JPH0657231B2 - Waste treatment equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for treating medical waste with steam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method for treating medical waste made of a thermoplastic material, an autoclave treatment is known in which medical waste is sterilized and melted by leaving it in a treatment container kept in a high temperature steam atmosphere for a certain period of time. . As a device for performing this treatment, a device that maintains the temperature of the steam in the processing container at a desired sterilization temperature by introducing high-pressure steam generated in a high-pressure boiler into a high-pressure processing container has been conventionally used.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned autoclave treatment, it was conventionally necessary to keep the temperature in the treatment container at 120 ° C. or higher, but in order to completely sterilize medical waste, a higher temperature is required. In recent years, it has become clear that it is necessary to maintain the temperature at 180 ° C. or higher, which has caused various inconveniences in the conventional high-pressure type processing apparatus. That is, in order to keep the steam temperature in the processing container at 180 ° C. or higher in the conventional apparatus, it is 20 when considering the temperature decrease until reaching the processing container.
It is necessary to generate steam at 0 ° C or higher in the boiler, and in order to generate such high-temperature steam, the boiler pressure must be increased to 30 Kgf / cm ² or higher in gauge pressure. However, the working pressure of a normal high-pressure boiler is generally about 10 Kgf / cm ² (gauge pressure), and in order to raise the pressure beyond this, it is necessary to prepare a boiler with a particularly high pressure resistance. Further, the pressure of the processing container must be kept considerably high in accordance with the saturated vapor pressure with respect to the target temperature in the container in order to prevent the temperature of the high-pressure steam from decreasing. As a result, the entire processing equipment is at a high pressure and special handling is required, and as the pressure resistance increases, the overall equipment becomes large and heavy, and handling and transportation during installation is extremely inconvenient. Becomes

Here, as a waste treatment apparatus using steam, there is an apparatus for mixing hot air with steam to generate high-temperature wet hot air and melting the waste with this hot hot air.
It is described in JP-A-2-242507. However, in the device described in this publication, the combustion gas of the burner reacts with the components contained in the waste to generate an impure gas, so a chimney or the like is provided to discharge the impure gas from time to time, while the amount of exhaust gas is commensurate with It is necessary to constantly supply moist hot air. Therefore, it cannot be applied to a heat treatment such as an autoclave process in which the waste is left for a certain time in the steam accumulated in the closed container.

The object of the present invention is to safely treat waste with steam in a closed container, which is represented by autoclave treatment of medical waste, under a lower pressure than before,
It is to provide a processing device that is easy to handle and inexpensive.

[0006]

1 to 3, which show an embodiment, the steam source 1 for generating steam and the steam generated by the steam source 1 are heated in the present invention. Heating means 2, a steam inlet 31 into which steam heated by the heating means 2 flows, an openable / closable inlet 32 into which waste is input, and an openable / closable exhaust from which waste after processing is discharged. A closed vessel-shaped melting tank 3 provided with an outlet 37, and a pressure limiting means for limiting the pressure in the melting vessel 3 to a target pressure equal to or lower than a saturated vapor pressure for a target temperature region in the tank. By including 116, the above-mentioned object is achieved. In the apparatus according to claim 2, when the temperature of the melting tank 3 reaches the target temperature region, the steam inflow control means 110 that blocks the inflow of steam into the melting tank 3 and allows the inflow of steam when the temperature is below the target temperature region. Was set up. In the apparatus according to the third aspect, the drainage means 118 for periodically discharging the water in the melting tank 2 is provided. In the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, as shown in FIG. 4, the vapor guide means 115 is provided to allow the vapor flowing from the vapor inlet 31 to the melting tank 3 to diffuse toward the center while diffusing along the inner wall of the melting tank 3. In the device of claim 5,
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, immediately after the charging port 32 of the melting tank 3, a crushing unit 34 for crushing the waste, and a stirring unit 3 for stirring the waste accumulated at the inlet side of the crushing unit 34.
3 and 3. In the apparatus of claim 6, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, a conveying means 35 for conveying the waste melted in the melting tank 3 toward the discharge port 37 and a dividing means 612 for dividing the conveyed waste. And.

