JP2549572B2 - Manufacturing method of fuel absorber - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a fuel absorber used in a fuel evaporation prevention device.

[Prior Art] When fuel is supplied to the fuel tank of an automobile by a fuel gun, a relatively large amount of fuel evaporates. In addition, the fuel inside the fuel tank and the vaporizer float chamber is partially vaporized both when the vehicle is running and when the vehicle is stopped.

Therefore, in order to prevent these evaporated fuels from leaking into the atmosphere, a canister (a fuel evaporation preventing device) filled with a fuel absorber is connected to these tanks and the like. This fuel absorber is for capturing the evaporated fuel.
Further, in order to capture the evaporated fuel from not only the automobile but also the fuel storage tank and the leaked fuel liquid, the fuel evaporation preventing device in which the fuel absorber is charged is also used.

Activated carbon is conventionally used as the fuel absorber. The fuel adsorbed on the activated carbon is released from the activated carbon at the time of purge (separation). Therefore, activated carbon is used repeatedly by adsorbing and desorbing fuel (described later in Section 3).
See figure).

[Problems to be solved]

However, in a canister using the above activated carbon,
Often, the fuel vapor cannot be captured and the fuel vapor is released to the atmosphere.

As a result of investigating the cause, it was clarified that the activated carbon significantly deteriorates the ability of the activated carbon to capture gasoline vapor when it comes into contact with liquid gasoline. Furthermore, it was found that the reason why the activated carbon came into contact with the liquid gasoline was that the liquid gasoline condensed on the pipe connected to the canister and the upper wall of the canister touched the activated carbon.

The above-described condensation of gasoline vapor occurs in the surrounding piping and the space above the canister when the outside air temperature is particularly high and the vapor pressure of gasoline in the fuel tank or the carburetor is extremely high.

Another cause of the decrease in the vapor-capturing capacity (working capacity) of activated carbon is that, among the evaporated fuel molecules adsorbed on activated carbon, small molecules with 4 or 5 or less carbon atoms are easily removed during the canister purging process. On the contrary, it is difficult for molecules larger than that to disengage. Also, as a result, the ability to capture steam decreases as the operating time of the canister increases.

It has also been proposed to use organic polymers such as polypropylene and styrene-sodium butadiene copolymer as fuel absorbers instead of activated carbon (JP-A-1-67222, JP-A-1-227861). However, the fuel absorbing capability of the fuel absorber decreases during the repetition of a fuel absorption / desorption cycle (absorption / desorption cycle).

The cause is considered as follows. Primary particle strength, 1
Since the bonding force between the secondary particles (the strength of the secondary particles) is weak, swelling upon absorption and contraction upon detachment are repeated, and further, primary particles are destroyed due to vibration or the like, and secondary particles are collapsed. Such fine particles are liable to be scattered and cause the imbalance of the absorbent, so that the absorbing ability is reduced. Further, when the particles are miniaturized, the porosity is reduced, so that clogging is likely to occur at the time of swelling, and the absorption capacity is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a method for manufacturing a fuel absorber having excellent durability against the above-mentioned absorption / desorption cycle and excellent fuel vapor trapping ability.

[Means for solving problems]

In the present invention, an organic polymer compound having a fuel trapping function is dissolved in a solvent, and a thermoplastic resin powder for a binder is added to and mixed with the solution, and then the reaction is performed in the presence of a crosslinking agent for the reaction of the organic polymer compound. After completion of the reaction, a polymer gel containing the thermoplastic resin powder is collected, applied on a thermoplastic carrier, dried, and then at a temperature at which the thermoplastic resin powders are fused to each other, and at the temperature of the thermoplastic carrier. A fuel absorber manufacturing method is characterized in that a fuel absorber with a carrier is obtained by heating to a fusion temperature on the surface.

In the present invention, the organic polymer compound having a fuel-capturing function refers to an organic polymer compound having a function of capturing evaporated fuel (including a leaked fuel liquid) and capable of crosslinking at least to the extent that a gel is generated. Say. In addition, the trapping function means a property of being dissolved in or swelling with fuel.

