JPH03229683A - Apparatus for evaporative concentration of waste photographic processing solution - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To treat a waste photographic processing solution stably, certainly and efficiently by detecting that a concentrate or the evaporated steam therefrom reaches set temp. to control a heating means. CONSTITUTION:The piping circuit capable of heating and circulating the concentrate of an evaporative concn. column 1 is provided. A heater 31, a concentrate temp. detection means 33, a means 20 replenishing the column 11 with a waste solution and a means 13 detecting the liquid level in the column 11 are provided in the piping circuit and it is detected that the concentrate or the evaporated steam therefrom reaches set temp. to control the heater 31 by a control apparatus 50. By this constitution, a photographic processing solution is treated stably and certainly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an evaporative concentration treatment device for photographic processing waste liquid, and in particular, the present invention relates to an evaporative concentration treatment device for photographic processing waste liquid, and in particular, it is used to collect photographic processing waste liquid generated from the development process of photographic light-sensitive materials using automatic processors. This invention relates to an apparatus for evaporating and concentrating photographic processing waste liquid, which is suitable for processing in or near an automatic processing machine without recovering it.

[Background of the invention]

In general, photographic processing of silver halide photographic materials includes development, fixing, washing, etc. in the case of black and white materials, and color development, bleach-fixing (or bleaching and fixing) in the case of color materials.
A combination of processes using a treatment liquid having one or more functions such as , water washing, and stabilization is performed.

In photographic processing in which a large amount of light-sensitive material is processed, it is important to consider how to replenish the components consumed during processing, and how to replenish components that are eluted into the processing solution or concentrated by evaporation during processing (for example, bromide ions in the developer, bromide ions in the fixer, etc.). A method is taken to maintain the performance of the processing solution at a constant level by removing substances such as silver complex salts (such as silver complex salts) and keeping the processing solution components constant. A portion of the processing solution is discarded to remove thickening components during photographic processing.

In recent years, the amount of replenishment liquid, including washing water, which is a replenishment liquid for washing, has been drastically reduced due to pollution and economic reasons, or photographic processing waste liquid is removed from the processing tank of automatic processors. The liquid was led through a waste pipe, diluted with waste liquid from washing water, cooling water from automatic processing machines, etc., and disposed of in sewers, etc.

However, due to stricter pollution regulations in recent years, it is now possible to dispose of washing water and cooling water into sewers or rivers, and it is not possible to dispose of washing water and cooling water into sewers or rivers. (or bleaching solution, fixing solution), stabilizer solution, etc.] has become virtually impossible to dispose of. For this reason, each type of photographic processing waste liquid is collected by a specialized waste liquid processing company for a collection fee, or by installing pollution treatment equipment. However, the method of outsourcing to a waste liquid treatment company is
A considerable amount of space is required to store the waste liquid, and it is also extremely expensive.Furthermore, the initial investment (initial cost) for pollution treatment equipment is extremely large, and it requires a fairly large space to maintain it. It has disadvantages such as requiring

Furthermore, specifically, as a pollution treatment method for reducing the pollution load of photographic processing waste liquid, activated sludge method (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-12943 and No. 51-7952, etc.);
Evaporation method (JP-A-49-89437 and JP-A-56-339)
No. 96, etc.), electrolytic oxidation method (JP-A-48-84462,
49119458, JP 53-43478, JP 49-1194.57, etc.), ion exchange method (JP 51-37704, JP 53-383, JP 53-43271, etc.) , Reverse osmosis method (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 50-22
No. 463, etc.) Chemical treatment methods (JP-A-49-64257, JP-A-57-37396, JP-A-53-12152)
No. 4958833, No. 53-63763, Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-37395, etc.), but these are still insufficient.

However, due to constraints from water resources, rising water supply and drainage costs, the simplicity of automatic processor equipment, and the work environment around automatic processors, in recent years stabilization treatments have been used instead of washing with water.
Photographic processing using automatic developing machines (so-called waterless automatic developing machines) that do not require piping for water supply and drainage outside the automatic developing machine is becoming popular. In such processing, it is desired that cooling water for controlling the temperature of the processing liquid be omitted. In this kind of photographic processing that does not substantially use rinsing water or cooling water, the pollution load is extremely large compared to the case where there is photographic processing waste liquid from automatic processing machines because it is not diluted with water.On the other hand, the amount of waste liquid is small. There is.

