JPH03123702A - Production of leaf vein - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out mass-production of the leaf vein free from damage by immersing leaves in a strong alkaline solution, heating the solution, removing the solution, subsequently furthermore immersing the leaves in an aqueous decomposition enzyme solution, heating the solution and then removing the mesophylls for ready and certain removal of the mesophylls in a short time. CONSTITUTION:For example, leaf leaves 1 such as oak leaves are immersed in a strong alkaline solution 2, heated and then, e.g. washed with water for removal of the strong alkaline solution. The resultant leaves softened by the above-mentioned strong alkaline solution and adjusted to about pH 4.5 are then immersed in an aqueous decomposition enzyme (e.g. cellulase) solution 6 and heated at about 45 deg.C for decomposition of the fibrous tissues of the mesophylls due to the action of the decomposition enzyme. The enzyme-treated leaves are, e.g. washed by a running water 7 for removal of the mesophylls, thus obtaining the objective vein (A). The above-mentioned method can provide advantageously articles having a high commodity value in a high yield and at a low cost as the method enables ready and certain removal of the mesophylls without damage to the vein in a short time.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field 1 The present invention relates to a method for producing leaf veins of plants.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, leaf veins 4 of plants have been produced by soaking raw leaves in a sodium hydroxide solution to soften them, and then scrubbing with a brush or the like to remove the mesophyll, leaving only the leaf veins.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, with the above conventional method, to completely remove the mesophyll, the mesophyll must be scraped off one by one with a soft brush, which is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, and mass production is not possible. there were.

In addition, failures such as damage to leaf veins are inevitable, leading to problems such as a decline in commercial value and worsening public sentiment.

The present invention was developed in view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technology. By applying a degrading enzyme to the leaves of the raw material after alkali treatment, the present invention can be easily and quickly produced without reducing the commercial value. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing leaf veins of plants that can be mass-produced and can reliably remove only the mesophyll.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the method for producing leaf veins of plants according to the present invention involves immersing raw material leaves in a strong alkaline solution and heating them;
Next, the raw material leaves after removing the strong alkaline solution are immersed and heated in an aqueous solution of a degrading enzyme, and then the mesophyll of the leaves subjected to the above treatment is removed.

[Operation] After the raw material leaves are immersed in a strong alkaline solution and heated to soften them, a decomposing enzyme is further applied to decompose the fibrous tissue of the raw material leaves, so most of the mesophyll is removed just by washing with water.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, as the raw material leaves used in the present invention, it can be said that most leaves of plants can be used as long as they are leaves of plants, such as oak leaves, beech leaves, chestnut leaves, and maple leaves.

Therefore, if we take as an example a bundle 1 of 50 phase leaves as raw material leaves, we will immerse this 50-sheet bundle 1 in a sodium hydroxide solution 2 as a strong alkaline solution of around 20%, and spread it evenly over the entire phase leaf 1. 90-100 after infiltrating solution 2
Heat at ℃ for about 20-30 minutes.

Detailing the above immersion and heating methods, there are the following two methods.

B. Place 50 phase leaves into a container 3 containing approximately 20% sodium hydroxide solution 2 to cover the entire bundle 1 of 50 phase leaves. At this time, if you break up the 50 leaves and soak them one by one, the solution 2 will evenly cover the entire leaf 1 of the phase, so you can heat it immediately after that, but if you put it in a bunch, you can soak it in the solution 2. In order to blend the leaves well, it is best to massage them in the liquid to drive out the air and water between the leaves.) After allowing the liquid to penetrate, it is preferable to leave them for at least an hour before heating.

A bundle of 50 leaves of the mouth and phase leaves is placed in a heat-resistant polyethylene bag 4 about 20 cm long and 13 cm wide, about 250 mI2 of about 20% sodium hydroxide solution is poured into the bag, and the bag is vacuum packed.

Next, massage the vacuum-packed product with your hands so that the liquid soaks into the areas where the leaves overlap.