In addition, the above-mentioned reaction refers to any chemical reaction including a crosslinking reaction and / or a polymerization reaction of the organic polymer compound. In addition, these reactions are carried out by a conventional polymerization method, for example,
Any of suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization, solution polymerization and the like may be used. Then, as will be described later, polymer gel fine particles are obtained in the case of suspension polymerization or emulsion polymerization, while polymer gel particles are obtained in the case of solution polymerization.

Examples of the organic polymer compound having the above properties include polyisoprene, polybutadiene, polyisobutylene, polystyrene, polynorbornene, polysiloxane, ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer, styrene-butadiene copolymer, ethylene-propylene. -Based copolymers, isobutylene-isoprene-based copolymers, butadiene-acrylonitrile-based copolymers, ethylene-vinyl acetate-based copolymers, acrylic-based polymers, polyepichlorohydroline, styrene-isoprene-based copolymers .

Further, as a solvent used when reacting these organic polymer compounds, toluene, benzene, xylene, dimethylbenzene, trimethylbenzene, cyclohexane, pentane, hexane, heptane, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene, etc. There is.

Further, the ratio of the organic polymer compound and the solvent is 2 to 30% (weight ratio, the same applies hereinafter), and the solvent is 70 to 98.
% Is preferable.

Further, as the thermoplastic resin powder for the binder, there are crystalline resins such as PP, PE, PBT, PET, POM and nylon. The thermoplastic resin powder serves as a bonding agent for fusing the intermediate particles to each other as described later, and does not participate in the reaction of the above organic polymer compound, or at least impairs the fusing property. It does not crosslink to the extent that it does not exist. Further, the thermoplastic resin powder is added to the solvent together with the organic polymer compound, but the thermoplastic resin powder used is not completely dissolved in the solvent.

Further, the thermoplastic resin powder is added in an amount of 20 to 70% by weight with respect to the organic polymer compound. If it is less than 20%, the effect as a binder is small, and if it exceeds 70%, the amount of the thermoplastic resin powder becomes too much, which may reduce the fuel absorption capacity. The particle size of the thermoplastic resin powder is preferably 0.01 to 1000 μm.

Next, as crosslinking agents, diacyl peroxides such as benzoyl peroxide and lauroyl peroxide, hydroperoxides such as 2,4,4-trimethylpentyl-2-hydroperoxide, dicumyl peroxide Dialkyl peroxides such as oxides, peroxyketals such as 1,1-di-t-butyl peroxy-3,3,5-trimethylcyclohexane, and alkyl peresters such as t-butyl peroxy-neodecanoate , Bis (4-t-butylcyclohexyl)
Percarbonates such as peroxy dicarbonate,
There are peroxide-based crosslinking agents such as ketone peroxides such as methyl-ethyl-ketone peroxide.

Further, generally used crosslinking agents such as sulfur, sulfur compounds, amine compounds, epoxy compounds and carboxy compounds can also be used. Further, preferably, for an organic polymer compound having a fuel capturing function,
It is desirable to use a cross-linking agent that is cross-linkable and does not cross-link the thermoplastic resin for the binder.

If the reaction is insufficient, a crosslinking aid is added.

Examples of the crosslinking aid include tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate, ethylene dimethacrylate, 1,3-butylene dimethacrylate, polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and 2,2′-bis, for peroxide type crosslinking agents. (4-methacryloxy / diethoxy /
Phenyl) propane, aluminum methacrylate,
Examples include calcium dimethacrylate, triamyl isocyanurate, diallyl phthalate, divinyl benzene, P-quinone dioxime, 1,2-polybutadiene, and sulfur.

On the other hand, for the crosslinking agents other than the peroxide-based crosslinking agents, generally used crosslinking assistants can be used.

The cross-linking agent is 1-20% based on the organic polymer compound.
The crosslinking aid is also added in an amount of 0 to 20%.

