JPH02149396A - Apparatus for treating waste liquid of photographic processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit a continuous disposal of concentrate while it is being carried out from liquid to prevent the decomposition thereof by overheating by providing a means for removing the concentrate directly and continuously from the waste liquid of photographic processing and concentrated by evaporation. CONSTITUTION:The waste liquid of photographic processing is heated by a heating means 3 and concentrated by evaporation and the resulting concentrate in the liquid is carried out therefrom directly and continuously by an endless belt 5. As a result, a continuous disposal of such concentrate becomes possible while it is being carried out, thereby permitting the decomposition thereof by overheating and the diminishing of the production of bad odor.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a method for evaporating waste liquid (hereinafter referred to as photographic processing waste liquid or waste liquid) generated during the processing of photographic light-sensitive materials using an automatic photographic processor. The present invention relates to a processing device, and particularly to a processing device for photographic processing waste liquid suitable for processing by being disposed in or near an automatic processor.

[Prior Art] In general, photographic processing of silver halide photographic materials includes development, fixing, washing, etc. in the case of black and white materials, and color development, bleach-fixing (or bleaching, fixing) in the case of color photographic materials. ,
A combination of processes using a treatment liquid having one or more functions such as water washing and stabilization is carried out.

In photographic processing in which a large amount of light-sensitive material is processed, the components consumed during processing are replenished, while the components that are concentrated by elution or evaporation into the processing solution (
For example, methods are used to maintain the performance of the processing solution at a constant level by removing bromide ions in the developer solution and silver complex salts introduced into the fixer solution to keep the processing solution components constant. A replenisher is added to the processing solution, and a portion of the processing solution is discarded to remove thickening components in photographic processing.

In recent years, systems have been changing to systems in which the amount of replenishment fluid, including washing water, which is used as a replenishment fluid for washing, has been significantly reduced due to pollution and economic reasons. It is led through a waste liquid pipe, diluted with waste liquid from washing water, cooling water from automatic processors, etc., and then disposed of in a sewer or the like.

However, due to stricter pollution regulations in recent years, it is possible to dispose of washing water and cooling water into sewers or rivers, but other photographic processing solutions [e.g. developer, fixer, color developer, bleach-fixer] It has become virtually impossible to dispose of stable liquids (or bleaching solutions, fixing solutions) and stabilizers. For this reason, each photo processing company pays a collection fee to a specialized waste liquid processing company to collect the waste liquid, or installs pollution treatment equipment. However, the method of outsourcing to a waste liquid treatment company requires a considerable amount of space to store the waste liquid, and is also extremely expensive. Furthermore, pollution treatment equipment has drawbacks such as extremely large initial investment (initial cost) and the need for a fairly large space for maintenance. Therefore, waste liquid is generally collected by a waste liquid collection company and rendered harmless through secondary and tertiary processing, but not only is the price of waste liquid collection rising year by year due to rising collection costs, but collection efficiency is low in minilabs, etc.
It is difficult to get people to come and collect the liquid, causing problems such as waste liquid filling the store.

In order to solve these problems, research has been conducted to heat the photographic processing waste liquid to evaporate the water to dryness or solidify it, with the aim of making it easier to process the photographic processing waste liquid even in minilabs. This is shown in Utility Model Application Publication No. 1ID-70841.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, when photographic processing waste liquid is evaporated in this manner, harmful or extremely malodorous gases such as sulfur dioxide gas, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia gas are generated. This is due to the decomposition of specific sulfur compounds, such as thiosulfate and sulfite, which are often used in fixers and bleach-fixers contained in photographic processing waste solutions.

For this reason, various studies and experiments have been conducted to remove odor components, and it has been found that photographic processing waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated by heating with a heating means, and when a predetermined amount has accumulated, it is taken out and disposed of. It has been found that continued heating causes the concentrate to overheat and decompose, causing hydrogen sulfide, ammonia gas, etc. to be generated.

