JP2017087198A - Recycling method of toner cartridge, and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To heighten a recycling rate of an easily-recoverable toner cartridge by such recycling that a granulated material as a coke raw material is produced by reducing its volume, while being heated.SOLUTION: In a recycling method of a toner cartridge, the toner cartridge is heated and melted, the molten toner cartridge is cooled, a solidified material after cooling is crushed, impurities are removed from the crushed product, and a residue after removal of the impurities therefrom is heated to reduce its volume, to thereby produce a granulated material as a coke raw material.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner cartridge recycling method and apparatus.

  The toner is a fine particle having a particle size of several to several tens of μm, which is used in a laser printer or a copying machine, in which colored particles such as graphite and / or pigment are attached to plastic particles having charging properties. In general, a toner is made of a thermoplastic resin as a base material, and a binder and a colorant are added thereto. A printer (also called a copier) uses static electricity to transfer toner onto paper, adheres to the paper with heat, and fixes it for printing.

  A technique using this toner as a reducing agent for molten metal in a steelmaking electric furnace is disclosed (Patent Document 1). On the other hand, a method of recycling a dedicated container called a cartridge (hereinafter referred to as “toner cartridge”) instead of a toner unit is also disclosed. Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for preventing the risk of dust explosion due to waste toner diffusion at the time of crushing used toner cartridges, and enabling reliable recycling of used toner cartridges to the level of each material safely and at low cost. Is done.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a method of using waste plastic as coke or the like.

JP 2009-57600 A JP 2005-131610 A JP 2007-290254 A

  In order to shift from a mass production, mass consumption, and mass destruction consumer society to a sustainable recycling-oriented society through product recycling, it is important to raise the recycling rate by optimizing the recycling target and the recycling method. is there.

  In Patent Document 1, toner is collected by a flexible container bag or the like (Patent Document 1, paragraph [0008]). However, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, it is easier to collect the toner in units of toner cartridges, and since the recycling target is not optimized, the recycling rate does not increase.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, the toner cartridge is recycled, and the recycling target is optimized. However, unlike the so-called “chemical cycle”, which is put into an electrolytic furnace and recovered as an energy resource or raw material through a chemical decomposition process as in Patent Document 1, the material of the toner cartridge (thermal material, non-ferrous metal, resin material, rubber) This is a “material recycling” in which materials are recovered without going through a chemical decomposition process. When material recycling is performed, it is necessary to prepare a collection facility for each toner cut ridge. Since the toner cut ridge itself is different for each company that sells printers, it is necessary to provide a recycling facility for each company. Regarding the recycling of toner cut ridges, the introduction cost of the recycling equipment becomes a problem, the recycling equipment is not provided, and the recycling rate does not increase.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for producing a granulated product for use in crushing after being sorted from waste plastic by wind power and magnetic force. However, if waste plastic such as toner cartridges consisting of high-density plastics such as housing parts and low-density plastics such as toner is provided to the coke oven, the probability of low-density plastics being collected by the dust collector increases and the recycling rate decreases. To do. Further, even when the dust is not collected by the dust collector, there is a possibility that the low density plastic is unevenly distributed in the coke oven and develops to an operation trouble such as an increase in the furnace pressure, or a risk of deterioration of coke quality.

  As shown by the following item set, the form for solving the above problem increases the recycling rate by recycling the toner cartridge that is easy to collect by reducing the volume of the granulated product as a coke raw material while heating. .

1. A toner cartridge recycling method comprising:
Heating and melting the toner cartridge;
Cooling the dissolved toner cartridge;
Crushing the solidified product after cooling,
Removing impurities from the crushed crushed material,
A toner cartridge recycling method for producing a granulated product as a coke raw material by reducing the volume of the residue after removing the impurities while heating.

  In the above method, the recycling target is limited to a toner cut ridge that can be easily recovered, and a facility capable of melting, cooling, crushing, and removing impurities is provided, and the residue is heated and reduced in volume. A granulated material suitable for coke oven raw materials is manufactured. Therefore, the amount of coal as a coke oven raw material can be reduced to contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide and the toner cut ridge can be recycled. Therefore, the improvement of the toner cut ridge recycling rate and the reduction of CO 2 can be achieved at the same time.

