JP7114064B2 - Apparatus and method for treating plastic-packaged food waste - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a food waste processing apparatus and processing method for effectively reusing plastic-packaged food waste.

Conventionally, when reusing the organic components of plastic-wrapped food waste for composting, etc., the plastic packaging is first manually peeled off using a cutter or the like, and then only the organic matter in the contents is collected. had to be separated.

Incidentally, conventionally, there is a technique described in Patent Document 1 as a technique for decomposing organic components of food waste.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-319738 Japanese Patent No. 4153685

However, in order to reuse food waste for composting, etc., a large number of pre-packaged organic wastes are manually individually peeled off from the plastic packaging material and only the contents are left. is required, and this work is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned actual situation, and its object is to remove the packaging material even if the organic matter packaged in the packaging material is put into the vacuum fermentation drying apparatus as it is packaged. , to provide a processing apparatus and processing method for plastic-packaged food waste from which only organic dry matter can be obtained.

In order to achieve the above object, a processing apparatus for plastic-packaged food waste according to the present invention accommodates food waste packaged in a plastic packaging material in a sealed container as it is, and heats the food waste to a predetermined temperature under reduced pressure. A reduced-pressure fermentation drying apparatus that microbially decomposes only the organic components of the food waste by stirring while heating to a range and performs volume-reduced drying using microorganisms, the microbially decomposed volume-reduced dry matter, and microbial decomposition. and a separating device for separating the packaging material that has not been wrapped.

According to the present invention, when food waste wrapped in a plastic packaging material is housed in a closed container as it is, the organic components of the food waste are decomposed by microorganisms in the closed container by the vacuum fermentation drying device. , a dried product with reduced volume is obtained. In the sealed container, the reduced-volume dried matter and the packaging material that is not microbially decomposed are mixed. Only dry matter is obtained. Therefore, there is no need to repeat the work of manually peeling off the packaging materials from a large number of food wastes wrapped in plastic packaging materials, as in the conventional art, and the annoyance can be relieved. .

In the present invention, a washing and crushing device for washing and crushing the separated packaging materials with water, a dewatering device for dehydrating the washed and crushed packaging materials, and removing water from the dehydrated packaging materials. and a moisture removal device. According to this configuration, the separated packaging material is washed, finely crushed, and further dehydrated, so that the separated packaging material can be made into a small size, cleaned, and recyclable material. can.

In the present invention, it is preferable to provide a foreign matter sorting device for removing foreign matter mixed in the reduced-volume dried product and the packaging material. According to this configuration, foreign substances such as metals mixed in the dried product obtained by the reduced pressure fermentation drying device and the separated packaging material can be easily removed by the foreign substance sorting device.

In the present invention, it is preferable to provide a sieving device for removing residues contained in the water dehydrated from the packaging material by the dewatering device. According to this configuration, the residue contained in the water dewatered from the packaging material can be removed by the sieving device, and the dewatered water can be easily drained.

In the present invention, the water from which the residue has been removed by the sieving device is preferably evaporated by the vacuum fermentation drying device. According to this configuration, it is possible to evaporate the water from which the residue has been removed using the reduced-pressure fermentation drying apparatus. In this case, it is preferable to provide a switching device for switching whether the water from which the residue has been removed is supplied to the vacuum fermentation drying apparatus or to the sewage treatment apparatus. According to this configuration, when the sewage treatment apparatus is installed nearby, the switching device can be switched to the sewage treatment apparatus side, and the water from which the residue has been removed can be treated by the sewage treatment apparatus.

Further, the present invention relates to a method for treating food waste that has been wrapped in plastic, wherein the food waste that has been wrapped in a plastic packaging material is placed in an airtight container as it is wrapped, and heated to a predetermined temperature range under reduced pressure. A reduced-pressure fermentation drying step in which only the organic components of the food waste are microbially decomposed by microorganisms while stirring while stirring to reduce the volume and dry, the microbially decomposed reduced-volume dried product, and a packaging material that is not microbially decomposed. and a separation step of separating the According to such a disposal method, the same effects as those of the apparatus for disposing of plastic-packaged food waste can be obtained.

According to the apparatus and method for treating plastic-packaged food waste according to the present invention, food waste packaged with plastic packaging material is simply placed in a sealed container as it is wrapped, and the reduced-pressure fermentation drying apparatus The organic components of the food waste are decomposed by microorganisms to obtain reduced-volume dry matter, and the packaging material mixed with this dried matter is separated from the reduced-volume dried matter by the separation device, so that only the reduced-volume dried matter is obtained. can get. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the need for repeatedly manually peeling off the packaging materials from a large number of plastic-packaged food wastes, thereby freeing the user from troublesomeness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a processing apparatus for plastic-packaged food waste according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a front view showing a loading device, a reduced pressure fermentation drying device, a sorting machine, a washing and crushing machine, etc. of the same processing apparatus; 3 is a side view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2; FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a schematic configuration of a reduced-pressure fermentation drying apparatus provided in the processing apparatus of FIG. 1; It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the sorting machine included in the same processing apparatus. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of the washing crusher included in the same processing apparatus. It is a perspective view which shows the internal structure of the dehydrator included in the same processing apparatus. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of the vibrating screen machine contained in the same processing apparatus.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a processing apparatus for plastic-packaged food waste according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a loading device, a vacuum fermentation drying device, a washing crusher, etc. of the processing device. It is a front view. FIG. 3 is a side view showing an input device, a vacuum fermentation drying device, a sorter, etc. of the same processing apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a schematic configuration of the vacuum fermentation drying device of the same processing device.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a processing device for plastic-packaged food waste (hereinafter also referred to as “processing device”) 1 includes an input device 2, a vacuum fermentation drying machine 3, a sorting machine 4, a washing and crushing Equipped with machine 5, dehydrator 6, vibrating sieve machine 7, cyclone 69 and the like.

