JPH0631143A - Production of hollow yarn membrane bundle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continuously and efficiently produce a plate like or rectangular hollow yarn membrane bundle united at the tip part by laminating a hollow yarn membrane woven sheet and a thermoadhesive belt-like film which are simultaneously and continuously supplied. CONSTITUTION:The hollow yarn membrane woven sheet 4 and the thermoadhesive belt-like film 2 are simultaneously and continuously supplied to a heating roll 10 to obtain the sheet 4 to slightly inside of the end face of which the belt-like sheet 2 is thermally stuck. After the outside of end face of the sheet 4 leaving the stuck surface to the belt-like film 2 of the sheet 4 is cut off by knives 9, the sheet 4 is folded back to laminate in a certain width to make a laminated body 16. The hollow yarn membrane at the end face part is thermally stuck to the belt-like film 2 of the end face part of the sheet by pressing and heating the laminated body 16 and the plate like or rectangular hollow yarn membrane bundle 17 having a united part 18 in which the hollow yarn membrane of the tip part is opened 19 is continuously produced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for efficiently and continuously producing a hollow fiber membrane bundle of a separation membrane module used in a device for separating a fluid such as gas or liquid. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement in a method for producing a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped-shaped hollow fiber membrane bundle bound at an end from a long sheet in which a hollow fiber membrane is woven.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various methods have already been proposed for producing a separation membrane module using hollow fiber membranes. Generally, however, the hollow fiber membranes are bundled and formed into a predetermined length. It is manufactured by cutting into a container, storing in a container, and fixing the end of the hollow fiber membrane bundle to the container with a resin, an adhesive, or the like. At that time, a method is employed in which the end of the hollow fiber membrane bundle is temporarily sealed with a resin or the like, fixed, and after fixing, the fixed portion is cut to open the hollow fiber membrane at the end of the hollow fiber membrane bundle. .

However, according to the conventional method, the temporary closing, fixing, end cutting, and opening of the hollow fiber membrane bundle end portion of the hollow fiber membrane bundle end portion are complicated and the manufacturing process is inefficient, so that the hollow fiber membrane bundle end portion is opened. Was often incomplete and left a problem. In order to solve the problems of these hollow fiber membrane bundles and modules, some manufacturing methods have been proposed.

For example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 54-136579, the hollow fiber membranes are arranged in the shape of a blind, and both ends are sandwiched between tape-shaped regular sealants so as to be orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of both ends of the hollow fiber membranes. Alternatively, a method is disclosed in which, after being inserted into the holes of the sealant, each of the tape-shaped standard sealants is spirally wound on the supporting element so as to be in close contact with each other. However, with this method, it is difficult to continuously supply the sealant in the step of sandwiching both ends of the hollow fiber membrane in the shape of a blind with the sealant, and the binding strength is not sufficient in the binding portion of the spirally wound hollow fiber membrane bundle. There is a drawback.

In JP-A-60-28806, a hollow fiber membrane is used as a weft, a synthetic fiber thread is used as a warp, and the like.
To make a woven fabric in the form of a curtain with warp zones formed at regular intervals,
A tape-like material having double-sided adhesiveness is attached to the warp zone in a direction orthogonal to the hollow fiber membrane, and the cylindrical article is wound so that the warp zone is located in the flange portion, or a portion or flange adjacent to the warp portion. A method is disclosed in which a hollow fiber membrane bundle is manufactured by injecting and fixing a resin in the vicinity and cutting the flange portion.

[0006] JP-A-57-53205, JP-A-SHO-6
No. 2-57965 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-26886), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 172522/1990, etc., a continuous hollow fiber membrane is folded back with a predetermined width, and at least both ends of the hollow fiber membrane are hollow fiber membranes. A method of constructing a hollow fiber membrane sheet-like article by weaving in a chain knitting in a form orthogonal to the above. In these methods, a hollow fiber membrane sheet-like material is wound into a cylindrical shape, and after fixing the end portion with resin, cutting and opening to obtain a hollow fiber membrane bundle.
In particular, JP-A-62-57965 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-26)
(Publication No. 886) also shows an example of trial production of a plate-shaped, rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle.

