JPH10180256A - Electrolytic strongly acidic water, its production and endotoxin inactivator consisting of the strongly acidic water - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate scaling in an electrolytic water generator and to provide an electrolytic strongly acidic water with the endotoxin content decreased to a low concn. at which the water can be used in the medical field a short time after the production. SOLUTION: An electrolytic strongly acidic water contg. 15EU/l endotoxin one hour after the production is produced by electrolyzing a reverse-osmosis water. Concretely, the city water as raw material is introduced into an activated-carbon filter 1. The iron rust, etc., in the city water are removed by the filter 1, and further free chlorine and chloramine are adsorbed and removed. The water passed through the filter 1 is then introduced into a water softener 2, subjected ion exchange therein and softened. The softened water is introduced into a reverse-osmosis device 3 and refined, and the refined water is introduced into an electrolytic water generator 4 and electrolyzed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrolytic strongly acidic water and a method for producing the same, and more particularly to an electrolytic strongly acidic water having a property that an endotoxin concentration after one hour from immediately after production is 15 EU / liter or less, and a method for producing the same.

[0002] The present invention further relates to an endotoxin inactivating agent containing such strongly acidic electrolytic water.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, general tap water has been supplied to an electrolyzed water generator together with a small amount of sodium chloride to generate electrolyzed strongly acidic water together with electrolyzed strongly alkaline water.

[0004] This electrolyzed water generating apparatus is configured to add a small amount of sodium hydroxide-added water to an electrode tank having an anode and a cathode across a diaphragm and apply a constant current and voltage to perform electrolysis. In the anode compartment, strongly acidic electrolytic water is produced, and in the cathode compartment, strongly alkaline aqueous solution is produced.

[0005] The electrolytic strongly acidic water thus produced generally has a pH of about 2.7 to 2.4 and an oxidation-reduction potential of 1100.
~ 1150mV, effective chlorine concentration is 10 ~ 40ppm
Since it has a bactericidal action and an endotoxin removing action, it is being used for various sterilization applications including sterilization of medical instruments.

[0006] However, the conventional method for producing strongly electrolytic acidic water has the following problems. That is, according to the conventional method for producing electrolytic strongly acidic water using tap water, scale (mainly containing sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc.) is deposited on the electrode on the cathode side of the electrolytic water generator. Therefore, there is a problem that the electrolysis is significantly inhibited and the properties of the obtained strongly acidic electrolytic water become unstable.

[0007] In order to solve this problem, in order to remove the scale attached to the electrode, backwashing is performed every time a certain amount of electrolyzed water is generated. Cleaning the electrode) or reversing the polarity of the applied voltage.

However, in such a method, the electrodes of the electrolyzed water generator are deteriorated due to repeated backwashing and frequent polarity reversal.

[0009] Particularly, in some foreign countries, when producing electrolytically acidic water using an electrolytic water generator, the purity and hardness of water quality are not always satisfactory as compared with general tap water in Japan. Yes, especially on the cathode side electrode
It is considered that a large amount of precipitation of a, Mg, etc. is generated, so that more frequent cleaning and reversal of the polarity of the applied voltage are inevitable, and the deterioration of the electrode occurs early and the electrode is frequently replaced.

Further, according to the study of the present inventor, when electrolytic strong acid water is produced by using general tap water as raw water, the obtained electrolytic strong acid water is sufficient in terms of bactericidal action. Immediately after production, an unexpectedly high endotoxin concentration of several thousand EU / liter was detected, and the endotoxin concentration decreased extremely slowly despite the fact that the electrolytically acidic water had an endotoxin inactivating effect. It was found that a relatively high endotoxin concentration was maintained for a long time immediately after production. (Here, "E
"U" refers to endotoxin unit. "A Book to Understand Dialysis Fluid Endotoxin", edited by Shingo Takezawa, Tokyo Medical Co., Ltd., issued July 1, 1995, No. 29-31.
See page. Endotoxin is normally present in the blood of healthy individuals at a low concentration of about 15 EU / liter, but when endotoxin enters the body from the outside, it will acutely cause chills, fever, hypotension, etc. to humans. Chronically produce endotoxin antibodies, induce cytokines such as interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and further induce other exotoxins and (1 → 3) -β-D-glucan. It has been reported that a synergistic effect with bacterial cell components enhances the lethal effect on animals.

Therefore, the use of electrolytically acidic water containing endotoxin as high as several thousand EU / liter in the medical field for the purpose of sterilization or the like causes a serious problem from the viewpoint of safety. there's a possibility that.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to remarkably suppress the problem of scale generation in an electrolyzed water generating apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrolytic strongly acidic water in which the endotoxin concentration is reduced within a short time after production to a low concentration that does not cause any problem even when used in the medical field. But also.