In the processing apparatus 1, packaged foods in which unsold or expired organic food wastes such as tofu, konjac, jelly, etc. are packaged in plastic packaging materials such as plastic containers and film bags are targeted as objects to be processed. and

In the present processing apparatus 1, food waste packaged in such plastic packaging materials (hereinafter referred to as "packaged organic matter") is introduced into the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 by the introduction device 2, and the plastic packaging materials are extracted from the introduced packaged organic matter. (hereinafter simply referred to as the packaging material) is broken and peeled off by heating and stirring under reduced pressure, and the contents from which the torn and peeled packaging material (hereinafter referred to as the broken packaging material) has been peeled off A reduced-pressure fermentation drying process (a reduced-pressure fermentation drying process) is performed by the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 on a certain organic matter (hereinafter referred to as content organic matter). The dried material obtained by the reduced pressure fermentation drying process of the reduced pressure fermentation drying machine 3 and the torn packaging material mixed with the dried material are sent to the sorting machine 4 by the discharge conveyor 41 and dried by the sorting machine 4. A foreign matter removing process (foreign matter removing step) is performed in which foreign matter such as metals mixed in the dried matter and the torn packaging material are removed while the article and the torn packaging material are separated. The dried material separated from the torn packaging material is stored in a storage container 44 as organic fertilizer or the like.

On the other hand, the torn packaging material from which the foreign matter has been removed is sent to the washing and crushing machine 5, where it is washed with water by the washing and crushing machine 5 and is subjected to a washing and crushing process (washing and crushing step) in which it is finely crushed. Then, a large number of broken packaging materials (hereinafter referred to as packaging pieces) that have been washed and crushed into granules or small pieces are sent to a dehydrator 6 in order to remove the dirty water after washing from the packaging pieces. A dehydration process (dehydration step) in which the water is dehydrated by the dehydrator 6 is performed. A large number of package pieces dehydrated by the dehydrator 6 are sent to the cyclone 69, where the moisture is removed by the cyclone 69 and dried (moisture removal process). By this moisture removal process, the clean, dust-proof, small-sized packaging pieces are finally brought into a reusable state and collected in the collection container 69c.

Further, the wastewater dewatered from the package pieces by the dehydrator 6 is sent to a vibrating screener 7, and the residue contained in the wastewater is removed by the vibrating screener 7. The sewage from which the residue has been removed is selectively sent to the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 or the sewage treatment machine 10 for evaporation treatment or waste water treatment.

FIG. 3 shows the processing apparatus 1 installed, for example, in a building 100. At predetermined positions in the building 100, a loading device 2, a vacuum fermentation dryer 3, a sorter 4, and the like are installed. In FIG. 3, the walls, roof, shutters, etc. of the building 100 are indicated by two-dot chain lines. Although not shown in FIG. 3, the washing crusher 5, the dehydrator 6, the vibrating sieve 7, etc. are also installed in the building 100. As shown in FIG. Each device provided in the processing apparatus 1 will be described below.

In the box 21 for introduction, the packaged organic matter vacuum-packaged with a packaging material such as plastic is introduced and accommodated as it is packaged. The input device 2 supplies the packaged organic matter in the input box 21 to the input port 30 a of the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 . The loading device 2 is configured, for example, as a reversible loading device. The input box 21 is transported from a storage warehouse or the like to a predetermined position of the input device 2 by a forklift or the like (not shown). The box 21 set at a predetermined position of the box 2 is lifted upward along a pair of vertically extending rails 22, 22 by driving an electric motor (not shown) or the like. When the input box 21 rises to the upper end of the pair of rails 22, 22, it rotates around a horizontal shaft 23 provided between the pair of rails 22, 22, and the input box 21 is turned upside down. As the box 21 for introduction is reversed, the packaged organic matter accommodated in the box 21 for introduction is introduced into the inlet 30 a of the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 .

The reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 is a known one, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, etc., and stirs the packaged organic matter to be processed under reduced pressure while heating it to a predetermined temperature range. By heating and agitation, the packaging material of the packaged organic matter swells, is stretched thinly, broken, deformed, etc., and peeled off from the content organic matter, and the content organic matter jumps out. The organic components of organic matter are microbially decomposed using microorganisms to obtain dried matter with a reduced volume.

As schematically shown in FIG. 4, the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 is a substantially cylindrical airtight container which is airtightly formed so as to keep the inside at atmospheric pressure or lower as a sealed container for containing the packaged organic matter charged from the charging device 2. A tank (pressure resistant tank) 30 is provided. A heating jacket 31 is provided on the peripheral wall of the tank 30 , and heating steam is supplied to the heating jacket 31 from the steam generating boiler 9 . Incidentally, the temperature of the steam supplied from the steam generation boiler 9 is preferably about 140° C., for example.