It is preferable that the organic polymer compound solution is subjected to a deoxygenation treatment prior to performing the above reaction. As such a deoxidation treatment method, there is a method of bubbling nitrogen (N ₂ ) gas into the organic polymer compound solution. There is also a method in which the container containing the solution is evacuated and then the operation of filling with N ₂ gas is repeated. As a result, dissolved oxygen is released from the reaction solution.

Next, in the case of suspension polymerization or emulsion polymerization, a reaction is carried out using a solution containing a dispersant as follows.

That is, the above solution containing the organic polymer compound and the cross-linking agent is added to the dispersant-containing solution with stirring to form a dispersion liquid. Then, heating and stirring are continued until the crosslinking agent is almost completely decomposed to react.

As the dispersant, polyvinyl alcohol (PV
A), Gelatin, Tragacanth gum, Gum arabic, Starch, Methylcellulose, Carboxymethylcellulose, Polyacrylic acid salt, Alkali soap, Organic amine soap, Sulfur ester of higher alcohol, Nonionic synthetic agent of tweens, etc. , Protein, vegetable gum, alginate, saponin, etc.

Further, it is preferable that the dispersant-containing solution is also deoxidized in the same manner as above. In addition, water is usually used as a solvent for the solution. The concentration of the dispersant in the solution is about 1 to 5%.

After the completion of the reaction, when cooled, the polymer obtained by the reaction and the solution are separated vertically. Therefore, a creamy paste is obtained by collecting the upper polymer phase. This is a polymer gel fine particle. The polymer gel fine particles are attached to a fine granular polymer having a particle size of 10 to 100 μm,
It contains thermoplastic resin powder for mixed binder, solvent and dispersant.

Next, the polymer gel particles containing the thermoplastic resin powder are applied to the surface of the thermoplastic carrier and then dried. As a result, a large number of the fine particle polymers are lightly adhered by the thermoplastic resin powder, and an intermediate in which these are adhered to the surface of the thermoplastic carrier is obtained.

Then, after that, these are heated to the melting temperature of the thermoplastic resin powder or higher and the melting temperature of the surface of the thermoplastic carrier (melting temperature) or higher. As a result, a fuel absorber with a carrier is obtained in which the finely divided polymers are fused to each other by the thermoplastic resin powder and also fused to the thermoplastic carrier.

Since this fuel absorber also has a joint structure in which both the carrier and the binder are heat-fused, the fuel absorber has high strength against impact and the like. In addition, a carrier made of a thermoplastic resin is usually flexible and thus hard to break.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Since 50 has a porous bonding structure due to the binder,
Breathability is improved and fuel absorption efficiency is increased.

On the other hand, in the case of solution polymerization, the reaction is carried out after adding a crosslinking agent to the organic polymer compound solution. In this case, no dispersant is used. Then, after the reaction is completed, a polymer gel body in which the thermoplastic resin powder is mixed is obtained. This is applied to the thermoplastic carrier as described above. After that, it is dried, heated and fused as described above.

The shape of the thermoplastic carrier is a granular body, a plate-like body,
There are cloths, nets and threads. Further, as the material of the thermoplastic carrier, there are thermoplastic resins such as crystalline resins such as PP, PE, PBT, PET, POM and nylon.

Further, it is preferable that the thermoplastic carrier is made of the same material as the thermoplastic resin powder, or a material having a fusion-bonding temperature approximately similar to that of the thermoplastic resin powder.

Further, the thermoplastic carrier may be composed of two layers of a core material portion and a surface layer portion, and the above-mentioned thermoplastic carrier resin may be used for the surface layer portion. At this time, as the core material, a thermoplastic resin having a melting point higher than that of the surface layer, such as PE, PP, PBT, PET, POM, nylon, polyimide, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyamideimide, polyphenylene oxide, PPS, or the like. Phenol type, melamine type, epoxy type, polyimide type, urea type, unsaturated polyester type,
A synthetic resin such as diallyl phthalate-based, silicone-based or polyurethane-based thermosetting resin is used. Alternatively, metal, ceramics or the like is used.

