JP3258629B2 - Styrofoam processing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a styrofoam treatment method for dissolving a styrofoam material used as a heat insulating material or a cushioning material in the field of packaging and distribution and dissolving it with a solvent to form a gel-like liquid for recycling. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the field of packaging and distribution, styrofoam resin has been used in large quantities as a heat insulating material having excellent heat insulating properties such as heat insulation and cold insulating, and as a light weight, cushioning material having excellent shock absorbing and cushioning properties. Have been.

However, used styrofoam material (hereinafter referred to as "styrofoam waste material") is bulky when collecting it as recyclable waste, and it is difficult to secure a storage place. Stores are struggling to dispose of such waste.On the other hand, incineration waste has a high calorific value due to the high calorific value of styrofoam waste, and its high combustion temperature damages the incinerator and generates harmful combustion gases. It has occurred.

[0004] To solve these problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-1 is disclosed.
There is a method for reducing the volume of styrofoam waste material disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 57435, but the present invention has improved the method.

[0005]

The above publication discloses that a foamed styrene foam waste material is brought into contact with a mixed solvent of a solvent in which the foamed polystyrene resin is readily soluble and a solvent having a low solubility of the foamed polystyrene resin to reduce the volume of the foamed polystyrene waste material. At the same time, the styrene resin phase containing the solvent is separated from the solvent phase, but is not suitable for practical use.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for treating styrofoam and an apparatus therefor which are easy to recover and regenerate styrofoam waste material and are economical.

[0007]

The styrofoam treatment method of the present invention comprises a crushing step of primary crushing of styrofoam waste material, a pressure-feeding step of secondary crushing of the crushed styrofoam waste material, and a pressure feeding step to a lower portion of the dissolving tank. And removing the polystyrene waste material that has been dissolved in the form of a gel and liquefied into a gel and collected in a layered form from the dissolving tank in the styrofoam treatment method, wherein the pressure-fed styrofoam waste material is concentrically provided inside the dissolving tank in a separation cylinder. The melting tank
Extruded into the lower washing liquid filled below
Styrofoam waste material is floated by buoyancy in the separation cylinder
While cleaning around the outer circumference of the swivel cylinder that is fitted and supported on the pressure feed cylinder.
Stir with the stirring blade arranged at the position submerged in the liquid
At the inner circumference of the separation tube from the tip end to the start end of the stirring blade.
Inclined upward to cover most of it
Via stirring force and buoyancy guided to the plate, then, in a dissolver
From the vicinity of the outer peripheral surface of the swirling cylinder in the center direction, the specific gravity is higher than that of the cleaning liquid.
Floating in a light upper layer of solvent, the solvent above the swirl tube
Stirring to stir and dissolve with stirring blades arranged at the position immersed inside
It is made by washing and dissolving treatment in the process.

The styrofoam processing apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a hopper for crushing the input styrofoam waste by a rotary crushing blade provided therein, and a hopper provided downstream of the hopper for secondary crushing of the styrofoam waste and a dissolving tank. A screw feeder for pressure feeding to the lower part, a tip port of the screw feeder is inserted in the lower part, a solvent and a cleaning liquid having different specific gravities are filled, a dissolving tank having an upper layer as a solvent and a lower layer as a cleaning liquid, and a lower layer cleaning liquid for the dissolving tank. Provided at the outer wall position of the surface,
An outlet for taking out the waste liquefied styrofoam gel dissolved by the solvent, and a styrofoam processing apparatus comprising: in the styrofoam processing device, the position outside the screw feeder, immersed in the solvent of the outer peripheral surface, and immersed in the cleaning liquid. A swirl tube having a number of stirring blades arranged vertically therearound, a rotating means for rotating the swirl tube and a separation tube provided concentrically inside the dissolving tank; And a stirring means comprising an inclined plate provided between the blades.

[0009]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be shown below, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

As shown in FIG. 1, a styrofoam processing apparatus of the present invention comprises a dissolving tank B fixed on a base 1 assembled by a steel frame, and a styrofoam supply apparatus A for supplying styrofoam waste to the dissolving tank B. Consists of

As shown in FIG. 2, in the styrofoam supply apparatus A, a supply tube 2 is arranged on a base 1 in an inclined manner, and a pressure feeder vertically connected to an inclined upper end of the supply tube 2 via an upper hopper 7. The pressure feeding cylinder 11 is inserted into the dissolving tank B, and the inside of the supply cylinder 2 is a scraper conveyor 3 which is conveyed by a scraper 8 from below to above as indicated by an arrow. And a lower hopper 4 is connected to the inclined lower end of the supply cylinder 2.

The lower hopper 4 has an inlet 28 for charging the styrofoam waste material at an upper portion thereof, and shafts 6 in which a plurality of crushing blades 5 for crushing the styrofoam waste material project radially face each other. The styrofoam waste material is crushed into small pieces such that the crushing blades 5 mesh with each other with the rotation direction of the two shafts 6 inward.

The upper hopper 7 has a continuous inclined surface 9 at the inclined upper end of the scraper conveyor 3, and the inclined surface 9 is connected in the form of a chute connecting the pressure feeding cylinder 11 and the supply cylinder 2. .