In addition, a stirring shaft 32 extending in the longitudinal direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 4) is provided inside the tank 30 so as to be surrounded by the heating jacket 31 . The stirring shaft 32 is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed by an electric motor 32a. The agitating shaft 32 is provided with a plurality of agitating plates 32b spaced apart in its axial direction. These agitating plates 32b agitate the content organic matter and the torn package, and after fermentation and drying are completed, they are mixed with the dried matter. The torn package mixed with the dried product is fed in the longitudinal direction of the tank 30 .

A loading port 30a for the packaged organic matter supplied from the loading device 2 is provided at the upper part in the center in the longitudinal direction of the tank 30, and the packaged organic matter fed from the loading port 30a is heated by the heating jacket 31 under reduced pressure. while being stirred by the rotation of the stirring shaft 32 . By heating and stirring under reduced pressure, the packaging material of the packaged organic matter swells, becomes thin, breaks, deforms, etc., and is peeled off, and the content organic matter jumps out of the broken packaging material. Organic components contained are decomposed by microorganisms. After a predetermined period of time has passed, the torn packaging material and the volume-reduced dry matter after the treatment are discharged from the discharge section 30b provided at the bottom of the tank 30. As shown in FIG. A hydraulic motor may be used instead of the electric motor 32a.

A guide portion 30c is projected from the upper portion of the tank 30 to guide steam generated from the heated content organic matter to the condensation portion 33 . In this embodiment, two guide portions 30c are provided, and each guide portion 30c is arranged on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the tank 30 with the inlet 30a interposed therebetween. The condenser section 33 includes a plurality of cooling pipes 33b supported by a pair of heads 33a, and a cooling water path 80 is provided between the cooling tower 8 and the plurality of cooling pipes 33b. In the present embodiment, the condensation section 33 extends parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tank 30, and is arranged behind the inlet 30a and the guide section 30c.

The cooling water, which flows through the cooling pipes 33b in the condenser section 33 and whose temperature rises due to heat exchange with high-temperature steam, flows through the cooling water path 80 as schematically indicated by the arrow in FIG. It flows into the water receiving tank 81 of 8. The cooling tower 8 is provided with a pump 82 for pumping up cooling water from its water receiving tank 81 and a nozzle 83 for injecting the pumped cooling water. The cooling water jetted from the nozzle 83 is blown by the fan 85 while flowing down the flow-down part 84, the temperature of the cooling water is lowered, and the cooling water flows into the water receiving tank 81 again.

The cooling water cooled by the cooling tower 8 is sent by the cooling water pump 86, is sent to the condensation part 33 by the cooling water path 80, and circulates through the plurality of cooling pipes 33b again. After the temperature rises due to heat exchange with the steam generated inside the tank 30 as described above, the cooling water flows through the cooling water path 80 again and flows into the water receiving tank 81 of the cooling tower 8 . That is, the cooling water circulates through the cooling water path 80 between the condenser 33 and the cooling tower 8 .

In addition to the cooling water that circulates as described above, the cooling tower 8 also receives condensed water, which is condensed in the condenser 33 from steam generated from the heated content organic matter. Although not shown, condensed water generated by exchanging heat with high-temperature steam is collected under the condenser section 33 . A vacuum pump 36 is connected to the condensation section 33 via a communication passage 35 to reduce the pressure in the tank 30 .

That is, by the operation of the vacuum pump 36, air and condensed water are sucked out from the condensation section 33 through the communication passage 35, and air and steam in the tank 30 are sucked out through the communication passage 34 and the guide portion 30c. . In this way, the condensed water is sucked out from the condensation section 33 to the vacuum pump 36 and is led from the vacuum pump 36 to the water receiving tank 81 of the cooling tower 8 through the water conduit.

The condensed water thus led to the water receiving tank 81 of the cooling tower 8 is mixed with the cooling water, pumped up by the pumping pump 82 as described above, jetted from the nozzle 83, and cooled while flowing down the flow part 84. . The condensed water contains the same microorganisms as those added to the content organic matter in the tank 30, and the odorous components contained in this condensed water are decomposed. It is designed not to disperse.

The operation of the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 having the above configuration will be described. The packaged organic matter contained in the tank 30 is heated by the heating steam supplied to the heating jacket 31 under reduced pressure, and the stirring shaft 32 rotates. agitated. By heating and stirring under this reduced pressure, the packaging material of the packaged organic matter swells, stretches, breaks, and is peeled off, and the content organic matter jumps out of the broken packaging material, and the broken packaging material and the content organic matter are mixed. Become. Heating from the outside by the heating jacket 31 surrounding the inside of the tank 30 and heating from the inside by the stirring shaft 32 or the like are applied to effectively raise the temperature of the content organic matter, and the content organic matter and the broken packaging. The material is agitated by the agitation shaft 32 . Since the inside of the tank 30 is decompressed by the operation of the vacuum pump 36, the boiling point inside the tank 30 is lowered, and the water evaporates in a temperature range where the decomposition of the organic components of the content organic matter is promoted by microorganisms.

