JP2003055051A - Fired activated carbon block filter, method for manufacturing fired activated block filter and water cleaner having fired activated carbon block filter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for manufacturing a fired activated carbon block filter having high capturing ability and adsorptivity and having many pores in which activated carbon particles are exposed on the inner wall of pores effective to capture bacteria and virus while keeping the porosity, and to provide a water cleaner in which the filter is mounted. SOLUTION: The fired activated carbon block filter 1 is formed by carrying out a process of preparing a compounded activated carbon in which base activated carbon and ultrafine powder activated carbon are compounded and preparing an artificial or natural ceramic binder, a process of compounding <=50 wt.% of the ceramic binder and <=50 wt.% of the compounded activated carbon to prepare 100 wt.% sum of the compounded activated carbon and the binder so as to prepare the source material, and a process of press forming the source material and firing to produce many ultrafine pores. The obtained block filter 1 is mounted in a water cleaner.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a fired activated carbon block filter (hereinafter also referred to as a block filter), a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, and a water purifier having a fired activated carbon block filter. Examples of the use of the fired activated carbon block filter according to the present invention include a filter medium installed and mounted in a water purifier used for drinking and cooking in general households, clinics, restaurants and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional technology will be described by taking a water purifier as an example. Conventionally, in Japan, tap water from chlorinated water,
A water purifier having a filter using granular activated carbon is widely used to remove trihalomethanes and the like by adsorption, chemical reaction and the like. A fired activated carbon block filter obtained by firing activated carbon is also used as a filter.

In the United States where information disclosure has advanced, it has been confirmed that, in addition to naturally occurring poliovirus, attenuated poliovirus administered as a vaccine flows out into rivers with feces and recovers virulence. There are some cases that are pointed out in Japan as well. That is, six groups including coxsackie virus, ecovirus, infectious hepatitis virus, adenovirus, and reovirus, which are proliferated in the digestive tract of living organisms and are contained in large amounts in feces, including poliovirus, have been pointed out.

Further, although not in Japan, in the United States, the removal of viruses such as the poliovirus is determined as a standard for clean water. In other regions, Russia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America still have polio, and there is a water purifier that can effectively and easily remove bacteria such as poliovirus, which is simple, inexpensive, and easy to use. Is urgently needed.

In the United States, for the purpose of removing protozoa in tap water, for example, cryptosporidium with a size of a few dozen μm, general bacteria, etc., it was formed from a raw material obtained by mixing finely powdered activated carbon and thermoplastic resin powder. Hollow cylindrical compressed activated carbon block filters are widely used.

[0006]

When the solidified fired activated carbon block filter is put to practical use, the above-mentioned fired activated carbon block filter has an overwhelming water permeation area as compared with a water purifier using a hollow fiber membrane. Very few. For this reason, in the fired activated carbon block filter, if the pores are made smaller, the porosity of the fired activated carbon block filter is considerably reduced. As described above, when the porosity of the fired activated carbon block filter decreases, the amount of water discharged from the water purifier per unit time becomes small under normal water pressure, and it cannot be used as a practical water purifier.

Therefore, in order to secure the amount of water discharged per unit time in a calcined activated carbon block filter at a certain level or higher, it is necessary to set the particle size of activated carbon to a large value. However, in this case, although the amount of water discharged per unit time of the fired activated carbon block filter is secured,
0.3 μm, which is generally used as a bacterial guarantee in Japan
Brevundimonas diminuta (hereinafter, also referred to as brevundimonas) having a diameter of 0.65 μm has a drawback that Escherichia coli permeates through the fired activated carbon block filter. Furthermore, 25
~ 35nm diameter poliovirus (bacteriophage used as a test substitute for poliovirus)
MS-2 also passed through the fired activated carbon block filter and could not be captured well by the fired activated carbon block filter.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is a fired activated carbon block filter advantageous for capturing bacteria such as viruses and fine particles, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, and a water purifier having a fired activated carbon block filter. The challenge is to provide.

[0009]

Under the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor has been earnestly developing a fired activated carbon block filter. And the inventor has found that the average particle size is 35 to 2
A raw material prepared by mixing a blended activated carbon prepared by blending a base activated carbon of 00 μm and an ultrafine activated carbon having a particle diameter of 30 μm or less with a man-made or natural ceramics binder is pressure-molded and then fired into a number of fine powders. If a calcined activated carbon block filter with pores is produced, it is effective in improving the ability to capture bacteria such as viruses, and the amount of increased ultrafine activated carbon content is increased, while reducing the pore size of the block filter. It is possible to improve the porosity of the calcined activated carbon block filter, and in addition to the ultrafine activated carbon, a base activated carbon is blended,
The amount of water discharged per unit time of the block filter can be secured,
It was found that a practical amount of water discharge can be obtained. The reason why it is effective in improving the ability to capture bacteria such as viruses is that the activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon that has good ability to capture bacteria such as viruses in the inner wall of the fine permeation path through which water in the fired activated carbon block filter passes. It is presumed that this is due to the fact that it becomes easier to express the noise. In particular, it is considered that the ultrafine activated carbon is a good electrostatic adsorption site for negatively charged bacteria such as viruses on the inner wall of the fine permeation path through which water passes in the fired activated carbon block filter. Based on the above findings, the present inventor has completed a fired activated carbon block filter, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, and a water purifier according to the present invention.

Further, the present inventor has made the following findings.
In the weight ratio of blended activated carbon and ceramics-based binder, increasing the proportion of blended activated carbon and reducing the amount of artificial or natural ceramics-based binder is more effective in improving the trapping ability of bacteria such as viruses. It was found that a practical water discharge amount can be obtained, and the fired activated carbon block filter, the method for producing the fired activated carbon block filter, and the water purifier according to the present invention were completed. That is,
The artificial or natural ceramic-based binder compounded for sintering tends to cover the surface of the activated carbon, and is essentially a fine permeation path formed inside the fired activated carbon block filter through which water passes. It becomes difficult for activated carbon to be exposed. Therefore, if the ceramic-based binder is reduced, activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon, which is advantageous for trapping bacteria such as viruses, is likely to appear at high frequency in the fine permeation path through which water in the fired activated carbon block filter passes. It is supposed to be because. Based on such knowledge, the present inventor has completed a fired activated carbon block filter, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, and a water purifier according to the present invention.

Furthermore, since the binder is an artificial or natural ceramics-based binder, even if the hot water is passed through the fired activated carbon block filter, unlike the resin binder, the fired activated carbon block filter does not cause a problem in heat resistance. Therefore, the present inventor has also found an effect of being able to sterilize bacteria such as viruses captured on the fired activated carbon block filter in hot water.

That is, the calcined activated carbon block filter according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a blended activated carbon in which a base activated carbon having an average particle diameter of 35 to 200 μm and an ultrafine activated carbon having a particle diameter of 30 μm or less are mixed, and artificial or natural. When the ceramic-based binder is mixed and the total amount of the blended activated carbon and the ceramic-based binder is 100% by weight, the weight ratio of the ceramic-based binder is 50% by weight or less and the blended activated carbon is 50% by weight or more. It is characterized in that a large number of pores are generated by using the blended raw material, press-molding the raw material, and then firing.

