JP2021161178A - Plant filler, resin composition, and method for producing plant filler - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a plant filler or the like that, when mixed with a synthetic resin, prevents the fluidity level of the mixture from decreasing and also significantly reduces odors emitted therefrom.SOLUTION: A plant filler comprises a pulverized product of a plant material consisting of only a stem of a tomato and can pass through a sieve with an opening of 0.5 mm or less.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a plant filler, a resin composition, and a method for producing a plant filler.

The foliage of fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes is usually treated as waste after harvesting the fruits. However, in recent years, it has been required to effectively utilize plant-derived waste as a resource for the purpose of reducing the environmental load and the like. For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a finely pulverized product of tomato foliage residue is used as an additive (plant filler) for imparting flame retardancy to a synthetic resin.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-241261

If a part of the synthetic resin of the product can be replaced with the above additive, not only the effective utilization of plant-derived waste but also the synthesis which is one of the factors to increase _{the CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere because it is derived from fossil resources.} The amount of resin used can be reduced. In particular, as the weight of the additive used for replacement increases, the effect becomes more remarkable.

When a conventional plant-based additive is mixed with a synthetic resin, the fluidity of the mixture (resin composition containing the additive and the synthetic resin) is lowered depending on the amount of addition, and the moldability of the mixture is reduced. (For example, moldability at the time of injection molding) may be significantly impaired.

In addition, conventional plant-based additives may have a problem of odor generated by heating during drying or kneading with a synthetic resin.

An object of the present invention is to provide a plant filler or the like in which the degree of decrease in fluidity of the mixture is suppressed when mixed with a synthetic resin, and the generation of odor is remarkably reduced.

The means for solving the above-mentioned problems are as follows. That is,
<1> A plant filler made of crushed plant material consisting only of tomato stems and capable of passing through a sieve having an opening of 0.5 mm or less. In the present specification, the "sieve" having an opening of 0.5 mm or less includes other classification instruments such as a mesh screen provided in the crusher. Further, the opening is preferably 0.05 mm or more.

<2> The plant material is pulverized by a pulverizer so that the moisture content after pulverization is dried to 20% by mass or less before pulverization and the moisture content after pulverization is lower than the moisture content before pulverization. 1> The plant filler according to 1.

<3> The plant filler according to <1> or <2>, wherein the tomato is a long-term, multi-stage, hydroponic cultivated tomato.

<4> A resin composition containing the plant filler according to any one of <1> to <3> and a synthetic resin.

<5> A drying step of drying a plant material consisting only of tomato stems so that the water content is 20% by mass or less in order to suppress the formation of long fibrous substances and their aggregates, and the dried plant. A rough crushing step of obtaining a primary crushed product of about several mm from the raw material by crushing using a dry coarse crusher and lowering the water content of the primary crushed product from the water content of the plant material after drying.
The primary pulverized product is pulverized using a dry pulverizer to obtain a fine secondary pulverized product (provided that the primary pulverized product can pass through a sieve having a mesh size of 0.5 mm or less). Method for producing plant filler.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a plant filler or the like in which the degree of decrease in fluidity of the mixture is suppressed and the generation of odor is remarkably reduced when mixed with the synthetic resin.

Enlarged photograph of the plant filler of Example 1 Multi-stage fractionation of the plant filler of Example 1 by sieving Enlarged photograph of the plant filler of Example 2 Multi-stage fractionation of the plant filler of Example 2 by sieving Photograph showing a state in which each plant filler (10 g) of Example 1 and Comparative Example 2 was put in a measuring cylinder (50 mL). Photograph of a molded product obtained by injection molding using polypropylene (resin composition) containing 30% by mass of the plant filler of Example 1.

[Plant filler]
The plant filler consists of a crushed plant material consisting only of tomato stalks.