In the vacuum fermentation drying process using the vacuum fermentation dryer 3, one process (one cycle) preferably lasts, for example, two hours. First, the fermentation process takes 30 minutes to decompose the organic components of the content organic matter. When the pressure inside the tank 30 is reduced to −0.06 to −0.07 MPa (gauge pressure; hereinafter, gauge pressure is omitted), the moisture temperature in the tank 30 is maintained at 76 to 69° C. (saturated steam temperature). As a result, fermentation and decomposition of the content organic matter are promoted by the microorganisms described later.

Next, 1.5 hours will be allowed to dry the content organic matter during fermentation. Therefore, when the pressure in the tank 30 is further reduced to -0.09 to -0.10 MPa, the water temperature in the tank is maintained at 46 to 42 ° C. (saturated steam temperature), and the drying of the content organic matter is sufficiently promoted. It becomes a drying process. When performing such a drying process, as the microorganisms added to the content organic matter in the tank 30, as described in Patent Document 2, for example, a plurality of types of indigenous bacteria are used as a base and cultured in advance. A combined effective microorganism group is preferred, and commonly called SHIMOSE 1/2/3 groups form the center of the colony.

In addition, SHIMOSE 1 was submitted to FERM BP-7504 (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Biotechnology and Industrial Technology Research Institute, Patent Microorganism Depositary Center (1-3 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan) on March 14, 2003. internationally deposited). SHIMOSE 2 is FERM BP-7505 (international deposit similar to SHIMOSE 1), a salt-tolerant microorganism belonging to Pichiafarinosa. It is also an international deposit) and is a microorganism belonging to Staphylococcus.

Here, the procedure of the reduced pressure fermentation drying process of the contents organic matter by the reduced pressure fermentation dryer 3 will be described. First, an object to be treated containing organic matter is put into the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 while being wrapped in the packaging material. At this time, the cover of the input port 30a of the tank 30 of the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 is opened, and the packaged organic matter accommodated in the input box 21 is input from the input port 30a by the input device 2. Then, the lid of the inlet 30a is closed to hermetically seal the inside of the tank 30 at atmospheric pressure.

Next, after adding predetermined microorganisms to the packaged organic matter in the tank 30 , an air release valve (not shown) is closed to hermetically seal the inside of the tank 30 . Then, heating steam is supplied from the steam generating boiler 9 so as to heat the inside of the tank 30 under reduced pressure. By heating under this reduced pressure, the packaging material of the packaged organic matter accommodated inside the tank 30 is broken, peeled off, and the content organic matter is ejected from the broken packaging material, so that the broken packaging material and the content organic matter are mixed. , promotes the fermentation and drying of the organic components contained in the content organic matter.

Then, the inside of the tank 30 is heated by the heating steam, the stirring shaft 32 is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed (for example, about 8 rpm), and the pressure inside the tank 30 is reduced by operating the vacuum pump 36, As a result, the temperature in the tank 30 becomes an optimum environment for the activity of microorganisms, and the decomposition of the organic components of the content organic matter by the microorganisms is favorably promoted. In this state, the torn packaging material is stretched even thinner, deformed and torn greatly, and the torn state progresses. Note that the rotation speed (8 rpm) of the stirring shaft 32 is an example, and other values may be used as long as the organic components of the content organic matter can be decomposed.

While maintaining the temperature and pressure in the tank 30 in this way, when a predetermined time (for example, about 2 hours) has passed, the operation of the vacuum pump 36 and the steam generation boiler 9 is stopped, and the atmospheric release valve is opened. Atmospheric pressure. On the other hand, the stirring shaft 32 is reversely rotated to open the lid of the discharge portion 30b of the tank 30, and the dried material and the torn packaging material are discharged from the tank 30. At this time, the dried matter discharged from the tank 30 is reduced in volume.

Then, the content organic matter (dried matter) after the reduced pressure fermentation drying treatment by the reduced pressure fermentation drying device 3 is conveyed toward the sorting machine 4 by the discharge conveyor 41 together with the broken packaging material mixed therein. That is, the discharge conveyor 41 conveys the dried product and the torn packaging material discharged from the discharge portion 30b below the tank 30 of the reduced pressure fermentation drying apparatus 3 to the sorting machine 4 provided at a position higher than the discharge portion 30b. The sorter 4 separates the torn packaging materials such as plastic materials that have not been microbially decomposed by the reduced-pressure fermentation drying treatment by the reduced-pressure fermentation drying device 3 from the reduced-volume dried matter, and is included in the reduced-volume dried matter and the torn packaging materials. Foreign matter such as metal is removed.

The sorter 4 includes a magnetic separator 42 and a vibrating sieve 43, as schematically shown in FIG. The magnetic separator 42 is, for example, a hanging type, and is hung on the discharge conveyor 41 . The magnetic separator 42 uses a magnet to attract metal fittings and magnetic objects such as iron pieces (indicated by black circles) from among the reduced-volume dry matter and torn packaging materials conveyed by the discharge conveyor 41, and a belt 42b that moves between the pulleys 42a. is continuously discharged to the discharge container 42c. The magnetic separator 42 removes metal fittings, iron pieces, and other metals mixed in the reduced-volume dried product and the torn packaging material.