An outlet of the upper hopper 7 is connected to an upper end opening of a pressure feeding cylinder 11 disposed vertically below.
A motor 12 for pressure feeding is arranged on the upper part of the pressure feeding cylinder 11,
The rotation of the drive shaft of the pumping motor 12 causes the spiral blade 1
The screw feeder 10 having the three
The styrofoam waste material is forcibly fed from above to below. The lower end of the outlet of the pressure feed cylinder 11 is located near the bottom of the melting tank B.

Further, a swiveling cylinder 14 is provided concentrically on the outside of the pressure feeding cylinder 11 via a gear 16 by a drive shaft of a stirring motor 15 fixed to the base 1 by a suitable means so as to be rotatable. On the outer peripheral surface of the tube 14, a solvent C described later is used.
Upper and lower 2 between the position submerged in and the position submerged in the cleaning liquid D
At each location, a number of stirring blades 1 each inclined upward
The stirring blade 17 rotates around the pressure feeding tube 11 together with the swirl tube 14.

On the other hand, the dissolving tank B is a large cylindrical container whose upper part is covered with a lid 20. In the center of the lid 20, the pressure feeding cylinder 11 and the revolving cylinder 14 are vertically penetrated. A solvent inlet 21 which is inserted inside the container and fills a side surface of the lid 20 with a solvent for dissolving the styrofoam waste material.
A take-out pipe 23 of a take-out port 24 for taking out a styrene foam waste material dissolved by a solvent through a take-out valve 22 is provided on a side wall portion of the cylindrical container.
Is provided at the bottom of the cylindrical container, and a discharge pipe 26 of a discharge port 27 for discharging impurities through a discharge valve 25 is provided.

Inside the dissolving tank B, there is provided a separating cylinder 18 which is concentric with the dissolving tank B and which is separated from the side wall, and which is separated from the side wall. Are fixed so as to be located between the upper and lower stirring blades 17 and cooperate with the stirring blades 17 of the swivel cylinder 14 to improve the stirring effect.

The dissolving tank B is filled with a solvent C having a different specific gravity and a cleaning liquid D. The upper layer is a solvent C for dissolving the styrofoam waste material, and the lower layer is a cleaning solution for cleaning impurities adhered to the styrofoam waste material. D, and the liquefied polystyrene foam waste material E dissolved by the solvent C is accumulated in a layer between the solvent C and the cleaning liquid D.

Solvent C for dissolving styrofoam waste
Any solvent can be used as long as it can dissolve expanded polystyrene at least at room temperature. Examples of the solvent include aromatic, ketones, esters, ethers, unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons, and cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons. Examples of the solvent include various compounds, but the solvent is not limited thereto.

Specifically, examples of the aromatic solvent include benzene, toluene, xylene, styrene, ethylbenzene, tetralin, and other aromatic distillates derived from petroleum raw materials. , Methyl ethyl ketone, and methyl isobutyl ketone.Examples of the solvent composed of esters include ethyl acetate and methyl acetate.Examples of the solvent composed of ethers include diisopropyl ether, tetrahydrofuran, etc., and unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons. As the solvent consisting of, pentene, unsaturated hydrocarbon compounds such as hexene,
Examples include naturally obtained needle oil such as dipentene, decalin, and limonene.

On the other hand, as the cleaning liquid D for cleaning impurities adhering to the styrofoam waste material, any one can be used as long as it has a higher specific gravity than the solvent C and is capable of washing away the impurities adhering to the styrofoam waste material. Use available water.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. When the used styrofoam waste material is introduced from the inlet 28 of the lower hopper 4, the styrofoam waste material is directed inwardly between the shafts 6 provided inside the lower hopper 4. The rotation causes the crushing blades 5 to mesh with each other, and the styrene foam waste material is crushed into small pieces by the crushing blades 5.

The styrofoam waste material crushed into small pieces is
It is collected at the lower end of the supply tube 2 from the lower hopper 4, is scraped by the scraper 8 of the scraper conveyor 3 circulating and rotating inside the supply tube 2, and is conveyed to the upper hopper 7 obliquely above.

The styrofoam waste conveyed to the supply tube 2 by the scraper 8 slides down the inclined surface 9 of the upper hopper 7, is sent to the screw feeder 10 from the upper opening of the pressure feeding tube 11, and is rotated by the motor 12 for pressure feeding. While being crushed by the spiral blade 13 of the screw feeder 10 to be fed to the melting tank B below.

Since the lower end of the pressure feeding cylinder 11 is open at a position near the bottom of the dissolving tank B, the styrofoam waste material extruded from the pressure feeding cylinder 11 floats upward by buoyancy. The styrofoam waste material is agitated by the rotation of the stirring blades 17 of 14, impurities adhered to the styrofoam waste material at the time of this stirring are washed away, and the styrofoam waste material is washed.

The washed Styrofoam waste material floats further upward due to buoyancy, is guided by the inclined plate 19 of the separation tube 18 in the solvent C, and is dissolved by the solvent C while being guided toward the center of the dissolving tank B. .