The tomatoes used as plant raw materials may be those cultivated in the open field or those cultivated in a hydroponic solution in a cultivation facility. From the viewpoint of suppressing the contamination of foreign substances such as soil, the tomatoes are preferably those cultivated in a hydroponic solution in a cultivation facility without using soil. By such hydroponic cultivation without using soil, a large amount of tomato stems, in which the lower leaves are pruned and foreign substances such as soil are less mixed, are discharged from the facility where tomatoes are cultivated for a long period of time and in multiple stages. For example, tomato stems cultivated for a long period of time and in multiple stages in a cultivation facility grow to a length of nearly 10 m. Further, the stems of tomatoes cultivated for a long period of time and in multiple stages have pruned branches and leaves except for the vicinity where the tomatoes bear fruit, and are suitable for use as a plant material. The stem on the root side of the tomato has a strong cellulose-rich structure to support the upper stem and leaves. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently and a large amount of cellulose-rich stems can be obtained from tomatoes cultivated for a long period of time and in multiple stages. Further, as the tomato stem, those left after the harvest of fruits and the like (waste) may be used, or those that are not waste may be used. The long-term / multi-stage cultivation period means a period of 6 months or more. In addition, in this specification, "long-term, multi-stage, hydroponic cultivation" means "hydroponic cultivation performed in a state where the number of fruit clusters is 5 or more (preferably 8 or more) over a long period (6 months or more). ".

As a result of diligent studies on the reduction of the odor generated from the plant filler during heating, the present inventors have found that the generated odor can be significantly reduced by using only the tomato stem as the plant raw material. Therefore, only tomato stems are used as plant raw materials, and parts other than stems (for example, leaves, roots, etc.) are not used as plant raw materials. As the stem, a main shaft, a side shaft branched from the main shaft, and the like are used.

The stem plays a role of mechanically supporting the plant, and the cell wall is thicker and the weight ratio of cellulose is higher than that of other parts. When only cellulose was kneaded with the synthetic resin, almost no odor was generated. Therefore, it is presumed that the use of the portion containing a large amount of cellulose led to a significant reduction in the generation of odor.

When the melt mass flow rate (MFR) of the resin composition to which the plant filler is added exceeds 10 g / 10 min, injection molding using the resin composition becomes easy, and the use of the resin composition expands.

As will be described later, the plant raw material is made into a plant filler through a dry pulverization step (coarse pulverization step, fine pulverization step). The pulverized product after coarse pulverization is referred to as a primary pulverized product, and the final pulverized product after fine pulverization is referred to as a secondary pulverized product. The secondary pulverized product has passed through a sieve having a mesh opening of 0.5 mm or less (including other classifying instruments such as a mesh screen provided in the crusher) and the like.

In this specification, the mesh opening of the sieve is specified as follows. For example, when the sieve is a wire mesh having a square or rectangular mesh (for example, a wire mesh conforming to JIS Z8801), the length of the long side of the mesh is the mesh opening of the sieve. When the sieve is a wire mesh having a polygonal mesh (excluding squares and rectangles) such as a rhombus or a hexagon (for example, a rhombic wire mesh or a turtle wire mesh), the diameter of the inscribed circle of the polygonal mesh is determined. It becomes the opening of the sieve. Further, when the sieve is made of a metal plate in which a large number of through holes are provided in a mesh shape (so-called punching metal), if the through holes are circular, the diameter of the through holes becomes the opening of the sieve and penetrates. If the hole is square or rectangular, the length of the long side of the through hole is the opening of the sieve, and if the through hole is polygonal (excluding squares and rectangles), the inscribed circle of the polygonal through hole The diameter is the opening of the sieve.

The plant filler is used as an additive for synthetic resins. As the synthetic resin, a thermoplastic resin is preferable from the viewpoint of easy mixing with an additive. Examples of the thermoplastic resin include polyolefin resins such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and ethylene-propylene copolymers, acrylic resins, polyethylene terephthalates (PET), and polyesters such as polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). Examples thereof include resins, polystyrene-based resins, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resins, and modified poniphenylene ethers. The thermoplastic resin may be used alone or in combination of two or more. Of these thermoplastic resins, polyolefin-based resins are more preferable.

The plant filler (secondary pulverized product) can be added, for example, at a ratio of 100 parts by mass (50% by mass) to 100 parts by mass of the synthetic resin. Compared with conventional plant-based additives, the plant filler generates a significantly smaller amount of odor due to heating during drying or kneading with a synthetic resin, and the resin composition as a mixture thereof is fluid. The degree of decrease in is suppressed.

The resin composition containing the plant filler is excellent in moldability, and the resin molded product produced from the resin composition containing the plant filler is excellent in mechanical strength (flexural modulus, etc.).

In addition to plant fillers, resin compositions include heat stabilizers, plasticizers, UV absorbers, antioxidants, colorants (pigments, dyes), mold release agents, antibacterial agents, antifungal agents, as required. It may contain various components such as a foaming agent.