Further, as a method of applying the polymer gel fine particles (hereinafter, the same applies to the polymer gel body) to the carrier, there is a dipping method in which the thermoplastic carrier is immersed in the polymer gel fine particles and pulled up. In addition, there is a method of spraying the above-mentioned polymer gel fine particles in the form of fresh cream containing the above-mentioned thermoplastic resin powder onto water or a solvent onto a thermoplastic carrier with a spray gun or the like without diluting. Further, there is a roll coater method in which the polymer gel fine particles are attached to a roll and applied to a thermoplastic carrier.

Further, in the above method, the thermoplastic resin powder was not added from the beginning, the thermoplastic resin powder was added and mixed with the polymer gel fine particles collected after the reaction, and then this was applied to the thermoplastic carrier in the same manner as described above. Alternatively, there is a method of performing the heating after drying. In this case, the reaction of the organic polymer compound is carried out by suspension polymerization or emulsion polymerization.

That is, in this method, an organic polymer compound having a fuel trapping function is dissolved in a solvent, and then the solution is added to a separately prepared dispersant-containing solution with stirring, and the cross-linking agent for the reaction of the organic polymer compound is added. The reaction is carried out in the presence of, and after the reaction is completed, the polymer gel microparticles are collected, and then the thermoplastic resin powder is added to and mixed with the polymer gel microparticles, and then applied to a thermoplastic carrier in the same manner as described above. It is a method of heating to the fusion temperature after drying.

The fuel absorber with a carrier obtained as described above is basically the same as the shape of the thermoplastic carrier, but it can be formed into a desired shape such as a honeycomb shape, a plate shape, or a film shape. You can also do it. However, when the thickness increases, only the surface swells and the absorption does not progress to the inside,
Absorption capacity may decrease. Therefore, the diameter or thickness of the fuel absorber is preferably set to 5 mm or less.

Further, the fuel absorber according to the present invention swells due to trapping (absorption) of the evaporated fuel, but is insoluble in the fuel. Therefore, once the trapped fuel is purged (removed), it can be regenerated and its use can be repeated.

The fuel absorber of the present invention can be used not only for a canister for an automobile but also for various fuel evaporation preventing devices such as a fuel tank for a boiler.

[Action and effect]

In the present invention, since the fuel absorber obtained by the above manufacturing method is based on the organic polymer compound, the fuel absorber has a high trapping ability for the evaporated fuel. This high trapping ability is based on the force of the organic polymer compound to absorb fuel such as gasoline and swell. This is because the organic polymer compound and the evaporated fuel have a large affinity.

Further, in the fuel absorber, fine-grained polymers are bonded to each other by the thermoplastic resin powder,
The overall strength is improved.

Further, since the thermoplastic carrier serves as a skeleton, the fuel absorber has a high strength as a whole, and the thermoplastic carrier is obtained by fusing the fine particulate polymer with a thermoplastic resin or the like as a material thereof. Therefore, the connection between the two is strong.

Therefore, it is excellent in durability against the above-mentioned absorption and desorption cycles of fuel capture and release.

Further, since the powder of the thermoplastic resin is used as the binder, the thermoplastic resin can be uniformly adhered to the surface of the fine particulate polymer, and the addition of the binder is easy.

In addition, since the organic polymer compounds are chemically bonded to each other by a reaction, the obtained fuel absorber is
It has a three-dimensional structure. Therefore, the overall flexibility is high and the fuel capture capacity is also high.

Further, since the fine particulate polymer layer is provided on the surface of the thermoplastic carrier, the fine particulate polymer layer has a large ratio of the surface area to the volume thereof. Therefore, the fuel absorption capacity per unit weight of the finely divided polymer is high.

Note that the fuel absorber that swelled by absorbing the evaporated fuel releases the fuel that was captured in the process of purging the inside of the fuel evaporation prevention device, and the evaporated fuel absorbing capacity is restored, so that it can be used continuously. it can.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method of manufacturing a fuel absorber that is excellent in durability against a fuel adsorption / desorption cycle and excellent in evaporative fuel trapping ability.