The vibrating sieve machine 43 screens only the torn packaging material larger than the reduced volume dried material from the reduced volume dried material and torn packaging material discharged from the reduced pressure fermentation drying apparatus 3 and conveyed by the discharge conveyor 41. The vibrating sieve machine 43 includes a wire mesh 43a having meshes (openings) of a predetermined size, and a vibration motor 43b for vibrating the wire mesh 43a. The vibrating sieve machine 43 is supported on the lower base 43d by a plurality of (for example, four) coil springs 43c. In addition, the wire netting 43a is provided in a state inclined obliquely downward, and one end side (left end side in FIG. 5) of the wire netting 43a is provided at a lower position than the other end side (right end side in FIG. 5). ing. In this embodiment, the mesh size of the wire mesh 43a is set to 5 mm×5 mm. Note that the size of the mesh is an example, and other values may be used. A vibrating sieve machine 43 sorts out the torn packaging material mixed with the volume-reduced dried material.

In this manner, since the vibrating sieve machine 43 is float-supported with respect to the lower table 43d by the coil spring 43c, the volume-reduced dried matter and the torn packaging material supplied from the discharge conveyor 41 to the wire mesh 43a are driven by the vibration motor 43b. is sieved out. Specifically, the volume-reduced dried matter passes through the mesh of the wire mesh 43a, falls downward, and is stored in the storage container 44 arranged below the vibrating sieve 43. As shown in FIG. On the other hand, since the torn packaging material larger than the volume-reduced dried product cannot pass through the mesh of the wire netting 43a, it slides or rolls down along the inclined surface of the wire netting 43a and moves to one end side (forward side), The vibrating sieve machine 43 is discharged into a discharge container 43e arranged in front and below. At this time, not only the torn packaging material but also the volume-reduced dried matter having a size larger than the mesh of the wire mesh 43a is discharged to the discharge chute 43e. However, as described above, by fermenting and drying in the vacuum fermentation drying device 3 and reducing the volume, the dried matter is suitable for sieving, and most of the reduced-volume dried matter passes through the mesh of the wire mesh 43a. , and stored in the storage container 44 .

The torn packaging material sorted out by the foreign matter sorting machine 4 is stretched, greatly deformed and broken, and supplied to the washing and crushing machine 5 . The washing and crushing machine 5 cleans and crushes the supplied torn packaging material into small pieces at the same time.

―Washing crusher―
FIG. 6 shows the internal structure of the washing crusher 5. As shown in FIG. The washing crusher 5 has a hopper 53 having a vertically elongated cavity therein. The hopper 53 has a crushing chamber 53a in the lower part of the internal cavity, and an inlet 53b into which the torn packaging material is introduced is formed in one side (the right side in the drawing) of the upper part of the crushing chamber 53a. As shown in FIG. 2, the torn packaging materials sorted from the dried materials by the foreign material sorter 4 are fed from the discharge chute 43e to the lower end of the obliquely arranged transport belt conveyor 51, whereupon the belt conveyor 51 is conveyed to the upper end of the hopper 53 and thrown into the inlet 53 b of the hopper 53 . A conveyor drive motor 52 for rotating the belt conveyor is arranged near the upper end of the conveyor belt 51 .

The crushing chamber 53a of the hopper 53 is provided with an injection nozzle 54a formed at the tip of the water supply passage 54 on the side facing the input port 53b. is injected and supplied obliquely downward toward the crushing chamber 53a.

The crushing chamber 53a is formed to have a smaller volume than the upper portion of the hopper 53, and the lower end surface of the crushing chamber 53a is open. communicates with That is, the lower portion of the crushing chamber 53a of the hopper 53 communicates with the taking-out space 56b of the substrate 56a.

A disk-shaped crushing rotor 55 having a rotary blade 55a and a fixed blade 59 are arranged at the lower end of the crushing chamber 53a. The crushing rotor 55 is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 55c arranged in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing at its center. The rotary shaft 55c is driven to rotate via a drive belt 58 by a rotor drive motor 57 arranged in a base 56 on which the hopper 53 is placed. The rotor drive motor 57 is arranged diagonally below the hopper 53, and rotates the rotary shaft 55c counterclockwise in the figure by means of a drive belt 58 inclined diagonally upward to the right in the figure. Although not shown, a plurality of crushing rotors 55 are arranged on the rotating shaft 55c at regular intervals in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Each crushing rotor 55 has three rotary blades 55a arranged at intervals of 120° along the circumferential direction.

On the other hand, the fixed blade 59 has blade edges on two opposing sides between the communicating portion between the crushing chamber 53a and the take-out space 56b, that is, between the lower end of the hopper 53 and the upper end of the substrate 56a. It is arranged in a state of protruding toward the crushing chamber 53a. The fixed blade 59 is arranged to extend in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 55c of the crushing rotor 55, and cooperates with the rotary blades 55a of the plurality of crushing rotors 55 to finely crush the torn packaging material.

The rotary blade 55a and the fixed blade 59 of the crushing rotor 55 are rotated counterclockwise in the drawing, and each time the rotary blade 55a rubs against the fixed blade 59, The torn packaging material is bitten into the scissors, and the torn packaging material is cut and crushed repeatedly.