Therefore, due to the small amount of waste liquid, it is possible to omit the piping outside the machine for supplying and waste liquid, which is considered to be a disadvantage of conventional automatic processors, as it is difficult to move the pipes after installation. The disadvantages such as the small space, the high cost of piping work during installation, and the high energy cost of hot water supply pressure have been overcome, and the system has been made compact and simple enough to be used as an office space. The advantages will be demonstrated.

However, on the other hand, the waste liquid has an extremely high pollution load, and in light of pollution regulations, it has become completely impossible to drain the waste liquid into rivers or even sewers. Furthermore, such photo processing (using a large amount of running water,
Even though the amount of waste liquid from processing (processing without water washing) is small, for example, even in a relatively small-scale color processing laboratory, 1012
It will be about.

Therefore, in general, waste liquid is collected by a waste liquid collection company and rendered harmless through secondary and tertiary processing, or the price of waste liquid collection is increasing year by year due to rising collection costs. It is not possible to get people to come to the store, causing problems such as waste fluid filling the store.

On the other hand, in order to solve these problems, research has been conducted on heating the photographic processing waste liquid to evaporate the water to dryness or solidify it, with the aim of making it easier to process the photographic processing waste liquid even in minilabs. 1986-70841
It is shown in the number etc. According to research conducted by the inventors, when photographic processing waste liquid is evaporated, harmful or extremely foul-smelling residue such as sulfur dioxide gas, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia gas is generated.

It has been found that this is caused by the decomposition of ammonium thiosulfate and sulfites (ammonium salt, sodium salt, or potassium salt), which are often used as fixing solutions and bleach-fixing solutions in photographic processing solutions, due to high temperatures. Furthermore, during the evaporation process, moisture and the like in the photographic processing waste liquid becomes vapor and gasifies, thereby expanding the volume and increasing the pressure in the evaporator. Therefore, due to this pressure, the harmful or malodorous scum leaks out of the evaporation treatment equipment to the outside of the equipment.
Something extremely undesirable happens in the production environment.

Therefore, in order to solve these problems,
No. 1 discloses a method of providing an exhaust waste treatment section for activated carbon or the like in the exhaust pipe section of an evaporation treatment device. However, this method has the serious drawback that the water vapor from the large amount of water in the photographic processing waste liquid condenses or condenses in the waste waste treatment section, covering the waste absorption processing agent with moisture and instantly causing it to lose its gas absorption ability. However, it was not yet possible to put it into practical use.

In order to solve these problems, the present applicant et al. installed a cooling condensing means to condense the vapor that forms due to evaporation when evaporating photographic processing waste liquid, and further processed the condensed water produced by the condensation. We have previously proposed a method and apparatus for treating photographic processing waste liquid, which also processes non-condensed components and discharges them to the outside.

However, according to the above proposal, the following problems were found. In other words, the steam produced by the evaporation process is condensed by the cooling condensing means, but if the cooling condensation efficiency is poor, the proportion of steam that is not condensed and released to the outside of the device increases, even if treated with activated carbon. The rate at which foul-smelling and harmful gases are released to the outside of the device also increases. Furthermore, even if the condensed water condensed by the cooling condensing means is treated with activated carbon, it may have to be disposed of, or the pollution load may be so high that it may not be possible to directly discharge it to a sewage system or the like.

Furthermore, minilabs have extremely limited store space, and there is no particular problem with the bad odor generated by processing photographic processing solutions, which also poses problems in terms of installation space for the waste solution processing equipment itself. In addition, the price and running costs of the equipment are also important issues.Therefore, there is a demand for a compact, inexpensive, and low running cost processing equipment that can process photographic processing waste without producing foul odor or harmful residue. ing.

[Invention or problem to be solved]

In order to solve these problems, the applicant filed a patent application in 1983.
No. 2-69437, etc. were proposed, and it was possible to supply photographic processing waste liquid to be reliably processed with less bad odor generated by photographic waste liquid. For this purpose, a liquid level sensor is installed in the evaporation pot (separation evaporation column).The liquid level of the photographic processing waste liquid in the column is constantly detected, and the waste liquid is supplied and refilled in the amount that the liquid level drops during the evaporation concentration process of the stock solution. I decided to do so.

However, if the liquid level height is detected and only the waste liquid corresponding to the decrease is supplied, and the temperature of the concentrated liquid or evaporated steam is not controlled, the condensed liquid itself may be heated to a high temperature. This will result in the formation of foul-smelling scum inside.