Further, in JP-A-1-176405, hollow fiber membranes are arranged in parallel, and a part of the hollow fiber membranes in the longitudinal direction is fixed with an adhesive tape so as to be substantially perpendicular to them, and a sheet-like material is obtained. Disclosed is a method of obtaining a hollow fiber bundle by constructing, winding on a core tube, crimping the fixing part to close the hollow part of the hollow fiber membrane of the fixing part, and then cutting substantially the central part of the closing part. .

However, the methods proposed in these publications have the following disadvantages. After winding or laminating the hollow fiber membrane sheet-like material, both ends of the hollow fiber membrane bundle must be fixed with resin, further cut and opened, and the hollow fiber membrane is involved in such a troublesome process. It is impossible to completely prevent the resin from entering the hollow part of the bundle. Therefore, it is not so efficient in the manufacturing process. The method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-176405 requires a step of fixing a resin, cutting and opening the resin when modularizing.

[0009]

As described above, conventionally, in the manufacture of a hollow fiber membrane bundle for a separation membrane module,
A method is generally used in which the hollow fiber membranes are formed into a bundle and the end faces thereof are sealed, then fixed with a liquid resin or the like to form partition walls, and the hollow fiber membranes are opened. In this method, there are many steps of forming a hollow fiber membrane bundle, temporarily closing both ends, fixing the hollow fiber membrane bundle, and opening the hollow fiber membrane bundle, so that continuous mechanization and automation in manufacturing are difficult.

As described above, various manufacturing methods have been disclosed with the aim of making the manufacturing process continuous and efficient, but there are still problems such as automation of the manufacturing process and opening of the end portions of the hollow fiber membrane bundle. ing. The present invention is intended to provide a method for producing a hollow fiber membrane bundle, which is improved in the conventional problems.

[0011]

The present invention relates to a method for producing a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle in which sheet-like sheets of hollow fiber membranes are laminated and bundled at the ends thereof. )
At the same time as supplying a long woven sheet of hollow fiber membranes to a heating roll, a heat-adhesive strip-shaped film is supplied to the roll so as to be parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sheet, and the strip-shaped film is slightly inside the end surface of the sheet. Obtain a heat-bonded sheet,
(2) Next, after cutting the outer end surface of the sheet, leaving the strip-shaped film adhesive surface, (3) laminating the sheets while folding back the sheets with a constant width in the longitudinal direction, or in the longitudinal direction Sheets cut into a certain width are laminated so that the band-shaped films are adhered on the band-shaped film adhesive surface and / or the back surface thereof to form a layered body, and (4) the layered body is pressed and heated to form a sheet end surface portion. Production of a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle, characterized in that a hollow fiber membrane bundle having a binding portion in which the end hollow fiber membranes are opened is obtained by thermally adhering the hollow fiber membranes at the end face with a band-shaped film. It is about the method.

According to the present invention, the hollow fiber membrane is formed into a woven sheet to enable continuous feeding, and at the same time, the heat-adhesive strip film is continuously fed onto the woven sheet,
After heat-bonding with a heating roll, stacking, further pressurizing, heating and heat-bonding, it is possible to easily obtain a hollow fiber membrane bundle having a binding portion at the end, so the manufacturing process is continuous, It can be automated. Further, since the end face is cut and the hollow portion is opened before laminating the woven sheet to which the band-shaped adhesive film is heat-bonded, the problems associated with the conventional temporary sealing, opening and the like can be solved.

According to the present invention, the manufacturing process of the plate-like or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle is remarkably simplified, and the manufacturing process can be mechanized and automated to greatly reduce the cost and stabilize the quality.

In the present invention, as long as the hollow fiber membrane is not deformed remarkably when the hollow fiber membrane at the end face is thermally bonded by passing through a heating roll or laminating, pressurizing and heating.
Either a polymer hollow fiber membrane or an inorganic hollow fiber membrane can be used.