At this time, the styrofoam waste material that is not completely dissolved is stirred by the stirring blade 17 provided further above and further stirred in the solvent C, so that the dissolution is further promoted.

The dissolved styrofoam waste material is liquefied into a gel and accumulates in a layer at an intermediate portion between the solvent C in the upper layer and the cleaning solution D in the lower layer due to the specific gravity.

When the accumulated amount of the liquefied polystyrene foam waste material E accumulates in a predetermined amount, the take-out valve 22 is opened, the take-out port 24 is taken out, and the waste material E is collected in an appropriate collecting container 29.

On the other hand, the impurities deposited on the bottom of the melting tank B can be discharged from the impurity discharge port 27 by opening the discharge valve 25.

The above-described embodiment is a large-sized styrofoam processing apparatus, and the input port 28 of the styrofoam supply apparatus A is arranged low so that an operator can easily input waste styrofoam from the floor surface. However, the present invention is not limited to this. .

As another embodiment, in the case of a small-sized styrofoam processing apparatus, the lower hopper 4 and the pressure feeding cylinder 11
Are connected directly up and down, for example, a direct pressure feeding tube 11 is provided below the lower hopper 4, the supply tube 2 and the upper hopper 7 are omitted, and the styrofoam waste put into the lower hopper 4 is crushed by the crushing blade 5, The crushed Styrofoam waste material is dropped directly onto the pressure feed cylinder 11 and is crushed by the spiral blade 13 of the screw feeder 10 and is fed to the melting tank B while being crushed.
It is also possible to use a styrofoam supply device.

[0033]

According to the present invention, in dissolving styrofoam waste with a solvent, a stirring step is introduced in addition to the crushing step and the pressure-feeding step. Since the stirring in the inside is continued, the styrofoam waste material can be dissolved in a short time in a clean state, so that the capacity of the final collection and regeneration processing of the waste material can be increased.

Further, the styrofoam processing apparatus of the present invention can continuously treat styrofoam waste material and can easily take out liquefied styrofoam gel material, so that large-scale retail stores and the like that are discarded in large quantities can be used. In particular, handling is convenient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a styrofoam processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a styrofoam processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 base 2 supply cylinder 3 scraper conveyor 4 lower hopper 5 crushing blade 6 shaft 7 upper hopper 8 scraper 9 inclined surface 10 screw feeder 11 pressure feeding cylinder 12 pressure feeding motor 13 spiral blade 14 rotating cylinder 15 stirring motor 16 gear 17 stirring blade Reference Signs List 18 Separation cylinder 19 Inclined plate 20 Lid 21 Solvent input port 22 Extraction valve 23 Extraction pipe 24 Extraction port 25 Discharge valve 26 Discharge pipe 27 Impurity discharge port 28 Input port 29 Collection container

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A crushing step for primary crushing of styrofoam waste material, a pressure-feeding step of secondary crushing of crushed styrofoam waste material to a lower part of a dissolving tank, and a gel-like liquefaction which is dissolved by a solvent and accumulated in a layer. And removing the styrofoam waste material from the dissolving tank in the styrofoam treatment method, wherein the pressure-fed styrofoam waste material is melted in a separation cylinder concentrically provided inside the dissolving tank.
Extruded into the lower layer of cleaning solution filled under the tank, and extruded
Styrofoam waste material is lifted up by buoyancy in the separation cylinder.
While washing around the outer circumference of the rotating cylinder
Stir with the stirring blades located at the position submerged in the purified liquid.
At the inner circumference of the separation tube from the tip end to the start end of the stirring blade.
Inclined upward to cover most of it
Via stirring force and buoyancy guided to the plate, then, in a dissolver
From the vicinity of the outer peripheral surface of the swirling cylinder in the center direction, the specific gravity is higher than that of the cleaning liquid.
Floating in a light upper layer of solvent, the solvent above the swirl tube
Stirring to stir and dissolve with stirring blades arranged at the position immersed inside
Styrofoam processing method by washing and dissolving treatment by process
Law. 2. A hopper for crushing the supplied styrofoam waste material by a rotary crushing blade provided therein, and a screw feeder provided downstream of the hopper for pressure-feeding the styrofoam waste material to a lower portion of the melting tank while secondary crushing the styrofoam waste material. The tip port of the screw feeder is inserted in the lower part, filled with a solvent and a cleaning liquid having different specific gravities, a dissolving tank in which the upper layer is a solvent and the lower layer is a cleaning liquid, and provided at an outer wall position of a lower layer cleaning liquid surface of the dissolving tank. An outlet for taking out the waste liquefied styrofoam gel dissolved by the solvent, and a styrofoam processing apparatus comprising: in the styrofoam processing device, the position outside the screw feeder, immersed in the solvent of the outer peripheral surface, and immersed in the cleaning liquid. A swirl cylinder having a number of stirring blades provided therearound, rotating means for rotating the swirl cylinder, and concentrically provided inside the melting tank. An Styrofoam processing apparatus comprising a stirring means comprising a separation cylinder and an inclined plate provided between the stirring blades on the inner periphery of the separation cylinder.