Next, a method for producing the plant filler will be described. The method for producing the plant filler is a drying step of drying a plant material consisting of only tomato stems so that the water content is 20% by mass or less in order to suppress the formation of long fibrous substances and their aggregates, and drying. By pulverizing the plant raw material later using a dry coarse pulverizer, a primary pulverized product having a size of about several mm that can be put into a fine pulverizer described later is obtained, and the moisture content of the plant material after drying is higher than that of the plant material. A coarse pulverization step of lowering the water content of the primary pulverized product and a pulverization of the primary pulverized product crushed by the coarse pulverizer using a dry pulverizer are performed to obtain a finer secondary pulverized product (for example, opening). It is provided with a fine pulverization step for obtaining (those that can pass through a sieve having a size of 0.5 mm or less).

The drying step is a step of drying a plant raw material consisting only of tomato stems so that the water content is 20% by mass or less. In the drying step, for example, the stems that have been cut and cut to a length of about 1 m are naturally dried (for example, dried in the sun in a cultivation facility) or dried using a dryer. The water content of plant raw materials is measured by a water content meter or the like. This drying step is performed in order to suppress the formation of long fibrous substances and their aggregates in the coarse pulverization step described later. In the coarse crushing step, when the water content is 20% by mass or less, the plant raw material is appropriately crushed by the coarse crusher and it becomes difficult to produce long fibrous substances, and the long fibrous substances are gathered to form an agglomerate. It is also suppressed. As a result, in the coarse crushing step described later, the number of times the plant raw material is processed by the coarse crusher can be reduced in order to crush the plant raw material to a predetermined size.

In the coarse pulverization step, the dried plant raw material is pulverized by a dry coarse pulverizer to obtain a primary pulverized product having a size that can be put into a fine pulverizer, and the moisture content of the dried plant material is used. Is also a step of lowering the water content of the primary pulverized product. The plant raw material is crushed to a size of, for example, several mm by a dry coarse crusher. A few mm is, for example, 10 mm or less, and may be a size that can be put into a pulverizer in the next step. Further, in this coarse crushing step, when the plant raw material is crushed by the coarse crusher, the frictional heat generated between the plant raw material and the coarse crusher and the operating heat of the coarse crusher are positively utilized to actively utilize the plant raw material. We are trying to reduce the water content of. By performing this coarse pulverization step, the water content of the pulverized product is reduced as compared with that before pulverization, so that the formation of the above-mentioned long fibrous material can be further suppressed. The pulverized product obtained by such a coarse pulverization step is referred to as a primary pulverized product. As the coarse crusher, a known dry type rough crusher is used.

The fine pulverization step is a step of obtaining a secondary pulverized product having a smaller size by pulverizing the primary pulverized product produced by the coarse pulverizer using a dry pulverizer. In the fine pulverization step, the primary pulverized product is pulverized by a fine pulverizer to a size capable of passing through a sieve of, for example, 0.5 mm or less. As the pulverizer, a known pulverizer (for example, a pulverizer with a mesh screen having an opening of 0.5 mm) is used. The finely pulverized product obtained by this fine pulverization step is referred to as a secondary pulverized product.

The fine pulverization step may be carried out in one step, but may be carried out in a plurality of steps (two or more steps) as long as the object of the present invention is not impaired. For example, in order to suppress the degree of decrease in fluidity even if the resin is highly filled with plant filler, the fine pulverization step is performed in multiple stages with a fine pulverizer equipped with a mesh screen having a mesh screen of 0.5 mm. , The miniaturization of the secondary pulverized product may be promoted. After the primary pulverized product is finely pulverized in the first stage with a fine pulverizer equipped with a mesh screen having a mesh opening of 0.5 mm, a mesh screen having a mesh screen having a mesh opening of 0.08 mm (opener than the first stage) is further pulverized. (Example of a mesh screen with a small size) may be further refined by pulverizing with a fine pulverizer attached.

Further, in the method for producing a plant filler, a sieve having a predetermined size of opening (for example, 0. The classification step may be performed using a sieve of 5 mm, 0.15 mm, 0.1 mm, 0.05 mm or the like.

Further, in the method for producing a plant filler, if necessary, another step such as a drying / sterilization step with hot air may be performed after a rough crushing step or a fine crushing step. However, in the method for producing a plant filler, a wet crushing step is not performed.

Further, the plant filler of the present invention may be produced by a production method other than the above-mentioned production method.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on Examples. The present invention is not limited to these examples.

