JP3413546B2 - Processing equipment for thermoplastic metal composites - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device used in a so-called material recycling system for recovering valuable materials from waste materials of composite materials composed of thermoplastics and metals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recently developed polyethylene pipe fitting for seismic resistance has, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a heating element (22) made of nichrome wire, brass or brass coil inside the fitting body (21). And a terminal (23) for connecting the power supply is embedded. A large amount of waste products of the thermoplastic metal composite materials such as the pipe joint and the electric power cable are coming out as industrial wastes, and development of an effective processing method and a processing apparatus therefor is demanded.

Even if the above-mentioned composite material of a thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene and a metal is directly incinerated in an ordinary incinerator to recover the remaining valuable metal, the surface of the metal is deteriorated due to oxidation. It is difficult to reuse this as it is. Also,
It is difficult to crush or pulverize the thermoplastics, because the thermoplastics are easily plastically deformed as they are.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention constitutes a composite material by heat-treating a composite material of a thermoplastic and a metal such as the above pipe joint under an optimum temperature condition and in an optimum atmosphere. Provided is a processing apparatus for a thermoplastic-metal composite material, which separates valuable metal and thermoplastic from each other and recovers them in a reusable form, which can reduce the apparatus volume and reduce waste heat. The purpose is to

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A thermoplastic metal composite processing apparatus according to the present invention uses a heated inert gas or superheated steam as a heat source as a heat source for a composite material made of a thermoplastic and a metal to be absent of oxygen. It is equipped with a dry distillation furnace that is heated below, and a combustion furnace that burns the decomposition gas generated in the dry distillation furnace, and in a processing apparatus for a thermoplastic metal composite material that recovers molten plastic and non-oxidized metal, combustion is performed. An electric heater is provided as a heating means of the furnace.

It is preferable that the combustion furnace is provided with a packed bed for improving heat transfer in the furnace. The filling layer is preferably made of silicon carbide, and may be made of a material having good heat transfer such as a ceramic insulator.

Further, it is preferable that the dry distillation furnace is provided with an electric heater.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus for processing a thermoplastic metal composite material according to the present invention. As shown in the figure,
The thermoplastic metal composite processing equipment uses superheated steam as a heat source to melt the thermoplastic of the thermoplastic metal composite waste, and the waste is mixed with the hardened thermoplastic and non-oxidized metal. Separation furnace (1) that separates into two parts, and a combustion furnace (11) that combusts the organic decomposition gas generated in the carbonization furnace (1) when the thermoplastic is melted
It has and.

The carbonization furnace (1) has a double tube structure,
Inside the insulation furnace wall (2), a cylindrical waste storage chamber (3)
Is provided. Below the waste storage chamber (3), there is provided a cylindrical molten plastic drop passage (4) connected to the lower end of the waste storage chamber (3) and penetrating the bottom wall of the dry distillation furnace (1). The upper end (3a) of the waste storage chamber (3) projects above the top wall of the carbonization furnace (1), and two waste input dampers (5) are installed in series at the opening. Has been. Waste storage room (3)
Inside the box is a bucket (7) containing the waste material (8) of the composite material consisting of thermoplastic and metal.
The bucket (7) has a vertically long cylindrical shape and is made of a wire mesh or a perforated plate. A spiral heat source conduit (9) is wound around the waste storage chamber (3). At the lower end of this heat source conduit (9), the heat source outlet nozzle (1
0) is provided. An electric heater (41) is attached to the heat insulating furnace wall (2). At the upper end (3a) of the waste storage chamber (3), an outside air shutoff gas blowing device (18) is provided between the upper and lower dampers (5) to blow an inert gas or superheated steam to shut off the outside air. .

By supplying superheated steam to the heat source conduit (9), this is used as a heat source to heat the thermoplastic metal composite waste (8) in the absence of oxygen to partially pyrolyze the thermoplastic. At the same time, the waste material (8) is melted and separated, and the waste material (8) can be separated into a thermoplastic resin having increased hardness and a non-oxidized metal by partial thermal decomposition. In addition to superheated steam, combustion exhaust gas or heated inert gas can be used as the heat source.