The present invention solves these problems by evaporating and concentrating the photographic processing waste liquid at the lowest possible heating temperature and replenishing the waste liquid in quantitative quantities to the concentration column, thereby efficiently concentrating the photographic processing waste liquid without emitting any bad odor. The purpose of the project is to provide an evaporative concentration device.

[Means to solve the problem]

The purpose of this is to put a certain amount of photographic processing waste liquid into the system, evaporate the waste liquid, and detect the decrease by the liquid level height.
In a batch-type photographic processing waste liquid evaporation concentration device that supplies photographic processing waste liquid corresponding to the amount of reduction and concentrates it while maintaining the liquid level, it is possible to heat and circulate the concentrated liquid in the evaporation concentration column and the column. It has a piping circuit, a heater provided in the piping circuit, a means for detecting the temperature of the concentrated liquid, a means for supplying waste liquid to the column, and a means for detecting the liquid level in the column. This is achieved by an apparatus for evaporating and concentrating photographic processing waste liquid, which is characterized in that the heating means is controlled by detecting that the set temperature has been reached.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention is shown in the piping diagram in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 2(a).

(b), (c), (d) side sectional views, Fig. 2 (
This will be explained with reference to the top view of e) and the flowchart of FIG.

The photographic processing waste liquid evaporation concentration device 1 of the present invention includes a separation column device 1O1 a waste liquid supply device 20, a heating device 30, a cooling device 4
0 and a control device 50, the separation column device 10 is provided with a retention section 12 for the supplied waste liquid that communicates with the evaporation concentration column (V-3) 11 at the same liquid level. The tip of the communicating tube 12A of the retention section is narrowed and bent upward as shown in FIG. This is to prevent it from flowing back into the room. In addition, the retention section 12
may be located inside or outside the column 11. Then, the evaporation concentration column is connected to the sludge collection container (V-
4) The container is connected to the container 15 by a connecting pipe 14, and the container is placed on the mounting table 16 via a spring-like spring. The waste liquid or concentrated sludge gradually falls into the container, and when the sludge mass reaches a predetermined weight, it becomes detectable by a microswitch (MS-1) 19. If a liquid leaks in the vessel (16a) on the mounting table, the liquid level sensor (LC-5) detects it.
) 18 are provided. Furthermore, an evaporation concentration column (V-
3) A liquid level sensor (LC-1) 13 for detecting the level of waste liquid is provided in the retention part 12 in the liquid storage unit 11.

The waste liquid supply device 20 includes a waste liquid tank 2I, its liquid level health sensor (LC-3) 28, and the waste liquid tank (V-5).
21 is a heat-resistant vinyl chloride pipe for outflow supply (hereinafter referred to as heat-resistant salt Hibaib); 22.24 is a waste liquid supply pump (P-1); a pipe that supplies waste liquid to the retention section 12 via 23; and an evaporation concentration column. and heat-resistant PVC pipes 22, 26. through a waste liquid supply pump (P-2) 25.
27 is a pipe for supplying waste liquid.

Heating device 30 for the concentrated liquid in the concentration column (V-3) 11
The concentrated liquid enters the heater 3H + circulation pipe equipped with a heater 32 and is heated by the heat-resistant salt Hibive 34 piped from the concentration column 11, and is further returned to the concentration column (V-3) 11 through the heat-resistant PVC pipe 27. This is done so that it can be circulated. The temperature of the heated concentrate is determined by a temperature sensor (TC-
1) Detected by 33. 7. Circulation of the concentrated liquid is performed by an air pump (P-4). Of course, the temperature sensor may be provided in the evaporative concentration column.

First, the cooling device 40 will be explained. Tap water is water!
(V-1) 41 and passes through the pipe 42 to the pulverizer (SV-1) 48 to the cooling tower (V-2) 4
61: Provided with a cold shower. A liquid level gauge (LC-2) 45 is provided at the bottom of the cooling water tower to detect a predetermined difference in height of the supplied water. Furthermore, a water supply level sensor (LC-4) 43 and a cooling tower liquid leakage sensor (LC-8) 44 are installed, and water is drained from the bottom of the cooling tower through a drainage pipe 48 by a discharge pump (P-3) 47. This is so that you can do it.

On the other hand, the cooling tower (V-2) 46 has a vapor concentration column (V-
3) The superheated steam from 11 passes through the heat-resistant salt Hibaib and enters the lower part of the cooling tower (V-2) 46 to be condensed. The uncondensed vapor passes through the heat-resistant salt hibibe 36, enters the air pump (P-4) 37, passes through the heat-resistant salt hibibe 38, 27, and enters the evaporation concentration column 11 again.