[Example 1]
<Tomato stalk>
The plant material was a collection of only tomato stems that had been harvested. The tomato variety is "Momotaro". In addition, tomatoes were cultivated for a long period of time, in multiple stages, and hydroponic in a cultivation facility, and only stems with pruned leaves were used.

<Drying process>
The above plant material was dried until the water content became 18% by mass. For drying, in addition to natural drying at the cultivation site, a dryer such as a hot air dryer (manufactured by ESPEC CORPORATION, "LKS-3C") was used (set temperature: 100 ° C.).

<Coarse crushing process>
The dried plant material (tomato stalk) was crushed to a size of about several mm using a coarse crusher (manufactured by Aikawa Steel Co., Ltd., "SDR-14 type") to obtain a primary crushed product. As a result of measuring the water content of the primary pulverized product, it was 14% by mass.

<Fine crushing process 1>
The above primary pulverized product is pulverized using a fine pulverizer (manufactured by Masuyuki Sangyo Co., Ltd., "MKZA10-20") equipped with a mesh screen having an opening of 0.5 mm under the condition that the rotation speed of the rotary blade is 1,000 rpm. As a result, a finely pulverized product 1 was obtained.

The finely pulverized product 1 was used as the plant filler of Example 1. FIG. 1 is an enlarged photograph of the plant filler of Example 1. From the photograph of FIG. 1, it is confirmed that the plant filler of Example 1 contains pulverized products of various sizes. FIG. 2 shows the results of sieving the plant filler of Example 1 using sieves having a mesh size of 0.5 mm, 0.15 mm, 0.1 mm, and 0.05 mm in this order. By performing the fine pulverization step 1, it is confirmed that the primary pulverized product is satisfactorily finely divided.

[Example 2]
<Fine crushing process 2>
The plant filler of Example 1 is pulverized using a fine pulverizer (manufactured by Fritsch, “P-14”) equipped with a mesh screen having an opening of 0.08 mm under the condition that the rotation speed of the rotary blade is 10,000 rpm. As a result, the finely pulverized product 2 was obtained. This finely ground product 2 was used as the plant filler of Example 2. FIG. 3 is an enlarged photograph of the plant filler of Example 2. FIG. 4 shows the results of sieving the plant filler of Example 2 using sieves having a mesh size of 0.5 mm, 0.15 mm, 0.1 mm and 0.05 mm in this order. From FIGS. 1 to 4, it is confirmed that by subjecting the plant filler of Example 1 to the fine pulverization step 2, the finer plant filler is further refined and a finer plant filler can be obtained.

[Comparative Example 1]
In the fine pulverization step 1 of Example 1, the coarsely pulverized product that could not pass through the mesh screen (opening 0.5 mm) was used as the plant filler of Comparative Example 1.

[Comparative Example 2]
The same tomato stems as in Example 1 were prepared as plant raw materials. The plant raw material was subjected to the above-mentioned coarse crushing step without performing the above-mentioned drying step. In the crushing step, in order to prevent the plant raw material from being clogged in the crusher, water was added at a ratio of 20 L to 1 kg of the prepared plant raw material to carry out the above-mentioned coarse crushing (wet rough crushing). Then, the obtained pulverized product was centrifugally dehydrated and then dried with a hot air dryer (“LKS-3C” manufactured by ESPEC CORPORATION). The crushed product after drying is crushed using a fine crusher equipped with a mesh screen with an opening of 0.5 mm (manufactured by Masuyuki Sangyo Co., Ltd., "MKZA10-20") under the condition of a rotary blade rotation speed of 1,000 rpm. By doing so, a finely pulverized product 1A was obtained. The finely ground product 1A was used as the plant filler of Comparative Example 2.

[Comparative Example 3]
The plant filler of Comparative Example 2 is crushed using a fine crusher (“P-14” manufactured by Fritsch) equipped with a mesh screen having an opening of 0.08 mm under the condition of a rotary blade rotation speed of 10,000 rpm. By doing so, a finely pulverized product 2A was obtained. The finely ground product 2A was used as the plant filler of Comparative Example 3.

[Comparative Example 4]
In Comparative Example 2, the coarsely pulverized product that could not pass through the mesh screen when pulverized by a fine pulverizer equipped with a mesh screen having an opening of 0.5 mm was used as the plant filler of Comparative Example 4.

[Comparative Example 5]
The plant material used is changed only to the leaves of tomatoes whose fruits have been harvested, and the tomato leaves are produced by performing the same operations as in Example 1 (drying step, coarse crushing step and fine crushing step 1). The finely ground product was used as a plant filler of Comparative Example 5.

