JP2696292B2 - Ion water conditioner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ion water conditioner for continuously electrolyzing raw water supplied, such as tap water, in an electrolytic cell having an anode and a cathode disposed through a diaphragm. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the amount of chlorine used for removing, disinfecting, and sterilizing organic substances and ammonia nitrogen has increased due to the deterioration of water quality of tap water sources such as rivers and lakes. The smell of chlorine is increasing. Further, chlorine reacts with organic matter in water, and an organic chlorine compound such as trihalomethane, which is a carcinogenic substance, is generated.

[0003] Conventionally, in general, households have used water purifiers using activated carbon and hollow fiber membrane filters. This water purifier removes residual chlorine and organic substances, which are a source of odor of lime, by physical adsorption of activated carbon, and filters bacteria by a hollow fiber membrane filter. Such an activated carbon and a hollow fiber membrane filter are also used in an ion water conditioner so as to perform a water purification function at the first or second stage. Incidentally, an ion water conditioner is known to generate alkaline water which is effective for excessive gastric acid, abnormal gastrointestinal fermentation, and the like.

[0004]

Activated carbon used in these conventional water purifiers and those having a water purifying function has good compatibility with residual chlorine and exhibits a sufficient adsorption capacity. However, trihalomethane is known to cause adsorption breakthrough, which is adsorbed and removed in the initial state because of its small adsorption capacity, but is eluted after a certain time due to the influence of other coexisting substances.

To solve the above problems, instead of adsorbing and filtering these organochlorine compounds containing trihalomethane,
Use of ozone has been proposed as one means of oxidative decomposition. However, simply passing ozone through the liquid phase requires an oxidation reaction time, resulting in insufficient oxidative decomposition, and also leaves residual ozone in the liquid phase, making it difficult to reduce the size for household use.

Therefore, use of an accelerated ozone treatment method using ultraviolet light has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 3-65893). This is because of the necessity of installing an ultraviolet lamp in the aquarium, Hart which excites ozone decomposition and reduces efficiency due to dirt on the wall.
The necessity of ultraviolet rays having wavelengths in the ley band and the Huggins band necessitates the use of a high-pressure mercury lamp and its power source, which poses a problem in terms of safety and miniaturization. The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and can increase the decomposition rate of ozone supplied without requiring a special device for accelerating the decomposition of ozone. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ion water conditioner in which the efficiency of oxidative decomposition is improved.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ion water conditioner according to the present invention comprises an electrolytic cell for ionizing raw water, an ozonizer for generating ozone, an activated carbon and a hollow fiber membrane filter. A filtration material, wherein air containing ozone is passed through alkaline water ionized by the electrolytic cell to oxidatively decompose organic substances in raw water.

[0008]

The natural decomposition of ozone in the liquid phase has a short half-life of several tens of minutes with respect to the gas phase, but it is necessary to increase the decomposition rate of continuously treated water due to the problem of residual ozone. In addition, the strong oxidizing action of ozone is because the hydroxyl radical (HO) generated by reacting with (O) radicals and water at the time of ozone decomposition acts as an initiator of the oxidation reaction. Promoting leads to efficient oxidative decomposition of organic substances.

Since the decomposition of ozone in the liquid phase is rapidly accelerated as the pH rises in addition to the external force such as the ultraviolet light, the ozone can be efficiently ventilated by passing the ozone through the alkaline water of the ion water conditioner. Organic matter can be decomposed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the ion water conditioning apparatus. In this ion water conditioner, relatively large contaminants in raw water such as tap water are filtered by the prefilter 1 and continuously supplied to the electrolytic cell 2. A cathode plate (not shown) and an anode plate (not shown) are provided in the electrolytic cell 2 with a diaphragm 3 interposed therebetween. When a direct current is applied to both electrodes, the supplied water is electrolyzed,
As a result, alkaline water is continuously generated on the cathode side, and acidic water is continuously generated on the anode side.

The acidic water having a low pH value formed as described above is drained or used for washing or the like. Alkaline water with a high pH value used as drinking water is sent to the reaction unit 4 and is ozone-aerated by an ozonizer or the like using silent discharge. As shown in FIG. 2, the ozone in the liquid phase is pH
At a low value (pH 7 or less), it is relatively stable, but as the pH value increases, the decomposition rate rapidly increases, and finally it decomposes at a speed that can be said to be instantaneous. This ozonolysis O ₃ → O ₂ + O produces radical O and this radical O reacts with water O + H ₂ O →
Hydroxyl radical (HO) generated by 2HO
Acts as an initiator of the oxidation reaction, causing a chain reaction to strongly oxidize and decompose organic substances.

The water in which organic substances are oxidized and decomposed in the reaction section 4 is introduced into a filtration section 5. This filtration unit 5 is made up of activated carbon and a hollow fiber membrane filter, etc., in the same manner as one that performs a conventional water purification function. The activated carbon acts as a catalyst for decomposing residual ozone remaining in the reaction unit 4 and also removes organic substances. The oxidized products that have been made into small molecules by the oxidative decomposition are subjected to adsorption filtration.

[0013]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the rate of decomposition of ozone supplied can be increased without requiring a special device for promoting the decomposition of ozone as in the prior art. Therefore, the effect of strong oxidative decomposition of ozone is improved even with respect to an organic chlorine compound such as trihalomethane, and the effect that odor and health problems do not occur with respect to residual ozone is obtained. In addition, since the organic molecules are reduced to small molecules by oxidative decomposition, the life of activated carbon is extended.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ion water conditioner showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a decomposition time of ozone with respect to a pH value.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pre-filter 2 Electrolysis tank 3 Diaphragm 4 Reaction part 5 Filtration part

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electrolytic cell for ionizing raw water, an ozonizer for generating ozone, and a filter material comprising activated carbon and a hollow fiber membrane filter, wherein air containing ozone is passed through alkaline water ionized by the electrolytic cell. An ion water conditioner characterized by being configured to oxidatively decompose organic matter in raw water.