The liquid level information from each liquid level sensor and the information from the temperature sensor are sent to the control device 500 control panel (DC5) 51 as shown by the dotted line in Figure 1, and the operation of the entire photographic processing waste liquid evaporation concentration device is controlled. Ru. Note that the main parts of the control panel 51 are air-cooled by a fan 52.

Having described the configuration of the apparatus of the present invention above, the operation of the apparatus will now be explained using the flowchart of FIG.

An outline of each step (hereinafter referred to as St) will be given below.

When the fan P-5 is turned on in the initialized state, air cooling of the main parts of the control panel 51 starts. Then, the weight sensor (MS-1 (W)) is checked at st, 1, and the
s (hereinafter referred to as Y), the sludge collection container is full but has not been collected, so the buzzer sounds and the container count lamp is lit. If the extraction is finished, or if it has already been extracted, it will be No (hereinafter referred to as N), the buzzer will sound, the lamp will not light, and the next SL, 2.
Move to.

Here, if the level sensor (LC-3) in the waste liquid tank (V-5) 21 is 28 or N, the buzzer will sound and the waste liquid tank empty indicator lamp will light up. However, if the waste liquid tank is empty, it is Y, and the valve of the cooling device 40 (SV-
1) Open 48 and let water from water tank 41 into the cooling tower. Then move on to SL, 3, level sensor (LC4) 43
If it is N or N, the buzzer will sound and the tap water lamp will continue to light up. And when it becomes LC-4 or Y, the tap water lamp goes out.
Air pump (P-4) 37 operates and moves to S[,4.

At SL, 4, level sensor (LC-2) 45 (moves N), drain pump (P-3) 47 is OFF,
If it is Y, the pump (P-3) 47 will be turned ON. Then move on to St, 5, level sensor (LC-3) 28
If is Y, move to S[,6; if N, move to S[,6 as described later.
Jump to the end of L, 13.

Now, in St, 6, if the level sensor (LC-4) is N, the buzzer will sound and the tap water lamp will light up as described later, heater 32, valve (SV-1) 48, air pump (P-4) 37, waste liquid. Supply pump (P-1) 23,
Turn off both CP-2) 25 and air pump (P-4) 37. However, if it is (LC-4) or Y, proceed to SL and 7. Then, the liquid leak detection sensor (LC5) 18 detects whether there is a liquid leak around the sludge collection container mounting table 16, and if it is N, the process goes to St, 8, and the liquid leak detection sensor (LC-6) 47A detects each liquid leak. If a liquid leak around the pump base is detected and it is N, go to SL, proceed to 9 and check the level sensor (LC7) of pipe 38.
If the level of 39 is detected and is N, proceed to St, 1O,
There, a liquid leak is detected by the liquid leak sensor (LC-8) 44 of the cooling tower, and if it is N, the process proceeds to S t, 11. S t,7 , S t,3 , S t,9 , S t
, io, respectively, the buzzer sounds, the abnormality lamp lights up, and the heater valve (S
V-1) and each pump P-4, P-1, P-2, P-
All three will be turned off.

A level sensor (LC
-1) If 13 or N, waste liquid supply pump (P-2) 2
If 5 is activated, turn the pump (P-2) 25 to O.
Turn on the FF and turn on the heater 32.
Move on to 2.

Temperature sensor (TC-1) is 65° at SL, 12
If it is below C, change to St, 4. and St, 4-1
Repeat step 1 again. If the temperature exceeds TC-1 or 65°C, turn the supply pump (P-1) 23 ONL for 60 seconds.
The waste liquid is supplied to the retention section 12 by moving for 0 seconds. Then, the process moves to St-13.

At S t, 13 the temperature sensor (TC-1)
33, if the temperature exceeds 85°C, the supplied waste liquid will run out and the evaporative concentration column 11 will also be overheated, so immediately turn off the heater 32 and supply pump (P-1) 23.
Make it F. If the temperature does not reach 85°C, return to St, 4, and repeat steps 4 to 13. Now 85°C
If it reaches , proceed further and supply pump (P-2) 25
ON L, the waste liquid remaining at the bottom of the waste liquid supply tank (V-5) 21 is pumped up and operated for an arbitrary set time between 0 and 180 seconds to dilute the concentrated liquid, and then the waste liquid remaining at the bottom of the waste liquid supply tank (P-2 ) Turn off 25 and move to St, 14.