[Comparative Example 6]
The plant material used was changed to a mixture of tomato stems and leaves after harvesting the fruits, and the same operation as in Example 1 (drying step, coarse grinding step and fine grinding step) was applied to this mixture of tomato stems and leaves. The finely pulverized product prepared by applying 1) was used as the plant filler of Comparative Example 6.

[Preparation of resin composition]
Using various plant fillers of Examples and Comparative Examples, resin compositions were prepared by the methods shown below, respectively. A resin composition is obtained by adding a predetermined amount of plant filler to polypropylene (manufactured by SunAllomer Ltd., grade: PMA20V) using a kneading device (manufactured by Toyo Seiki Co., Ltd., "4C150-01") and kneading it at 180 ° C. I got something. As the resin composition, one having a resin filler content of 10% by mass and one having a resin filler content of 30% by mass were prepared. For Examples 1 and 2, a resin composition having a plant filler content of 50% by mass was also prepared.

[MFR of resin composition]
The value of melt mass flow rate (MFR: g / 10min) of the resin composition prepared by kneading various plant fillers of Examples and Comparative Examples with polypropylene was measured by a measuring device (manufactured by Toyo Seiki Seisakusho Co., Ltd., "MELT INDEXER F". -F01 ") was used to measure under the polypropylene measurement conditions (temperature: 230 ° C., load: 2.16 kg) of JIS K 7210-1 (how to determine the melt mass flow rate and melt volume flow rate of thermoplastics). .. The results are shown in Table 1.

The MFR value of the resin composition to which 10% by mass of the plant filler of Example 1 or Example 2 was added was 40 g / 10 min or more. The MFR value of the resin composition to which the plant filler of Examples 1 and 2 was added is the value of the MFR of the resin composition to which the plant filler of Comparative Examples 2 and 3 was added, which was produced through the wet rough pulverization step. In comparison, it was close to the MFR value (53.6 g / 10 min) of polypropylene alone without the mixture of plant filler. As a result, the plant filler produced by the fine pulverization operation after the dry coarse pulverization step is mixed with the resin as compared with the plant filler produced by the fine pulverization operation after the wet coarse pulverization step. It was confirmed that when the resin composition was prepared, the degree of decrease in its fluidity was suppressed.

When the plant fillers of Examples 1 and 2 are used, it is easy to prepare resin compositions to which as much as 50% by mass of plant fillers are added, and the MFR value of these resin compositions is 8.0 g / 10 min. As described above (Example 1: 8.5 g / 10 min, Example 2: 12.9 g / 10 min), these resin compositions could be used for injection molding.

[Odor test]
Using various plant fillers of Examples and Comparative Examples, polypropylene compositions (examples of resin compositions) to which 30% by mass of plant fillers were added were prepared. When the plant filler and polypropylene were kneaded at 180 ° C., the characteristics of the odor generated from the resin composition were determined according to the "9-step pleasant / unpleasant degree display method". The odor test was conducted by 5 measurers. In the "9-step pleasant / unpleasant degree display method", "+4: extremely pleasant", "+3: very pleasant", "+2: pleasant", "+1: slightly pleasant", "± 0: neither pleasant nor unpleasant" , "-1: Slightly unpleasant", "-2: Unpleasant", "-3: Very unpleasant", and "-4: Extremely unpleasant". The results are shown in Table 1.

From the results of comparative experiments using the plant fillers of Example 1 (stem), Comparative Example 5 (leaves) and Comparative Example 6 (stems and leaves), the intensity (discomfort) of the generated odor was determined by Example 1 <. The order was Comparative Example 6 <Comparative Example 5. From this result, it was confirmed that the use of only tomato stems as a plant raw material is effective in suppressing the odor generated by heating. At the same time, it was suggested that the leaves of tomatoes contained more substances that cause odor generation than other parts. Further, from the results of comparative experiments using the plant fillers of Example 1 and Comparative Example 2 and Example 2 and Comparative Example 3, it is also possible to more effectively suppress the generation of odor by performing the wet coarse pulverization treatment. confirmed. It is presumed that this is because some of the substances that cause the generation of odor flow out together with the water used during pulverization in the wet rough pulverization process. On the other hand, when the plant fillers of Comparative Examples 2 to 4 are produced, a large amount of waste liquid containing pulverized substances, odorous substances, inorganic substances and the like is generated in the water used for coarse pulverization. Therefore, the time and cost for processing the waste liquid become a problem.