[0014]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies to achieve the above object, the present inventor has found that when producing electrolytically strongly acidic water, reverse osmosis water is used as raw water as a raw material thereof. In addition, the generation of scale is remarkably suppressed, and the obtained electrolytically acidic water contains only a very low concentration of endotoxin. It has been found that the concentration is reduced to such a low concentration that there is no problem when applied, particularly to a low concentration of 15 EU / liter or less which is normally present in the body of a healthy person. The present invention has been completed based on this new finding.

That is, the present invention relates to an electrolytic strongly acidic water obtained by electrolyzing reverse osmosis water, wherein an endotoxin concentration of 15 EU / liter or less is obtained one hour after the production of the electrolytic strongly acidic water. The present invention provides electrolytic strongly acidic water characterized by having.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that reverse osmosis water is electrolyzed, that is, 1 hour after the production of the above electrolytic strongly acidic water, that is, 15 EU / liter or less of endotoxin. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing electrolytically strongly acidic water having a concentration.

Further, the thus obtained electrolytically acidic water is
The endotoxin inactivating effect was found to be extremely excellent. Therefore, the present invention provides an electrolytic strongly acidic water obtained by electrolyzing reverse osmosis water, which has an endotoxin concentration of 15 EU / liter or less at the time of one hour immediately after the production of the electrolytic strongly acidic water. Another object of the present invention is to provide an endotoxin inactivating agent characterized by containing an electrolytic strongly acidic water.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present specification, the endotoxin concentration is determined by a kinetic method of a synthetic substrate method (colorimetric method) (“A book that understands endotoxin in dialysate”, edited by Shingo Takezawa, Tokyo Medical Co., Ltd., 1995). Issued on July 1,
38 to 39).

According to this method, a coagulation enzyme finally activated by a factor C-based reaction in endotoxin and lysate has a sequence similar to the amino acid sequence of the hydrolysis site of coagulogen when converting coagulogen to coagulin. A kinetic method in which the absorbance of pNA released by the coagulation enzyme amidase activity is measured using a chromogenic synthetic substrate in which a chromogenic group p-nitroaniline (pNA) is bound to a peptide. The kinetic method is based on the rate of change in absorbance of the released pNA (mAbs / min).
Is proportional to the endotoxin concentration (colorimetric kinetic method, rate assay), or the logarithm of the time (Ta) required for the absorbance change of the reaction solution to reach a preset threshold value is the logarithm of the endotoxin concentration. It is a quantitative method based on inverse proportion (colorimetric reaction time method, ΔOD-time assay).

Using a thermostat and a microplate reader (well reader SK601: Seikagaku Kogyo) with a built-in analysis program, 0.05 ml of the sample and the colorimetric Limulus reagent are usually taken in each well of a 96-well microplate, and the lid is placed. And react for 30 minutes. The increase in absorbance is measured over time at two wavelengths (measurement wavelength: 405 nm, control wavelength: 492 nm), the analysis program is activated at the same time as the reaction is completed, and the concentration in the sample is automatically calculated from the standard endotoxin calibration curve measured at the same time. .

The measurement of the electrolyzed water was carried out by diluting the electrolyzed water 10 times or more with endotoxin-free distilled water without directly measuring it. This is to prevent the component of the electrolyzed water from affecting the measurement system. The dilution factor of 10 times or more was determined by an addition recovery test.

The electrolytic strongly acidic water of the present invention is produced by using reverse osmosis water as raw water and electrolyzing it.

The reverse osmosis water used as raw water is obtained by a reverse osmosis (RO) method using an ordinary reverse osmosis apparatus, and its production conditions are adopted by a conventionally used method. Any of these conditions can be used.

In particular, in the present invention, it is preferable to use reverse osmosis water used for dialysis as raw water. To produce reverse osmosis water for dialysate dilution water, for example, as a pretreatment, tap water is passed through at least one of a prefilter, an activated carbon filtration device, an ion exchange device, a resin filter, and the like. It is preferred to do so by introducing it into an infiltration device. In particular, it is more preferable to use, as raw water, reverse osmosis water generated after performing pretreatment of a tap water with a prefilter, an activated carbon filtration device, an ion exchange device, and a resin filter.