Specific examples of the polymer hollow fiber membrane include hollow fiber membranes such as polysulfone, cellulose acetate, polyimide, polydimethylsiloxane, aromatic polyamide, polypropylene, polybenzimidazole, polyamine, and acrylonitrile copolymer. To be Further, specific examples of the inorganic hollow fiber include hollow fiber membranes of carbon, ceramic, glass and the like.

The shape of the hollow fiber membrane has an outer diameter of 50.
A hollow fiber membrane having a thickness of μm to 2 mm, preferably 50 μm to 500 μm is suitably used.

The hollow fiber membrane is processed into a woven fabric into a long sheet. At that time, any method may be used as long as the hollow fiber membrane is woven by a method or woven structure that does not apply a large tension and a contact pressure. A sheet is woven so that the openings of the hollow fiber membrane are located. A long sheet is preferably used by weaving the hollow fiber membranes as wefts and weaving the hollow fiber membranes substantially in parallel to each other in a blind shape (tatami shape). In addition, as the warp yarn, a yarn such as a natural fiber or a synthetic fiber is appropriately used. Alternatively, the hollow fiber membranes may be arranged in parallel to each other like a blind and the ends or some other portions of the hollow fiber membranes may be fixed and bound to form a sheet.

In the present invention, the heat-adhesive band-shaped film is not particularly limited as long as it has a lower melting point than the substance constituting the hollow fiber membrane and has good heat adhesiveness with the material of the hollow fiber membrane. A tape of hot melt type thermoplastic film is preferably used.

The thickness of the heat-adhesive band-shaped film is not particularly limited as long as the hollow fiber membranes can be thermally bonded to each other, but the thickness is 0.5 to 4 times the outer diameter of the hollow fiber membranes, preferably 1 to Doubled is preferably used. The filling rate of the hollow fiber membranes in the hollow fiber membrane bundle by changing the film thickness,
The size and strength of the binding portion can be freely adjusted.

Specific examples of the hot melt type thermoplastic film include films based on ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethylene, atactic polypropylene, polyamide, copolymerized nylon, polyester and the like. Although the film width varies depending on the length, diameter, filling rate, etc. of the target hollow fiber membrane bundle, it is generally appropriately selected from a width of about 1/2 to 2 times the diameter of the hollow fiber membrane bundle. .

The long woven sheet of hollow fiber membranes is fed to the heating roll, and at the same time, the heat-adhesive strip-shaped film is fed to the heating roll so as to be parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sheet. The heat-adhesive strip-shaped film is heat-bonded to. The position for heat bonding varies depending on the diameter of the target film bundle, the sheet width, etc., but is slightly inside the end face of the sheet, generally 0.5 to 10 cm, preferably 1 to 5 cm. If the film is heat-bonded to the most distal surface of the sheet, it will be difficult to cut or continue with a cutter or the like in the subsequent cutting process. The film may be heat-bonded to one end surface or both end surfaces as long as it is slightly inside the end surface of the sheet.

In the heat-bonding of a long woven sheet of hollow fiber membranes and a heat-adhesive strip-shaped film, the sheet is heated with a heating roll from the lower surface to a temperature not lower than the melting point of the strip-shaped film and at the same time from the upper portion of the strip-shaped film. It is preferable to apply a load with a roller or the like to allow the melted band-shaped film to penetrate into the sheet and thermally bond so as to reach the lower surface of the sheet.
Hot air or the like may be applied to the sheet from the lower surface of the sheet when supplying the sheet to the heating roll. Further, when a load is applied, it is desirable that the deformation of the hollow fiber membrane be within 10%.

The sheet to which the band-shaped film is heat-bonded is generally passed through a cooling roll, and then the outer side of the band-shaped film is continuously cut with a cutter or the like, leaving the band-shaped film bonding surface. As described above, by thermally adhering the sheet slightly inside the end surface, the sheet can be easily cut and continuous. Also, when cutting while leaving the band-shaped film adhesive surface, it may be cut at the boundary surface, but there is a possibility that the band-shaped film object may block the hollow part of the hollow fiber membrane at the time of cutting, and cut slightly outside the boundary surface. Preferably.