  2. Item 2. The toner cartridge recycling method according to Item 1, wherein the heating temperature during the volume reduction is 120 ° C to 200 ° C.

  3. 3. The toner cartridge recycling method according to item 1 or 2, wherein the volume reduction is performed by producing the granulated product having a bulk density of 200 kg / m 3 or more, a water content of 3 wt% or less, a diameter of 20 to 60 mm, and a length of 40 to 100 mm. .

4). A toner cartridge recycling device,
A melting part for heating and melting the toner cartridge;
A cooling unit for cooling the melted toner cartridge;
A crushing section for crushing the solidified product after cooling;
A removal section for removing impurities from the crushed crushed material;
A volume reduction unit that reduces the volume of the residue after removing the impurities while heating to produce a granulated product as a coke raw material.

  5. Item 5. The toner cartridge recycling apparatus according to Item 4, wherein the heating temperature during the volume reduction is 120 ° C to 200 ° C.

  6). 6. The toner cartridge recycling according to item 4 or 5, wherein the volume reducing unit manufactures the granulated product having a bulk density of 200 kg / m 3 or more, a water content of 3 wt% or less, a diameter of 20 to 60 mm × a length of 40 to 100 mm. apparatus.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the recycling rate is increased by recycling the easily collected toner cartridge and the easily collected toner cartridge to produce a granulated material suitable for a coke oven chemical raw material that is carbonized in a coke oven.

It is a figure which shows an example of a recycling apparatus. It is a flowchart of a recycling method.

  Hereinafter, a toner cartridge recycling method and apparatus will be described based on the following configuration with reference to the drawings.

1. Outline of Recycling Method An example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recycling apparatus according to the present invention. The recycling apparatus 10 includes a melting unit 20 that heats and melts the toner cartridge 1, a cooling unit 30 that cools the melted toner cartridge 1, a crushing unit 40 that crushes the solidified material after cooling, and crushing crushing The removal part 50 which removes an impurity from a thing, and the volume reduction part 60 which manufactures the granulated material 2 as a coke raw material by volume-reducing the residue after removing an impurity while heating.

  The melting unit 20 may throw in tens to hundreds of used toner cartridges 1. The melting part 20 melts the toner cartridge 1 at about 80 to 140 ° C. This temperature is determined by a plastic component constituting the toner cartridge. For example, the melting point of polyethylene (PE) is 120 to 150 ° C, the melting point of polypropylene (PP) is 130 to 180 ° C, the melting point of polystyrene (PS) is 220 to 260 ° C, and the melting point of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is 210 to 280 ° C. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has a melting point of 180 to 290 ° C. Since the melting portion 20 is heated at about 80 to 140 ° C., the toner cartridge 1 is not completely melted, but is partially melted to have a certain shape for crushing by the crushing portion 40 at the subsequent stage.

  The cooling unit 30 naturally cools the heated used toner cartridge 1 (also referred to as a solidified product) that has come out of the heating unit 20 and performs forced cooling with a fan as necessary.

  A crushing unit 40, for example, a biaxial crushing device is used. The crushing capacity required for the crushing unit 40 crushes the resin material constituting the case of the toner cartridge 1 to about 15 mm. The size to be crushed is an appropriate size that makes it easier to remove foreign substances by crushing and using a removal unit at a later stage.

  The removing unit 50 removes impurities from the crushed crushed material. Impurities are, for example, metals. In this removal process, magnetic separation, wind separation, or the like is performed.