[0007]

In the present invention, since the steam generated in the steam source 1 is heated by the heating means 2, the temperature of the steam in the steam source 1 is controlled by the melting tank 3.
It is not necessary to raise the temperature above the target temperature in. Further, it is not necessary to keep the pressure of the melting tank 3 at a high pressure in accordance with the saturated vapor pressure with respect to the target temperature. Since the pressure of the melting tank 3 is limited to a target pressure lower than the saturated vapor pressure by the pressure control means 116, the waste is safely processed under a low pressure. In the apparatus according to the second aspect, the steam is replenished only when the temperature in the melting tank 3 drops from the target temperature range. In the apparatus of claim 3, the water generated by the heat exchange between the steam and the waste is the drainage means 1
The waste water is appropriately drained at 18, and wasteful consumption of heat energy due to heat exchange between water and steam is suppressed. In the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, even if the inside of the melting tank 3 is at a low pressure, the steam is uniformly diffused into the melting tank 3 by the steam guide means 115. In the device of claim 5,
For example, the waste collected in a bag is directly charged from the charging port 32 and crushed by the crushing means 34 to a size suitable for processing. The input port 32 is closed during the operation of the crushing means 34 to prevent the scattering of waste. The stirring means 33 is interlocked with the crushing means 34 to eliminate clogging of waste in the crushing means 34. In the apparatus of claim 6, the waste material melted in the melting tank 3 is conveyed by the conveying means 35 toward the discharge port 37, and the dividing means 6 is used.
At 12, the pieces are cut into a size suitable for the subsequent process.

Incidentally, in the section of means and action for solving the above-mentioned problems for explaining the constitution of the present invention, the drawings of the embodiments are used to make the present invention easy to understand. It is not limited to.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a medical waste autoclave processing apparatus will be described below with reference to FIGS. The pressure specified in the following description means a gauge pressure unless otherwise specified. 1 and 2
As shown in FIG. 2, the processing apparatus of this embodiment performs, on the bed B, a boiler 1 for generating steam, a heater 2 for heating the steam generated by the boiler 1, and sterilization and melting of medical waste. The melting tank 3 and an elevator 4 for introducing medical waste into the melting tank 3 are installed to be roughly configured.

The boiler 1 includes a water tank 5 to a water softener 6
The water fed into the pressure vessel 11 through the burner 12 is heated by the burner 12 to generate steam.
3 is sent to the heater 2 through the pressure reducing valve 14. Heater 2
Is for heating the steam passing through the internal conduit of the heating container 21 by a burner (not shown), and the heated steam is sent from the discharge pipe 22 toward the melting tank 3. The combustion gas of the burner 12 of the boiler 1 is blown by the blower fan 23 of the heater 2 through the flue 15.
Is guided to the inside of the heating container 21 by the blower fan 23 and used for heating the steam. This is a measure taken to increase the thermal efficiency of the heater 2. The gas used for heating the steam by the heater 2 is exhausted from the chimney 24 (FIG. 2). The heater 2 is not limited to the one using the combustion heat of the burner, and various heating means such as an electric heater may be used.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the melting tank 3 is mainly composed of a processing container 30 having a substantially cylindrical closed container shape. A steam inlet 31 connected to the discharge pipe 22 of the heater 2 via the inflow control valve 110 and the steam supply pipe 111 is provided at the center of the lower end of the processing container 30. The inflow control valve 110 drives a built-in valve body (not shown) by an actuator 110a to open and close the flow path. When the inflow control valve 110 is switched to the open position, the heater 2
The steam heated in 1 flows into the processing container 30 from the steam inlet 31. The inflow control valve 110 is opened and closed according to the start and end of the autoclave process, and the pressure sensor 1
Switching control is performed as described below based on the pressure inside the processing container 30 detected by 12 (FIG. 2) and the temperature inside the processing container 30 detected by the temperature sensor 113 (FIG. 3). Reference numeral 114 in the figure is a pressure gauge for displaying the pressure in the processing container 30.