The numerical values entered as sizes in Table 1 are as follows. “≦ 0.5”: Described as the size of the filler that passed through a 0.5 mm mesh screen after being pulverized with a fine pulverizer manufactured by Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd. “≦ 0.08”: Described as the filler size that passed through a 0.08 mm mesh screen after being pulverized with a pulverizer manufactured by Fritsch. "> 0.5": Described as a filler size that could not pass through a 0.5 mm mesh screen after being crushed by a fine crusher manufactured by Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd.

[Comparison of bulk density]
The bulk density is a volume obtained by filling a container having a constant volume with a constant volume by a constant method and including voids between particles, and dividing the weight of the powder. By increasing the bulk density, it is possible to prepare a resin composition in which a filler is added at a high weight ratio. The bulk density of the prepared plant filler was determined by comparing the volumes of 10 g of the plant filler sample in a 50 mL graduated cylinder when slowly placed using a funnel.

FIG. 5 is a photograph showing a state in which the plant fillers (10 g) of Example 1 and Comparative Example 2 were placed in a graduated cylinder (50 mL). As shown in FIG. 5, the volume of the plant filler of Example 1 (per 10 g) is smaller than the volume of the plant filler of Comparative Example 2 (per 10 g), and the example is produced through a dry coarse pulverization step. It was confirmed that the plant filler of No. 1 had a higher bulk density than the plant filler of Comparative Example 2 produced through a wet coarse pulverization step. It is presumed that this is because the dry coarse crushing is mainly due to the cutting and crushing of the plant body, whereas the wet rough crushing is mainly due to the crushing and crushing of the plant body. In addition, in dry coarse crushing, components that are easily leached into water (mineral components that become ash after combustion) remain in the cell pores (cell pores) in wet coarse crushing, which may increase the specific gravity of the filler. , It is presumed to be one of the factors of high bulk density.

[Preparation of test piece for measurement test of flexural modulus]
Using the plant filler of Example 1 and polypropylene, resin compositions having a plant filler content of 10% by mass, 30% by mass, and 50% by mass were prepared. For comparison, a resin composition containing no plant filler (that is, the content of the plant filler was 0% by mass) was also prepared. These resin compositions are supplied to an injection molding machine, and a test piece (length 80 mm × width 10 mm) having a size specified in JIS-K7171 (Plastic-How to determine bending characteristics) under temperature conditions of 165 to 170 ° C. × thickness 4 mm) was produced.

[Strength test (measurement of flexural modulus)]
The measurement was performed by a three-point bending test conforming to JIS-K7171. As a result, the values of flexural modulus were 0.90 GPa, 1.21 GPa, 1.64 GPa, 2.39 GPa, respectively, when the content of the plant filler was 0% by mass, 10% by mass, 30% by mass, and 50% by mass. It can be seen that the value of the flexural modulus is improved.

FIG. 6 is a photograph of a molded product obtained by supplying polypropylene (resin composition) containing 30% by mass of the plant filler of Example 1 to an injection molding machine and molding it under temperature conditions of 165 to 170 ° C. As shown in FIG. 6, even when the shape of the molded product (product) is complicated, the resin composition can be poured into the end inside the cavity of the mold because the MFR value is good. It was confirmed that this resin composition was excellent in moldability.

Claims (5)

A plant filler that consists of crushed plant material consisting only of tomato stems and can pass through a sieve with an opening of 0.5 mm or less. The first aspect of claim 1, wherein the plant material is dried to a water content of 20% by mass or less before crushing, and is crushed by a crusher so that the water content after crushing is lower than the water content before crushing. Plant filler. The plant filler according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tomato is a long-term, multi-stage, hydroponic cultivated tomato. A resin composition containing the plant filler according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and a synthetic resin. A drying step of drying a plant material consisting only of tomato stems so that the water content is 20% by mass or less in order to suppress the generation of long fibrous substances and their aggregates, and a drying method from the dried plant material. A coarse crushing step of obtaining a primary crushed product of about several mm by crushing using the coarse crushing machine of the above, and lowering the water content of the primary crushed product from the water content of the plant material after drying.
By pulverizing the primary pulverized product using a dry pulverizer, a fine pulverization step of obtaining a finer secondary pulverized product (however, a product having a mesh size of 0.5 mm or less can be passed through a sieve) can be obtained. A method for producing a plant filler to be provided.

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