When the rotary blade 55a and the fixed blade 59 repeatedly cut the torn packaging material, the washing water sprayed from the spray nozzle 54a is caught between the blades even when the rotary blade 55a and the fixed blade 59 pass each other. At the same time when the torn packaging material is cut and shredded, a large number of granulated or small pieces of packaging are washed with washing water from the injection nozzle 54a. In this way, since the washing operation is performed simultaneously with the cutting and crushing operation of the torn packaging material, the packaging pieces segmented by the cutting and crushing operation are strongly kneaded and washed at the same time. , the entire surface of a large number of subdivided packaging pieces can be cleaned more cleanly, and a strong cleaning effect and dustproof effect can be exhibited.

The packaging material finely cut and crushed by the cutting operation of the torn packaging material by the rotary blade 55a and the fixed blade 59 becomes a large number of packaging pieces of a predetermined size or less, and the large number of packaging pieces of a predetermined size or less become sewage after washing. are taken out to the take-out space 56b together.

Since the large number of packaging pieces of a predetermined size or less taken out into the take-out space 56b contain dirty water after washing, the dehydrator 6 is then used to remove the dirty water and leave only the packaging pieces. is performed.

-Dehydrator-
FIG. 7 shows the internal structure of the dehydrator 6. As shown in FIG. In the figure, the dehydrator 6 is provided with a box 61 having an inlet 61a into which a large number of packaging pieces are introduced together with washed sewage. The input port 61a corresponds to the opening 56d that opens to the lower surface of the take-out space 56b in the cleaning crusher 5 shown in FIG.

Below the box body 61, as shown in FIG. 6, a storage chamber 56e formed in the base 56 below the hopper 53 of the washing and crushing machine 5 is located, and a large number of packaging pieces are stored in the waste water. Temporarily stored together with A laterally positioned worm screw 62 is disposed in the storage chamber 56e, and the worm screw 62 is rotationally driven by a screw drive motor (not shown) to push a large number of packaging pieces together with the waste water to the left in the drawing. , and conveyed to the main body 63 located on the left side of the box 61 in the drawing.

The main body 63 is formed in the shape of a hollow rectangular parallelepiped. A large number of pieces of packaging conveyed from the storage chamber 56e flow into the lower part of the hollow internal space 63a together with the sewage. Further, the upper end of the internal space 63a communicates with a discharge port 63b for discharging the dehydrated packaging pieces, and the lower end thereof is connected with a drain port 68 for draining the waste water dehydrated from the packaging pieces. It is

In the internal space 63a, a thin plate fixed screen 65 wound into a hollow cylindrical shape and a cylindrical dehydration rotor 64 positioned inside the fixed screen 65 at a predetermined distance are arranged. In FIG. 7, a state in which the dehydration rotor 64 is located inside is depicted by cutting out the substantially central portion of the fixed screen 65 in the vertical direction. The dewatering rotor 64 is supported by a rotating shaft (not shown), and this rotating shaft is rotated by a dewatering rotor driving motor 67 via a power transmission mechanism 66 arranged above the main body 63 .

The dehydration rotor 64 has a plurality of dehydration blades 64a arranged in a horizontal direction at predetermined intervals on the outer peripheral edge of the dehydration rotor 64 in a plurality of rows in the vertical direction. A large number of dewatering blades 64a are formed in the shape of a thin plate, and each is attached to the outer peripheral edge of the dewatering rotor 64 in a state in which the thin plate portion is inclined upward and to the right in the figure. Therefore, when the dewatering rotor 64 is driven to rotate clockwise in the figure, a large number of pieces of packaging that have flowed into the lower part of the inner space 63a are swirled together with the sewage by the rotation of the dewatering blade 64a, gradually moving upward in the inner space 63a. will continue to rise.

In addition, the fixed screen 65 is formed with a large number of discharge holes 65a penetrating between the inner surface and the outer surface thereof. These discharge holes 65a are for discharging sewage separated and dewatered from the package piece from the inside to the outside of the fixed screen 65, and are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction and mutually vertically. They are arranged at predetermined intervals.

When the dehydration rotor 64 is driven to rotate, the pieces of packaging that have flowed into the lower part of the internal space 63a are subjected to centrifugal force by the rotating dehydration blades 64a together with the sewage, and spirally rotate along the inner peripheral surface of the fixed screen 65. while moving toward the upper part of the internal space 63a.

During this helical rotation, the rotating dewatering blades 64a strike the inner peripheral surface of the fixed screen 65, and dewater the packages by the impact. In the process of moving the package piece toward the upper part of the internal space 63a, dehydration progresses as the number of times it hits the fixed screen 65 increases. emitted from On the other hand, the sewage that has been hit against the fixed screen 65 and dewatered is discharged from the inner side of the fixed screen 65 to the outer side through a large number of discharge holes 65a of the fixed screen 65, and then falls downward to the drain port 68. is discharged to the outside.

A large number of pieces of packaging ejected from the ejection port 63b are in a wet state containing water, although they have been dehydrated. For this reason, a cyclone 69 is arranged in the rear stage so as to remove the moisture and finally obtain dehydrated package pieces.

