JPH01266895A - Sterilizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exterminate live bacteria or suppress the proliferation thereof and to reduce the running cost of the device by disposing an ion exchanger bonded with metal ions to the liquid contact surface in the flow passage from the liquid inflow port to liquid outflow port in a container. CONSTITUTION:The container 1 having the liquid inflow port 1a and the liquid outflow port 1b is provided and a granular material layer 3 having the ion exchanger bonded with the metal ions on the surface is packed to the liquid contact surface in the flow passage from the liquid inflow port 1a to the liquid outflow port 1b in this container 1. The ion exchanger boned with the metal ions of silver, copper, tin, zinc, etc., has the effect of exterminating the bacteria in contact therewith by contact with the bacteria or the antimicrobial effect of suppressing the proliferation thereof and, therefore, the live bacteria in the raw water supplied from the liquid inflow port 1a into the container 1 comes into contact with the ion exchanger having the antimicrobial effect at the time of flowing in the flow passage so as to arrive at the liquid outflow port 1b. The bacteria are thereby exterminated or the proliferation thereof is suppressed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is useful for sterilizing water with high ion content, such as drinking water, food water, factory cooling water, bath water, and pool water, and for cleaning various precision equipment. Sterilizer used to sterilize deionized water, such as water, cleaning water for plated products, high-resistance cooling water, cleaning water for semiconductors, etc., such as pure water and ultrapure water from which ions have been removed by ion exchange. Regarding.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional sterilization equipment of this type involves injecting chlorine into water in the form of chlorine gas or sodium hypochlorite to sterilize water.
It is known to sterilize water by irradiating it with ultraviolet light (
(Unable to provide references). The former chlorine injection type sterilizer is mainly used to sterilize water with high ion content such as drinking water, while the latter ultraviolet irradiation type sterilizer is used to sterilize deionized water such as pure water and ultrapure water. Mainly used for sterilization.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when using the former chlorine injection type sterilizer, chlorine is constantly consumed, resulting in high running costs. Moreover, since chlorine is injected, it cannot be used to sterilize pure or ultrapure water, and the injected chlorine may produce trihalomethane, which is not suitable for drinking, or may corrode steel materials or cause eye damage. il
Even if the desired water sterilization can be accomplished, such as by using a J-stimulant, there is a drawback that the water quality becomes unfavorable for use.

Furthermore, when using the latter ultraviolet irradiation type sterilization device, a large amount of electricity is consumed for ultraviolet irradiation, and furthermore, the ultraviolet lamp consumes a large amount of water, resulting in high running costs.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks.

[Means to solve the problem]

The characteristic structure of the sterilizer according to the present invention is that a container is provided with a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet, and metal ions are bonded to the liquid contact surface in the flow path from the liquid inlet to the liquid outlet in the container. The point is that an ion exchanger is arranged.

The liquid contact surface on which the ion exchanger is arranged has a granular surface of a granular layer that subdivides the flow path into a large number of liquid passages, and a large number of liquid passage holes arranged in the flow path. It is preferable to use the surface of a porous body.

[For production]

In other words, it is now widely known that ion exchangers to which metal ions such as silver, copper, tin, and zinc are bound have antibacterial effects that kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria upon contact with them. In addition, it is a well-known fact in the technical field of ion exchangers that metal ions bound to ion exchangers do not exchange unless they have a smaller ionization tendency than the metal ions and are stable. Are known. On the other hand, not only pure water and ultrapure water, but even water with a high ion content such as drinking water contains ions that have a smaller tendency to ionize than the metal ions bound to the ion exchanger. This is very rare, and some metal ions that are bound to the ion exchanger have a very small tendency to ionize, such as silver.

Therefore, when the living bacteria in the raw water supplied from the liquid inlet into the container flows through the channel to reach the liquid outlet, they come into contact with the ion exchanger with antibacterial action placed in the channel. , they will die or their growth will be inhibited.

In addition, as in claims 2 and 3, when configuring a liquid contact surface on which an ion exchanger is arranged, the flow path is subdivided so that live bacteria come into contact with the ion exchanger per unit length of the flow path. There will be more opportunities.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Therefore, the present invention has achieved the following effects.

Water is supplied into the container from the liquid inlet, and the living bacteria in the water are brought into contact with an ion exchanger that acts as an antibacterial agent, thereby killing the living bacteria or suppressing their growth. Unless the ion exchanger that acts as an antibacterial agent is stable and there are ions that have a smaller ionization tendency than the bound metal ions, there will be no outflow of the metal ions. Since water rarely contains ions that have a smaller tendency to ionize than bound metal ions, running costs are low and there is no change in water quality due to sterilization. Useful for sterilizing ionized water.

Further, in the case of the second or third aspect, the chances of contact of viable bacteria with the ion exchanger per unit channel length can be increased, so that the overall size can be reduced.

〔Example〕

Next, examples of the present invention will be shown.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sterilizer includes a container (1) using an FRP tank for filling ion exchange sebum, and a lid (2) that closes the upper opening of the container. A water supply pipe (IA) with a plurality of liquid inlets (1a) distributed at the lower end for dispersing raw water to the upper part of the container (1).
and a water outlet pipe (I
B) is installed in a penetrating state, and the container (1) is filled with a granular material layer (3) that subdivides the flow path to the liquid inlet (1a) or the liquid outlet (1b) into a large number of liquid passages. and its granular layer (3
) is made to have antibacterial properties, raw water is sprayed on the top surface of the granule layer (3), and the granule layer (3) is sterilized by coming into contact with the antibacterial granules as it flows down. The treated water is configured to be taken out through the liquid outlet (1b) and the takeout pipe (IB).