The prefilter has a pore diameter of 10 to be used for removing coarse dust such as iron rust and sand in tap water.
It is a filter of about 25 μm. The activated carbon filtration device is a device for removing and reducing free chlorine and chloramine in tap water. The ion exchange device is a device for removing and reducing hardness components (such as calcium and magnesium) and some heavy metal components in tap water in order to prevent scale of the membrane. The resin filter is a general filter having a pore size of usually about 5 μm used for removing activated carbon that has flowed off from the activated carbon filtration device, resin from the ion exchange device, and fine particles that have passed through the prefilter.

In the present invention, a small amount of sodium chloride is added to the above-mentioned reverse osmosis water, followed by electrolysis to produce electrolytically acidic water. As the conditions for the electrolysis, any of the conditions adopted by a commonly used method can be used. For example, a solution obtained by adding a small amount of sodium chloride to the above reverse osmosis water may be electrolyzed in an electrolytic cell partitioned by a diaphragm into an anode chamber and a cathode chamber.

At present, various types of electrolyzed water generators are sold by many manufacturers, and in the present invention, electrolysis may be performed using these commercially available electrolyzed water generators.

To describe a typical electrolyzed water generating apparatus, the electrode is generally a titanium rod coated or baked with platinum, and a neutral membrane polyester or the like is used for the diaphragm. Depending on the amount of electrolyzed water generated, there are various types of power, such as 100 V for home use and 200 V for motive power. The current conditions include the distance between electrodes and the amount of sodium chloride added. Is determined as appropriate.

The electrolyzed strongly acidic water thus obtained may be stored in an electrolyzed strongly acidic water tank, if necessary.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, which illustrate the outline of the above-described embodiment of the production of the strongly acidic electrolytic water of the present invention, the method of producing the strongly acidic electrolytic water of the present invention will be described.

In FIG. 1, first, tap water as a raw material is led to an activated carbon filtration device 1. The activated carbon filter 1
Removes iron rust and the like in tap water and further adsorbs and removes free chlorine and chloramine. The water that has passed through the activated carbon filtration device 1 is then led to a water softening device 2 where it is ion-exchanged and softened. Next, the softened water is introduced into the reverse osmosis device 3 and purified by the reverse osmosis method. The obtained reverse osmosis water is introduced into the electrolyzed water generator 4 and electrolyzed to obtain the electrolyzed strongly acidic water of the present invention.

The thus obtained strongly acidic electrolyzed water may be taken out of the pipe 8 and used as it is, or may be stored in the strongly acidic electrolyzed water tank 5 as needed. From the electrolytic strong acid water tank 5, electrolytic strong acid water is used,
If the level of the electrolytic strongly acidic water tank 5 drops below a certain level,
By the control device 7, the electrolyzed water generation device 4 and the reverse osmosis device 3 operate simultaneously, and always generate the required strongly acidic water.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the reverse osmosis device 3 and the electrolyzed water generating device 4 are directly connected to each other, contamination caused by stagnation caused by installing a reverse osmosis water tank and the like and external contamination can be eliminated as much as possible. .

However, in some cases, as shown in FIG.
The reverse osmosis water tank 9 includes the reverse osmosis device 3 and the electrolyzed water generation device 4.
And may be installed between them. In this case, it is also possible to send electrolytic strongly acidic water to the tank 9 via the pipe 6 and sterilize and wash the tank 9 by a method such as showering.

The electrolyzed strongly acidic water obtained by the method of the present invention usually has a pH of 2.7 or less and an oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) of 1 or less.
100 mV or more, effective chlorine concentration is about 10 to 40 ppm, especially about pH 2.7 to 2.4, ORP1100
Preferably, it is about 1150 mV and the effective chlorine concentration is about 15 to 30 ppm.

According to the present invention, when reverse osmosis water is used as raw water, the generation of scale in the electrolyzed water generator is extremely small compared to the case where tap water is used as raw water as in the past, and the reverse water conventionally used is used. The washing and the reversal of the polarity of the applied voltage are small, so that the electrode of the electrolyzed water generator is prevented from being deteriorated, and the electrolyzed strongly acidic water having stable and constant properties can be obtained.

In addition, the strongly acidic electrolytic water obtained by electrolysis using reverse osmosis water as raw water has a problem that the reverse osmosis water used as raw water usually contains only a small amount of endotoxin. The amount of endotoxin in the electrolytic strongly acidic water of the present invention immediately after production is extremely small, for example, the endotoxin concentration in the electrolytic strongly acidic water of the present invention immediately after production is
Even if it has a concentration slightly higher than 15 EU / liter which is normally present in the body of a healthy person, at the point of time one hour immediately after the production of the electrolytic strong acid water of the present invention, 15 EU / liter
It has the property that the concentration becomes less than liter.