The method for producing a calcined activated carbon block filter according to the second aspect of the present invention comprises a blended activated carbon prepared by blending a base activated carbon having an average particle diameter of 35 to 200 μm and an ultrafine activated carbon having a particle diameter of 30 μm or less, artificial or natural. 50% by weight or less of the ceramic-based binder and 50% by weight or more of the compounded activated carbon, when the total amount of the compounded activated carbon and the ceramic-based binder is 100% by weight. It is characterized in that the raw material mixed in (1) is pressure-molded and then fired to form a large number of pores.

A water purifier according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a container having a water passage chamber, a water supply device which communicates with the water passage chamber and supplies water to the water passage chamber, and a water supply device which purifies water supplied to the water passage chamber. In a water purifier having a filter medium housed in a water chamber and a water spout that communicates with the water chamber and discharges water purified by the filter medium, the filter medium is formed mainly of the above-mentioned fired activated carbon block filter. It is characterized by that.

The fired activated carbon block filter of the present invention, its manufacturing method, and the design concept of the water purifier having the fired activated carbon block filter are as follows (1) (2) (3)
Is. (1) In addition to the base activated carbon having an average particle size of 35 to 200 μm, ultrafine activated carbon having a particle size of 30 μm or less is positively supplemented. It is considered that this makes it easier for the ultrafine powder activated carbon to be exposed in the fine permeation path through which water passes in the block filter. The ultrafine activated carbon is preferably 20 μm or less. Therefore, in the ultrafine activated carbon, particles of 1 to 20 μm can be 80% by weight or more and particles of less than 1 μm can be 20% by weight or less. Further, since the average particle diameter of the base activated carbon is set within the above range, the required strength of the calcined activated carbon block filter is secured, the pore size is prevented from being made too small, and the water discharge per unit time is secured. It is valid. When the average particle size of the base activated carbon is excessively large, the pore size becomes excessively large, and sufficient trapping and adsorbing properties cannot be obtained. (2) It is known that the resin binder is considerably negative in the charging train and is negatively charged. It is known in the literature that bacteria such as viruses are also negatively charged. Therefore, in a block filter using a resin binder, it is assumed that the electrostatic repulsion impairs the ability to capture bacteria such as viruses. However, if the binder is made of artificial or natural ceramics, it is possible to suppress electrostatic repulsion against negatively charged bacteria such as viruses, and it is easy to ensure the trapping and adsorbing properties inherent in the block filter. (3) The artificial or natural ceramic-based binder compounded for sintering tends to cover the surface of the activated carbon, and is essentially a fine permeation material that allows water formed inside the block filter to pass through. It becomes difficult for activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon to be exposed on the road. Therefore, in the raw material in which the blended activated carbon and the ceramic-based binder are mixed, the blended activated carbon is increased and the ceramic-based binder is reduced. That is, when the total amount of the blended activated carbon and the ceramic-based binder is 100% by weight, the weight ratio of the binder is 50% by weight or less, and the blended activated carbon is 50% by weight.
It is compounded in a weight percentage or more. It is presumed that if the ceramic-based binder is reduced in this manner, activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon is likely to be exposed at high frequency in the fine permeation path through which water in the block filter passes.

Due to the above (1), (2) and (3), the trapping property and the adsorbing property are improved. In particular, it is effective for capturing bacteria such as viruses described later. Therefore, the minimum bacteria tested in Japan, namely, outer diameter 0.3 μm x length 0.8 μm b
Revundimonas can be captured with a block filter. Polio-v in the United States described later
Test surrogate against Irus, ie, bacteria
For page MS-2, test water pressure 1.
Both at 0 kgf / cm ^{2 and} at a test water pressure of 60 psi (4.2 kgf / cm ² ) in the United States, it can be efficiently captured by the calcined activated carbon block filter. In addition, since polio-virus is a disease bacterium, it is not directly tested, but it is a safe test substitute bacterium for polio-virus, bacteriopha.
It is common to perform the test on ge MS-2.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The basic design concept of the method for manufacturing a fired activated carbon block filter according to the present invention is as follows (4)
It is more preferable to additionally use (5). (4) The firing temperature is 1200 ° C. or lower (950 to 1200
C.) is preferable. This prevents the pores of the activated carbon itself from shrinking excessively due to shrinkage,
It should be within the temperature limit where the adsorption function does not deteriorate. Further, in the ceramic-based binder, which is the binder of the particles of activated carbon and the particles of activated carbon, it is preferable that the amount of contraction is increased, the pores of the block filter are increased, and the trapping performance is not reduced. . By combining with the above-mentioned basic design ideas (1) to (3), it is easy to obtain an ideal pore diameter. (5) It is preferable to increase the molding pressure. Eg 1
It can be MPa. When the raw material is granulated by increasing the molding pressure, the contact surface of the granulated raw material is crushed by the increase in pressure, which is advantageous for reducing the pores.

If the amount of ultrafine powdered activated carbon in the blended activated carbon is excessively large, the base material activated carbon becomes insufficient, so that the block filter becomes rough and the strength becomes insufficient. If the amount of the ultrafine activated carbon contained in the blended activated carbon is excessively small, it becomes disadvantageous in obtaining proper pores. According to a preferred embodiment of the block filter, the weight ratio of the ultrafine activated carbon / base activated carbon is 0.1 to
It is preferably set to 0.8. In particular, in the weight ratio, the ultrafine activated carbon / base activated carbon is in the range of 0.2 to 0.5, or in the range of 0.25 to 0.40, or 0.
It can be in the range of 25 to 0.35.

When the average pore size of the block filter is excessively large, the water discharge amount per unit time is secured, but the trapping property and the adsorbing property are deteriorated. When the average pore size of the block filter is excessively small, the trapping property and the adsorbing property are secured, but the water discharge amount per unit time is reduced. According to a preferable mode of the block filter, the most frequent peak exists in the pore distribution at 10 μm or less. In this case, when the pore volume is 100% by volume, 1
The pores having a size of more than 0 μm may be 20% by volume or less, 10% by volume or less, 5% by volume or less, or 0% by volume.

When the ceramic binder and the blended activated carbon are 100% by weight, the ratio of the ultrafine activated carbon is ideally the lower limit of 8% by weight or more and 14% by weight or more. For example, 10% by weight or more, 15% by weight or more, 20% by weight or more, 30% by weight or more, and the upper limit is 40% by weight or less.

When the compounded activated carbon and ceramics-based binder is 100% by weight, the binder is 30 to
50% by weight, in particular 30 to 49% by weight, 30
It can be in the range of up to 45% by weight. The balance becomes compounded activated carbon.

According to the preferred form of the block filter, the most frequent peak in the distribution of pores is 10 μm or less, and when the pore volume is 100% by volume,
Pores of 2.5 μm or less are 40% by volume or more, or 50% by volume or more, and pores of 8 μm or more are 30% by volume.
The following forms can be adopted.