The cyclone 69 is formed in an inverted conical shape, and the discharge port 63b of the dehydrator 6 is opened at the upper end thereof along the tangential direction of the peripheral wall. The cyclone 69 removes moisture from each package piece by causing the package pieces containing moisture from the discharge port 63b of the dehydrator 6 to flow down while swirling along the peripheral wall by the blowing action of the dewatering blades 64a of the dewatering rotor 64. Each package piece receives a centrifugal force as it swirls along the peripheral wall of the cyclone 69, and at the same time as the moisture is removed, the centrifugal force hits the peripheral wall of the cyclone 69 and deforms it thinly. become. The moisture-removed film-like packaging pieces are collected into a collection container 69c (see FIG. 1) through a discharge port 69a provided at the lower end of the main body. On the other hand, the removed moisture is exhausted upward from the ceiling opening 69b provided at the central portion of the upper end of the main body.

The sewage dehydrated from the many packages by the dehydrator 6 is conveyed to the vibrating screener 7 to remove residues contained in the sewage.

- Vibration sieve machine -
FIG. 8 shows the structure of the vibrating sieve machine 7. As shown in FIG. In the figure, the vibrating sieve machine 7 has a cylindrical housing 71 which is float-supported with respect to a lower base 73 by four coil springs 72 at its four corners. A lid portion 74 closing the upper end opening of the housing 71 is provided with an inflow port 74a for sewage. A pipe 80 for conveying sewage from the dehydrator 6 opens at the upper end of a first pit 81a of a drainage pit 81 which is divided into left and right halves arranged near the vibrating screener 7 . The sewage stored in the first pit 81a flows into the inflow port 74a of the lid portion 74 through the pipe 83 by the water pump 82 arranged in the first pit 81a.

Inside the housing 71, a wire mesh 75a is arranged substantially horizontally to partition the internal space in the vertical direction, and a meshless flat plate 75b is installed below it. The mesh size of the wire mesh 75a is set to correspond to the size of the residue. Under the wire netting 75a, a coarse-mesh net beating tray 76a is arranged at a predetermined interval, and on the upper surface of the net beating tray 76, a plurality of net beating rubber balls 76b are placed at predetermined intervals. are placed.

Around the housing 71, there are provided a first discharge port 77a communicating with the inner space above the wire netting 75a, and a second discharge port 77b communicating with the inner space vertically partitioned by the wire netting 75a and the flat plate 75b. The residue separated from the sewage by the wire mesh 75a is stored in the receiving container 7a through the first outlet 77a, and the sewage from which the residue has been removed is drained from the second outlet 77b to the second pit 81b of the drainage pit 81. It's like

Further, at the lower end of the housing 71, an inverted mortar-shaped bottom 79 is arranged so that the inner peripheral side protrudes upward so as to close the lower end opening. A vibration motor 90 is arranged below the bottom portion 79 . The vibration motor 90 is housed inside the cylindrical lower base 73 so as to be surrounded by the peripheral wall thereof, and is suspended from the lower end of the housing 71 via elastic brackets 71a and the like. Eccentric weights 90a and 90b are provided above and below the vibration motor 90, respectively, and the housing 71 is vibrated as a whole by eccentric rotation thereof.

A water pump 95 is arranged in the second pit 81 b of the drainage pit 81 , and sewage from which residues have been removed is drained by the water pump 95 through a pipe 96 .

The sewage from which the residue has been removed by the vibrating sieve 7 is sent to the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 through the pipe 96 as shown in FIG. 1, where it is evaporated.

A switching valve 98 is arranged in the middle of a pipe 96 for sending sewage to the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3. A switching valve 98 is provided for switching between two routes by means of a drive motor 97. As shown in FIG. The switching valve 98 communicates with the piping 96 upstream and downstream of the switching valve 98 to convey sewage to the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 at a first position, and conveys the piping 96 upstream of the switching valve 98 to the sewage treatment machine 10. It is switchable to a second position.

According to this embodiment, even if the food package in which the content organic matter is vacuum-packaged in a plastic container or the like is put into the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 as it is packaged, the packaging material is removed by the vacuum fermentation dryer 3. A large amount of organic matter (eg, tofu, konnyaku, jelly, etc.) can be dried. Moreover, although the reduced-volume dried product obtained by the reduced-pressure fermentation drying machine 3 is mixed with broken packaging materials such as plastics that were not decomposed by microorganisms in the reduced-pressure fermentation drying treatment by the reduced-pressure fermentation drying machine 3, these The torn packaging material cannot pass through the mesh of the wire mesh 43a of the vibrating sieve 43 of the foreign matter sorter 4, and is thereby separated from the reduced-volume dried matter. Therefore, it is possible to reliably and easily remove the packaging material put into the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 together with the organic matter contained in the food package from the reduced-volume dried product, and the stage before the food is put into the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3. This eliminates the need for manual work for peeling the packaging material such as packaging plastic from the food package from the content organic matter.

In addition, since a magnetic separator 42 for removing metals from the dried product obtained by the reduced pressure fermentation dryer 3 and the torn packaging material is provided upstream of the vibrating sieve machine 43, the magnetic separator 42 can It is possible to reliably and easily remove organic substances and metals mixed in the torn packaging material from the dried product.

Furthermore, the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 can efficiently dry the content organic matter, promote the decomposition of organic components of the content organic matter using microorganisms, and decompose malodorous components. In addition, by sieving the dried product obtained in this way with a vibrating sieve 43, the particle size, particle shape, etc. of the dried product become substantially uniform, and the generation of offensive odors is also suppressed. It is suitable for aquaculture feed, fertilizer, and the like.