When reverse osmosis water having a low endotoxin concentration is used as raw water, the electrolyzed strongly acidic water of the present invention can be produced, for example, at a time as short as about 30 minutes immediately after the production, for example, at 1 point.
It will have very low endotoxin concentrations of the order of 0 EU / liter or less, such as 5 EU / liter or less.

Therefore, when the strongly acidic electrolytic water of the present invention is used for the purpose of sterilization or the like in the clinical field, even if it enters the body, its endotoxin concentration can be found in the body of a normal healthy person. Since the degree is extremely low, the safety is extremely high.

Furthermore, surprisingly, according to the research of the present inventor, the electrolytically acidic water of the present invention produced using reverse osmosis water as raw water has not only a bactericidal action but also a normal tap water. It has been revealed that it has an extremely good endotoxin inactivating effect as compared with electrolytically acidic water produced using water as raw water.

That is, when the electrolytic strongly acidic water is produced using tap water as raw water, the obtained electrolytically strong acidic water contains an unexpectedly high concentration of endotoxin of about several thousand EU / liter immediately after production. In spite of the fact that the electrolytic strongly acidic water has an endotoxin inactivating effect, the initially high endotoxin concentration decreases only very slowly.
On the other hand, according to the present invention, the electrolyzed strongly acidic water obtained by using reverse osmosis water as raw water has a low endotoxin concentration immediately after production, and endotoxin of about several thousand EU / liter is added thereto. In that case, the thousands of EU
It was found that the concentration of endotoxin per liter rapidly decreased.

That is, the electrolyzed strongly acidic water of the present invention has a stronger endotoxin inactivating effect than the electrolyzed strongly acidic water obtained using tap water as raw water.

Accordingly, the strongly acidic electrolytic water of the present invention is useful as an endotoxin inactivating agent. For example, for medical treatment, wound treatment for surgical wounds, necrosis, pressure sores, etc., and dialysis solution piping for hemodialysis equipment It can be used advantageously for cleaning systems.

When the strongly acidic electrolytic solution of the present invention is used as an endotoxin inactivating agent, the strongly acidic electrolytic solution of the present invention may be brought into contact with a portion where the endotoxin is inactivated or removed. As for the contact time, the higher the endotoxin concentration at the site, the longer the contact. Therefore, in general, the relationship between the endotoxin concentration at the site where the endotoxin needs to be inactivated and the rate of endotoxin inactivation by the strongly acidic water of the present invention is examined in advance, and the contact time is adjusted so that a desired result can be obtained. And the like may be appropriately determined. For example, endotoxin of about several thousand EU / liter is about 1 hour in about 2 hours in the strongly acidic water of the present invention.
Since the concentration decreases from / 10 to 1/30, the amount to be used and the contact time may be appropriately determined based on this.

The temperature conditions when using the endotoxin inactivating agent of the present invention are not particularly limited.
C. is preferable, and about 20 to 40 C. is more preferable.

[0046]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples.

In the following Examples, Comparative Examples, and Test Examples, the endotoxin concentration was measured by the above-mentioned "Dialysis Fluid Endotoxin is well understood", edited by Shingo Takezawa, Tokyo Medical Co., Ltd., July 1, 1995. The measurement was carried out at room temperature (22 to 25 ° C.) using a microplate reader by the endospecies method (kinetic method) of the synthetic substrate method described on pages 38 to 39, published on the day of publication. Regarding the endotoxin concentration in the electrolytic strongly acidic water, the value of the endotoxin at the time of collection (ET value) was reduced to room temperature (22
２５25 ° C.).

As for the measurement, the measurement limit value is 2 EU /
Liter, and the measurement reliability value was 5 EU / liter.

Example 1 (a) Production of Reverse Osmosis Water Using a water treatment device ( manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Engineering Co., Ltd.), reverse osmosis water generated from the device was stored in a 500 liter reverse osmosis water tank. The ET value of the reverse osmosis water was measured. This method was performed a total of four times, changing the date and time.

Thus, the endotoxin concentration was 7, 2
Four types of reverse osmosis water of 3, 91 and 124 EU / liter were obtained.

(B) Production of Electrolyzed Strongly Acidic Water Each 500 liters of the four types of reverse osmosis water stored above are introduced into a generally commercially available electrolyzed water generator,
Four kinds of electrolytic strongly acidic water were obtained.

The pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and effective chlorine concentration of the thus obtained four kinds of strongly acidic water of the present invention are as shown in Table 1 below.

[0053]

[Table 1]

Test Example 1 The endotoxin concentrations immediately after the production of the four kinds of strongly acidic electrolyzed water of the present invention produced in the above-mentioned Example 1, and the endotoxin concentrations immediately after the production were 30%.
The endotoxin concentration was measured after 1 minute and 1 hour.