As shown in FIG. 4, a vapor guide plate 115 is provided inside the processing container 30 and extends upward from just above the vapor inlet 31 along the inner wall 30a. As shown by the arrow in the figure, a large number of vent holes (not shown) are formed in the steam guide plate 115 for allowing the steam to flow out toward the center side, whereby the steam flowing from the steam inlet 31 is uniformly diffused into the tank. . The density of the vent holes may be constant over the entire surface of the steam guide plate 115, but since the amount of steam decreases as the distance from the steam inlet 31 increases, the density of the vent holes may increase as the distance from the steam inlet 31 increases.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the processing container 3
An exhaust valve 116 is attached to the upper part of 0. The exhaust valve 116 includes a built-in valve body (not shown) for the actuator 1
16a to drive and open / close the flow path.
When the internal pressure exceeds a predetermined target pressure, the exhaust valve 116 is opened to discharge the vapor inside the processing container 30,
When the pressure in 0 is equal to or lower than the target pressure, the exhaust valve 116 is closed to confine steam. The pressure of the processing container 30 for controlling the exhaust valve 116 is detected by a pressure switch (not shown) provided separately from the pressure sensor 112.

The relationship between the target temperature and target pressure of the processing container 30, the opening / closing operations of the inflow control valve 110 and the exhaust valve 116, and the steam temperature in the boiler 1 and the heater 2 will be described. In this embodiment, the target temperature of the processing container 30 is set to 200 to 220 ° C. in order to completely sterilize the medical waste. The target pressure of the processing container 30 is smaller than the saturated vapor pressure with respect to the target temperature, for example, 0.
It is set to 5 Kgf / cm ² . If the target pressure is set lower than the legal pressure (1 Kgf / cm ² ) that requires the placement of specialized workers, it is convenient because the human cost required for operating the equipment is reduced.

In order to achieve the above target temperature and target pressure, the pressure at which the exhaust valve 116 opens is equal to the target pressure.
Set to 5 Kgf / cm ² . The temperature of the steam discharged from the heater 2 is set to 30 in consideration of the temperature decrease until reaching the processing container 30.
Set around 0 ° C. Then, the temperature sensor 113 detects whether or not the temperature inside the processing container 30 has reached the target temperature region, and when it is in the target temperature region, the inflow control valve 110 is closed to prevent the inflow of steam. When the temperature is lower than the target temperature range, the inflow control valve 110 is opened and the vapor from the heater 2 is guided to the processing container 30 to raise the temperature in the container. Further, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the amount of steam flowing from the steam inlet 31 exceeds the amount of exhaust gas from the exhaust valve 116 and the pressure of the processing container 30 exceeds the target pressure. When, for example, 1 Kgf / cm ² is reached, this is detected by the pressure sensor 112 and the inflow control valve 1
I'm trying to close 10. The steam temperature of the boiler 1 may be appropriately determined according to the heating capacity of the heater 2, but is set to about 100 to 150 ° C. in this embodiment. It is convenient for the operation of the apparatus if the boiler 1 is also a low pressure type of 1 Kgf / cm ² or less like the processing container 30.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 118 is a main drain valve. The main drain valve 118 is driven by the actuator 118a at regular intervals (for example, every 30 minutes for 30 seconds) to discharge water accumulated in the processing container 30. The auxiliary drain valve 119 (FIG. 1) drains water when starting up.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIGS. 5 and 6, a waste container input port 32 is provided in the upper part of the processing container 30, and the input port 32 is a hydraulic cylinder 200 and the axis of the rod 201. It can be opened and closed by a lid 202 that is rotated around. An agitator 33 and a crusher 34 are provided immediately below the charging port 32. The stirrer 33 has a shaft 300.
A plurality of (two in the figure) agitation rods 301 attached to the above are rotated by a motor 302 to agitate the waste material charged into the charging port 32. The crusher 34 has a plurality of cutters 40 which are eccentric to each other.
By rotating 0 around a pulley shaft 402 by a motor (not shown) connected to the pulley 401 by a belt,
Waste is sandwiched between the cutter 400 and the inner surface 403 of the casing to be crushed.
It drops into 0.