According to the present invention, the artificial or natural ceramic-based binder is fine powder, and the finer the finer, the better. In this case, it is advantageous to reduce the pore size of the block filter. The particle size of the ceramic binder is preferably 150 μm or less. In particular, the binder has an average particle size of 50 μm or less, 30 μm or less, 10 μm
Hereinafter, any particle having a particle size of 5 μm or less can be adopted.

In consideration of reducing the pore size of the block filter, the binder is 5 when the artificial or natural ceramic binder is 100% by weight.
It is preferable that fine particles having a size of μm or less account for 30% by weight or more. In particular, it is preferably 40% by weight or more, especially 50% by weight or more, and 60% by weight or more. Above all, it is preferable that fine particles of 5 μm or less occupy 70% by weight or more when the artificial or natural ceramics-based binder is 100% by weight, and particularly 1
It is preferable that ultrafine particles of μm or less account for 30% by weight or more.

According to a preferred embodiment of the manufacturing method of the present invention, the weight% of the artificial or natural ceramic binder is less than the weight% of the blended activated carbon. In this case, it is advantageous to reduce the pore size in the block filter. When the ratio of the ultrafine activated carbon is high, the strength of the block filter tends to decrease and the block filter tends to be easily cracked. However, if the particle size of the artificial or natural ceramic-based binder is selected as described above, it is possible to reduce the pore size of the block filter while ensuring the strength of the block filter.

According to the production method of the present invention, the base activated carbon has a larger average particle size than the ultrafine activated carbon, and is effective for ensuring the strength of the block filter and the water discharge per unit time. . Therefore, the average particle size of the base activated carbon is 3
It is set to 5 to 200 μm. Here, considering the strength of the block filter and the water discharge property per unit time, when the amount of the activated carbon base material is 100% by weight, 30 to 20 is obtained.
A form that occupies 10 to 70% by weight of 0 μm particles can be exemplified.

The ultrafine activated carbon has an average particle size smaller than that of the base activated carbon, and the particle size is preferably 20 μm or less. For ultrafine activated carbon, 1-20μ
It is possible to employ a form in which particles of m have a particle size of 80% by weight or more and particles of less than 1 μm have a particle size of 20% by weight or less. However, it is not limited to this. Although the ultrafine activated carbon tends to reduce the strength of the block filter, the addition of the ultrafine activated carbon is advantageous for reducing the pore size in the block filter.

According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, when the raw material is pressure-molded, the molding pressure can be 1.0 MPa or more. In this case, when the raw material is granules,
It is advantageous for crushing the contact surfaces of the granular raw materials to reduce the pores formed by the particles. Molding pressure 1.2
It can be at least MPa and at least 1.5 MPa. The upper limit of the molding pressure also varies depending on the pressurizing device, for example,
It can be 2.0 MPa, 4.0 MPa, and 5.0 MPa.

When the raw material obtained by mixing the mixed activated carbon and the ceramic binder is pressure-molded, the surface of the activated carbon is covered with the ceramic binder, and the specific surface area of the activated carbon tends to decrease. According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, since the proportion of the binder is relatively small, it is advantageous in allowing the specific surface area of the activated carbon to be expressed in the fine permeation paths of the block filter.

The water purifier is a container having a water passage chamber, a water supply device which communicates with the water passage chamber and supplies water to the water passage chamber, and a water purifier which is housed in the water passage chamber so as to purify the water supplied to the water passage chamber. Filtered material,
The water discharger is connected to the water flow chamber and discharges water purified by the filter medium. The filter material is mainly composed of the above-mentioned fired activated carbon block filter. Since the above-mentioned fired activated carbon block filter is excellent in the ability to capture bacteria such as viruses, a water purifier having excellent ability to capture bacteria such as viruses can be obtained. Here, the fired activated carbon block filter has a cylindrical shape, and an electrode terminal for applying a voltage to the fired activated carbon block filter may be provided in the radial direction of the fired activated carbon block filter. Applying a voltage is advantageous for controlling bacteria such as bacteria trapped in the fired activated carbon block filter.

According to a preferred water purifier, the filter medium is formed of the first filter medium and the second filter medium arranged side by side, and the first filter medium and the second filter medium are provided. One of them is formed of a fired activated carbon block filter having a good trapping property for bacteria such as the above-mentioned viruses, and the other of the first filter medium and the second filter medium is more than the above one. The average pore size is large and the loss is low. First filter material and second
The other of the above-mentioned filter materials can also be formed by a fired activated carbon block filter obtained by firing an aggregate of activated carbon.

The above-mentioned fired activated carbon block filters according to the first and second inventions are excellent in trapping bacteria such as viruses, but since they contain ultrafine activated carbon as a main component, they have high pressure loss and water discharge. Tends to be low. However, as described above, if a filter medium having a large average pore size and a low pressure loss is also included, it is possible to secure the water discharge while securing the trapping property of bacteria such as viruses.

[0033]

EXAMPLES Examples embodying the present invention will be shown below. Most of the ultrafine activated carbon used in this example was 20 μm or less. The particle size distribution of this ultrafine activated carbon is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the particle size was set within 25 μm, and the particle size within 20 μm accounted for 99.80% by weight. In this ultrafine activated carbon powder, the most frequent region was 4.47 to 13.25 μm, and the median diameter was 6 to 7 μm. The activated carbon base material used in this example is relatively fine and has an average particle size of 30 to 100 μm.
Was set within the range.

FIG. 2 shows the particle size distribution of the compounded activated carbon according to the invention product 1 in which the base activated carbon and the ultrafine activated carbon are mixed. As shown in FIG. 2, when the total amount of the blended activated carbon was 100% by weight, there were many activated carbons having a particle size of 30 μm or less. Figure 3
Shows the particle size distribution of the compounded activated carbon according to the conventional product. When the total amount of the activated carbon blended according to the conventional product was 100% by weight, there were few activated carbon particles having a particle size of 30 μm or less.

The ceramic binder used in this example was an alumina-silica system (alumina: 40 to 70% by weight-silica: 30 to 60% by weight) of 150 μm or less. That is, when the binder was 100% by weight, particles of ultrafine powder of about 5 μm occupied 80% by weight.

Then, the mixing ratio of the binder, the base material activated carbon and the ultrafine activated carbon was set as shown in Table 1 to form the raw material according to the invention product 1. In this case, the ultrafine activated carbon and the binder were mixed by a mixer for powder preparation so that they could be sufficiently mixed. According to this example, after mixing with a mixer for 5 minutes, a predetermined amount of water was sprayed and stopped after 5 seconds. The resulting granules have a low water content and a small granule size. In this case, the granules do not stick to each other and form large pores. Therefore, it is important to increase the amount of water in the raw material. Therefore, in order to replenish the water, a high-pressure mist blows the room to create a supersaturated humidity condition.
After being left for a day, a material having a water content of more than 50% was used as a granular raw material.