The results are shown in Table 2 below.

[0056]

[Table 2]

As is evident from Table 2, the electrolyzed strongly acidic water of the present invention has a very low endotoxin concentration immediately after its production, and the endotoxin concentration is 5 EU / measured at 30 minutes after production. It can be seen that the concentration is very low, less than one liter.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1 Electrolytic strongly acidic water was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 (b) except that tap water was used as raw water instead of reverse osmosis water.

The properties of the obtained strongly acidic electrolytic water were adjusted to pH 2.
5. Redox potential 1130mV and effective chlorine concentration 25p
pm.

Test Example 2 (a) For tap water used as raw water in Comparative Example 1, immediately after collection, 30 minutes after collection, 1 hour and 2 hours
After the lapse of time, the endotoxin concentration was measured.

The electrolytically acidic water obtained in Comparative Example 1 was also used immediately after production, for 30 minutes immediately after production.
Time and the endotoxin concentration after 2 hours were measured.

(B) Reverse osmosis water containing endotoxin was added to the strongly acidic water of the present invention (within 10 minutes from immediately after the production) produced in Example 1 using the reverse osmosis water as raw water, Endotoxin concentration in sexual water is 8
It was added to a concentration of 157 EU / liter or 8005 EU / liter. Immediately after addition and 30 after addition
After 1 minute, 1 hour and 2 hours, the endotoxin concentration was measured.

The results are shown in Table 3 below.

[0064]

[Table 3]

From the results in Table 3 above, based on the endotoxin concentration in the raw water or the amount of added endotoxin, immediately after collecting tap water raw water, immediately after producing electrolytically acidic water or immediately after adding endotoxin, and 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours thereafter FIG. 3 is a graph showing the results (endotoxin residual rate) obtained by converting the endotoxin concentration after passage into percentage. The symbols A to D in Table 3 correspond to the curves A to D in FIG. 3, respectively.

As is clear from Table 3 and FIG. 3, the electrolyzed strongly acidic water produced using tap water as raw water has a high endotoxin concentration immediately after production, and the rate of decrease in endotoxin concentration thereafter is slow. 100% concentration in water
In this case, immediately after the production, the concentration becomes about 60% of the concentration in the raw water. However, even after 2 hours from the production, the high concentration equivalent to about 40% of the concentration in the raw water still remains. Has been maintained.

On the other hand, when the same level of endotoxin as that present in the tap water raw water is added to the electrolytic strongly acidic water obtained according to the present invention, the endotoxin concentration becomes about 45 to 50% of the added concentration immediately after the addition. It decreases to the corresponding concentration, and then rapidly decreases, and after 2 hours from the addition, decreases to only about 3% of the added endotoxin concentration.

Therefore, it can be seen that the endotoxin inactivating effect of the electrolytic strongly acidic water of the present invention is extremely strong.

[0069]

As is evident from the above, the electrolyzed strongly acidic water of the present invention has a low endotoxin concentration even immediately after production, and one hour after the production, the endotoxin concentration normally present in the body of a healthy person is obtained. Has an extremely low endotoxin concentration of 15 EU / liter or less.

Therefore, when the electrolytic strongly acidic water of the present invention is used for sterilization or the like in the clinical field, the safety is extremely high.

The strongly acidic electrolyzed water of the present invention has a higher endotoxin inactivating effect than the strongly acidic electrolyzed water obtained using tap water as raw water. Therefore, the electrolyzed strongly acidic water of the present invention is much more useful as an endotoxin inactivating agent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the production of an electrolytic strongly acidic water of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the production of an electrolytic strongly acidic water of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the results (endotoxin residual ratio) of converting the values of the endotoxin concentration over time (Table 3) measured in Test Example 2 into percentages.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Activated carbon filtration apparatus 2 Soft water apparatus 3 Reverse osmosis apparatus 4 Electrolyzed water generation apparatus 5 Electrolytic strongly acidic water tank 6 Piping 7 Control apparatus 9 Reverse osmosis water tank

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electrolyzed strongly acidic water obtained by electrolyzing reverse osmosis water, which has an endotoxin concentration of 15 EU / liter or less at the time of one hour immediately after the production of the electrolyzed strongly acidic water. Electrolytic strongly acidic water characterized by the following. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reverse osmosis water is electrolyzed. 3. An electrolyzed strongly acidic water obtained by electrolyzing reverse osmosis water, which has an endotoxin concentration of 15 EU / liter or less when one hour has passed immediately after the production of the electrolyzed strongly acidic water. An endotoxin inactivating agent comprising electrolytically strongly acidic water.