The torn packaging material sorted out by the sorting machine 4 is washed with washing water by the washing and crushing machine 5 and crushed at the same time into a large number of fragmented packaging pieces. It is dewatered and further dried by removing water in a cyclone 69 . Therefore, it is possible to recycle a large number of clean, dust-proof, small-sized packaging pieces as a high-quality plastic raw material without discarding the packaging material of the food package.

In addition, although the wastewater dehydrated from many packages by the dehydrator 6 contains residues, the residues are removed by the vibrating sieve 7, so that wastewater containing no residues can be easily drained.

Moreover, the sewage containing no residue is sent to the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 and can be evaporated by the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 . Furthermore, when a sewage treatment machine 10 is installed in the vicinity of the treatment apparatus 1, the switching valve 98 switches the delivery path of the sewage not containing the residue to the sewage treatment machine 10 side, and the sewage treatment machine 10 It is possible to treat waste water.

Further, in the food waste disposal method according to the present embodiment, as described above, the packaged organic matter is stored in the tank 30 as it is packaged, stirred while being heated to a predetermined temperature range under reduced pressure, and the food waste is treated. a reduced-pressure fermentation drying step of microbially decomposing only the organic components of the organic matter using microorganisms to reduce the volume and drying; According to such a food waste disposal method, the same effects as those of the food waste disposal apparatus 1 described above can be obtained.

The embodiments disclosed this time are illustrative in all respects and are not grounds for restrictive interpretation. The technical scope of the present invention is not to be interpreted only by the above-described embodiments, but is defined based on the claims. In addition, the technical scope of the present invention includes all modifications within the meaning and range of equivalence to the claims.

The charging device 2 described above is merely an example, and the packaged organic matter may be charged into the vacuum fermentation dryer 3 by a charging device having other configurations. For example, a conveyer or the like may be used to put the packaged organic matter into the reduced-pressure fermentation dryer 3 . Further, the magnetic separator 42 described above is an example, and a magnetic separator other than the hanging type may be used. For example, a pulley-type or drum-type magnetic separator may be used, or an eddy-current magnetic separator capable of removing non-ferrous metals such as aluminum may also be used. Moreover, the vibrating sieve machine 43 described above is merely an example, and a sieve machine having another configuration may be used to sort foreign matter. Furthermore, the washing and shredding machine 5 is also an example, and washing and shredding may be performed by a washing and shredding machine having another configuration, for example, a structure in which washing and shredding are separately performed. In addition, the dehydrator 6 is also an example, and a dehydrator having other configurations may be used to dehydrate the packaging pieces after washing and crushing.

In addition, the above-mentioned packaged organic matter is an example, and various packaged organic matter other than packaged tofu, konjac, and jelly, for example, organic matter is placed in a plastic container and closed with a plastic lid. You may throw into the dryer 3.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a food waste processing apparatus and a processing method by vacuum fermentation drying.

1 food waste processing equipment 3 vacuum fermentation dryer (vacuum fermentation drying equipment)
4 sorter (separation device, foreign matter sorting device)
5 Washing grinder (washing grinder)
6 dehydrator (dehydrator)
69 cyclone (moisture removal device)
7 Vibrating sieve machine (sieve device)
10 sewage treatment machine 30 tank (closed container)
98 switching valve (switching device)

Claims (7)

Food waste that has been wrapped in plastic packaging material is placed in an airtight container as it is wrapped, and stirred while being heated to a predetermined temperature range under reduced pressure to remove only the organic components of the food waste using microorganisms. A reduced-pressure fermentation drying device that microbially decomposes and dries to reduce the volume,
a separation device that separates the microbially decomposed reduced-volume dried material from the packaging material that has not been microbially decomposed;
a washing and crushing device for washing and crushing the separated packaging materials with water;
and a dehydrator for dehydrating the washed and crushed packaging material . 2. A treatment apparatus for plastic-packaged food waste according to claim 1 , further comprising a water removing device for removing water from the packaging material dehydrated by said dehydrating device. 2. The processing apparatus for plastic-packaged food waste according to claim 1, further comprising a foreign matter sorting device for removing foreign matter mixed in the reduced-volume dry matter and the packaging material. 3. The processing apparatus for plastic-packaged food waste according to claim 2, further comprising a sieve device for removing residues contained in water dehydrated from the packaging material by the dehydrator. 5. The apparatus for treating plastic-packaged food waste according to claim 4, wherein the water from which the residue has been removed by the sieving device is evaporated by the reduced-pressure fermentation drying device. 6. The plastic-packaged food according to claim 5, further comprising a switching device for switching whether the water from which the residue has been removed by the sieving device is supplied to the vacuum fermentation drying device or to the sewage treatment device. Food waste processing equipment. Food waste that has been wrapped in plastic packaging material is placed in an airtight container as it is wrapped, and stirred while being heated to a predetermined temperature range under reduced pressure to remove only the organic components of the food waste using microorganisms. A reduced-pressure fermentation drying step for microbial decomposition and volume reduction drying;
a separation step of separating the microbially decomposed reduced-volume dried product from the packaging material that is not microbially decomposed;
a washing and crushing step of washing and crushing the separated packaging material with water;
and a dewatering step of dewatering the washed and crushed packaging materials .

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