JPH05295375A - Solid fuel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a nonpolluting and economical means for disposing of waste toners and to thereby provide a method for reclaiming waste toners together with other waste materials into a very inexpensive solid fuel. CONSTITUTION:A waste dry electrophotographic toner is solidified to produce a solid fuel. Another combustible solid material may be added to the waste toner before it is solidified.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the use of a dry waste toner for electrophotography, which has been conventionally discarded by landfilling, as a resource.
Alternatively, it relates to a solid fuel obtained by heating and compressing a mixture with another combustible waste material (waste paper, plastic, wood waste, etc.).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, waste toner that is generated and collected during cleaning after image formation of a copying machine, a printer, etc. by electrophotography, waste toner generated at a toner manufacturing factory, or trial development was made. After that, the discarded toner has been disposed of by landfilling or the like, outsourced to a maker dealer or a specialist.

[0003]

However, recently, the problem of pollution due to shortage of landfill, high cost of disposal due to soaring disposal cost due to distant land, or dust pollution during landfill, soil pollution, etc. has been closed. Has been upped and has become a social issue. Therefore, the development of a disposal method that solves these problems, which is different from the conventional one, and the development of a disposal method that can effectively use the waste toner have been studied, but an effective method has not been found yet.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, to provide a disposal means for a waste toner which is free from pollution problems and excellent in economical efficiency, and to effectively use waste toner. To provide.

[0005]

The above objects can be solved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention is a solid fuel characterized in that the dry toner for electrophotography is solidified or is mixed with another combustible solid material and solidified.

[0006]

According to the present invention, since it is possible to prevent dust and soil pollution from being caused by toner powder that has been conventionally discarded, and it can be effectively used again as a resource.
There are great economic benefits. When the toner is burned as powder to be used as fuel, the following problems occur,
It was practically impossible. (1) In the case of powder combustion, there is a danger of dust explosion, and it is difficult to take measures against it. (2) Handling powder tends to cause environmental problems such as dust pollution, and has a problem in workability. (3) In the case of powder combustion, it is difficult to control combustion energy, and an additional device is required to use energy. (4) In the case of powder combustion, the fire retention is poorer than that of solid fuel, and there is a difficulty in refueling. (5) In the case of powder combustion, high temperature exothermic combustion easily occurs,
This may damage the combustion kettle. (6) In the case of powder combustion, air pollution due to dust scattering is likely to occur, and countermeasures against it are necessary. (7) In the case of powder combustion, dust is scattered and easily adheres to the inner wall of the combustion kettle, shortening the life of the kettle. (8) A device such as a nozzle is required for the quantitative replenishment of powder, but there are many failures due to the inclusion of foreign matter, which poses a problem for stable replenishment. Further, since the solid fuel of the present invention mixes other combustible waste materials with waste toner, other waste materials that have been disposed of by landfill in the same manner as toner can be effectively reused as resources. .. Further, since the solid fuel of the present invention uses as a raw material a waste material that is originally disposed of for a fee, an extremely inexpensive solid fuel can be supplied.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The solid fuel of the present invention is prepared by mixing the toner to be discarded, alone or with other combustible waste materials (for example, waste paper, plastic, wood chips, etc.), and heating it.
It is characterized by being compressed and solidified into a solid fuel. The waste toner used for the solid fuel of the present invention may be either magnetic or non-magnetic, and may be black toner or color toner. Calculating the heat of combustion from a general toner resin composition, the magnetic toner alone is 5,000 to 6,000 cal / g, and the non-magnetic toner is 9,000 to 10,000 cal / g. Further, the combustion heat of the combustible waste material used for mixing is 3,000 cal / g of waste paper and wood waste, and 9000 of plastic.
It is 0 to 11,000 cal / g. Therefore, the solid fuel having a desired calorific value can be obtained by arbitrarily selecting the kind, mixed material, and mixing ratio of the waste toner used when producing the solid fuel of the present invention.

In the case of producing the solid fuel of the present invention, if the waste toner is used alone, the adhesiveness is so great that it is difficult to cut the obtained melt extrudate into pellets. There are difficulties. However, in this case, there is no problem if a cutting machine having good cutting performance is used. In general, it is more preferable to mix 30% or more of other combustible waste materials with the waste toner, because the cutting is easy and the productivity is excellent, and the solid fuel pellets of the present invention are easily produced. The type of the combustible waste material used for the solid fuel of the present invention may be any kind, for example, if the material has a very high softening and melting temperature, such as waste paper, cardboard, wood waste, chaff, toner It is more preferable because it can be mixed as it is in a solid state, cut and pelletized.