Next, the sheets cut with the band-shaped film adhesive surface left are laminated while folding back the sheets with a constant width in the longitudinal direction, or the sheets are cut with a constant width in the longitudinal direction. , Band-shaped film adhesive surface and /
Alternatively, a laminate is formed by laminating the strip-shaped films so that they overlap each other on the back surface thereof.

When the laminated body is pressed and heated to heat-bond the hollow fiber membranes on the end face portion with the band-shaped film on the end face portion of the sheet, a hollow fiber membrane bundle having a binding portion at the end portion can be obtained. When pressing and heating the laminated body, if more than one strip-shaped film is further laminated on the upper surface and the lower surface of the strip-shaped film bonding portion of the laminated body, the strength of the binding portion is improved and the storage and sealing in the module container are improved. An easy hollow fiber membrane bundle can be obtained.

When the above-mentioned laminated body is pressed and heated, it is heated to a temperature not lower than the melting point of the band-shaped film which is heat-bonded to the sheet, and at the same time, it is pressed and melted by hot pressing from above and below the band-shaped film. It is preferable to infiltrate the strip-shaped film into the sheet and heat-bond the hollow fiber membrane.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings and examples.

【Example】

Example 1 A polyimide hollow fiber membrane (inner diameter 280μ, outer diameter 400μ) was used as a weft yarn, and Tetoron yarn (40 denier) was used as a warp yarn.
Using a rapier loom (not shown), a plain weave woven sheet (42 yarns / inch) with a warp interval of 8 mm, and a sheet width of 3
It was cut to 00 mm. This hollow fiber woven fabric sheet 4 was wound around a paper tube and set on the hollow fiber woven sheet supply roll 3 shown in FIG. As the heat-adhesive strip film 2, a width of 30 mm,
A 600 μm thick copolymer nylon film was set on the heat-bondable band-shaped film supply roll 1. Here, the two strip-shaped films were set so that the inner width was 200 mm.

The hollow fiber membrane woven sheet 4 and the heat-adhesive strip film 2 are formed by the driving roll 5 and the pressing roll 6.
And roll 7 at the same time with a feed rate of 5 mm / sec.
Through the bottom of the woven sheet by a heating roll 10 heated to 150 ° C.
The strip-shaped film 2 was heat-bonded to the inside of the centimeter. At this time,
A load of 200 g / cm ² was applied by the roll 8 and pressure was applied so that the melted strip-shaped film 2 entered the gap of the hollow fiber membrane.

Next, the outer edge surface of the woven sheet 0.5 cm from the boundary surface was cut by an end face cutting knife 9 while leaving the band-shaped film adhesive surface. The cut end was wound up by a roll 11.

Similar to the heating roll 10, the heating roll 13 heated to 170 ° C. melts the band-shaped film that is heat-bonded to the woven sheet again, and at the same time, the roll 12 is pressed and fed out to blow the hollow fiber membrane. Was wrapped in the band-shaped film surface. The strip-shaped film enclosing the hollow fiber membrane was immediately cooled and solidified by the water-cooling type roll 14 for cooling.

The sheet on which the band-shaped film is heat-bonded is sent out as it is, passed through the roll 15, and then 5 in the longitudinal direction.
While folding back with a width of 00 mm, 3 as shown in 16 of FIG.
A stack was prepared by stacking 0 sheets. Then, only five strip-shaped films were laminated on each of the upper surface and the lower surface of the strip-shaped film bonded portion of the laminate. Put this laminate in a hot press,
The sheet was heat-bonded by pressurizing and heating at a temperature of 170 ° C. and a pressure of 3 Kg / cm ² .