In this embodiment, the treated waste liquid is supplied to the retention section when the temperature of the concentrated liquid at the time of detecting a drop in the liquid level in the evaporative concentration column (V-3) 11 exceeds 65°C. C
When the temperature exceeds 40°C, it is judged that the evaporation concentration operation has ended, and the waste liquid and/or water is supplied into the heating circulation piping circuit for the concentrated liquid to dilute the concentrated liquid in the piping, and the process continues until the temperature of the concentrated liquid drops to 40°C. The evaporative concentrator is controlled by preventing the concentrated liquid from accumulating in the piping circuit.

However, the set temperature is not limited to these, and it is possible to set the maximum temperature up to 95°C without generating a bad odor. When this exceeds this level, a slight but foul odor begins to appear. A temperature below 95°C can be said to be a range that can be sufficiently overcome in practical terms.

In S t, 14, depending on the setting values H and L of the level sensor (LC-2), if N, the drain pump (P-3)
47 is turned off, and in the case of Y, the pump is turned on to drain water.

Then proceed to St, 15 and temperature sensor (TC-1) 3
If 3 is above 40°C, the circulation will be controlled until it becomes below 40°C.

And at SL, 15, temperature sensor (TC-1)
When the detection temperature of 33 is detected to be 40°C or less, Harutz (SV-1) 48, Air pump (P-4) 3
7. Turn off the drain pump (P-3) 47, turn on the waste liquid supply pump (P-2) 25, and set the timer to 0~
The pump (P-2) 25 is operated for an arbitrary predetermined time period of 240 seconds to dilute the concentrated waste liquid in the pipes 27 and 3438 to eliminate developer clogging the pipes. Turn off. At the same time, the air cooling fan (P-5) 52 of the control panel 51 is also turned off.
7, and the sludge collection container's ejectable lamp is lit to complete the series of processes.

In addition, as the temperature detection means, a thermocouple, thermal expansion type (dregs, liquid) sensor, optical sensor, etc. are used, and the temperature of the f-1 concentrated liquid and steam can be directly detected by the temperature detection means. Most preferably, it is also effective to detect the wall temperature of the container, pipe, etc. in which the concentrate, vapor, etc. is present, and the present invention does this.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable to blow air into the heated circulation system and/or evaporative concentration column of the concentrated liquid, and the approximate air flow rate is preferably in the range of 0.5 to IOH/kca (l).The set temperature of the present invention is It may vary depending on the air flow rate mentioned above, but generally it is 5.
It is set in the range of 0 to 95°C.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is now possible to concentrate photographic processing waste liquid using a compact evaporative concentration device without controlling the temperature of the concentrated waste liquid in the evaporative concentration column to a set temperature that does not generate bad odors. Skip the mini lab,
The disposal of photographic processing waste liquid, which has been a problem up until now, can now be handled easily and safely without causing any pollution problems, without causing any pollution problems, and without requiring any skill.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a piping diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2(a), (b), (c), and (d) are side sectional views of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(e) is an embodiment of the present invention.
The top view of an example. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of one embodiment of the present invention. 10... Separation column device 12... Retention part (LC-1) 15... Sludge collection container 20... Waste liquid supply device 23.25... Waste liquid supply pump 31... Heater 1) 40. ... Cooling device l ... Evaporation concentration device 11 ... Evaporation concentration column 13 ... Level sensor 14 ... Connection pipe 16 ... Mounting table 21 ... Waste liquid tank (V-5) 30 ...・Heating device 33... Temperature sensor (TC 37... Air pump (P-4) 50... Control device

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A certain amount of photographic processing waste liquid is put into the system, the waste liquid is evaporated, a decrease in the liquid level is detected by the liquid level height, and photographic processing waste liquid corresponding to the reduction amount is supplied while maintaining the liquid level height. In a batch-type evaporative concentration device for photographic processing waste liquid that is concentrated, an evaporative concentration column, a piping circuit that enables heating circulation of the concentrated liquid in the column, a heater installed in the piping circuit, and the temperature of the concentrated liquid It has a detection means, a means for supplying waste liquid to the column, and a liquid level detection means in the column, and the heating means is controlled by detecting that the concentrated liquid or its evaporated vapor has reached a set temperature. An apparatus for evaporating and concentrating photographic processing waste liquid, which is characterized by: (2) The apparatus for evaporating and concentrating photographic processing waste liquid according to claim 1, characterized in that the set temperature is the temperature of the concentrate indicating the time of supplying the processing waste liquid and/or the end temperature of the evaporation and concentration operation of the concentrate. .