JPH10165463A - Biodegradable plastic cremation urn - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a cremation urn not only to be used as a temporary keeping vessel simply but also to be adapted to needs of the time background of recycling of vessels and packages, by forming a cremation urn by biodegradable plastic with characteristics degraded by soil microorganisms in soil. SOLUTION: This cremation urn is formed by biodegradable plastic with degrading performance by soil microorganisms in soil. The biodegradable plastic has superior heat resistance and good workability, i.e., it is thermally no melting in a working process and has a property to be thermally denaturated and easily softened in soil containing moisture and is a material to be easily softened and perfectly degraded in a comparatively short time. A protein based biodegradable plastic made of wheat flour gluten is especially preferable. A plasticizer can be contained in the material of the biodegradable plastic. Further, the biodegradable plastic cremation urn should had thermal resistance not lower than 100 deg.C.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a biodegradable plastic urn. More particularly, it relates to a urn made of biodegradable plastic that degrades in soil after burial.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Pots for delivering bones are made of earthenware, ceramics and the like. Although these urns are effective as containers for permanent storage of bones in ossuary, etc., when burying bones in graves, burying the entire urn in the grave is a matter of grave space and It is rarely performed due to the problem of religious doctrine of naturalization in the soil, and the bones are temporarily removed from the urn and transferred to bleached cloth bags and buried. In this case, the pottery or ceramic urn is merely used as a temporary storage container to bring back bones from the recreation area, and is currently disposed of as an unnecessary container at the time of burial to the grave. Since the temperature of bones at the time of picking up bones after cremation is high immediately after incineration, pottery or ceramic vases are generally used from the viewpoint of heat resistance. Therefore, the emergence of a urn that does not require waste disposal is desired.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is not only to use as a temporary storage container, but also to provide an environment-friendly biodegradable material that can meet the needs of the age of recycling containers and packaging. To provide a plastic urn.

[0004]

In view of the above circumstances, the present inventors have succeeded in producing a vases using biodegradable plastics that can be decomposed by soil microorganisms in soil containing water. Further research has led to the development of a biodegradable plastic urn that is stable and heat resistant in air. That is, the gist of the present invention relates to an urn made of a biodegradable plastic having degradability by soil microorganisms in soil.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present invention, the urn is a urn made of biodegradable plastic. Hereinafter, it is referred to as a biodegradable plastic urn.

[0006] The biodegradable plastic used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is degradable by soil microorganisms in the soil. For example, aliphatic polyesters such as natural fats and oils, wool and the like can be used. And animal-derived or vegetable-derived protein-based plastics such as gluten, and polysaccharide-based plastics such as starch. In the present invention, among them, the heat resistance is excellent, and the workability is also good, that is, it has the property of being thermally insoluble and thermally denatured in the processing stage, and is easily softened in soil containing water in a relatively short time. A protein-based biodegradable plastic composed of wheat gluten (hereinafter abbreviated as gluten biodegradable plastic), which is a material that is completely biodegradable, is particularly preferred.

[0007] Here, "having degradability by soil microorganisms in the soil" means that the biodegradable plastic urn is usually placed in the soil for about 4 weeks to about 4 weeks by microorganisms existing in the soil. It refers to the property that it can be completely decomposed in 20 weeks, but it goes without saying that the decomposition time varies depending on the moisture content of soil, pH, temperature, etc., and the type of soil microorganisms. In the present invention, the type of soil microorganism is not particularly limited. In addition, the gluten biodegradable plastic used in the present invention has a higher biodegradation rate and is more complete than other aliphatic polyesters derived from fermentation products and other biodegradable plastics including synthetic starch-blended polyethylene. The rate of biodegradation can be controlled by the amount of gluten.

As described above, the raw material of the biodegradable plastic used in the present invention is preferably wheat flour gluten, and a commercially available product can be used as it is. The mixing ratio of the flour gluten is preferably 30% by weight or more, more preferably 40% by weight or more, from the viewpoints of hardness, biodegradation rate, moldability and heat-resistant temperature. Further, from the viewpoints of extensibility, viscoelasticity and compatibility with a plasticizer, 80
% By weight or less, more preferably 70% by weight
The following is desirable.