〔Example〕

First Embodiment A method of manufacturing a fuel absorber according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

First, as an organic polymer compound having a fuel trapping function, 20 g of ethylene-propylene-ethylidene-norbornene polymer (Japan Synthetic Rubber Co., Ltd. EP33. Ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer) was dissolved in toluene to obtain 10%.
(Weight ratio, same below) Use a solution (200 g of solution).

Further, 13 g of PE resin, which was a thermoplastic resin powder for a powder, was added to and mixed with the above solution (solution amount 213 g). The particle size of the thermoplastic resin powder is approximately
It was 30 μm.

To this solution, 20 parts of benzoyl peroxide as a cross-linking agent was added and dissolved in 100 parts (parts by weight, hereinafter the same) of the polymer in terms of a pure product (100%). Furthermore,
Divinylbenzene as a crosslinking aid was added to the polymer 10
20 parts was added to 0 parts and dissolved. N ₂ gas was bubbled through the polymer solution prepared in this manner to perform a deoxygenation treatment for removing dissolved oxygen in the solution.

On the other hand, a 1% aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (polymerization degree: 500, saponification degree: 86.5 to 89 mol%) is prepared as a dispersion (amount of solution: 640 g) in a pressure resistant container. And
The dispersion stirrer was fixed on the upper part of the pressure resistant container, and the container was sealed. Next, the inside of the pressure resistant vessel was evacuated, and the operation of filling with N ₂ gas was performed three times to perform deoxidation treatment for removing dissolved oxygen in the PVA aqueous solution.

After that, while pouring the deoxidized polymer solution into the PVA aqueous solution in the pressure vessel, high speed stirring was performed with the above dispersion stirrer to form a dispersion station. After the inflow of the polymer solution is completed, the inside of the pressure vessel is deoxygenated in the same manner as described above.
Stirring was continued for 15 minutes.

Next, the dispersion stirrer was replaced with a simple propeller stirrer, and the reaction liquid in the pressure resistant vessel was stirred at 120 to 300 rpm while raising the temperature to 92 ° C. After reaching 92 ° C., the stirring was continued for another 6 hours, and then a 20% toluene solution of an antioxidant (polymerization inhibitor) was added to the reaction solution to stop the reaction.

After completion of the reaction, the pressure vessel was cooled with ice water and left at room temperature for 3 hours. This separates the creamy polymer gel fine particles in the upper layer and the aqueous solution in the lower layer. Then, the upper layer polymer fine particles are collected. As a result, polymer gel microparticles composed of the microparticulate polymer produced by the reaction of the above organic macromolecular compound and the thermoplastic resin powder adhering to the surface thereof were obtained.

After that, this was applied to the surface of the thermoplastic carrier. As the thermoplastic carrier, a granular material of PE material having a diameter of about 1.5 mm was used. In addition, the above-mentioned application used a dipping method.

Further, the intermediate is heated for 3 minutes at a temperature (150 ° C.) or higher at which the PE resin as the thermoplastic resin powder is fused and at a temperature (150 ° C.) or higher than the fusion temperature of the PE resin as the thermoplastic carrier. did. Thus, a granular fuel absorber according to the present invention was obtained. This fuel absorber is designated as Sample No. 1.

The fuel absorber manufactured in this manner is, as shown in a model in FIG. 1, a fine-grained polymer 50 produced by a cross-linking reaction of the organic polymer compound and is present so as to be attached to the periphery thereof. Thermoplastic resin powder layer 52
And a thermoplastic carrier 60 carrying them.

That is, the thermoplastic resin powder layer 52 is fused and becomes a binder to bond the fine granular polymers 50, and these are bonded to the surface of the thermoplastic carrier 60 to form the fuel absorber 5 with the carrier. There is. Then, the fine-grained polymer 50
Between the thermoplastic carrier 60 and the thermoplastic carrier 60, the thermoplastic carrier 60 and the thermoplastic resin powder layer 52 are fused to each other.

