JPH0321389A - Method and apparatus for treating photographic waste solution - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently and simply treat a waste solution by cooling the surface part having a large number of gaps formed thereto along the outer periphery thereof of a rotary body and bringing the waste solution into contact with the surface part to freeze the same. CONSTITUTION:A waste solution is received in the waste solution receiving body 11 of a waste solution treatment apparatus 10 through piping 9. The waste solution received in the receiving body 11 is cooled by a cooled rotary body 12 to precipitate ice. The precipitated ice is adhered to the surface of the rotary body while the adhered ice is scaped off by a scraper/liquid collecting device 14 while melted by a heater 13 to be collected. The melted treated solution is sent to the receiving body of the next waste solution treatment apparatus to be treated. The treated solution is sent to a washing treatment apparatus 8 as a purified solution. The conc. solution is sent to the waste solution treatment apparatus and further conc. to be sent to a waste solution tank 7. By this method, the waste solution can be treated efficiently and simply.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for effectively treating photographic processing waste liquid.

(Prior Art) In recent years, the development processing time for silver halide photography has become shorter, and it has become possible to process within 30 minutes. Furthermore, most of the time it takes from the time a user sends their photographed film to a DPE agency until they receive a print is the round-trip time between the DPE agency and a development processing facility called a laboratory. For this reason, it was necessary to speed up this process, so a small automatic developing machine that was automatically controlled and easy to handle was developed.
(hereinafter referred to as Mini Lapo) can now be installed. However, such places generally do not have wastewater treatment facilities, so they use a system in which exhausted developer, fixer, and washing fluids are stored in wastewater tanks and periodically collected by wastewater treatment companies. However, in urban areas with heavy traffic, collection takes time and is surprisingly difficult, and in sparsely populated areas, collection efficiency is poor, leading to illegal disposal, which can lead to river and seawater contamination. . For this reason, the minilab has seven themes to develop machines that generate less waste liquid, and the current situation is that it is difficult to reduce the amount below a certain level because it may affect the quality of the photographs.

In a typical mini-lab (time 3! Akebono roll film 3θ main processing), the amount of waste liquid generated is approximately 3 liters of developing waste solution, 1 liter of bleach-fixing waste solution, and /θ liter of washing solution per 7 days, total /! It is about liter.

The beams/tables indicate some of the typical photographic processing chemicals. In general, the wastewater from photographic processing is highly polluted, with BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) in the tens of thousands of ppm.

Conventional methods for wastewater treatment include activated sludge, activated carbon, oxidizing agents such as ozone, separation membrane treatment, incineration of wastewater, and evaporation or distillation of wastewater. A method of crystallization is known as a method of precipitating a solid from a liquid due to the difference in solubility due to temperature.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Purifying photographic processing waste liquid using general wastewater treatment such as the activated sludge method described above requires extremely large equipment and contains many components that cannot be biodegraded. is not realistic. Furthermore, even if activated carbon is used, a large amount of activated carbon is required due to adsorption capacity limitations, and it is also impractical due to the frequency and cost of replacement. The use of oxidizing agents such as ozone is often insufficient for photographic processing chemicals because ozone cannot be used to oxidize the chemicals. In the method of processing using a separation membrane, photographic processing chemicals contain a large amount of inorganic salts, and at the same time, the molecular weight of organic substances ranges from several O to about /θOθ, and there is currently no membrane that can efficiently separate these. The method of incinerating waste liquid can decompose a certain amount of COD, but due to the sulfur content in the chemicals, a large amount of sulfur dioxide gas, iron, and salt dust are generated, which must be disposed of, making it difficult to treat small amounts of waste liquid. However, it would be quite a complex piece of equipment, and it would be impractical to install it alongside a mini-rapport. In the method of evaporating or distilling the waste liquid, the chemical solution is distilled into the distillate and the COD removal rate is at best!
It is not practical because it has a low level of θ, and the components decompose due to heat, producing foul-smelling gas, which requires extensive treatment to remove. In addition, in the stirred tank type crystallizer and continuous transport tank type crystallizer used in crystallization operations, the control of the mother liquor is strict, so it is difficult to control the mother liquor, such as in the case of silver salt photographic processing waste solution, and large crystals are produced. It cannot be used if the control to create it is not easy. Furthermore, when fine ice crystals are precipitated, the separation efficiency is not increased due to the liquid adhering to the surface of the crystals, which is not practical. Although various studies have been conducted on photographic processing waste liquid, no simple and easy processing method has yet been found, and as a result, Mini Lapo has adopted a method in which processing companies collect the waste.

The present invention solves this problem by providing a novel photographic waste liquid processing method and apparatus that can efficiently and simply process photographic processing waste liquid.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention involves bringing photographic waste liquids (developing waste liquid, fixing waste liquid, aqueduct waste liquid) into contact with the surface of a cooled rotary body to freeze them, and then using the processing liquid obtained from this for photographic development. Processing machine processing tank (development processing tank,
Return to fixing treatment tank, washing treatment tank). The means for bringing the waste liquid into contact with the surface of the rotating body include a method of immersing the surface in the waste liquid and a method of causing the liquid to flow down onto the surface. Further, the method of cooling the surface portion includes passing a cooling tube through the surface portion or cooling the surface portion using the Bertier effect.