The raw material of the biodegradable plastic used in the present invention further contains a plasticizer. As the plasticizer, a hydrophilic polyol is preferable, and examples thereof include glycerin, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and propylene glycol. Among them, glycerin, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol and the like are preferably used from the viewpoint of good flow and elongation during kneading, and inexpensive commercial products. These are used alone or in combination. The mixing ratio of the plasticizer is preferably 10% by weight or more, and more preferably 20% by weight or more, in order to impart flexibility and viscoelasticity to the biodegradable plastic. In order not to lower the hardness of the biodegradable plastic, it is preferably at most 60% by weight, more preferably at most 50% by weight.
% By weight or less is desirable.

A filler may be further added to the raw material of the biodegradable plastic used in the present invention. Examples of the filler include calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, talc, silica, wood flour and the like. Among them, calcium carbonate, talc, and the like are preferably used in order to increase hardness, change color tone, change gluten density, and / or be inexpensive. These are used alone or in combination. The mixing ratio of the filler is preferably 2% by weight or more, more preferably 5% by weight or more, in order to increase the hardness and the volume ratio of the biodegradable plastic. Further, the content is preferably 30% by weight or less, more preferably 20% by weight or less, so as not to lower the molding temperature of the biodegradable plastic.

Further, various additives may be blended in the raw material of the biodegradable plastic used in the present invention. For example, urea and sulfur are mentioned. Addition of urea has the effect of reducing the tensile strength of the gluten biodegradable plastic due to the protein denaturing action of urea and facilitating molding. Further, when sulfur is added, the temperature dependence of the viscoelasticity of the gluten biodegradable plastic during compression molding is improved, and the rubber-like region of the plastic is reduced from about 20 ° C to about 120 ° C.
C., and has an effect of improving a decrease in tensile strength due to the addition of urea. The mixing ratio of the urea and sulfur is
Usually, they are respectively 0 to 35% by weight and 0 to 5% by weight.

Further, additives such as pigments, colorants, and fragrances can be added to the raw material of the biodegradable plastic used in the present invention. Commercially available pigments and colorants can be used as long as they provide the appropriate color to the urn, and commercially available fragrances can be used as long as they provide the deodorant effect of other raw materials and the appropriate smell at funeral festivals. it can. The mixing ratio of these pigments, coloring agents, and fragrances is usually from 0.5% by weight to
3.0% by weight.

The biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention is produced by appropriately adding a plasticizer, a filler, and other various additives to a plastic material such as gluten, kneading the mixture, and performing compression molding. be able to. The kneading is performed by, for example, a powder / solvent mixing mixer (Fuji Powder mixer, manufactured by Fuji Corporation). The molding by compression molding is performed by, for example, a transfer molding machine of a biaxial molding system (manufactured by Yamahachi Chemical Co., Ltd.). Taking gluten biodegradable plastic as an example, the production method will be described in more detail below. First, gluten flour powder 100
g, 20 to 60 g of a polyol as a hydrophilic plasticizer,
Urea and sulfur as additives are 0 to 30 g and 0 to 30 g, respectively.
５5 g is added, and the mixture is kneaded at about 30 to 60 ° C. for about 10 to 30 minutes by the mixer, and injected into the compression molding machine in a semi-molten state.
Press molding with a pressure of gf / cm ² is performed and dried in an electric furnace or the like to obtain the gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention.

The thus produced gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention has a heat resistance of 100 ° C. or more. Therefore, when placing the cremated bone in the urn, it is not necessary to wait until the bone temperature has completely cooled to room temperature. Further, the gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention is excellent in hardness and strength, and has a sufficient function as a container. For example, the gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention has a characteristic that unlike a ceramic urn, it is difficult to be broken or cracked even if it is accidentally dropped.

The gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention is characterized in that it is easily softened by moisture and, when buried in soil, is completely degraded by soil microorganisms.
When bones are delivered and placed in the air, they do not collapse, discolor, or rot due to moisture in the air. is there.

The gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention is suitably used not only for burial of humans but also for burial of pets such as dogs and cats. It is possible to change the size of the urn according to the volume of bone to be delivered.

[0017]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following Examples, which should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

Example 1 Production of Gluten Biodegradable Plastic Urn (1) To 100 g of gluten wheat powder (manufactured by Nagata Sangyo Co., Ltd.), glycerin, ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol were added as plasticizers at 10 g, 20 g and 20 g, respectively. 15 g of urea and 3 g of sulfur were added, and the mixture was kneaded with a mixer at 50 ° C. for 20 minutes.
At 120 ° C and compression at 120 kgf / cm ² ,
It was dried in an electric furnace (manufactured by Asahi Rika Seisakusho Co., Ltd.) at 80 ° C. to prepare a gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention.

Example 2 Production of Gluten Biodegradable Plastic Urn (2) Example 1 except that 40 g of ethylene glycol or 50 g of diethylene glycol was used as a plasticizer.
In the same manner as in the above, a gluten biodegradable plastic urn was prepared. As a result, it became clear that gluten can be plasticized even when a plasticizer is used alone. It was also found that increasing the amount of the plasticizer increased the flexibility of the gluten biodegradable plastic and lowered the hardness.

Example 3 Production of gluten biodegradable plastic urn (3) A gluten biodegradable plastic urn was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that urea and sulfur were not added.
As a result, it was possible to produce the gluten biodegradable plastic urn of the present invention even when urea and sulfur were not added.
However, the gluten biodegradable plastic containing urea and sulfur (Example 1) is easier to mold and process than the gluten biodegradable plastic containing no urea and sulfur (Example 3), and has a room temperature to about 120 ° C. Up to this point, the viscoelasticity during compression molding was maintained.

Example 4 Examination of Heat Resistance The gluten biodegradable plastic urn prepared in Example 1 was placed in an electric furnace at 100 ° C., and the appearance of the urn was observed after 10 minutes and 30 minutes. No discoloration or deformation of the urn was observed.

Example 5 Soil burial test The gluten biodegradable plastic urn (diameter: 12 cm, height: 17 cm) prepared in Example 1 was placed under the top soil under the top.
cm and buried every week to observe the appearance of the urn. As a result, a black mold was clearly observed on the surface of the urn in one week, and the shape completely collapsed in four weeks.

Example 6 Soil Leaving Test The gluten biodegradable plastic urn (diameter: 12 cm, height: 17 cm) prepared in Example 1 was left on wet soil (water content: about 50% by weight). The decrease in pot height was measured. As a control, the decrease in the height of the urn left on an indoor drying shelf (30 cm above the ground, room temperature, natural ventilation) was also measured. 4 weeks on indoor drying shelf on wet soil : 1 cm 0 cm 3 months: 3 cm 0 cm 6 months: 6.5 cm 0 cm 12 months: 14 cm 0 cm As a result, when left on wet soil, the gluten biodegradable plastic vases of the present invention Was completely biodegraded in several years and its shape was found to collapse. In contrast, no deformation or discoloration was observed under indoor drying conditions.

[0024]

According to the present invention, in addition to the function as a heat-resistant container, after being buried in the soil, it has the function of biodegrading in the soil and collapsing in shape. A degradable plastic urn is provided.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A bone pot made of a biodegradable plastic which is degradable by soil microorganisms in soil. 2. The urn according to claim 1, wherein the raw material of the biodegradable plastic contains gluten. 3. The urn according to claim 2, wherein the raw material of the biodegradable plastic further contains a plasticizer. 4. The urn according to claim 1, wherein the biodegradable plastic has a heat resistance of 100 ° C. or higher.