The combustion furnace (11) is provided with a combustion air blowing pipe (45) having an air amount adjusting valve (46). Combustion furnace
(11) and the upper part of the waste storage chamber (3) of the carbonization furnace (1) are
The organic gas produced by the thermal decomposition of polyethylene is connected to the combustion furnace (11) by an organic gas conduit (17). The combustion furnace (11) is an electric heater attached to the furnace wall.
It is heated by (42). Inside the combustion furnace (11), there is provided a packed bed (43) for improving heat transfer in the furnace, which is made of silicon carbide.

The lower ends of the combustion furnace (11) and the carbonization furnace (1) are
The combustion gas is connected by a heating gas conduit (15) that sends combustion gas between the furnace wall (2) of the carbonization furnace (1) and the waste storage chamber (3). An exhaust gas chimney (16) is provided at the upper end of the furnace wall (2) of the carbonization furnace (1).

Electric heater (41) of dry distillation furnace (1) and combustion furnace
Each of the electric heaters (42) of (11) is controlled by the temperature control device (44). The opening of the air amount adjusting valve (46) of the combustion air blowing pipe (45) is adjusted according to the oxygen concentration obtained by the oxygen concentration measuring device (47) provided in the outlet chimney (16).

In the processing apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the waste material (8) of the composite material made of thermoplastic and metal, for example, the seismic resistant polyethylene pipe joint shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is put into the bucket (7), and the waste material is discharged. Store in storage room (3). Then, the superheated steam is guided to the heat source conduit (9) in the carbonization furnace (1), and the combustion gas generated in the combustion furnace (11) is transferred to the furnace wall (2) of the carbonization furnace (1) and the waste storage chamber ( 3) Supply between and. This heats the waste storage chamber (3) and the heat source conduit (9). Combustion gases are then discharged from the exit chimney (16). The temperature in the combustion furnace (11) is set to 800 ° C or higher, and the temperature between the furnace wall (2) of the carbonization furnace (1) and the waste storage chamber (3) is
It is set to 450 to 600 ° C. Further, the inside of the waste storage chamber (3) has an oxygen concentration of 2% by volume or less at a temperature of 380 to 460 ° C. The carbonization furnace (1) and the combustion furnace (11) are heated by the electric heaters (41) and (42) controlled by the temperature control device (44), and the temperature control is reliably performed. Further, the amount of air supplied into the combustion furnace (11) by the combustion air blowing pipe (45) is
It is adjusted according to the oxygen concentration of the exhaust gas, whereby the predetermined oxygen concentration can be maintained and efficient operation can be performed. Under such heating conditions, the steam in the heat source conduit (9) is spray-supplied from the heat source blowing nozzle (10) to the waste (8) in the bucket (7), and the waste (8) is subjected to dry distillation. As a result, the thermoplastic composing the waste (8) is melted while partially thermally decomposing, falls from the bucket (7), and is taken out of the system. Further, the organic gas generated by thermal decomposition when the thermoplastic is melted is completely combusted in the combustion furnace (11). The molten plastic thus obtained has increased hardness due to thermal decomposition and can be easily crushed. Therefore, not only can this be reused as it is for commercialization, but the ground thermoplastic can also be used as powder fuel. On the other hand, valuable metal such as nichrome wire or brass that constitutes the waste (8) remains in the bucket (7) and is separated from the thermoplastic. The valuable metal obtained is free of thermoplastic deposits and surface oxidation and can therefore be reused, for example, as a metallic material for the manufacture of joints.