The antibacterial granules have on their surface an ion exchanger to which gold such as silver, copper, zinc, etc., and fence ions are bonded, and the ion exchanger includes natural zeolite, synthetic zeolite, and strongly acidic cations. For example, exchangeable sebum can be used as a means to form a granular body with an ion exchanger on the surface, a means for forming the granule itself from an ion exchanger, and a means for molding the granule with a resin in which the ion exchanger is dispersed. There are means for coating or adhering an ion exchanger to the surface of the granules.

Specific examples of antibacterial granules include (A) natural zeolite with 2.5 to 3% silver ions and zinc ions added at a ratio of 1:3 and a particle size of 1 to 5 mm; (B ) Adding silver ions and zinc ions to synthetic zeolite
: 2.5 to 3% added at a ratio of 3 is pulverized to 1 to 2 μm, and the pulverized product is added to polyethylene resin at a weight ratio of 2
(C) AgNO3 was ion-exchanged with a Na-type strongly acidic cation exchange resin at a rate of 50 g/β, and the particle size was 0%. There are .3~l, 2mm ones, and .

Next, an example of an experiment conducted by the present inventor to improve the bactericidal effect will be shown.

Experimental Example The container (1
) is filled with 5β antibacterial granules, and such
(A) and (B) shown in the above examples.

(C) Prepare each of the three types of antibacterial granules at a water temperature of 20°C.
Deionized water containing 20 or more viable bacteria/cc was supplied as raw water from the water supply pipe (IA) at various flow rates, and the number of viable bacteria in the treated water taken out from the water outlet pipe <IB) was examined. Note that the bacterium is Pseudomonas. The results are shown in Figure 2.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the raw water supply flow rate, that is, the treatment time during which the raw water is in contact with the antibacterial granules, and the number of viable bacteria.

As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that any of the antibacterial granules (A), (B), and (C) had bactericidal ability.

In addition, (1) In all cases of (A), (B), and (C), the sterilization rate improves as the treatment time increases; (2) In the case of (A) and (C) more than in (B). Since the number of sterilizations is higher in a shorter treatment time, the opportunity for contact with metal ions in the raw water depends on the metal ion content of the antibacterial granules, the shape and size of the antibacterial granules, and the flow rate of the raw water. It was found that the greater the number, the higher the bactericidal ability.

In other words, (1) the higher the metal ion content of the antibacterial granules, (2) the larger the contact area of raw water with the antibacterial granules, and (3) the longer the treatment time, the higher the sterilizing ability.

[Another example]

Another example of the present invention will be shown below.

[1] In the above embodiment, the raw water flows through the granular layer (3) from the upper part to the lower part, but as shown in FIG. It may also be constructed so that it flows towards.

[2] As shown in Fig. 4, the liquid inlet (
A granular material layer (3) consisting of a large number of antibacterial granules described above is arranged in the flow path from 1a) to the liquid outlet (1b), and the pipe (PI) forming the liquid inlet (1a) is , connect the raw water supply pipe (C1) with a valve (vl) and the drain pipe (C2) with a valve (v2), and connect the liquid outflow port (1b).
A treated water take-out pipe (Ct) with a valve (V3) and a wash water supply pipe (C4) with a valve (V, ) are connected to the pipe (P2) forming the raw water supply pipe (C2).
and the valve (Vl) of the treated water outlet pipe (C3), (V
3) opened to sterilize the raw water and the cleaning water supply pipe (C
4) and drain pipe (C2) (7) valve (V4),
(V2) is configured to be freely switchable between opening and cleaning the granular material layer (3).

[3] In the above embodiments and other embodiments of [1] and [2], a porous structure having a large number of liquid passage holes and an ion exchanger to which metal ions are bonded is provided on the peripheral surface of the liquid passage holes. A layer (3) is provided in place of the granular layer (3). The ion exchanger is the same as that shown in the above example, and the means for providing the ion exchanger on the peripheral surface of the liquid passage hole is to form a porous body using a resin in which the ion exchanger is dispersed. Examples include means and means for constructing a porous body using an ion exchanger.

[4] In place of the granular layer (3), an aggregate is provided that is made of antibacterial fibers and is configured to form a large number of water passages. As a means of imparting antibacterial properties to fibers,
There is a method of coating the surface of the fiber with the above-mentioned ion exchanger or a resin containing the ion exchanger, and a method of producing the fiber itself from a resin containing the ion exchanger.

[5] In the above embodiment, the above-mentioned ion exchanger is also arranged on the inner surface of the container (1), the surface of the water supply pipe (IA), and the surface of the water outlet pipe (IB) (all of which are one of the surfaces in contact with liquid). .

[6] Note that although reference numerals are written in the claims for convenient comparison with the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the structures and methods shown in the accompanying drawings.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a graph showing experimental data. FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views showing another embodiment of the present invention. (1a)...Liquid inlet, (1b)...
Liquid outlet, (1)... Container, (3)...
- Granular material layer, (3')... Porous material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A container (1) equipped with a liquid inlet (1a) and a liquid outlet (1b) is provided, and a liquid inlet (1a) in the container (1) is provided.
) A sterilizer in which an ion exchanger bonded with metal ions is arranged on the liquid contact surface in the flow path from the liquid outlet (1b) to the liquid outlet (1b). 2. The sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the liquid contact surface is a granular surface of a granular layer (3) that subdivides the flow path into a large number of liquid passages. 3. The sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the liquid contact surface is a surface of a porous body (3') having a large number of liquid passage holes arranged in the flow path.