If you repeat this process several times and leave it for a day or night, the above sodium hydroxide solution will permeate all the leaves, so put each bag in hot water 5 boiled at 100℃ in a container for about 20 to 20 minutes. Heat for 30 minutes.

Both of the above-mentioned methods (A) and (2) will soften the leaves 1 to a suitable degree, but the (2) method is better because it is easier to work with and only requires a small amount of sodium hydroxide 2.

Next, most of the sodium hydroxide is removed by washing with water, and neutralized with an acidic aqueous solution such as hydrochloric acid. After that, it is immersed in a buffer solution to adjust the pH to 3.0 to 6.0.

As the above buffer solution, for example, a 1% aqueous solution prepared by mixing malic acid and sodium malate/l/2 H2O at a ratio of 6:19, or a 1% aqueous solution of sodium acid birophosphate is used.

The former has a pH of 4.6, the latter has a pH of 4.3 to 4.7,
Both are solutions with buffering capacity.

Next, as mentioned above, it is softened with a strong alkaline solution to a pH of 3,
A leaf 1 adjusted to 0 to 6.0 (optimal pH 4, 5) is immersed in an aqueous solution 6 of a degrading enzyme and heated at a temperature of about 40 to 60°C.

As the degrading enzyme, a liquid or powdered cellulase is used.

More specifically, a cellulase stock solution with a titer of 10,000 u/m or more is dissolved in water to make a 0.5 to 2% aqueous solution 6, and this aqueous solution 6 is diluted with a buffer solution to a pH of 13.0 to 6.0 (optimum pH).
Adjust to 4°5). The buffer used is the same as above.

Then, the leaf 1 of the pretreated phase (50
) and at a temperature of about 40 to 60℃ (optimally 45℃) for about 1 hour.
Heat for 0 to 30 minutes to allow decomposing enzyme 6 to act on leaves 1 of the relevant phase.

In this way, phase leaf 1 is decomposed, especially the fibrous tissue of its mesophyll, by the action of degrading enzyme 6, but the activity of the degrading enzyme varies greatly depending on pH and temperature. It is necessary to maintain the appropriate pH and temperature.

For cellulase, the pH is 0.3 to 6.0 (optimal pH 4,
51. Since it is most activated when the temperature is 40 to 60°C (optimally 45°C), treatments are performed in accordance with this as described above.

Then, when 1 to 3 leaves 1 of the enzyme-treated phase are stacked one on top of the other and washed from above with running water 7 such as a shower, the water pressure leaves only the veins and removes the mesophyll.

Items that are difficult to remove can be easily removed by tapping the area with the sponge 8. Mesophyll can be removed more efficiently by using an ultrasonic cleaner (not shown).

Finally, by washing with water, the leaf veins A remain.
This is bleached or dyed and dried, and the leaf vein A is attached to a sheet material impregnated with a urethane resin, for example, to produce packaging materials, decorative materials, etc.
Used for stationery, office supplies, toys, etc. Furthermore, a three-dimensional decorative pattern can be formed by directly pasting the leaf veins A onto the product.

[Effects of the Invention 1 As described above, the present invention provides a plant in which the fibrous tissue of the leaf is decomposed by using a decomposing enzyme on the raw material leaf treated with a strong alkaline solution, and the mesophyll is then removed. Since this method of manufacturing leaf veins allows for easy and reliable removal of mesophyll in a short time, it does not damage the leaf veins at all, so products with high commercial value can be manufactured at low cost.

In trials, the manufacturing time was reduced by a factor of 5 to 10 compared to conventional methods.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a process diagram of the method for manufacturing leaf veins of plants according to the present invention. Aqueous solution leaf vein of leaf strongly alkaline solution degrading enzyme in the figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] The raw material leaves are immersed and heated in a strong alkaline solution, then the raw material leaves after removing the strong alkaline solution are immersed and heated in an aqueous solution of a degrading enzyme, and then the mesophyll of the treated leaves is removed. Characteristic plant leaf vein manufacturing method.