In this way, a hollow fiber membrane bundle 17 having a binding portion 18 and a hollow fiber membrane opening portion 19 at both ends was obtained. This hollow fiber membrane bundle 17 was assembled in a module container, and sealed at the binding portion 18 of the hollow fiber membrane bundle in the container.

Example 2 As shown in FIG. 2, the hollow fiber membrane woven sheet having the strip-shaped films 2 thermally bonded to both ends in the same manner as in Example 1 was cut into a width of 500 mm in the longitudinal direction of the sheet, Seat 20
Got As shown at 21 in FIG.
0 sheets were laminated to form a laminated body. Further, five strip-shaped films were laminated on each of the upper surface and the lower surface of the strip-shaped film bonded portion of the laminate. This laminate was placed in a hot press as in Example 1, and pressed under the conditions of a temperature of 170 ° C. and a pressure of 3 Kg / cm ² and heated to heat-bond the sheets.

In this way, a hollow fiber membrane bundle 22 having a binding portion 23 and a hollow fiber membrane opening 24 at both ends was obtained. The hollow fiber membrane bundle 22 was incorporated into a module container, and the hollow fiber membrane bundle was sealed in the container at the binding portion 23 of the hollow fiber membrane bundle.

[0035]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY In the present invention, the hollow fiber membrane woven sheet and the heat-adhesive band-shaped sheet are simultaneously supplied to a heating roll, the band-shaped sheet is heat-bonded slightly inside the end face of the sheet, and then the band-shaped film of this sheet. The outer end face is cut off, leaving the adhesive surface of. Next, the sheets are laminated while being folded back with a constant width in the longitudinal direction, or the sheets cut into a constant width in the longitudinal direction are overlapped with each other on the adhesive surface of the belt-like film and / or the back surface thereof. To be a laminated body. After that, the laminate is pressed and heated to heat-bond the band-shaped film at the end face portion to the band-shaped film at the end face portion of the sheet to obtain a hollow fiber membrane bundle having a binding portion where the hollow fiber membrane at the end portion is opened. By using such a manufacturing method, it becomes possible to continuously manufacture a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle. In particular, since the sheet end surface can be cut during the manufacturing process, the hollow part is temporarily closed, the hollow fiber membrane bundle end part is fixed,
It is possible to simplify troublesome processing steps such as opening work by cutting the same end.

[0036]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic process drawing showing one embodiment of a manufacturing process of a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic process drawing showing another embodiment of the process for producing a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Heat-adhesive strip film supply roll 2. Thermal adhesive band film 3. Hollow fiber membrane woven sheet supply roll 4. Hollow fiber membrane woven sheet 9. Edge cutting knife 10. Heating roll 13. Heating roll 17. Hollow fiber membrane bundle 18. Binding unit 19. Opening of hollow fiber membrane bundle 20. 21. Hollow fiber membrane woven sheet cut into a uniform width Hollow fiber membrane bundle 23. Binding portion 24. Opening part of hollow fiber membrane bundle

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A laminated sheet of woven hollow fiber membranes,
In the method for producing a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle bound at the ends, (1) a long woven sheet of hollow fiber membranes is supplied to a heating roll and at the same time a heat-adhesive strip-shaped film is formed into a sheet. It is supplied to the roll so as to be parallel to the longitudinal direction to obtain a sheet having a band-shaped film thermally bonded slightly inside the end face of the sheet. (2) Then, the band-shaped film bonded surface of this sheet is left and its outside After the end faces are cut, (3) the sheets are laminated while being folded back with a constant width in the longitudinal direction, or the sheet cut with a constant width in the longitudinal direction is used as a strip film adhesive surface and / or its The strip-shaped films are laminated so that they overlap each other on the back surface to form a laminate, and (4) the laminate is pressed and heated to heat-bond the hollow fiber membranes of the end face portion with the strip-shaped film of the sheet end face portion, Open the hollow fiber membrane A method for producing a plate-shaped or rectangular parallelepiped hollow fiber membrane bundle, which comprises obtaining a hollow fiber membrane bundle having a bound portion.