Since the crusher 34 is provided, the operation of taking out the medical waste collected in the packed state from the bag and putting it in the processing container 30 is apt to be avoided, and the bacteria may be scattered. Therefore, the waste is put into the bag together with the lid 202.
It is designed such that it is automatically crushed to a size suitable for autoclave treatment in the closed state. Further, the stirrer 33 is provided because if the waste is clogged between the charging port 32 and the crusher 34, the lid 202 is opened and the operator stirs the waste. Since it is meaningless to crush the waste, the waste is stirred while the lid 202 is closed to prevent or eliminate the clogging. It should be noted that the crusher 34 is driven only for the time required for crushing the waste after the waste is charged and the lid 202 is closed, and then the crusher 34 automatically stops. The stirrer 33 is driven in association with the crusher 34. During operation of the crusher 34 and the agitator 33, the lid 202 is fixed in a closed state by the hydraulic cylinder 200.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a screw 35 is arranged below the processing container 30. Screw 3
In the motor 501, the sprocket 500 attached to one end of the motor 501 is connected to the sprocket 502 attached to the output shaft of the motor 501 via the chain 503.
It is possible to rotate around its own axis according to the rotation of. By the rotation of the screw 35, the waste material melted in the processing container 30 is conveyed toward the discharge tube 36 protruding to the side of the processing container 30. Here, the reason why the discharge cylinder 36 is projected to the side of the processing container 30 is to isolate the waste conveyed by the screw 35 from the heat in the processing container 30 and cool it. In this embodiment, in order to further improve the cooling efficiency, the discharge cylinder 36 has a double-pipe structure including the outer cylinder 600 and the inner cylinder 601, and the cooling water is introduced from the inlet 602 provided in the outer cylinder 600 into the gap between the cylinders 600 and 601. Is injected and allowed to flow out from the outflow port 603 on the opposite side.

As shown in FIG. 3, the inner cylinder 60 of the discharge cylinder 36.
1, the tip side of the screw 35 has a diameter smaller than that of the connecting portion with the processing container 30, and the tip portion 35a of the screw 35 has a diameter smaller than that of the base end portion 35b. Also, screw 3
The pitch of the front end portion 35a of 5 is made smaller than that of the base end portion 35b, and the waste conveyed by the screw 35 is compressed toward the front end of the discharge tube 36 by these measures. In order to prevent the transport resistance from increasing due to the compression and solidification of the waste, the thickness of the tip portion 35a of the screw 35 is set to the base portion 3.
It is thicker than 5b.

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG.
A flange 610 is attached to the tip of the nozzle, and a plurality of nozzles 611 (eight in the figure) for molding the waste conveyed by the screw 35 into a cylindrical shape having a small diameter are formed on the flange 610. The inlet side of the nozzle 611 is formed in a tapered shape in order to smoothly guide the waste. The support shaft 35c at the tip of the screw 35 projects through the flange 610,
A cutter 612 is attached to this protruding portion. The cutter 612 has a plurality of blades 612b attached to the outer circumference of an annular collar 612a (four blades in the figure), and rotates integrally with the screw 35 to divide waste discharged from the nozzle 611.

A cylindrical cover 6 is provided around the cutter 612.
13 are provided. The tip of the cover 613 is opened and serves as a discharge port 37 for the waste material divided by the cutter 612. The discharge port 37 can be opened and closed by a lid 701 rotatably connected to the flange 610 via a rod 700. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the lid 701 is rotated around the rod 700 by a hydraulic cylinder 702 connected to the rod 700, and the hydraulic cylinder 702 is supported by a column 703. In addition,
Reference numeral 38 in the drawing is an inspection port of the processing container 30, and a lid 38a.
It is opened and closed by.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the elevator 4 has a hopper 41 on which bagged medical waste is placed.
And a bucket 42 that guides the hopper 41 up and down, and a bucket 43 that is positioned directly above the input port 32 and fixed to the pillar 42. The door 41a of the hopper 41 is opened and discarded on the bottom plate 41b. After placing the bag of goods, the hopper 41
Are raised to a height aligned with the bucket 43 and the tip of the bottom plate 41b is inclined downward toward the bucket 43 to drop the bag through the bucket 43 and into the charging port 32. The number of wastes input by the elevator 4 is integrated by a counter (not shown).