  Next, the volume reducing unit 60 reduces the volume of the crushed material while heating to produce a granulated product 2 as a coke raw material. It is within the scope of the present invention to mix with waste plastic other than the toner cartridge at the time of volume reduction. Further, when the volume of the toner cartridge is reduced, the toner cartridge can increase the suitable bulk density suitable for coke oven processing by the action of the toner remaining inside. At this time, the granulated material is not a gas (COG: Coke Oven Gas) 5 generated in the coke oven in the coke oven, but in order to efficiently produce coke, a bulk density of 200 kg / m 3 or more, a water content of 3 wt% or less, The diameter is preferably 20 to 60 mm and the length is 40 to 100 mm. Moreover, it is preferable that the heating during volume reduction shall be 120 to 200 degreeC. This reason will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a coke manufacturing process. In the coke oven 100, the granulated product 2 is used as a raw material for producing coke used in the blast furnace 110. In the coke production process in the coke oven 100, the granulated product 2 charged together with the coal 3 in the coke oven 100 is dry-distilled together with the coal 3 to produce the coke 4. The gas generated in this carbonization step is COG5.

  The coke 4 plays three important roles in the blast furnace 110. First, iron ore is reduced with carbon to extract iron, second, a passage for reducing gas and molten iron in the blast furnace 110 is secured, and third, a heat source for melting iron ore and limestone. It is.

  The main components of COG5 are 50 to 54% hydrogen, 30 to 33% methane, 6 to 8% carbon monoxide, 2 to 4% hydrocarbons such as ethylene, but tar, crude light oil, sulfuric acid, ammonia, etc. Including. Tar, crude light oil, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and the like contained in the COG 5 are recovered through a recovery facility 120 such as a desulfurization facility, a deammonia facility, and a light diesel oil recovery facility. The COG 5 purified by the recovery is used as fuel in the blast furnace 110 and the coke oven 100.

  Although COG5 is effectively used as fuel in steelworks 12, it requires a gas generation process, etc., so the conversion rate to coke 4 is increased rather than making the granulated product COG5, and the coal utilization rate Lowering is preferable from the viewpoint of CO2 reduction. Therefore, the structure of the granulated product 2 is preferably the structure described in the volume reducing unit 60. Thereby, this embodiment can produce two effects, the solution of a waste problem by recycling, and the prevention of global warming by the carbon dioxide reduction by the steelworks 12.

  The embodiments described above are merely given as typical examples, and combinations, modifications, and variations of the components of each embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and those skilled in the art will understand the principles and claims of the present invention. Obviously, various modifications may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the described invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner cartridge, 2 Granulated material, 3 Coal, 4 Coke, 5 COG, 10 Recycling device, 12 Ironworks, 20 Melting part 30 Cooling part, 40 Crushing part, 50 Removal part, 60 Volume reduction part 100 Coke oven, 110 Blast furnace 120 collection equipment

Claims (6)

A toner cartridge recycling method comprising:
Heating and melting the toner cartridge;
Cooling the dissolved toner cartridge;
Crushing the solidified product after cooling,
Removing impurities from the crushed crushed material,
A toner cartridge recycling method for producing a granulated product as a coke raw material by reducing the volume of the residue after removing the impurities while heating.   The method for recycling a toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a heating temperature during the volume reduction is 120 ° C. to 200 ° C. 2.   3. The toner cartridge recycling according to claim 1, wherein the volume reduction step produces a granulated product having a bulk density of 200 kg / m 3 or more, a water content of 3 wt% or less, a diameter of 20 to 60 mm × a length of 40 to 100 mm. Method. A toner cartridge recycling device,
A melting part for heating and melting the toner cartridge;
A cooling unit for cooling the melted toner cartridge;
A crushing section for crushing the solidified product after cooling;
A removal section for removing impurities from the crushed crushed material;
A volume reduction unit that reduces the volume of the residue after removing the impurities while heating to produce a granulated product as a coke raw material.   The toner cartridge recycling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a heating temperature during the volume reduction is 120 ° C. to 200 ° C. 6.   6. The toner cartridge according to claim 4, wherein the volume reducing unit manufactures the granulated product having a bulk density of 200 kg / m 3 or more, a water content of 3 wt% or less, a diameter of 20 to 60 mm × a length of 40 to 100 mm. Recycling equipment.

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