Therefore, it is necessary to take out the concentrate continuously before it decomposes overheating and generates hydrogen sulfide, ammonia gas, etc. For example, a filter is provided in the circulation system for photographic processing waste liquid, and the filter is passed through the filter. However, in this case, there are problems such as clogging, which may impede operation, and is not practical.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a processing device for photographic processing waste liquid that is capable of continuous processing while taking out the concentrate, prevents overheating decomposition of the concentrate, and reduces the occurrence of bad odors. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a processing apparatus for photographic processing waste liquids that evaporates and concentrates photographic processing waste liquids by heating the photographic processing waste liquids with a heating means. It is characterized by comprising means for directly and continuously taking out the concentrate produced in the liquid from the concentrate.

Further, this processing apparatus for photographic processing waste liquid is characterized in that it is provided with a container for storing a concentrated liquid, and has a means for directly and continuously taking out the concentrated liquid precipitated in this container.

The heating means of the present invention may be a nichrome wire, or may be heated by a molded heater such as a cartridge heater, quartz heater, Teflon heater, rod heater, or panel heater, or microwave heating. Also,
A conductive material may be brought into direct contact with the photographic processing waste liquid, and the conductive material may cause an electric liquid to flow into the photographic processing waste liquid and heat the photographic processing waste liquid.

Additionally, you can use a heat pump, which is a device that extracts thermal energy from a low-temperature heat source and converts it into higher-temperature, more usable thermal energy. , the steam generated by this heating is cooled to obtain distilled water, which can be heated using the thermal energy obtained through heat exchange.
Efficient processing is possible.

The heat density of this heating means is preferably 1 to 20 W/c
m', more preferably set to 5 W/cm2.

The container for storing the photographic processing waste liquid and the concentrate produced in the liquid concentrated by the evaporation is not particularly limited in size or shape, as long as it can contain the photographic processing waste liquid and the concentrate produced by the evaporation concentration. Further, the container may be equipped with a heating means, and furthermore, the container may be equipped with a circulation system to circulate the photographic processing waste liquid, and in this case, the circulation system can also be equipped with a heating means.

The temperature at which the photographic processing waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated is preferably 100°C or lower, since bumping does not occur and overheating decomposition of the concentrate is prevented. The temperature is set within a range that can more effectively prevent overheated decomposition of the concentrated product and can significantly suppress the generation of odors such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gas.

If the temperature of this evaporative concentration is 100°C or less under normal pressure, the particle size of the concentrate separated by evaporation becomes large and tends to precipitate, and particles with low specific gravity decrease, which is the purpose of the present invention. For this purpose, the temperature is preferably 50 to 95°C, more preferably 60 to 85°C. Furthermore, when evaporation and concentration are performed under reduced pressure, the particle size of the concentrate becomes even larger, making it easier to precipitate. The temperature of this evaporation concentration under reduced pressure is
30~90℃ is preferable, more preferably 40~80℃
It is ℃.

By reducing the pressure and heating with a pressure reducing means, it is not only easier to recover the concentrate directly from the liquid, but also produces less tar in the evaporated concentrate compared to the normal pressure evaporation method.
It is also possible to reduce deposits on the walls of the evaporation pot.

This reduced pressure is preferably 610 mmHg or less, more preferably 520 mmHg or less, particularly preferably 230 mmHg or less. In addition, there is no particular lower limit to the reduced pressure, but it is preferably 1 mmHg or more in view of the cost of the equipment used to create the reduced pressure state.
It is preferable that the pressure is 10 mmHg or more because a simple device can be used.

Furthermore, a vacuum pump, an ejector, etc. are used as the pressure reducing means. When an ejector is used, the water sent into the ejector may be led directly from a water tap, but it is preferable to circulate the water using nine pumps, since piping can be omitted. Furthermore, as a preferred embodiment, there is a method in which the frozen ice is circulated by a pump and fed into the ejector.

86 as a vacuum pump other than steam as a pressure reducing means
/87 Scientific Instruments Directory (edited and published by Tokyo Scientific Instruments Association), pages 537 to 610 can also be used.

Further, in the photographic processing waste liquid processing apparatus of the present invention, air can be mixed into the circulation system, and the amount of air is preferably 0.1 to 100 J2/kcaJ2 relative to the amount of heating. By mixing this air, the bumping state of the photographic processing waste liquid is eliminated and the evaporation temperature is lowered, thereby suppressing the generation of odors such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gas.