[0037]

[Table 1]

Using a hydraulic press machine, molding pressure: 1.5
The pressure is set to MPa, and the above-mentioned granular raw material aggregate is pressure-molded to form a hollow cylindrical molded body (outer diameter 129 mm x inner diameter 29
mm x height 200 mm) was molded. Dry hot air was applied to this molded body to force it to dry. Then, the molded body is fired in a continuous tunnel kiln that maintains a moving time of 10 hours in a nitrogen atmosphere while keeping the maximum temperature of 1195 ° C. (firing temperature), and a fired activated carbon block filter according to the invention product 1 shown in Table 1 is prepared. did. Since it is fired, it is advantageous for suppressing damage to activated carbon and optimizing the pore size.

Further, based on the conditions shown in Table 1, the raw material according to the invention product 2 was prepared by the same procedure, and the block filter according to the invention product 2 was formed. Similarly, based on the conditions shown in Table 1, the raw materials of Comparative Products 1 to 3 and the raw material of the conventional product were created, and the block filters of Comparative Products 1 to 3 and the block filter of the conventional product were created. .

Table 1 shows the physical property values of each block filter. As shown in Table 1, in Comparative product 1, the proportion of the binder was 58%, which was a large weight ratio. In Comparative product 2, the ratio of the binder was as large as 60% by weight. In Comparative product 3, the proportion of the binder was as small as 30% by weight, and although the ultrafine activated carbon was blended, the base activated carbon was not blended. In the conventional product, the base material activated carbon was blended, but the ultrafine powder activated carbon was not blended.

When the ratio of the ultrafine powder activated carbon is high, the strength of the fired activated carbon block filter tends to be low and it tends to crack. However, in this embodiment, since the artificial or natural ceramic-based binder having a fine particle size is selected as described above, the strength of the fired activated carbon block filter can be ensured and the pore diameter of the fired activated carbon block filter can be reduced. It is advantageous for

FIG. 4 is a photomicrograph of the fired activated carbon block filter according to Invention 1 (magnification: 1000 times, test piece: N).
o. 11-3) is shown. FIG. 5 shows a micrograph (magnification: 1000 times, test piece: No. 2W-3) of the fired activated carbon block filter according to the conventional product. In FIGS. 4 and 5, the blackish portion indicates activated carbon, and the whitish portion indicates a ceramic binder. As shown in FIG. 4, it can be seen that in Invention product 1, the blackish portion occupies a large area, and activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon is frequently expressed in the fine transmission paths of the block filter. In such an invention product 1,
It is effective in improving the trapping and adsorbing properties. When the entire field of view shown in FIG. 4 is 100% by area, the occupied area of the blackish portion is estimated to be about 70 to 85%.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the conventional product, the white area occupies a large area, and therefore a large number of binders are frequently expressed in the fine transmission paths of the block filter, and activated carbon is not so much expressed. I understand. It is understood that such a conventional product is not so effective in improving the trapping property and the adsorbing property.

FIG. 6 shows the pore size distribution in the fired activated carbon block filter according to Invention 1. The pore size distribution was tested by mercury porosimetry. As shown in FIG. 6, in Invention product 1, the pore size was small, and the pores exceeding 10 μm were substantially not included, which was good. Similar pore size distribution was obtained for Invention 2 as well. That is, in the fired activated carbon block filters according to Inventions 1 and 2, when the volume of pores of 1 μm or less is 100% by volume, the number of pores having a pore size of 2.5 μm or less is 40% by volume or more, and , 8
There were few pores having a pore size exceeding μm. That is, in this way, it is possible to secure a high porosity of the fired activated carbon block filter, while ensuring the amount of water discharged from the fired activated carbon block filter, reduce the pore size of the fired activated carbon block filter, and, It is effective for capture.

FIG. 7 shows the distribution of pore diameters in the conventional fired activated carbon block filter. In the fired activated carbon block filter according to the conventional product, the pore size is large,
The volume percent of large size pores above 20 μm was high. As shown in FIG. 7, in the conventional product, although there were many fine pores of 2.5 μm or less, a large frequency peak occurred near 20 μm, and large pores of about 100 μm existed considerably. As described above, the presence of large pores of 20 μm or more can secure the amount of water discharged per unit time, but induces a decrease in the trapping ability and the adsorbing ability in the calcined activated carbon block filter.

As shown in Table 1, with respect to the porosity (volume ratio) of the block filters, the invention products 1 and 2 are 39 to 42.
%Met. On the other hand, the block filter according to the conventional product in which the ultrafine activated carbon was not mixed had a slightly low porosity of 37%. Regarding the compressive strength, the invention products 1 and 2 and the comparative products 1 and 2 were good. However, the comparative product 3 in which the base material activated carbon was not blended had a considerably low compressive strength. The conventional product not containing ultrafine activated carbon had a high compressive strength. The chloroform removal rate was determined by allowing the raw water (40 ppb) in which chloroform was dissolved to permeate and measuring the removal rate. Regarding the removal rate of chloroform, the invention products 1 and 2 were better than the comparative products 1 to 3 and the conventional products.

(Permeation of Suspended Dust) A test was conducted by allowing air containing particles of 0.3 μm or more to pass through a block filter.
In this case, the airborne dust of 0.3 μm is transmitted and the airborne dust is measured with a laser beam. As shown in Table 1, the number of detected permeated particles having an average diameter of 0.3 μm was 10 or less per 1 liter of air, which was favorable. Invention 2 is 4
The number was 0 to 50, which was good. The number of comparative products 1 was 600, which was not very good. The number of transmitted particles detected in Comparative Product 2 was 20, which was good. Comparative product 3 could not be tested because of insufficient strength. Conventional product is 5
The number was 000 or more, which was not good. At this time, the number of particles of 0.3 μm per 1 liter of air before being supplied to the block filter counted 45,000 on average. As described above, it can be seen that the invention products 1 and 2 are superior to the comparative products 1 and 3 and the conventional product in capturing fine particles.

(Permeation of Brevundimonas bacterium)
Brevundim with outer diameter 0.3μm x length 0.8μm
A test of permeating onas bacteria through the block filter was also conducted. In the invention product 1, the average pore size of the block filter was 0.40 μm, which was relatively large, but the permeation number of Brevundimonas bacteria was 0, and the trapping property was extremely excellent. Inventive product 2 had a transmission number of 510 pieces / ml / 3.5 million pieces, which was excellent as a block filter. Here, 510 pieces / ml / ml /
3.5 million pieces means brevundimon per 1 ml
When raw water containing 3.5 million as bacteria is used, the permeation number is 5
It means that it is 10. 350 in Comparative Product 2
The number was 1 / ml / 1.2 million, which was a good block filter.

In the conventional product, the number of permeation bacteria exceeded 1000, which was not good. Therefore, the invention products 1 and 2 are
In particular, the invention product 1 can be used as a fired activated carbon block filter having a bacterial proof property, and is superior to the comparison product and the conventional product.

