JPH07308550A - Production of hollow fiber membrane module - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To produce a hollow fiber type module hardly causing impossible fiber and impermeability without regardless of a membrane base stock and narrow pore size and excellent in performance by previously filling a filling material inside the end part of a hollow fiber before potting. CONSTITUTION:A hollow fiber membrane 2 is bride, and one end of the membrane is sealed with an adhesive, then the hollow fiber is dipped into a deaerated pure water. After pulling-up the hollow fiber, the other end of the membrane is sealed with the adhesive, and the filling material 4 such as pure water is filled into the hollow fiber 2. Then, the hollow fiber membrane bundle is inserted into a module vessel 1, and the vessel is set in a centrifugal forming machine, then potting 5 is executed. After curing is finished, both ends of a potting fixed part 5 are cut to open an internal pores of the hollow fiber membrane 2 to produce the module.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a hollow fiber membrane module, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a hollow fiber membrane module in which end portions of a plurality of hollow fiber membranes are bonded and fixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a hollow fiber membrane module has a large effective membrane area per unit volume as compared with a spiral type module or a tubular type module, and water treatment relations such as microfiltration and ultrafiltration, nitrogen, It is used in numerous fields such as gas separation related to oxygen and hydrogen, chemical related, bio related. However, in order to modularize this hollow fiber membrane, it is necessary to hermetically seal (potting) between the hollow fiber membranes and the hollow fiber membranes and between the hollow fiber membranes and the module container at the ends. Currently, most of urethane and epoxy adhesives are used as potting materials for the end plates of this module.Urethane and epoxy adhesives use initial viscosity and time required for curing. The pot and temperature can be adjusted relatively freely, making potting easy.

As the potting method, a static method of pouring the potting material by gravity or a centrifugal molding method of filling the end portion of the module with the potting material by utilizing a centrifugal force is widely used. The static method is a simple method, but the potting material does not spread sufficiently in the gaps between the hollow fiber membranes, so-called impermeable is likely to occur, and thus the static method cannot be used when the number of hollow fiber membranes is large. There is. On the other hand, when the centrifugal molding method is used, the potting material is sufficiently filled even in the small gaps of the hollow fiber membrane, and the hollow fiber membrane is ideally fixed,
Can be sealed.

[0004]

However, when the hollow fiber membrane is a porous membrane, the potting material penetrates into the membrane pores particularly when the membrane pores are large or the viscosity of the potting material is low, and the hollow fiber A so-called non-thread which hardens inside may occur. This phenomenon is likely to occur particularly in the centrifugal molding method. In the case of the centrifugal molding method, since the centrifugal force of about 5 to 100 times the gravity acts on the potting material, it is difficult to control the viscosity of the potting material, and the potting conditions differ depending on the material of the hollow fiber membrane and the size of the pores. Must be set. Especially in the case of microfiltration membranes with large pore size (pore size 0.1 μm or more), it is difficult to prevent impermeability unless the viscosity is raised considerably, and if the viscosity is too high, impermeability occurs, so centrifugal molding In many cases, it is not easy to set conditions to apply the law. As a measure to prevent such impervious fiber, there is a method of shrinking the pores by heat-treating the end of the hollow fiber membrane to shrink the pores or softening the pores to crush the pores. Is likely to occur and is not very suitable. It is also possible to adopt a method of coating the end portions of the hollow fiber membranes to close the pores, but this method is also not easy to coat in the state of the hollow fiber membrane bundles, and a coating agent is applied between the hollow fibers. Is easily bleeding, which reduces the effective film area.

The object of the present invention is
An object of the present invention is to provide a hollow fiber type module that does not cause impermeability or impermeability and has excellent performance.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a method for manufacturing a hollow fiber membrane module in which a potting material is injected into an end portion of a bundle of hollow fiber membranes and cured to bond the hollow fiber membrane bundle end portion to the inside of the hollow fiber end portion before potting. It is basically achieved by a method for manufacturing a hollow fiber membrane module, which is characterized in that a filling substance is put in advance.

In other words, the presence of the filling material inside the hollow fiber membrane prevents the potting material from flowing into the hollow fiber membrane from the pores and prevents the non-threading. The filling material may be filled at the time of producing the hollow fiber membrane, or may be filled in a bundle state at the time of modularization. 1 to 3 show an example of the end portion of the hollow fiber membrane module in the embodiment according to the present invention. When the potting material is filled in the state of FIG. 1, it becomes as shown in FIG. Cut this end as shown in Figure 3,
When the filler is removed, the hollow fiber membrane module is completed as shown in FIG. The filler may be solid, liquid or gel-like as long as it does not adversely affect the hollow fiber membrane or the module case and can be completely removed after modularization. In the case of solid or gel, it is preferable to fill the hollow fibers in a liquid state and then solidify. For example, paraffin wax, gelatin,
It is heated or dissolved in a solvent and filled into the hollow fiber in a liquid state, cooled or evaporated to evaporate the solvent and solidify the filling, and then modularized. Finally, heating or a solvent, an acid,
You may wash it off with alkali etc.