In this invention, the means for directly and continuously taking out the concentrate generated in the liquid obtained by concentrating the photographic processing waste liquid by evaporation is a means for automatically taking out the concentrate produced in the liquid by evaporating the photographic processing waste liquid, which is a means for automatically taking out the concentrate produced by the intermittent operation of the taking-out device. Also included. Removal of this concentrate includes the fact that the concentrate adheres to the concentrate and is removed, and it is preferable that the amount of concentrated liquid removed is small. As a means for directly and continuously taking out the concentrate, there is a method of accumulating the concentrate on a conveying means such as an endless belt and then taking it out. The surface roughness of the endless belt may be set to a certain level, and scraping blades or the like may be provided on the surface of the endless belt. Furthermore, the concentrate accumulated in the container can be scraped up by a rotating scraping means or the like. In this way, when the concentrate produced by concentration and evaporation of the photographic processing waste liquid is continuously and directly taken out, the concentrate can be prevented from being heated, and the generation of odor can be reduced.

This extracted concentrate contains a large amount of water, and is preferably dried to remove this water. This drying may be performed by heating or blowing air, or by a combination of heating and blowing air, or It is preferable to dry by blowing hot air.

This concentrate is disposed of in a bag, which bag is preferably provided with fullness detection means. Furthermore, weight detection is preferable as the fullness detection means, and control for stopping the operation is performed based on this fullness detection signal.

Typical examples of photographic processing waste liquids that can be processed according to the present invention include those described in Japanese Patent Application No. 1982-194615 previously filed by the present applicant. In processing equipment, it is effective for photographic processing waste liquids containing large amounts of thiosulfates, sulfites, and ammonium salts, and is particularly effective when containing organic acid ferric complex salts and thiosulfates.

A preferred application of the present invention is to treat photographic processing waste liquid generated during the development of photographic light-sensitive materials using an automatic processor in or near the automatic processor.

[Operation] In this invention, the photographic processing waste liquid is concentrated by evaporation, and the precipitated concentrate is directly and continuously taken out from the liquid. Therefore, the concentrate produced by evaporation concentration will not accumulate and be overheated, and the concentrate will be prevented from being decomposed by overheating, thereby reducing the occurrence of bad odor.

Further, if the concentrate is allowed to settle in a container for storing the concentrate and the precipitated concentrate is directly and continuously taken out, a large amount of the concentrate can be easily taken out.

[Example] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a processing apparatus for photographic processing waste liquid according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a container for storing photographic processing waste liquid and a concentrate produced by evaporation and concentration of the waste liquid, and this container 1 is equipped with a connecting vibrator 2.

This connecting vibe 2 is provided with a heater 3, and the photographic processing waste liquid is heated and circulated by the heater 3, and the concentrate produced in the concentrate produced by this evaporation concentration is deposited at the bottom 1a of the container 1. It has become. Heater 3
may be placed inside the connecting vibrator 2 to directly heat the photographic processing waste liquid, or may be provided in the container 1.

A liquid level detection sensor 4 is provided in the container 1, and the liquid level detection sensor 4 monitors the amount of photographic processing waste liquid in the circulation system. This container 1 is provided with an endless belt 5 inclined at a predetermined angle, one end 5a of this endless belt 5 is located at the bottom 1a of the container 1 in the photographic processing waste liquid, and the other end 5b is located outside the liquid. It is located at the concentrate outlet portion 1b of the container 1. The concentrate generated by evaporation concentration of the photographic processing waste liquid is accumulated on the endless belt 5, and is continuously taken out while remaining adhered by the drive of the endless belt 5. 6 and is scraped off and discharged into a bag 7. The surface of the endless belt 5 is set to a surface roughness that allows the concentrate to be taken out, and the inclination angle of the endless belt 5 is also set to an angle that allows the concentrate to be taken out. Air is sent to the concentrate take-out part 1b of the container 1 via a heater 9 by driving an air pump 8 to dry the concentrate, and the dried concentrate is stored in the bag 7. .

Separation means 1o is provided in the upper part of the container 1, and a baffle plate 10a is arranged inside this separation means 10 to separate the vapor of the photographic processing waste liquid from the concentrate. The concentrate falls into container 1.