(Test for Removing Poliovirus Substitute Bacteria) A test for removing poliovirus substitutes was performed. Since the number of cases of polio has almost disappeared in Japan, it is not targeted for removal in clean water. However, in developed countries such as the United States regarding water supply technology, standards for water purification have been established as a nation. Due to this situation, half of the domestic water purifiers in the US market are occupied by a reverse osmosis membrane system with a pore size of 10 angstroms, and each household is trying to defend against poliovirus. Poliovirus has an outer diameter of 25 to 35 nm (250 to 350 angstrom:
It has a spherical shape (0.025 to 0.035 μm), has a large number of protrusions on the periphery, and has a sugar-like composition. Permeation tests using actual poliovirus are extremely dangerous and impossible to carry out. Therefore, a test using "bacteriophage MS-2" having almost the same size and shape, which is widely used as an alternative test bacterium in the United States, is used in various fields including the medical field. Therefore, the present inventor conducted a permeation test using this MS-2. The number of MS-2 contained in the raw water before passing through the block filter was 1 million / ml.

According to the test results, as shown in Table 1, the invention product 1 did not permeate MS-2. As described above, it is speculated that the block filter according to Inventive Product 1 can effectively capture MS-2 and eventually poliovirus. As shown in FIG. 4, in Invention product 1, it is presumed that activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon is frequently expressed in the fine permeation path through which water passes in the block filter. The test water pressure acting on the block filter at this time is 30 psi.
(2.1 kgf / cm ² ), 60 psi (4.2 kgf
/ Cm ² ). Especially, the latter water pressure condition is close to the average water pressure in the United States. The block filter according to Comparative product 2 has the smallest average pore diameter (0.24
It was expected that the MS-2 capture rate would be high. In comparative product 2, 30 psi (2.1 kg
f / cm ² ) MS-2 does not pass through the block filter according to Comparative Product 2, and 60 psi (4.2k)
When it was gf / cm ² ), the transmission number of MS-2 could be suppressed to 50 or less.

By the way, in the activated carbon of polyethylene binder, which is popular in ordinary water purifiers in the US market, and in the hollow fiber membrane of polypropylene, which is popular in the Japanese market, soluble lead, that is, lead ions, is satisfactorily added. The ability to be removed is widely disclosed. As a material, polyethylene and polypropylene are originally charged with a negative charge, and it is known that even in water, negative static electricity of tens of thousands of volts is generated at an interface accompanied by a flow velocity. Therefore, positively charged lead ions are easily removed by electrostatic adsorption on polyethylene and polypropylene.

However, there has been no report that a virus such as a poliovirus was captured by a block filter containing a polyethylene binder. The reason is,
It is considered that the virus with negative charge is electrostatically repelled by negatively charged polyethylene and polypropylene and is difficult to capture. Conventionally, as a capture report about bacteria,
Brevundimonas having a minimum diameter of 0.3 μm that can be captured by pores, Escherichia coli having a size of 0.65 μm, protozoa such as Cryptosporidium having a size of a dozen μm, or miscellaneous bacteria having a size of several tens μm It has been limited to only.

In the case of poliovirus or its alternative strain, Bacteriophage MS-2,
It is presumed that the whole is formed of the capsid proteins of VP1 to VP4, the surface of which is covered with VP1 to VP3, and it is known that the negative charge is derived from the carboxyl group. Therefore, it is presumed that the negatively charged viruses will be electrostatically repulsed and will not be captured in the polyethylene binder having the property of negatively charged surface.

However, in the case of the invention products 1 and 2, when a block filter is formed by sintering an artificial or natural ceramic binder, the properties and characteristics of a completely inorganic sintered body are exhibited. In the usage conditions of
It is considered that neither positive nor negative charge occurs. Therefore, in contrast to the case where the polyethylene binder is negatively charged, in the case of the invention products 1 and 2, it is presumed that the negatively charged virus is not electrostatically repulsed and can be captured by the block filter.

Conventionally, as a technique for removing negatively charged viruses in a water supply plant, there are many literatures that use a positively charged coagulant (eg, water purification technology, Gihodo Publishing, Norihito Tanbo et al.
Page 45, section on flocculation and floc formation).
In addition, conventionally, it is known in various fields that viruses are negatively charged.

In Comparative Product 3, the ratio of the ceramic binder was extremely reduced, and the base material activated carbon was not mixed. For this reason, the porosity is relatively high at 39.1%, but the firing strength is insufficient, and the pores collapse at once due to the pressure of the permeated water. In addition, about the same composition as the above-mentioned comparative product 3, the test body which was respectively pressurized with the molding pressures 3.1 MPa, 2.5 MPa, 0.8 MPa which are not described in Table 1 was created. With respect to these as well, it was examined how the pore distribution of the fired activated carbon block filter changes, and when the base activated carbon was not compounded and the binder was as small as about 30%, it was considered that the molding pressure was increased. However, due to the pressure of the permeated water, the pores collapse all at once.

In the conventional product, the base material activated carbon was blended, but the ultrafine activated carbon was not contained at all, and the raw material contained 50% by weight of activated carbon and 50% by weight of binder. Therefore, in the block filter according to the conventional product, the pore size and distribution of the block filter significantly change depending on the molding pressure, but the porosity of the block filter tends to decrease as the molding pressure increases, and the pore size is large. However, a large number of fairly coarse pores of 2.5 μm to several tens of μm remained. Therefore, in order to reduce the pore size of the block filter, it can be seen that the compounding of finely powdered activated carbon such as ultrafine powdered activated carbon is effective as in the case of the invention products 1 and 2.

As described above, when the raw material contained a small amount of a ceramic binder, increasing the molding pressure did not contribute to the reduction of the pores of the fired activated carbon block filter. Rather, it was more effective to increase the compounding ratio of ultrafine activated carbon.

According to the above-mentioned embodiments, the silica-alumina type is used as the binder, but if it is a viscous one, a wide range of ones such as silica, magnesia, clay type may be used instead of or together with this. Can be used.

(Application Example 1) FIG. 8 shows a water purifier according to an application example. The filter material 1 of the water purifier is formed of the block filter according to the above-described invention product 1. The filter medium 1 formed of the calcined activated carbon block filter has a vertical cylindrical shape (outer diameter 122 mm x inner diameter 35 mm x height 186 mm), and defines a through hole 3 penetrating the shaft core in the axial direction. It has a peripheral surface 140. Resin caps 4 and 4 for preventing chipping of the shaft end face of the filter medium 1 are fixed to the shaft end face of the filter medium 1 by a silicon adhesive.

