, and the necessary numbers can be set appropriately according to the size of the processing tank 20.

Next, the operation of the case where the processing apparatus 10 is used as a fermentation apparatus will be described. First, the food residue is put into the processing tank 20, and a fermentation promoting liquid containing microorganisms and the like is added. Here, the food residue in the present invention is not limited to general leftover food etc. that is served from a restaurant or the like, and may be a by-product from the food industry such as okara or beer lees, and is not particularly limited as long as it is a food resource. Okara, which is a by-product from tofu products, is preferably used, and more preferably, several kinds of residues are used in a nutritionally balanced combination.

In the present invention, addition of the fermentation accelerating liquid is not essential, but it is preferable to add it in order to accelerate the fermentation and shorten the fermentation time. Here, as the fermentation promoting liquid, for example, a culture liquid of a microorganism such as lactic acid bacterium or yeast is preferably used.

Next, the screw is rotated to start mixing and stirring. As described above, the food residue in the processing tank 20 is caused by the rotation of the main shaft screws 40 and 41.
It moves as shown by the arrows A and B in FIG. 2 and is collected in the central part, and from there, it moves upwards by the raising screw 30 as shown by the arrow E, and then the return screws 50, 5
1 moves to both sides as indicated by arrows C and D, and finally descends on both sides in the treatment tank 20 as indicated by arrows F and G to circulate in the treatment tank 20.

As described above, the food residues circulate in the processing tank 20, in which case they collide with each other at the centers of the main shaft screws 40 and 41, and collide with the inner wall of the processing tank 20 at both ends of the return screws 50 and 51. Therefore, it is uniformly and efficiently stirred.
Further, since the screw is used, it is structurally stronger than the case where a normal stirring blade is used, and it is possible to reduce failures and withstand long-term use.

Further, the bearings 43a, 43b, 43c, 5
Compressed air is introduced into the bearing cases 42, 52 that surround 3a, 53b, 53c through the air supply pipe 55, thereby preventing food residues from entering the bearing cases 42, 52, and by the bearings 43a, 43b, 43c, 53
It is possible to avoid the inconvenience of food residues clogging the a, 53b, and 53c.

Further, the air heated to the optimum temperature for the fermentation process from the fan 61 through the heat exchanger 60 is inserted into the treatment tank 20 through the air introduction pipe 62 to heat the food residue. Fermentation is promoted by supplying air.
The temperature of the heated air supplied from the air introduction pipe 62 is
The temperature is preferably 50 to 60 ° C. The temperature and fermentation time in the fermentation tank 20 may be appropriately adjusted depending on the size of the fermentation tank 20, the dose of food residue, and the like, but preferably the temperature is 35 to 45 ° C and the fermentation time is 12 to 48 hours. To do.

Fermentation of food residues is carried out by the above-mentioned fermentation process, and at the same time, in addition to lactic acid, acetic acid and the like which are low boiling point organic acids, amino acids and the like, odorous gas components including ammonia and mercaptan are also generated. However, these are processed in the next step (not shown) through the outlet pipe 22 provided in the upper part of the processing tank 20.

Next, the case where the processing device 10 is used as a drying device will be described. The food residue fermented by the fermentation process still contains a large amount of water, and since it is inferior in storage and storage as it is, the water content is adjusted in a separate drying process to evaporate the excess water. Further, at this time, by exposing to high temperature, unnecessary germs and weed species can be inactivated.

Here, as the drying device, a device having the same structure as the fermentation device described in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be used.
That is, the processing tank 20 in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a drying tank as it is, and each screw 40, 41, 50, 51, 3
0 directly serves as a stirring means in the drying device. Further, the air introduction pipe 62 in FIGS. 1 and 2 serves as a hot air supply pipe for drying, and the outlet pipe 22 serves as an outlet pipe for taking out air containing water vapor generated in the drying tank. by this,
Even when one device fails, the other device can be diverted. For example, in the case of failure, one device can sequentially perform the fermentation process and the drying process, resulting in a highly compatible processing system.

The drying conditions in the drying step are not particularly limited, but in order to effectively evaporate the water, it is preferable that the temperature is higher than that in the fermentation step, and the temperature of the heating gas to be introduced is 8
It is preferable that the temperature is 0 to 120 ° C. and the drying time is in the range of 8 to 24 hours. Further, it is preferable to adjust the final water content to be in the range of 5 to 25% from the viewpoint of storability of the food residue after drying. Air containing water vapor generated in the drying tank of the drying device is taken out through the outlet pipe,
It is sent to the next process such as a recovery process (not shown).

The processed food residue product obtained through the above fermentation process and drying process is finally molded into a predetermined shape and size by a pelletizing process, and if necessary, packaged and packed. It can be commercialized and used as feed or fertilizer. This makes it possible to reuse the food residue to produce pelletized feed or fertilizer, and obtain feed or fertilizer suitable for long-term storage, distribution, and storage. The pelletized product thus produced can be suitably used as feed for pig farming or as a fertilizer for growing plants.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the stirring power of the food residue is strong, it is possible to uniformly stir and mix, and it is possible to provide a highly reliable processing device with few failures,
It can be suitably used as a fermentation device and a drying device in a processing device for producing feed and fertilizer from food residues.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a food residue treating apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Fermentation apparatus 20 Treatment tank 30 Raising screw 40 Main screw 50 Return screw 40a, 40b, 50a, 50b Screw blades 43a, 43b, 43c, 53a, 53b, 53c Bearing 42, 52 Bearing case 55 Air supply pipe 60 Heat exchanger 62 Air inlet pipe

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Makoto Nara             3572-1, Shimana, Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture             -In the Tal Wellness Institute F-term (reference) 3L113 AA07 AB02 AC05 AC40 AC58                       AC67 AC87 DA01                 4D004 AA03 AA04 AB01 BA04 CA14                       CA15 CA19 CA22 CA42 CA48                       CB04 CB26 CB27 CB28 CB36                       CC02 CC15 DA02 DA06 DA09                       DA12                 4H061 AA03 CC42 EE03 FF06 GG19                       GG43 GG49 GG68 GG69

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A processing tank having an openable / closable inlet, a main shaft screw arranged horizontally in the processing tank for moving food residues toward a central portion of the processing tank, and the main shaft screw. Is arranged vertically in the axial middle part, a raising screw for raising the food residue that has moved to the central part, and is arranged horizontally above the main screw, and the raised food residue is treated in the treatment tank. And a return screw for returning to both sides of
An apparatus for treating food residue, comprising an air supply means for blowing air into the treatment tank. 2. The main shaft screw and / or the return screw has a screw blade provided on one end side from the intermediate portion and a screw blade provided on the other end side from the intermediate portion are opposite to each other. The food residue treating apparatus according to claim 1, which has facing blades. 3. The air supply means for pressurizing the inside of the case, wherein both ends and / or the center of the screw are supported by bearings, and a case for covering the bearing is provided. Or the processing device for food residue according to 2. 4. The food residue treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the food residue treatment is a fermentation step or a drying step.