JPH0126726B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for producing a water treatment medium that is used as a material for purifying waste water or a medium for attaching microorganisms and has a high suspended solid adhesion effect.

Traditionally, materials used for purifying sewage include:
Paper, cloth, ceramics, wire mesh, etc. have been used, but since the contact area between the liquid and the material is small, the effect of adhesion of suspended substances in the liquid to the material is low, and therefore, there is no sufficient If an attempt is made to obtain overeffect, it has the disadvantage of causing a decrease in overpower, that is, a decrease in so-called overefficiency.

In general, the materials used to separate water and solids include:
It is necessary to have a fine mesh surface with numerous water passage holes that allow the passage of liquid but prevent the passage of solid suspended substances and allow them to adhere or remain on the surface of the material. . The larger the number of water passage holes, the greater the amount of liquid passing through, that is, the overefficiency, and the higher the degree of water purification, that is, the overefficiency. By entangling different types of fibers in an appropriate manner, a water treatment medium that satisfies the above conditions can be obtained. This takes advantage of the fact that fibers tend to get tangled and can form extremely complex block structures.The reason these fibers get tangled easily is that they are very long compared to their thickness and bend easily. Even under extremely small external forces, the fibers become complicatedly curved, twisted, or entangled to form a mass with random fiber orientation.
This characteristic is responsible for the so-called pilling phenomenon in which fluff protruding from the surface of fabrics such as clothing becomes entangled to form ball-like or ridge-like lumps. Therefore, the formation of fiber lumps due to entanglement occurs with any type of fiber, and the structure of the formed fiber lumps is also diverse, but the size, shape, and state of entanglement of the fiber lumps depend on the fiber thickness and length. , Young's modulus, stiffness, density,
It is determined by the physical properties and surface structure of the fibers such as the coefficient of friction, the method of manufacturing the fiber mass, etc., but as the fiber material, organic fibers such as natural fibers, recycled fibers, and synthetic fibers are selected as appropriate. By doing so, it is possible to obtain a fiber mass as a required water treatment medium in which a plurality of fibers are entangled with each other.
However, it is necessary to adopt a fiber length of 5 to 50 mm and to use non-crimped short fibers. In other words, if you use a material that is less than 5 mm, fiber lumps will be less likely to occur, and if you use a material that exceeds 50 mm, the fibers will form a knot so tightly that they cannot be separated, as shown in Figure 1. This is because they connect like a chain to form a fairly long fiber mass of 20 cm or more, making it difficult to use as a water treatment medium. Furthermore, in the case of crimped fibers, small spherical fibers cannot be obtained, but only string-like or large tangled fibers can be obtained.

As a method for producing such a fiber mass, the present inventors
Japanese Patent Application No. 55-186297 discloses a method of intertwining a plurality of short fibers into a lump by blowing gas into the short fibers dispersed in water and applying vibration to the short fibers to make them flow. proposed.

In the above method, the shape of the tank of the production equipment requires a tank height several times larger than the bottom diameter, so when manufacturing a large amount of fiber lumps, the high tank height makes operation inconvenient. Ta. Furthermore, the temperature during production of the fiber mass is preferably 10°C or higher, preferably between 20 and 80°C, and the temperature during processing is preferably constant, so that a fiber mass of uniform diameter can be obtained. However, the above method has the disadvantage that the temperature deviates from the initial temperature as time passes due to the blowing of cold gas, especially in winter, making it difficult to keep the shape of the fiber mass constant.

The present invention provides a manufacturing method that eliminates such drawbacks, and one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Figures 2 and 3 show schematic diagrams of the manufacturing equipment, respectively, with Figure 2 having a rotary stirring device using stirring blades, and Figure 3 having an injection stirring device using a pump. .

In FIGS. 2 and 3, an appropriate amount of short fibers 3 are fed into a stirring tank 1 filled with water W from a hopper 2.
water flow by the stirring blades 4 in the stirring tank 1,
Alternatively, a water jet from the pump 5 is used to agitate a part of the tank to create at least a turbulent state, and the short fibers 3
Make the group float and flow. As a result, the short fibers 3 are bent by the stirring action, connected and entangled with each other, and are produced into a spherical, ellipsoidal or disc-shaped fiber mass 6 with a maximum diameter of 5 to 100 mm. In this case, it is necessary to use fibers having a length of 5 to 50 mm, and to use non-crimped short fibers. As for the fiber material, synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, vinylon, and acrylic are good in terms of durability when used for water treatment, and rayon and polyester are preferable because of the ease of production. The diameter of the fibers used for short fibers varies depending on the Young's modulus of the material, but is between 10 and
A material of about 100 microns is required. Further, the cross-sectional shape of the fibers is not only circular, but also irregularly shaped fibers such as so-called triangular and star-shaped fibers can be used.