As shown in FIG. 8, the water purifier comprises a water passage chamber 10
A container 101 having a cylindrical shape made of a conductive metal (for example, stainless steel) having 0, and a water passage chamber 10 in the container 101.
Water-permeable filter medium 1 housed in 0, an inner cylinder 2 as a cylindrical member arranged in the through hole 3 of the filter medium 1, and a non-conductive material provided at the bottom of the container 101. (For example, resin) pedestal 102, lid 103 formed of a conductive material (for example, stainless steel) equipped on the ceiling of container 101, and water supplied to water supply chamber 100 of container 101 held by container 101 Water supply tool 104, and water discharge tool 1 communicating with water passage chamber 100 and inner cylinder 2 held in container 101
05, a plurality of projecting first electrodes 107 formed of a conductive material (for example, a titanium alloy or a copper alloy) inserted and held on the bottom side of the filter medium 1, and the first electrodes 107 are electrically connected to each other. The conductive member 108 connected to the first electrode 107, the electrode terminal 109 (first electrode terminal) attached to the side of the filter medium 1 so as to energize the first electrode 107 via the conductive member 108, and the electrical connection to the lower portion of the inner cylinder 2. The second electrode 110 held by the base portion 102 so as to be connected to the second electrode 110, and the electrode terminal 111 (second electrode) which is energized to the second electrode 110 and is attached to the container 101 side through the inner cylinder 2 and the lid portion 103. Electrode terminals).

A ring-shaped gap 130 is coaxially formed between the outer peripheral surface 1 m of the filter medium 1 and the inner peripheral surface 101 m of the container 101. Electrode terminal 109 and first electrode 10
7 is a positive electrode. Therefore, the filter medium 1 in which the first electrode 107 is embedded becomes a positive electrode. The electrode terminal 111 and the second electrode 110 are negative electrodes. Therefore, the second
Inner cylinder 2 made of a conductive material that conducts to the electrode 110
Becomes a negative electrode. Since the filter medium 1 has pores communicating with each other, it has water permeability.

When purifying water using a water purifier,
The electrode terminal 109 electrically connected to the first electrode 107 is placed on the positive electrode side,
The electrode terminal 111 electrically connected to the second electrode 110 is electrically connected to the negative electrode side. In this state, a voltage (for example, 1 to 6 volts, 2 to 3 volts) is applied between the electrode terminals 109 and 111.
Is applied. Therefore, the filter medium 1 that is electrically connected to the first electrode 107 becomes a positive electrode. The inner cylinder 2 that is electrically connected to the second electrode 110 serves as a negative electrode. The container 101, which is electrically connected to the upper portion of the inner cylinder 2 through the lid 103, serves as a negative electrode. As a result, a voltage is applied to the filter medium 1 in the radial direction thereof. By doing so, it becomes advantageous to apply a voltage to the whole of the filter medium 1, the effect of improving the trapping ability and the adsorbing ability of the filter medium 1 can be further expected, and the bacteria trapped in the filter medium 1 can be prevented. Can be sterilized.

When purifying the water, the water supply tool 104 to the water passage room 1
Pour water into 00. Outer peripheral surface 1 m of the filter medium 1 and the container 101
Water passes through the inside of the filter medium 1 along the radial direction thereof (along the arrow W direction) toward the center of the filter medium 1 from the gap 130 between The water that has passed through the filter medium 1 reaches the through hole 3 of the filter medium 1 and the through hole 2c of the inner cylinder 2 inside the filter medium 1
From the inside to the passage 2a in the inner cylinder 2, flows through the passage 2a in the inner cylinder 2, and is discharged as purified water to the outside from the water discharge port 105a of the water discharger 105.

By applying the above-mentioned voltage, the inner wall of the pores of the filter medium 1 serves as a positive electrode. Therefore, bacteria that pass through, especially ultrafine 25 nm to 35 n, which are easily affected by electrostatic
The virus and the like of m are electrostatically adsorbed and fixed to the finely powdered activated carbon portion on the inner wall of the exposed pores, and are prevented from going out of the system. By doing so, the effect of improving the trapping ability and the adsorbing ability of the filter medium 1 can be further expected.

In the above application example, the first electrode 107 and the electrode terminal 109 are positive electrodes, and the second electrode 110 is
Although the electrode terminal 111 and the electrode terminal 111 are used as the negative electrode, the first electrode 107 and the electrode terminal 109 may be used as the negative electrode, and the second electrode 110 and the electrode terminal 111 may be used as the positive electrode in some cases.

It was proved that the above-mentioned block filter having an excellent virus-trapping property has an excellent virus- and bacteria-trapping property. However, there is a problem in that the bacteria are still trapped in the filter medium and live inside the filter medium 1. Therefore, according to this application example, all the components of the water purifier other than the filter medium 1 which is inherently heat resistant are configured by heat resistant members having heat resistance of 90 to 100 ° C. For this reason, hot water was supplied to the water purifier periodically, and sterilization was possible with hot water. It is known that viruses and E. coli die above 75 ° C. within at least 1 minute.

Application Example 2 Application example 2 is shown in FIG. The water purifier according to the application example 2 has basically the same configuration as the water purifier according to the application example 1 and exhibits the same operational effect. Common parts are given common reference numerals. However, the first electrode 107
Is not provided, the gap width of the gap 130 is 2 mm, and no voltage is applied. Even when no voltage was applied, the spontaneous electromotive force due to the conductive dissimilar material in water was usually 250 mV and 400 μA, and the filter medium 1 formed by the block filter was positively charged.

Application Example 3 In the above, the water permeable layer of the filter medium 1 formed of the cylindrical fired activated carbon block filter is used in the United States where the water pressure of 4.2 kgf / cm ² (60 psi) is the average water pressure. It is intended for use in. In Japan, the average water pressure is 2.5 kgf / c
m ² and in the JIS test method, 1.0
It is kgf / cm ² (0.1 MPa). In this case, it takes 15 minutes or more to reach the maximum water discharge amount. Therefore, in order to clear this problem, the following can be done. That is, the permeable layer thickness toward the central axis direction of the filter medium 1 formed by the cylindrical fired activated carbon block filter in which the activated carbon and the binder are molded according to the claims is cut and thinned. As a result, it is possible to shorten the time required to reach the required water discharge amount and the initial maximum water discharge amount.

(Application Example 4) An application example 4 is shown in FIG. The water purifier according to this application example has basically the same configuration as the water purifier according to application example 1. According to this application example, as shown in FIG. 10, the tubular filter medium 1 mounted in the water purifier is used.
Is a cylindrical inner filter medium 10A arranged inside,
A cylindrical outer filter medium 10B coaxially arranged on the outside
And have. The outer filter medium 10B is the inner filter medium 10
It is arranged coaxially with A and is composed of a dense layer formed by the block filter of the invention product 1 or the invention product 2 described above. Inventive product 1 or invention product 2 has excellent trapping ability against bacteria such as viruses and is a dense layer, and therefore, as shown in Table 1, the average pore diameter is smaller and the pressure loss is higher than the conventional products. , The amount of water discharge per unit time is small. Therefore, in order to compensate for this, the inner filter medium 10A is composed of a coarse-diameter layer formed of a conventional product having a large average pore diameter (see Table 1). The conventional product has a low pressure loss when passing water and a large amount of water discharged per unit time. Therefore, according to the water purifier according to this application example, it is possible to increase the amount of water discharged per unit time while ensuring the ability to capture bacteria such as viruses.