(Function and Examples) Figure 1 shows the case of liquid-repellent processing from the automatic photographic processor Mini Lapo (1). The waste liquid from the developing tank (2) and the washing liquid from the bleach-fixing tank (3) generated from the minilab are transferred to tanks 16) and (7) via piping (4) and (5), respectively.
) A monk who is washed with water and occurs in a large number of places (8)
The flowing α force is introduced into the I58 liquid container αD of the waste liquid treatment device 00 through the pipe (9). The waste liquid placed in the container is cooled by a cooled rotating body O, which will be described later, and ice (frozen matter) is deposited on the waste liquid. The precipitated ice adheres to the surface of the rotating body, and the adhering ice is melted by a means for removing it, that is, a heater a3 in the illustrated example, and scraped off and collected by a scraper/liquid collecting device a◆. The thawed treatment liquid is sent to the container of the next waste liquid treatment device (on the right side in the drawing) and subjected to the same treatment. The thus treated liquid is sent as a purified liquid to the washing treatment tank (8) of the minilapo via the pipe aO by the pump α0.

On the other hand, the concentrated liquid is sequentially sent to the waste liquid treatment device on the front side (on the left side in the drawing), further concentrated, and sent to the bleach-fixing waste liquid tank (7) via the pipe α8.

In addition, the one shown is not a waste liquid treatment device! Although it is a stage, it can be made into other multiple stages or a single stage (including a batch type). A connecting pipe a9 is provided between each of the waste liquid processing apparatuses, and a part of the treated waste liquid is returned to the preceding processing apparatus. The amount returned is a factor that keeps the concentration of waste liquid at each stage constant and determines the degree of purification and concentration.

Next, in Figures λ and 3 {=, the rotating body O of the waste liquid treatment device is operated at a slow ice production speed with as large a surface area (ice precipitation area) as possible. In addition, as a means of obtaining stable water crystals without seed crystals, a method is adopted in which ice is attached to the heat transfer surface for cooling. This method cannot be used in existing crystallizers because the heat transfer coefficient decreases due to the adhesion of crystals and good crystals cannot be obtained, but it is the most suitable method for waste liquid treatment equipment due to its operability and stability. be. As a means of realizing these, a large number of hollow disks (
Use a varnish spacer (
It is made compact by passing the cooling liquid such as antifreeze, cooling gas, etc. through the hollow space of the disk (self) and depositing ice on the surface of the disk. to obtain a large surface area.

The above disk (to) and spacer 10 are the waste liquid container Qn I
':-It is fastened with a bolt to a hollow rotating shaft rotatably supported by BEARIG,
It resembles a rotating body O. What is inside the support part of the rotating body? A sealing member @ for sealing the waste liquid is provided.

The rotating body is connected to the output shaft of the geared motor from the geared motor holder attached to the support base (to) with the key 0.
It is rotated via the gear ■■■ which is fixed to υ and the gear ■■■ which is fixed to the end of the rotating shaft (to) by a key (to) and a locking nut. A pipe for feeding cooled antifreeze is inserted into the axial center (1) of the rotating body, and the pipe is fixed to the support base (to) by a retainer. The antifreeze in the pipe flows in before the stopper works, and flows out into the hollow part of the inner plate through the nozzle 4 formed in the nozzle structure provided in the pipe.

The liquid that flows out flows into the hollow part of the disc, partitioned by two radially arranged partition plates (41), and cools the surface part (6) of the disc. The cooled antifreeze liquid passes through the space above the pipe (9) and is collected, then returns to the pipe through the inlet port 1 of the pipe and is discharged.

A portion of the disk (to) is immersed in the waste liquid in the container Qll, thereby cooling the waste liquid and causing water to precipitate and adhere to the disk surface. The precipitated ice is carried upward as the disk rotates concavely. The adhering ice is scraped off by the scraper α4ε2 installed in the gap between the discs, and the ice melts naturally or is removed by a water heater α3 with the scraper fixed at the bottom with screws (Fig. or an electric heater, etc.: Therefore, it is dissolved and used as purified treated water, or as shown in the figure, the treated water is sent to the container of the next waste liquid treatment device to further purify the treated water. In addition, when the thickness of the disk is large, the scraper may be provided also on its outer peripheral surface.

The water heater has a support portion (
Hot water flows into and out of the pipe (d) supported by L47), respectively. The hot water is my brother! As shown in the figure, evaporator 1, compressor (5l), release valve (52), condenser (5l),
3), etc., using the heat generated from the condenser (53) of the refrigerator system.

The disk can be made into a hexagonal, male-gonal or other polygonal shape, or by providing fin-like irregularities on the surface of the disk.