Next, the operation of the processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described. In the processing apparatus of this embodiment, when the waste collected in the packed state is placed on the hopper 41 of the elevator 4, the hopper 41 is raised and the waste is thrown into the feeding port 32 together with the bag. When the bag is put into the charging port 32, the lid 202 is closed and the crusher 33 and the agitator 34 are activated, and these devices are operated for a predetermined time required for crushing.
When the crushing is completed, the lid 202 is opened again, and in response to this, the next bag is loaded from the elevator 4. In addition, when the waste is input, the discharge port 37 and the inspection port 38 are provided with the lids 701 and 38.
It is blocked by a. Also, the inflow control valve 110 is closed,
The vapor is prevented from flowing into the processing container 30.

The number of bags to be inserted into the inlet 32 depends on the processing container 3
When the limit processing number of 0 is reached, the lid 202 is closed and the inflow control valve 110 is opened, and the steam heated by the heater 2 flows into the processing container 30. Then, when the inside of the processing container 30 reaches a predetermined target temperature (200 to 220 ° C), the inflow control valve 110 is closed and the autoclave processing is started. During the autoclave process, the inflow control valve 110 is controlled as described above based on the temperature and pressure in the processing container 30 until a desired processing time (for example, 20 minutes) has elapsed, and the inflow control valve 110 and the exhaust valve 116 are controlled. By this, the temperature inside the processing container 30 is maintained at the target temperature, and the waste is sterilized reliably. The pressure in the processing container 30 is kept below the target pressure by the exhaust valve 116.

When a predetermined processing time elapses, the inflow control valve 1
When the screw 10 is closed and the screw 35 is activated, the waste material melted in the processing container 30 is discharged to the discharge pipe 36.
It is conveyed to the side and compressed while being cooled by cooling water. The compressed waste is pushed out from the nozzle 611 and cut into the cutter 6.
Divided at 12. At this time, the lid 701 is opened, so that the wastes divided into pellets are sequentially discharged from the discharge port 37. Since the collected waste is completely sterilized, it can be treated in the same manner as ordinary plastic waste, and is sent to the oilification process by, for example, a plastic oilizer to effectively utilize resources.

As is clear from the above, in the present embodiment, since the steam generated in the boiler 1 is heated by the heater 2 and supplied to the melting tank 3, the pressure of the boiler 1 and the processing container 30 is required for the autoclave processing. It is not necessary to raise the saturated vapor pressure to various temperatures, and autoclave treatment that could previously be performed only under high pressure can be realized at a low pressure of 1 Kgf / cm ² or less. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a special high-pressure boiler 1 and it is not necessary to provide the melting tank 3 with a particularly high pressure resistance performance. As a result, the apparatus is reduced in size and weight, and its handling is easy. Since the working pressure of the boiler 1 and the processing container 30 is low, safety is high.

In this embodiment, since combustion gas and the like are not mixed in order to raise the steam temperature, no impure gas is generated during the process and it is not necessary to constantly exhaust a large amount. Since the excess steam is slightly escaped from the exhaust valve 116 and the shortage of steam is compensated from the inflow control valve 110, the consumption amount of steam is small and the efficiency is good. Moreover, since the water generated by heat exchange between steam and waste is regularly discharged from the main drain valve 118, wasteful consumption of heat energy due to heat exchange between water and steam is minimized. Further, since the steam guide plate 115 is provided so that the steam diffuses smoothly and uniformly even under a low pressure, the temperature inside the processing container 30 is made uniform and the waste is not unevenly processed. Furthermore, the medical waste is put in the entire bag, and the waste after heat treatment is divided into pellets and discharged for easy post-treatment, so it is possible to treat the medical waste extremely hygienically and efficiently. .