As described above, the outer filter medium 10B composed of the invention product 1 or the invention product 2 is a dense layer and has a small water discharge amount per unit time. However, the outer peripheral surface (outer peripheral surface 1 m) of the outer filter medium 10B has a radial distance r from the central axis of the filter medium 1.
Since 1 is large, it is advantageous to increase the surface area of the outer peripheral surface (outer peripheral surface 1 m) that is the water passage start surface of the outer filter medium 10B. As a result, the outer filter medium 10 per unit time
The water flow rate of B can be increased, which in turn can contribute to an increase in the water discharge rate of the water purifier per unit time.

Application Example 5 Application example 5 is shown in FIG. The water purifier according to this application example has basically the same configuration as the water purifier according to application example 1. Common parts are given common reference numerals. According to this application example, as shown in FIG. 11, the cylindrical filter medium 1 mounted in the water purifier is coaxially arranged outside with the cylindrical inner filter medium 10A arranged inside. And a cylindrical outer filter medium 10B.
The inner filter medium 10A is arranged coaxially with the outer filter medium 10B, and as described above, a dense layer formed of the block filter according to the invention product 1 or the invention product 2 having excellent trapping ability for bacteria such as viruses. It is composed of. Invention 1
Inventive product 2 is a dense layer, and as shown in Table 1, the average pore diameter is small, the pressure loss is high, and the water discharge amount per unit time is small. Therefore, in order to compensate for this, the outer filter medium 10
B is formed of a block filter (see Table 1) according to a conventional product having a large average pore diameter. The conventional product has a large water discharge amount per unit time and a low pressure loss during water passage. Therefore, according to this application example, it is possible to increase the amount of water discharged per unit time while ensuring the ability to capture bacteria such as viruses.

The wall thickness of the inner filter medium 10A having a small water discharge amount per unit time is shown as ta. The wall thickness of the outer filter medium 10B having a large water discharge amount per unit time is t
Shown as b. The wall thickness ta is set smaller than the wall thickness tb. This ensures the amount of water discharged from the water purifier per unit time.

As one index, according to the brevundimonas permeation test, which is a surrogate bacterium that can predict the poliovirus trapping ability, at a water pressure of 4.2 kgf / cm ² , in order to ensure good trapping ability, the dense layer The minimum wall thickness required was 15 mm. Also, in view of the relationship with the water discharge amount, the water discharge amount changes in a correlated manner up to a maximum thickness of 25 mm in the dense layer.
A test result was obtained in which the difference did not change so much when it exceeded 5 mm.

Application Example 6 According to Application Example 5 described above,
Two different sizes, a dense layer and a coarse layer, are independently machined to obtain dimensions and combined to form the filter medium 1. This is disadvantageous in productivity and cost. Therefore, in this application example, the material for the dense layer and the material for the coarse diameter layer are separately filled into the cavity of the same molding press die,
The filter material 1 was manufactured by collectively pressure-molding and integrally molding the dense layer and the coarse diameter layer. This improves the productivity of the filter medium 1. In this case, since the raw material to be the dense layer and the raw material to be the coarse layer have different compounding ratios, the dry shrinkage amount and the firing shrinkage amount are different between the dense layer and the coarse layer, and it is necessary to consider that cracks will not occur. To be done.

(Others) In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and application examples described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The words and phrases described in the above-described embodiments and examples can be described in each claim even if they are a part.

(Supplementary Note) From the above description, the following technical idea can be understood. (Additional Item 1) Blended activated carbon obtained by blending base activated carbon as a base material of a fired activated carbon block filter, and ultrafine activated carbon having an average particle size smaller than that of the base activated carbon and having a particle size of 30 μm or less. And a synthetic or natural ceramic-based binder are used as raw materials, and the raw materials are pressure-molded and then fired to generate a large number of pores. Or a water purifier having a fired activated carbon block filter. (Supplementary Note 2) A blended activated carbon, which is a blended base activated carbon that is a base material for a fired activated carbon block filter, and an ultrafine activated carbon having a particle size of 30 μm or less, and an artificial or natural ceramic binder are mixed and blended. When the total amount of the activated carbon and the ceramic-based binder is 100% by weight, the weight ratio of the ceramic-based binder is 50% by weight or less and the raw material in which the activated carbon blended is 50% by weight or more is pressure-molded, A fired activated carbon block filter, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, or a water purifier having a fired activated carbon block filter, characterized by being fired to generate a large number of pores. (Additional Item 3) Using a raw material obtained by mixing a base material activated carbon having an average particle diameter of 30 to 200 μm, an ultrafine pulverized activated carbon having a particle diameter of 30 μm or less, and an artificial or natural ceramic binder. After pressing the raw material,
A fired activated carbon block filter, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, or a water purifier having a fired activated carbon block filter, characterized by being fired to generate a large number of pores. (Additional Item 4) A blended activated carbon obtained by mixing a base material activated carbon having an average particle diameter of 30 to 200 μm, and an ultrafine activated carbon having a particle diameter of 30 μm or less, and an artificial or natural ceramics-based binder, to obtain a blended activated carbon. When the total amount of the ceramics-based binder is 100% by weight, the weight ratio of the ceramics-based binder is 50% by weight or less, and the raw material in which the blended activated carbon is blended in 50% by weight or more is pressure-molded and then fired. A fired activated carbon block filter, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, or a water purifier having a fired activated carbon block filter, characterized in that a large number of pores are generated. (Additional Item 5) In each claim or each additional item, the binder has at least one of an alumina component and a silica component as a main component, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, or firing. Water purifier with activated carbon block filter. (Additional Item 6) In any one of claims 14 to 18, the filter medium has a tubular shape having a hole, and a tubular member forming a water passage communicating with the water supply tool or the water discharge tool is arranged in the hole. A water purifier that is characterized. It is advantageous to configure the inside of the tubular member as the water discharge path.

[0079]

According to the present invention, while maintaining the porosity,
It is possible to provide a calcined activated carbon block filter and a water purifier that have a small pore size and that activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon on the inner wall of a water fine permeation channel is frequently expressed. Therefore, not only can the porosity of the calcined activated carbon block filter be secured and the amount of water discharged per unit time can be secured, but also the ability to trap colloidal suspended dust, chromaticity components, fine particles, bacteria such as viruses, and adsorption ability can be improved. be able to. Furthermore, since the binder is an artificial or natural ceramics-based binder, even if the hot water is passed through the fired activated carbon block filter, unlike the resin-based binder, the fired activated carbon block filter does not cause a problem in heat resistance. Bacteria captured on the block filter can be sterilized in hot water, and hygiene can be improved.

Therefore, when the fired activated carbon block filter according to the present invention is applied to a water purifier as a filter medium for water purification, the porosity can be secured, the amount of water discharged per unit time can be secured, and the pore diameter can be further reduced. In addition, the degree of expression of activated carbon such as ultrafine activated carbon on the inner wall of the fine passage can be increased. For this reason, not only viable bacteria but also colloidal suspended dust, chromaticity components, and even viruses can be removed, and the trapping and adsorbing properties can be enhanced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph showing the particle size distribution of ultrafine activated carbon.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a particle size distribution of blended activated carbon obtained by mixing base activated carbon and ultrafine activated carbon.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a particle size distribution of a compounded activated carbon according to a conventional product.