Next, the case where waste plastic is used as the combustible waste material to be mixed will be described. Currently, the types of plastics discarded as waste plastics are approximately 55% polyethylene and 25% polyvinyl chloride.
%, Polystyrene 10%, polypropylene 3% and other plastics 7%. By the way, volume reduction machines such as "multi-homers" that reduce the volume of waste, etc.
This is a device that self-heats by the frictional heat when crushing, kneading, pressurizing and compressing the volume-reduced object without melting it from the outside, and melts the volume-reduced object to reduce its volume. .. Therefore, the internal temperature during operation is around 180 ° C., although it varies slightly depending on the type of volume-reduced material. The waste plastics as described above all have a melting temperature of about 180 ° C., but the viscosity at that temperature is 1000 poises or more even for the lowest plastic. On the other hand, since the melting temperature of the general toner is lower than this, the viscosity decreases to around 100 poise around 180 ° C. Therefore, when the waste toner and the waste plastic are kneaded and compressed by a volume reducing machine such as "Multihomer", both melt, but the difference in viscosity is 10 times or more, so that a uniform molten composition cannot be obtained. That is,
Compared to the case where waste toner is kneaded alone, mixing waste plastic makes cutting and pelletizing easier,
The effect of mixing appears. Further, when mixed with waste polyvinyl chloride (PVC), when such solid fuel is burned, hydrogen chloride gas is generated from PVC, which damages the boiler and the like, and is therefore unsuitable as a fuel. However,
There is no problem when burning with a boiler equipped with a hydrogen chloride gas recovery device.

[0010]

【Example】

Example 1 A waste magnetic toner (manufactured by Canon Inc.) was extruded and kneaded (PCM
-30: manufactured by Ikegai Co., Ltd.) and extruded through a 30φ hole,
It was cut with a cutting machine to obtain pellets having a diameter of 30 mm and a length of 5 to 6 cm. When the pellets thus obtained were burned as a fuel in a solid-state boiler (manufactured by Takuma Co., Ltd.), the purpose as a fuel could be achieved without the generation of odors or toxic gases. When the combustion heat at this time was measured, the calorific value was about 6,000 cal / g.

Example 2 50 parts by weight of waste magnetic toner (manufactured by Canon Inc.) and 50 parts by weight of a crushed bag made of cement kraft paper were used as a hopper of "Multi Homer" (MH-150: manufactured by Miike Iron Works Co., Ltd.). Feed between two rotary screws. Both materials are mixed and heated by the shearing and frictional heat of the two rotating screws.
It is compressed and continuously extruded from the outlet (diameter 30 mm) at the tip. The extruded product is easily cut into pellets having a length of 5 to 8 cm by a rotary cutting machine mounted in front of the tip portion to form the solid fuel of the present invention. At this time, there was no contamination such as jetting and scattering of the powder toner. When the obtained pellets were burned by a solid-state boiler (manufactured by Takuma Co., Ltd.), there was no side effect such as generation of odor or generation of toxic gas, and the purpose as a fuel could be achieved.
Also, when the combustion heat at this time was measured, it was about 4,000c
There was an amount of heat of al / g.

Example 3 70 parts by weight of non-magnetic toner (manufactured by Canon Inc.) and 30 parts by weight of chaff were taken from a "multihomer" hopper.
It was fed to a rotating screw of books. In the same manner as in Example 2, pellets for combustion which were the solid fuel of the present invention were obtained. When this was burned with a special boiler, the original purpose was obtained.
The heat of combustion was about 7,000 cal / g.

Example 4 50 parts by weight of magnetic toner (manufactured by Canon Inc.) and 50 parts by weight of crushed plastics (mainly PE and PP) were mixed, heated and compressed in a "multi-homer". In the same manner as in 2, pellets for combustion which were the solid fuel of the present invention were obtained. This could be used as fuel in the special boiler without any problems. The heat of combustion was about 8,000 cal / g.

[0014]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, the solid fuel of the present invention can be used as a useful fuel by heating, compressing and solidifying the waste toner alone or by mixing it with other combustible waste materials. I can. According to the solid fuel of the present invention, the waste toner alone or mixed with other combustible waste materials is heated,
By compressing and solidifying it, it becomes a useful fuel, and by effectively utilizing it again as a resource, it is possible to prevent the generation of dust and soil pollution that has conventionally occurred when discarding toner powder. In addition, since the solid fuel of the present invention uses other combustible waste materials together with waste toner, other waste materials that have been conventionally disposed of by landfill like the toner are re-used as resources. It can be utilized. Further, since the solid fuel of the present invention uses, as a raw material, a waste material that should be disposed of for a fee, it is possible to supply an extremely inexpensive solid fuel.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A solid fuel in which a dry toner for electrophotography is solidified. 2. The solid fuel according to claim 1, wherein the dry toner for electrophotography is mixed with another combustible solid material and solidified.