When the affinity of a liquid for the hollow fiber membrane is small, for example, water is used as a filler for the polytetrafluoroethylene hollow fiber membrane to prevent the potting material from entering the hollow fiber. You can However, when a liquid is used as the filling material, if the centrifugal force on the potting material side is larger than the centrifugal force on the liquid filling side through the hollow fiber membrane, the difference may cause the potting material to enter the hollow fiber. . Also, when the pressure difference between the liquid filling side and the hollow fiber outside (potting material side) becomes larger than the critical pressure at which the filling liquid does not pass through the hollow fiber membrane pores, the filling liquid will flow out of the hollow fiber membrane. , Good potting will not be possible. This is a serious problem, especially in the case of the centrifugal molding method, because the force applied to the potting material and the filling material becomes very large. If you want to increase the pressure on the side of the liquid filler, select one with a large specific gravity as the liquid used for the filler, or, for example, dissolve inorganic salts such as sodium chloride, sugars, polyethylene glycol, etc. in water. It is possible to increase the specific gravity. It is needless to say that the solute to be selected at this time does not adversely affect the hollow fiber membrane and the module container, but it is desirable that the affinity between the hollow fiber membrane and the filling liquid does not become so high. In addition, those having a high solubility in the liquid to be filled and a large weight thereof are highly versatile. It is also possible to adjust the pressure to some extent by adjusting the amount of liquid filled in the hollow fiber. Further, in the case of the centrifugal molding method, the applied pressure changes depending on the number of rotations, so it is necessary to set the conditions so as to satisfy the above requirements.

[0009]

The present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the following examples. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

Example 1 PTFE porous hollow fiber membrane 40 having an outer diameter of 800 μm and an inner diameter of 550 μm
After 0 pieces were dried and one end was sealed with an adhesive, the hollow fibers were immersed in degassed pure water. After pulling up, the other end of the hollow fiber membrane was also sealed with an adhesive, and pure water was enclosed in the hollow fiber. The hollow fiber membrane bundle was inserted into a polystyrene container with an inner diameter of 34 mm and a length of 220 mm, set in a centrifugal molding machine, and then Araldite GY260 / HY837 (Ciba Geigy Co., compounding ratio 10:
Potting was performed according to 3). After the curing was completed, both ends of the potting fixing part were cut and the hollow fiber membrane internal hole was opened to manufacture a module having an effective length of about 190 mm. The obtained module exhibited good filtration performance without leakage.

Comparative Example 1 A hollow fiber membrane module was produced under the same conditions as in Example except that the hollow fiber was not filled with water. However, the potting material penetrated into the hollow fiber and all the hollow fiber membranes became impermeable. became.

[0012]

Industrial Applicability According to the present invention, it becomes possible to easily manufacture a good hollow fiber membrane module which does not cause a non-threading.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an example of an end portion of a hollow fiber membrane module before potting according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of an example of an end portion of a hollow fiber membrane module after potting according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of an example of the end portion of the hollow fiber membrane module after cutting the end portion according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of an example of a hollow fiber membrane module end portion after removal of a filling substance according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Module container 2: Hollow fiber membrane 3: Sealing part 4: Filling material 5: Potting material

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a method for manufacturing a hollow fiber membrane module in which a potting material is injected into an end portion of a bundle of hollow fiber membranes and cured to bond the hollow fiber membrane bundle end portion, a filling substance is put in advance inside the hollow fiber end portion before potting. A method for manufacturing a hollow fiber membrane module, comprising: 2. The method for producing a hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1, wherein the filling substance is a substance which is solid at room temperature and which is liquefied under a condition that does not adversely affect the hollow fiber membrane module constituent member. 3. The method for producing a hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1, wherein the filling substance is a liquid or a gel and is made of a material having a low affinity for the membrane. 4. The specific gravity of the packing material and the packing so that the pressure generated by the centrifugal force is larger on the packing material side than on the potting material side, and the packing material has a pressure difference that does not permeate to the outside of the hollow fiber membrane. 4. The amount is adjusted.
A method for producing the hollow fiber membrane module described. 5. The method for producing a hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 3, wherein the filling substance is water or an aqueous solution.