FIG. 4 is a micrograph (magnification: 1000 times) of the block filter according to the invention product 1.

FIG. 5 is a micrograph (magnification: 1000 times) of a block filter according to a conventional product.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the pore size distribution of the block filter according to the invention product 1.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing a pore distribution of a block filter according to a conventional product.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a water purifier equipped with a filter medium formed of the block filter according to the invention according to Application Example 1;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a water purifier equipped with a filter medium formed of the block filter according to the invention according to Application Example 2;

FIG. 10 relates to Application Example 4 and is equipped with a filter medium including an outer filter medium formed of a fired activated carbon block filter according to the invention and an inner filter medium formed of a fired activated carbon block filter according to a conventional product. It is sectional drawing of the water purifier.

FIG. 11 relates to Application Example 5 and is equipped with a filter medium including an inner filter medium formed of the fired activated carbon block filter according to the invention and an outer filter medium formed of the fired activated carbon block filter according to the conventional product. It is sectional drawing of the water purifier.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the figure, 1 is a filtering material formed of a fired activated carbon block filter, 100 is a water passage chamber, 101 is a container, 107 is a first electrode, 109 is an electrode terminal (first electrode terminal), and 110 is a second.
An electrode, 111 indicates an electrode terminal (second electrode terminal).

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takeshi Kachi             3-1 Ohatacho, Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture Tokyo Ceramic Industry Co., Ltd.             Inside the company (72) Inventor Kazuto Matsue             3-1 Ohatacho, Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture Tokyo Ceramic Industry Co., Ltd.             Inside the company F term (reference) 4D024 AA02 AB07 AB11 BA02 BB05                       BB06 BC01 CA04 CA13 DB09                 4D061 DA03 DB20 EA02 EB01 EB04                       EB30 EB31 EB34                 4G019 FA13                 4G032 AA01 BA00 GA06 GA12

Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A blended activated carbon obtained by mixing a blended activated carbon in which a base material activated carbon having an average particle diameter of 35 to 200 μm and ultrafine activated carbon having a particle diameter of 30 μm or less and an artificial or natural ceramic binder are mixed. When the total amount of the ceramics-based binder is 100% by weight, the weight ratio of the ceramics-based binder is 50% by weight or less, and the activated carbon blended is 50% by weight or more. After that, a fired activated carbon block filter characterized by being fired to generate a large number of pores. 2. The ultrafine activated carbon according to claim 1, wherein
80% or more of particles of 20 μm and 20 of particles of less than 1 μm
A calcined activated carbon block filter characterized by being less than or equal to wt%. 3. A blended activated carbon prepared by mixing a blended activated carbon having an average particle diameter of 35 to 200 μm and an ultrafine activated carbon having a particle diameter of 30 μm or less with an artificial or natural ceramic binder. And when the total amount of the ceramic-based binder is 100% by weight, the weight ratio of the ceramic-based binder is 50% by weight or less, and the raw material containing 50% by weight or more of the activated carbon blend is pressure-molded and then fired. The method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter is characterized by producing a large number of pores. 4. The method for manufacturing a calcined activated carbon block filter according to claim 3, wherein the weight ratio of ultrafine activated carbon / base activated carbon is set to 0.1 to 0.8. 5. In Claims 3 and 4, when the total of the blended activated carbon and the ceramic-based binder is 100% by weight, the weight ratio of the ceramic-based binder is 49% by weight or less and the blended activated carbon is 51% by weight. % Or more to form a raw material, and a method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter. 6. The method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter according to claim 3, wherein the ceramic binder is fine powder having a particle size of 150 μm or less. 7. The ceramic-based binder according to claim 3, wherein the ceramic-based binder is fine powder having a particle size of 150 μm or less, and when the ceramic-based binder is 100% by weight, the binder particle of 5 μm or less is 30% by weight. % Or more, a method for producing a calcined activated carbon block filter. 8. The activated carbon base material according to any one of claims 3 to 7, when the content of the activated carbon is 100% by weight.
A method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, characterized in that the μm particles account for 10 to 70% by weight. 9. The ultrafine activated carbon particles according to claim 3, wherein particles having a particle size of 1 to 20 μm are 80% by weight or more and 1 μm.
A method for producing a calcined activated carbon block filter, wherein less than m has a particle size distribution of 20% by weight or less. 10. The pores having a pore size of 2.5 μm or less are 4 when the volume of pores in the calcined activated carbon block filter is 100% by volume in any one of claims 3 to 9.
A method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter, characterized in that 0% by volume or more and 30% by volume or less of pores having a pore size of more than 8 μm. 11. The method for manufacturing a fired activated carbon block filter according to claim 3, wherein when the raw material is pressure-molded, the molding pressure is 1.0 MPa or more. 12. A method for manufacturing a fired activated carbon block filter according to claim 3, wherein the fired activated carbon block filter has a porosity of 30 to 60%. 13. A method for producing a fired activated carbon block filter according to any one of claims 3 to 12, wherein the firing temperature is 1200 ° C. or lower to reduce the decrease in the characteristics of the activated carbon. 14. A container having a water passage chamber, a water supply device communicating with the water passage chamber and supplying water to the water passage chamber, and a filter housed in the water passage chamber so as to purify the water supplied to the water passage chamber. In a water purifier having a filter material and a water discharger that discharges water purified by a filter material in communication with a water flow chamber, the filter material is mainly composed of the fired activated carbon block filter according to any one of claims 1 to 13. A water purifier that is characterized. 15. The fired activated carbon block filter constituting the filter medium according to claim 14, wherein the fired activated carbon block filter has a cylindrical shape, and electrode terminals for applying a voltage to the fired activated carbon block filter are provided in a radial direction of the fired activated carbon block filter. A water purifier characterized by having. 16. The filter medium according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the filter medium is formed of a first filter medium and a second filter medium arranged in parallel with each other. One of the above and the other is formed of the fired activated carbon block filter according to any one of claims 1 to 13, and the other of the first filter medium and the second filter medium has a larger average pore diameter than one. A water purifier characterized by low pressure loss. 17. The water purifier according to claim 16, wherein the first filter material and the second filter material have a cylindrical shape and are coaxially arranged. 18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17,
A first electrode terminal directly or indirectly attached to the filtering material side and connected to either the positive electrode or the negative electrode, and a second electrode directly or indirectly attached to the container side and connected to either the positive electrode or the negative electrode. A water purifier having a terminal. 19. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18,
The filtering material has a tubular shape having a hole, and a tubular member that forms a water passage communicating with the water supply tool or the water discharge tool is disposed in the hole, and is connected to the tubular member and either the positive electrode or the negative electrode. A water purifier having an electrode terminal connected to one side.