The waste liquid treatment device is capable of forcibly discharging the waste liquid between the disks as appropriate and agitating the surface of the frozen matter on the disk surface.
In this case, the separation efficiency between the concentrated waste liquid and the treated liquid separated therefrom is further improved. That is, in FIGS. 6 and 7,
Partition plates (54) and (5) are provided on both sides of the container αD, respectively.
5), and a nozzle (56) is provided on one of the partition plates (54).
), and the other partition plate (55) has a communication hole (57). The waste liquid is transferred to the pipe (
59) to the front outflow side chamber (60), flows out from the nozzle between each disc, and flows into the rear inflow side chamber (6l).
) and return to the above pump.

Figures ♂♂ to ♂/// show the case where the waste liquid flows down onto the surface of the disk and the surface of the frozen matter is stirred. The waste liquid that has flowed into the container is transferred to the pipes (63) and (64) by the pump (62).
, a header (65), and a pipe (66) provided in the gap (c) of a plurality of discs ω formed on the outer periphery of the rotating body, to a nozzle (67) of the pipe (66), It is caused to flow down from the nozzle onto the surface of the disk. The waste liquid that has flown down the surface of the disk is collected in the container 0 (:) and is circulated again to the nozzle (67) by the pump.The waste liquid that has come into contact with the surface of the disk is cooled by the cooled disk, and ice ( The precipitated ice adheres to the surface of the disk. By doing this, the waste liquid flows down while constantly stirring the surface of the ice precipitated on the disk surface, reducing the impurity concentration of the waste liquid near the ice. Promptly reduce the concentration to average.

FIG. 73 shows a case in which waste liquid from the minilab (1) is treated as in FIG. 7, but in this case, the developer is treated to reduce the amount of developer waste generated. The developer waste liquid discharged from the development processing tank (2) is put into the waste liquid container a1) of the waste liquid treatment device αO via the pipe (4),
Same as in Figure 7 (second purification and concentration). The purified liquid is sent to the developing processing cypress (2) via piping 08 by pump αe.
). The concentrated waste liquid is put into a tank (6) as a developer waste liquid. In this case, since the purified liquid does not need to be cleaned so much, the number of stages in the waste liquid treatment device can be reduced to 2 to 3 stages (3 stages in the figure). By doing this, the developer waste liquid can be discharged in a more concentrated state, so the amount of waste liquid can be much reduced. In addition, as a modification of this method, a more concentrated developer is used, a developer washing tank is installed between the development processing tank (2) and the bleach-fixing processing tank (8), and a waste liquid treatment device is installed for the development washing solution generated from there. Another possible method for reducing the total amount of developer waste is to return the treated water to the developer washing tank and discharge the concentrated solution as developer waste.

The waste liquid mentioned above can be used as another fixing liquid, or several or all of the developer, fixer, and washing liquid can be used as waste liquid, and the processing liquid can be returned to the development processing tank and washing processing tank as described above. or return it to the fixing treatment tank or some or all of them. It should be noted that various other methods can be used as means for taking out the frozen matter formed on the surface of the rotating body, means for returning the processing liquid obtained by melting the frozen matter to the processing tank C of the photographic processing machine, and the like. The method of immersing the surface of the rotating body in waste liquid and the method of letting waste flow down onto the surface can be used in combination.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention has two configurations as described above, in which photographic waste liquid can be treated and returned to the photographic processing tank for use, and the treated water can also be discharged into rivers, sewers, etc. Moreover, the waste liquid can be efficiently and easily treated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram, FIG. λ is a partially omitted enlarged longitudinal sectional view, and FIG.
A line sectional view, Figure 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the scraper, and Figure 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the scraper.
The figure is a schematic diagram showing a means for producing hot water, Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view, Figure 7 is a partially omitted central horizontal cross-sectional view, and the younger brother figure is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of another example with partially omitted. FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of another example, and FIG.
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line n in Figure ♂, and Figure @73 is a schematic diagram of another example. 1...Photographic processing machine, 2, 3, 8...Processing tank, 1
2... Rotating body, l3... Water heater, l4... Scraper 15... Pump, 16... Piping, 21...
・Void, 23...Space, 42...Surface, 45...
・Frozen matter, 5!5,67...Nozzle 4th figure 5th figure 6th section 13-. Figure 7 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 13

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Cooling a surface portion with a plurality of voids formed along the outer periphery of a rotating body, and bringing waste liquid generated from a photographic processing machine into contact with the surface portion to freeze it. A method for processing photographic waste liquid in which the processing liquid is returned to the processing tank of the photographic processing machine. 2. The photographic waste liquid processing method according to claim 1, wherein the waste liquid is brought into contact with the surface of the rotating body in an agitated state. 3. A rotating body that has a surface portion with a plurality of voids formed along the outer periphery of the rotating body and cools the surface portion by passing a cooling fluid into the spaces formed within the surface portion, and a photographic development process is applied to the surface portion of the rotating body. A photographic device comprising a means for contacting waste liquid generated from the photographic processing machine, a means for taking out frozen matter formed on the surface of the rotating body, and a pump mechanism for returning the processing liquid obtained from the frozen matter to the processing tank of the photographic processing machine. Waste liquid treatment equipment. 4. A photographic waste liquid processing device comprising a nozzle mechanism that brings the waste liquid into contact with the surface of the rotating body in an agitated state.