Second Example In the first example, the thermoplastic resin powder was not added from the beginning, and the thermoplastic resin powder was added and mixed to the fresh cream-like polymer gel fine particles collected after the reaction. Then, this was applied to a thermoplastic carrier.

As shown in FIG. 2, the thermoplastic carrier has a core member 62.
The granular thermoplastic carrier 6 having the surface layer 63 and the surface layer 63 was used. Here, the core material portion 62 is made of PP material, and the surface layer portion 63 is made of
PE material was used. The core 62 has a diameter of about 0.8 mm, and the surface layer 63 has a thickness of about 0.1 mm.

The addition ratio of the thermoplastic resin powder to the organic polymer compound was the same as in the first example.

Then, as described above, the one coated on the thermoplastic carrier is heated to 150 ° C. or higher, which is higher than the fusion temperature in the surface layer portion 63 of the thermoplastic resin powder and the thermoplastic carrier, to absorb the fuel with the carrier according to the present invention. Got the body Others are first
It is similar to the embodiment.

The fuel absorber thus obtained is obtained by fusing the finely divided polymer 50 on the surface of the thermoplastic carrier 6 composed of the core material portion 62 and the surface layer portion 63 as shown in FIG. is there.
Then, each finely divided polymer 50 is fused by the thermoplastic powder 52 on the surface thereof. This fuel absorber is referred to as Sample 2.

Third Example The characteristics of the fuel absorbers of sample Nos. 1 and 2 obtained in the above first and second examples were measured.

That is, first, regarding the endurance and desorption cycle of fuel, the fuel absorber was placed in a 100-mesh stainless steel wire net container and these were immersed in toluene for 24 hours. Then, a load was applied from above to the fuel absorber immediately after being taken out, and the crushing load (gf) at the time of crushing was measured.

Regarding the fuel accelerating ability of the fuel absorber, first, about 0.2 g of the sample (including 0.1 g of the thermoplastic carrier) is placed in a wire mesh container (weight V) similar to the above and weighed. The weight at this time is W. Then, each sample is immersed in toluene as a fuel together with a wire mesh container, taken out at each time shown in Table 1, and each weight Y is weighed.

Then, the fuel absorption (%) at each time was calculated by the following formula.

The measurement results are shown in Table 1.

For comparison, in the first example, the reaction was performed without adding the thermoplastic resin powder as the binder, and fresh cream-like polymer gel fine particles were collected.
Then, it was granulated without applying it to the thermoplastic carrier to obtain a fuel absorber. This is designated as Sample No. C1. Table 1 also shows the measurement results.

As can be seen from Table 1, each of the fuel absorbers according to the present invention (samples Nos. 1 and 2) exhibited a higher pulverization load than the comparative sample No. C1. This is because the thermoplastic resin powder as a binder binds each fine-grained polymer together, and these are also bound by fusion of the thermoplastic carrier, so that the calorific absorber as a whole has high strength.

Therefore, the fuel absorber of the present invention exhibits excellent durability even in the fuel absorption / desorption cycle.

Also, it can be seen that the fuel absorption performance exhibits high absorption.

On the other hand, the comparative sample C1 which does not use the thermoplastic resin powder as the binder and the thermoplastic carrier is
Although the absorption is very high, the crushing load at the time of fuel absorption is quite low because the fine-grained polymer is not bound by the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic carrier. Therefore, the durability of the absorption / desorption cycle is poor.

Fourth Embodiment An example in which the fuel absorber of the present invention is used in a vehicle canister will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the canister 1 includes a main body 10 which is a container for accommodating a fuel absorber, and a fuel absorber 20 filled in an absorption chamber 2 in the main body 10.

The main body 10 has a cylindrical shape, and has a lid 11 provided on the upper end and a bottom plate 12 provided on the bottom. Further, the second inlet pipe 14 into which the tip portion 141 is inserted to the vicinity of the center of the absorption chamber 2, the first inlet pipe 13 similarly inserted, and the purging pipe 16 are fixed to the lid 11.