In this embodiment, a stirrer 33, a crusher 34, a screw 35, a cutter 612 and the like are provided for inputting and discharging waste, but these are not essential to the present invention. Examples in which these configurations are omitted are shown in FIGS.
Shown in. The boiler and heater of the processing apparatus shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and the illustration thereof is omitted. 9 to 11 is provided with a lid 902 rotatable around a rod 901 on one side surface of the processing container 30, so that one end 900a of the processing container 30 serves as a waste inlet / outlet port. The waste is carried in the bucket by the air cylinder 903 while being placed in a bucket (not shown), and is taken in and out of the processing container 30. In this example, the operation of transferring the collected waste to the bucket and the operation of dividing the waste after processing are required, but since the configuration of the device is simplified, these operations are not a problem. Suitable for waste disposal. In the figure, 904 is a hydraulic cylinder for opening and closing the lid 902, and 905 is a handle for fixing the lid.

In the above example, the inflow control valve 110 is provided to control the inflow of steam into the processing container 30 according to the pressure and temperature in the container 30, but if the consumption of steam is not a problem, such control is performed. Alternatively, the maximum pressure of the container 30 may be limited by allowing the steam to continuously flow in and discharging the excess pressure of the processing container 30 by the exhaust valve 116.

In the above example, the boiler 1 is the steam source, the heater 2 is the heating means, the exhaust valve 116 is the pressure limiting means, the inflow control valve 110 is the steam inflow control means, and the main drain valve 118.
Is a draining means, the steam guide plate 115 is a steam guiding means, the crusher 34 is a crushing means, the agitator 33 is a stirring means, the screw 35 is a conveying means, and the cutter 612 is a dividing means. The present invention can be applied not only to the autoclave treatment of medical waste, but also to the treatment of any waste using steam.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the pressure of the steam source and the melting tank can be set low without being constrained by the saturated vapor pressure for the target temperature range in the melting tank, high-temperature heat treatment of waste in a closed container can be performed in the low-pressure area, which was not possible before. The waste can be treated safely. In addition, since the operating pressure of the processing device is low, the size and weight of the device is correspondingly reduced, and as a result, handling of the device is facilitated, and the cost required for manufacturing and operating the device is also reduced. In the apparatus of claim 2, steam consumption is reduced and efficiency is improved. In the apparatus of claim 3, waste of heat energy of steam is suppressed, and thermal efficiency is improved. In the apparatus of claim 4, homogeneous heat treatment is realized under low pressure. In the apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the waste can be thrown into the melting tank without bothering the operator, and the waste can be treated sanitarily. In the apparatus of claim 6, the melted waste can be divided into a size suitable for post-processing and discharged, so that the waste processing efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view from the direction II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view from the direction III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VV of FIG.

6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of part VII of FIG.

8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG.

9 is a plan view showing a modification of the melting tank of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a side view from the X direction of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a side view from the XI direction of FIG. 9.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Boiler 2 Heater 31 Steam Inlet 32 Input Port 33 Stirrer 34 Grinder 35 Screw 37 Discharge Port 110 Inflow Control Valve 115 Steam Guide Plate 116 Exhaust Valve 118 Main Drain Valve 612 Cutter

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A steam source for generating steam, heating means for heating the steam generated by the steam source, and a steam inlet for introducing the steam heated by the heating means,
A melting vessel in the form of a closed container equipped with an openable / closable inlet through which waste is thrown in and an openable and closable outlet through which waste after treatment is discharged, and the pressure inside the melting vessel And a pressure limiting unit for limiting the pressure to a target pressure set to be lower than the saturated vapor pressure for the target temperature range of 1. 2. A steam inflow control means for preventing steam from flowing into the melting tank when the temperature of the melting tank reaches the target temperature range, and allowing steam to flow when the temperature is below the target temperature range. The waste treatment device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The waste treatment device according to claim 1, further comprising drainage means for periodically discharging water in the melting tank. 4. A steam guide means is provided for causing the steam flowing from the steam inlet to the melting tank to flow out toward the center while diffusing along the inner wall of the melting tank. The waste treatment device according to any one of 1. 5. A crushing means for crushing the waste and a stirring means for stirring the waste accumulated on the inlet side of the crushing means are provided immediately after the charging port of the melting tank. The waste treatment device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The conveying means for conveying the waste material melted in the melting tank toward the discharge port, and the dividing means for dividing the conveyed waste material. The waste treatment apparatus according to any one of 5 to 5.