Note that valuable metals such as the heating element (22) and the terminal (23) for connecting the power source, which compose the pipe joint, are sufficiently small as compared with the polyethylene pipe joint body (21), so that they can be treated several times. Bucket (7) is never filled with metal.
Therefore, it is not necessary to recover valuable metal every time the above treatment is performed, and the waste (8) can be continuously supplied from the upper and lower dampers (5). At this time, waste from the upper damper (5) with the lower damper (5) closed.
(8), close the upper damper (5), and, if necessary, connect the outside air blocking gas blowing device (1) between the upper and lower dampers (5).
Blow inert gas or superheated steam from 8) and drop the waste (8) into the waste storage chamber (3) from the damper (5) below. This prevents the inflow of outside air into the dry distillation furnace (1) and the outflow of heat from the dry distillation furnace (1), preventing both an increase in the oxygen concentration in the furnace (1) and a decrease in the temperature in the furnace (1). To be done. Therefore, the temperature inside the equipment is reduced after each treatment, compared with a batch-type treatment equipment in which valuable metal is taken out each time the waste (8) is treated and a new thermoplastic metal composite material is added. Eliminates the need for better thermal efficiency.

(Comparative Example) FIG. 2 shows a processing apparatus for a thermoplastic metal composite material according to the present invention and a processing apparatus in which the heating system of the combustion furnace is different.

In the apparatus, the combustion furnace (11) has a burner (12) at the upper end. In the combustion furnace (11), a superheated steam generating coil (13) is provided, and a predetermined amount of water is injected into the coil (13), and the generated superheated steam is passed through the steam pipe (14). It is led to a heat source conduit (9) in the carbonization furnace (1). In FIG. 2, (6) is a rotary saucer that receives the thermoplastic that has melted and dropped from the waste storage chamber (3), (31) is a seal part surrounding the saucer (6), and (32) is Saucer
A steam inlet for sending steam upward to a space above (6), (33) a water tank for water sealing, (34) a cooling water supply port, and (19) an exhaust gas conduit (15). It is a water spray device.

In this apparatus, since the combustion gas is generated by using the burner (12) in the combustion furnace (11), the volume for combustion becomes large, the combustion gas is large, and the amount of heat that escapes as exhaust gas is also large. It has many problems. On the other hand, in the device of the present invention, since the means for heating the combustion furnace (11) is the electric heater (42), the device volume for combustion can be reduced as compared with the device of FIG. In addition, the amount of combustion gas is small, the amount of heat that escapes as exhaust gas is small, and it is possible to operate at low cost and to reliably control the temperature.

[0020]

According to the thermoplastic metal composite processing apparatus of the present invention, since the means for heating the combustion furnace is an electric heater, compared to the heating by a burner,
The device volume can be reduced and waste heat can be reduced.

If the combustion furnace is provided with a packed bed for improving heat transfer in the furnace, the inside of the combustion furnace is maintained at a high temperature. Further, if the carbonization furnace is provided with an electric heater, the temperature control of the carbonization furnace becomes easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an apparatus for treating a thermoplastic-metal composite material according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a comparative example processing apparatus having a combustion furnace of a heating system different from the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view showing a seismic resistant polyethylene pipe joint.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a seismic resistant polyethylene pipe joint.

[Explanation of symbols]

(1) Dry distillation furnace (11) Combustion furnace (41) Electric heater (42) Electric heater (43) Packed layer for improving heat transfer in the furnace

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Nobuyuki Yoshida 5-3-3 Nishi-Kujo, Konohana-ku, Osaka City Nitto Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-9-170034 (JP, A) JP Hei 6-298994 (JP, A) JP-A-9-217910 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B09B 3/00-5/00 B29B 17/00-17 / 02 C08J 11/00-11/28

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A dry distillation furnace (1) for heating a waste material of a composite material composed of a thermoplastic and a metal in the absence of oxygen by using a heated inert gas or superheated steam as a heat source, and a dry distillation furnace.
(1) equipped with a combustion furnace (11) for burning the decomposition gas produced in (1), in a processing apparatus for thermoplastic metal composites for recovering molten plastic and non-oxidized metal, a combustion furnace (11) An apparatus for treating a thermoplastic-metal composite material, characterized in that an electric heater (42) is provided as a heating means for the. 2. The thermoplastic metal composite processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the combustion furnace (11) is provided with a packed bed (43) for improving heat transfer in the furnace. 3. The thermoplastic metal composite processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carbonization furnace (1) is provided with an electric heater (41).