The steam taken out through the steam exhaust pipe 11 is combined with the steam taken out through the steam exhaust pipe 12 from the concentrate take-out part 1b of the container 1, and is sent to the condenser 13. The steam is cooled and condensed in the condenser 13, and the resulting distilled water is stored in the distillation tank 14.

Odor-containing air from the condenser 13 is mixed with the photographic processing waste liquid through the piping 16 by the operation of the air pump 15, and is supplied to the connecting vibe 2 and returned to the circulation system. This piping 16 is driven by a waste liquid supply pump 17 to supply photographic processing waste liquid from a waste liquid tank 18 .

The amount of air mixed into this pipe 16 is 0.1 with respect to the amount of heating.
-100j2/kcal is preferable, and by mixing this air, the evaporation temperature of the photographic processing waste liquid is lowered, and the generation of odors such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gas is suppressed.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment, in which the endless belt 5 is provided with scraping blades 5C capable of scraping up the concentrate, and the scraping blades 5C move the bottom 1a of the container 1.
It scrapes up the concentrate accumulated on the endless belt 5 and takes out the concentrate accumulated on the endless belt 5. The concentrate on the endless belt 5 is discharged into a filter bag 19, where moisture is removed. This container 1 is depressurized by a decompression means (not shown), and the photographic processing waste liquid is evaporated and concentrated under reduced pressure.

FIG. 3 shows still another embodiment, in which the endless belt 5 shown in FIG. 1 is placed outside the photographic processing waste liquid, and the photographic processing waste liquid is supplied onto this endless belt 5 from the connecting vibrator 2 of the circulation system. It has become so. Concentrates of the photographic processing waste liquid supplied onto the endless belt 5 remain on the endless belt 5 while the endless belt 5 is being driven, and water falls into the container 1 and is separated, and the concentrate from which water has been removed is , and is scraped off by the scraping member 6 and discharged into the bag 7.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show still another embodiment, in which a scraper 2 rotated by a motor 20 is installed in the concentrate take-out part 1b of the container 1.
1, and the scraping body 21 is provided with a pair of scraping blades 21a.

When the scraping body 21 rotates, the scraping blades 21a scrape up the concentrate accumulated on the bottom 1a of the container 1, as shown in FIG. 22 into the filter bag 19 to discharge the concentrate. Although a pair of scraping blades 21a of the scraping body 21 are provided in this embodiment, it may be one, and there is no particular limitation, and when a plurality of scraping blades 21a are provided, it is preferable to provide them at equal intervals.

The rotation of the scraping body 21 varies depending on the number of scraping blades 21a, the concentration of the photographic processing waste liquid, etc., and is preferably 10 seconds to 3 seconds.
1 rotation per hour, more preferably 1 rotation per minute to 1 hour,
More preferably, the rotation is set to one rotation every 3 to 30 minutes.

[Effects of the Invention] As mentioned above, the photographic processing waste liquid processing apparatus of the present invention has the following features:
Since the photographic processing waste liquid is concentrated by evaporation and the precipitated concentrate is directly and continuously taken out from the liquid, the concentrate produced by evaporative concentration does not accumulate and overheat, and the concentrate is not overheated. It can prevent decomposition and reduce the occurrence of bad odors.

Moreover, if the concentrate is allowed to settle in a container for storing the concentrate and the precipitated concentrate is directly and continuously taken out, a large amount of the concentrate can be easily taken out.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a processing apparatus for photographic processing waste liquid according to the present invention, and FIGS. 342 to 5' are schematic diagrams showing other embodiments. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 is a container, 1a is a bottom, 1b is a concentrate extraction part, 2 is a connecting vibe, 3 is a heater, 5 is an endless belt, 2
1 is the rachis epidermis. Starvation C1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a processing device for photographic processing waste liquid, which heats the photographic processing waste liquid with a heating means to evaporate and concentrate the photographic processing waste liquid, the concentrate produced in the liquid obtained by concentrating the photographic processing waste liquid by evaporation is added to the concentrated liquid. 1. A processing apparatus for photographic processing waste liquid, characterized by comprising means for taking it out more directly and continuously. 2. The photographic processing waste liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a container for storing the concentrated liquid, and a means for directly and continuously taking out the concentrated liquid precipitated in the container. Processing equipment.