The first introduction pipe 13 communicates with the space above the vaporizer float chamber 81, and the second introduction pipe 14 communicates with the fuel tank 82. Further, the purge pipe 16 communicates with a purge port 85. Further, a purge air pipe 15 is opened in the bottom plate 12. Each of the above pipes has a valve 131, 142,
It has 151,161.

In the main body 10, a perforated plate is provided below the absorption chamber 2.
17 and the perforated plate 1 above. The perforated plate 17 is pressed upward by the spring 101, and the perforated plate 18 is pressed downward by the spring 102. In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes gasoline.

As described above, the canister 1 captures the evaporated fuel by the vaporizer float chamber 81 or the fuel tank.
The gasoline vapor evaporated in 82 enters the absorption chamber 2 in the canister 1 through the first or second introduction pipes 13 and 14, comes into contact with the fuel absorber 20, and is absorbed therein. During this absorption, the valves 131 and 142 of the introduction pipes 13 and 14 are opened, and the valve 161 of the purging pipe 16 and the purge air pipe 15 valve 151 are closed.

The above absorption is caused by the fuel absorber 20 capturing gasoline and swelling.

Then, when these fuel absorbers absorb a large amount of gasoline vapor, the fuel absorbers are regenerated. After repeated use, the lid 11 is removed and replaced with a new fuel absorber.

In the above regeneration, the valves 131, 142, 151 and 161 are opened and closed,
This is performed by injecting air from the purge air pipe 15 in a manner opposite to the absorption. Then, the exhaust gas is discharged from the upper purge pipe 16 to the purge port 85. At this time, the introduced air serves to release the gasoline absorbed in the fuel absorber and discharge it as described above.

As described above, by performing the absorption and desorption cycle of absorption and regeneration, the fuel absorber can be used repeatedly and gasoline vapor as evaporative fuel can be captured with high efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a bonded state of a fine particulate polymer in a fuel absorber with a carrier of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a fine particulate polymer in a fuel absorber with a carrier of a second embodiment. And FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the canister in the fourth embodiment. 1 ... Canister, 2 ... Absorption chamber, 20 ... Fuel absorber, 8 ... Gasoline, 5 ... Fuel absorber, 50 ... Fine polymer, 52 ... Thermoplastic resin powder layer, 6,60 ... … Thermoplastic carrier, 62 …… Core material, 63 …… Surface layer,

Front page continued (72) Inventor Tadaoki Okumoto 1 Ochihata, Nagachiji, Kasuga-cho, Nishikasugai-gun, Aichi Prefecture Within Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Toyota Central Research Institute Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Mitsumasa Matsushita, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi Prefecture, Nagachoji Yoko 41 No. 41 1 Toyota Central Research Institute Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-4-11944 (JP, A) JP-A-4-11942 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An organic polymer compound having a fuel trapping function is dissolved in a solvent, and a thermoplastic resin powder for a binder is added to and mixed with the solution, and then reacted in the presence of a crosslinking agent for the reaction of the organic polymer compound. After the reaction is completed, a polymer gel containing the thermoplastic resin powder is collected, applied to a thermoplastic carrier, dried, and then at a temperature at which the thermoplastic resin powders are fused to each other, and at the thermoplastic carrier. A method for producing a fuel absorber, characterized in that the fuel absorber with a carrier is obtained by heating to the fusion temperature of the surface of the fuel absorber. 2. An organic polymer compound having a fuel trapping function is dissolved in a solvent, and then the solution is added to a separately prepared dispersant-containing solution while stirring to carry out a reaction, and after the reaction is completed, polymer gel fine powder And then add and mix the thermoplastic resin powder to the polymer gel fine powder, and then coat this on a thermoplastic carrier, and after drying, at the temperature at which the thermoplastic resin powder is fused and at the thermoplastic temperature A method for producing a fuel absorber, characterized in that a fuel absorber with a carrier is obtained by heating to a fusion temperature of a surface of a resin carrier. 3. The thermoplastic carrier according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a core portion and a surface layer portion provided on the surface thereof, the surface layer portion having a melting point lower than that of the core portion. A method of manufacturing a fuel absorber, characterized in that