During production, solvents such as ethylene glycol, ethanol, and butanol can also be used instead of water. Further, dyes and auxiliary agents may be added for dyeing the fiber mass, and an adhesive hardening agent for adhesion between fibers in the finished fiber mass may be coexisting in the bath.

The stirring blade is not particularly limited, but may be a turbine type,
Fan turbine type, curved blade fan turbine type,
It is better if the blades have a simple shape such as a propeller type, paddle type, anchor type, etc., and complex shapes such as a spiral band or helical ribbon type are not preferable because the short fibers are likely to become entangled with the blades. In this respect, a tub with a smooth shape with few exposed parts, such as those used in domestic washing machines, is preferable.

In addition, a baffle plate is built into the tank used in spherical rotary tanks and concrete mixers, and the tank is divided into two parts.
A heavy conical type in which the entire tank rotates is also good. It is also possible to employ a stirring device that vibrates water using a vibrator other than rotation.

When agitating with water flow from a pump, either install a suitable filter to the pump to prevent short fibers from getting entangled, or use a non-clock type pump itself.

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to Examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Example 1 1.2 m diameter with Fuadler type stirring blade,
Pour 400ml of water into a cylindrical stirring tank with a height of 1.5m.
The temperature was adjusted to 40°C and rotated at 60 rpm. Next, 50 kg of 20 denier (45 micron diameter) polyester fibers cut into 15 mm lengths were added while being dispersed. After addition, if you continue stirring for 45 minutes, it will be 15~
A fiber mass with a diameter of 30 mm was obtained. This can be used as a water treatment medium.

Example 2 0.8 kg of polyester with a circular cross section with a fiber diameter of 28 microns was spun without crimping and cut into 20 mm lengths, and 0.8 kg was washed in hot water at 60°C in the washing tub of a general household washing machine. 50, add it while dispersing it,
Turn the stirring intensity to "low" and stir for 30 minutes. The produced fiber mass had a shape close to a sphere with a diameter of 10 to 25 mm.

It should be noted that crimped short polyester fibers with a fiber length of 64 mm were used to produce the same as in Example 2, but in this case, it was not possible to produce small spherical fibers, and the fiber length was about 500 mm as illustrated in Figure 1. The only thing that could be formed was a tangled string-like or large block-like structure.

Example 3 Put 300ml of water into a spherical rotating tank with a diameter of 1m,
Pour into 4 kg of rayon fiber (diameter 31 microns) cut into 20 mm pieces. When rotated at room temperature for 30 minutes at a rotation speed of 30 rpm, a fiber mass with a diameter of 10 to 30 mm was obtained.

Example 4 In a stainless steel container with a diameter of 30 cm and a height of 30 cm,
A stirrer with a rubber plate stirring blade measuring 10 cm and 20 cm in height was installed. Then, water 8 was poured into the container, and the entire container was placed in a bath at 80°C. Next, 200 g of 60 micron short nylon fibers cut into 20 mm pieces were placed in a container and stirred at 90 rpm for 30 minutes to produce a fiber mass. The diameter of the resulting fiber mass was 15-25 mm.

As described above, according to the present invention, short fibers with a fiber length of 5 to 50 mm are dispersed in a liquid and stirred by water flow or vibration to form a fiber mass, so it is relatively easy to maintain the liquid temperature. , it has the advantage that it is easy to obtain a good fiber mass. Furthermore, the manufacturing equipment can be simplified, and even products as small as a general household washing machine can be easily manufactured.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a fiber mass that is difficult to use as a water treatment medium, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic configuration diagrams each showing an example of a manufacturing apparatus used in the method of the present invention. 1... Stirring tank, 2... Feeding hopper, 3... Short fiber, 4... Stirring blade, 5... Pump, 6... Fiber mass.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A group of non-crimped short fibers with a fiber length of 5 to 50 mm are dispersed in a liquid and are mechanically stirred, and the short fiber groups are intertwined in a lump to form a fiber mass with a maximum cross-sectional diameter of 5 to 100 mm. A method for producing a water treatment medium characterized by: