Method of regenerating waste laminated glass

Abstract

To provide a method of regenerating a laminated glass as a resource for glass and plastics.SOLUTION: Provided is a method of regenerating a waste glass comprising: crushing a waste glass of a laminated glass crushed into approximately a palm size, using a hammer crusher having a screen with a maximum diameter of each mesh of 10 to 50 mm into a size that can pass through the screen; passing the obtained minute glasses and film materials with minute glasses through a sieving machine with a maximum diameter of each mesh of 5 to 15 mm; collecting minute glasses that have passed through the sieving machine; crushing film materials with minute glasses that remain on a sieve using a crushing machine having a screen with a maximum diameter of each mesh of 5 to 20 mm; and collecting film materials with minute glasses that have passed through the screen. Provided is also a method of regenerating a waste glass comprising: further passing the film materials with minute glasses obtained above through a sieving machine with a maximum diameter of each mesh of 0.5 to 8 mm; and collecting film materials with minute glasses that have passed through the sieving machine and granular film materials with minute glasses.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a recycling method for waste laminated glass (which also includes a method for utilizing the resource) in which waste laminated glass, which is made of two glass sheets with a plastic film (including composite materials containing a plastic film) sandwiched between them, is recycled into glass material and resources for glass and plastic, such as plastic film material with fine glass particles attached or plastic material with fine glass particles mixed in, such as glass material and plastics. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, laminated glass (which has a plastic film or plastic film composite as an interlayer between two panes of glass) is widely used in vehicle windshields, security windows in buildings, solar panels, and the like (hereinafter, such interlayers may be collectively referred to as "film materials"). A typical example of this laminated glass is a vehicle windshield, which has a glass sheet facing the inside of the vehicle, a glass sheet facing the outside of the glass sheet, and an interlayer (plastic film material) sandwiched between the pair of glass sheets, and this interlayer is made of, for example, polyvinyl butyral (PVB). Solar panels and the like use a resin film such as an EVA resin film (ethylene vinyl acetate resin film) as the interlayer.

[0003] In recent years, efforts to reuse resources have been promoted in order to maintain a clean global environment, and attempts have been made to separate laminated glass that should be discarded or that has become defective in the manufacturing process (hereinafter also referred to as "waste laminated glass") into a glass plate portion (hereinafter also referred to as "glass material") and a plastic film material portion, and reuse these (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0004] In a conventional reprocessing method, waste laminated glass is crushed and sorted into glass material and glass-coated film material, and the sorted glass-coated film material is further processed as follows to obtain plastic material and glass material: the glass-coated film material is immersed in an organic solvent to melt it, fine glass fragments adhering to the film material are separated, and the organic solvent is evaporated from the solution of the film material from which the glass fragments have been separated, and the crushed film material fragments are recovered.

[0005] The recovered film fragments are then mixed with an anti-adhesion material (such as calcium carbonate) and finely pulverized using a grinder (such as a high-speed rotary mill). The anti-adhesion material prevents the film from sticking together and forming clumps during the pulverization process. An elastic matrix material (such as a rubber-asphalt material) is then dispersed and kneaded into the mixture of film and anti-adhesion material using a kneading machine to form a seismic damping material. In this way, the glass-coated film material is recycled and reused as seismic damping material. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-203594 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, in such conventional recycling methods, when recycling glass-attached film materials, glass particles are first removed using an organic solvent, and then an anti-adhesion material is mixed with the film material, and the mixture is crushed into small particles using a crusher. Therefore, recycling glass-attached film materials requires treatment using an organic solvent, an anti-adhesion material, etc., which increases the processing cost for the recycling process, complicates the recycling process, and further increases the time required for the recycling process.

[0008] Cullet manufacturers (glass waste generated when glass products are recycled) roughly crush laminated glass (usually into pieces the size of an adult's palm), and the glass that separates from the plastic film during the crushing process is collected by glass manufacturers or cullet manufacturers and used to recycle glass products. However, the plastic film still has glass fragments attached to it, and is discarded without being processed.

[0009] The present invention provides a method for recycling glass-containing film material (corresponding to industrial waste) after it has been crushed by glass manufacturers or cullet manufacturers into smaller pieces, and for sorting and collecting the fine glass particles that have separated from the film produced during the crushing of this glass-containing film material to provide a resource for recycling into glass wool and other glass products. It also provides a method for reducing the particle size of the glass particles adhering to the fine glass-containing film material other than the separated fine glass particles, thereby converting the fine glass-containing film material into plastic pellets by melt extrusion or the like, and then into a fine glass-containing film that can be used as a raw material for providing reinforced plastic molded products containing glass particles by melt molding or the like. Furthermore, the finely divided fine glass-containing film that is separately collected in this process can be used as an additive for synthetic resins, etc., thereby preventing the waste of resources. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] (1) The method for recycling waste glass of the present invention is a method for recycling waste glass of laminated glass having a plastic film material provided between glass sheets into a glass material and a plastic-use material containing fine glass powder, The laminated glass waste glass, which was crushed into pieces roughly the size of a palm, was This method for recycling waste glass involves crushing the waste glass using a hammer crusher equipped with a screen having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 10 to 50 mm to a size that can pass through the screen, passing the resulting fine glass and film material with fine glass through a sieve machine having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 5 to 15 mm, collecting the fine glass that passes through the sieve machine, crushing the film material with fine glass remaining on the sieve in a crusher equipped with a screen having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 5 to 20 mm, and collecting the film material with fine glass through the screen of the crusher. The collected fine glass can be used as a recycled raw material for glass, and the film material with fine glass can be used as a raw material for reinforced plastics containing fine glass powder by melt molding or the like.

[0011] (2) Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a method for recycling waste glass, in which the fine glass obtained in the above item (1) is formed into glass products, thereby enabling the production of glass wool, glass bottles, and other glass products from the waste glass, thereby saving glass material resources.

[0012] (3) Furthermore, in the present invention, the film material with fine glass obtained in the above item (1) is melt-molded to form pellets containing fine glass powder, thereby making it possible to reuse it as a plastic material.

[0013] (4) Furthermore, in the present invention, when the film material with fine glass described in (3) above is melt-molded to produce pellets, 1 to 20 weight % of at least one selected from polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, white carbon, talc, natural rubber, and synthetic rubber is added to the film material with fine glass, and the film material is melt-molded to produce pellets, thereby preventing the pellets from sticking together and forming lumps.

[0014] (5) Furthermore, in the waste glass recycling method of the present invention, the fine glass-attached film material obtained in (1) above is passed through a sieve with a maximum sieve opening diameter of 0.5 to 8 mm, and the granular fine glass-attached film material that passed through the sieve and the fine glass-attached film material that remains on the sieve are separately collected, which is preferable because it allows for a more controlled particle size, removes debris, and provides a plastic molding material using the fine glass-attached film material that meets the requirements of plastic molding manufacturers who require higher purity. Furthermore, the granular fine glass-attached film material that has passed through the sieve can be used as an additive for plastics.

[0015] (6) Furthermore, in the present invention, a waste glass recycling method is adopted in which the film material with fine glass obtained in the above item (5) is melt-molded to form pellets containing fine glass powder. This is preferable because it allows the particle size to be adjusted, more dirt and other impurities to be removed, and pellets that meet the requirements of plastic molding manufacturers who require higher purity can be provided.

[0016] (7) Furthermore, when the film material with fine glass described in (6) is melt-molded to produce pellets, a method for recycling waste glass is used in which at least one selected from polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, white carbon, and talc is added in an amount of 1 to 20% by weight to the film material with fine glass, and the film material is melt-molded to produce pellets, which is preferable because it prevents the pellets from sticking together and forming lumps. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] According to the recycling method for waste laminated glass of the present invention, glass manufacturers or cullet manufacturers roughly crush laminated glass, collect the glass that has peeled off from the laminated glass film, and then, using a relatively simple method, extract fine glass material and fine glass-containing film material from the remaining waste laminated glass, which is a roughly palm-sized glass-containing film. The fine glass material can be reused as glass material, and the film material with fine glass particles after the crushing process can be reused as plastic material. By recycling the waste laminated glass into glass material and fine glass-containing reinforced plastic material, it can be reused as a resource for glass and plastic. These can also be used to make glass products or plastic products containing glass particles, thereby reusing discarded resources and reducing resource waste. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Cullet manufacturers and glass manufacturers that have produced defective products crush laminated glass into pieces roughly the size of an adult human palm, and the glass that separates from the plastic film of the laminated glass during the crushing process is collected by the glass manufacturer or cullet manufacturer and used to recycle glass products.However, laminated glass in which glass pieces do not separate from the plastic film during crushing are discarded without being processed.

[0019] The present invention provides a resource for crushing waste laminated glass that is to be discarded after being crushed by such glass manufacturers or cullet manufacturers into smaller pieces, collecting the fine glass particles that have detached from the film that is produced during the crushing of this waste glass-attached film material, and reusing them in glass products such as glass wool. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for reducing the particle size of the glass particles attached to the fine glass-attached film material, including the film, from which the fine glass particles have not detached, by melt extrusion or the like to form plastic pellets, and then melt molding or the like to form a fine glass-attached film that can be used as a raw material for providing plastic molded products containing glass particles. This provides a reusable resource and a method for recycling waste laminated glass that can prevent the waste of resources.

[0020] In the waste glass recycling method of the present invention, the waste glass of the laminated glass, which has been crushed to approximately palm-sized pieces, is crushed into pieces that can pass through a screen using a hammer crusher with a screen having a maximum diameter of 10 to 50 mm, preferably 10 to 20 mm. The hammer crusher may be a well-known, commercially available one, and may include, for example, one equipped with a rotor that rotates in a predetermined direction, a hammer attached to the rotor, and a fixed plate that prevents the waste glass from moving. The rotation of the rotor is utilized to impact the waste glass with the hammer, thereby crushing the waste glass into small pieces.

[0021] Normally, when glass-coated plastic film is crushed, the film components stick together and form clumps, but if fine glass particles are attached to the film, this clumping can be prevented.

[0022] The fine glass obtained by crushing with the hammer crusher and the film material with fine glass are then passed through a sieve with a maximum sieve opening size of 5 to 15 mm, preferably 8 to 10 mm, and the fine glass that passes through the sieve is collected and used as a raw material for recycled glass. The hammer crusher preferably crushes the glass to a size that allows the fine glass particles to pass through the sieve. Typically, the crushed fine glass particles obtained by crushing with the hammer crusher are smaller than the plastic film with fine glass particles. By collecting the fine glass that passes through the sieve openings in the sieving process with the sieve and forming it into glass products, for example, glass wool, glass bottles, and other glass products can be produced from the collected fine waste glass, thereby conserving glass material resources.

[0023] Meanwhile, the fine glass-containing film material remaining on the sieve is further crushed in a crusher equipped with a screen having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 5 to 20 mm, preferably 8 to 10 mm, and the fine glass-containing film material is collected through the crusher's screen. The crushing in this crusher crushes the fine glass-containing film to a size that can pass through the crusher's screen. The fine glass-containing film material thus collected may be used as a raw material for reinforced plastics containing fine glass powder by melt molding or the like.

[0024] When the film material with fine glass is crushed by the crusher, the crusher is not particularly limited, but a so-called uniaxial crusher (for example, manufactured by Horai Co., Ltd.) can be used.

[0025] The film material with fine glass particles obtained by passing through the screen of the crusher can be reused as a plastic material, for example, by melt molding it into pellets containing fine glass powder. When the film material with fine glass particles is melt molded into pellets, it is preferable to use a melt extruder with an 80 to 160 mesh screen to prevent clogging of the extruder.

[0026] When this fine glass-containing film material is melt-molded to produce pellets, at least one selected from polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, white carbon, and talc is added to the fine glass-containing film material in an amount of 1 to 20% by weight, preferably 3 to 8% by weight, and then the film material is melt-molded to produce pellets, thereby preventing the pellets from sticking together and forming lumps.

[0027] When such pellets are molded into a plastic molded product using an injection molding machine or the like, it is preferable to attach an 80 to 160 mesh screen to the injection molding machine to prevent clogging of the injection nozzle.

[0028] Furthermore, in the method for recycling waste glass of the present invention, the waste glass of the laminated glass that has been crushed to approximately palm-sized pieces is crushed using a hammer crusher equipped with a screen having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 10 to 50 mm, preferably 10 to 20 mm, to a size that can pass through the screen, and the resulting fine glass and film material with fine glass are passed through a sieve machine having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 5 to 15 mm, preferably 8 to 10 mm, and the fine glass that passes through the sieve machine is collected, and the film material with fine glass remaining on the sieve is crushed in a crusher having a screen having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 5 to 20 mm, preferably 8 to 10 mm, and the fine glass is passed through the screen to be collected. The film material with lath is collected (this process is referred to as the previous process), and the collected film material with fine glass is passed through a sieve with a maximum diameter of 0.5 to 1.5 mm, preferably 1 to 2 mm, and the granular film material with fine glass that passed through the sieve and the film material with fine glass that remains on the sieve are separated and collected (this process is referred to as the additional processing process). This allows for better particle size adjustment, removal of debris, and the production of film material with fine glass that meets the requirements of plastic molding manufacturers who require products with improved purity; it can also be pelletized into plastic pellets, and it can be used to produce reinforced plastic moldings containing fine glass particles.

[0029] On the other hand, the fine glass-containing film that has passed through the sieving machine is in a fine granular form and can be used as an additive for plastics. The "granular fine glass-containing film material" that has passed through the sieve above means that the overall shape of each of the "fine glass-containing film materials" that have passed through the sieve is granular (this does not mean that the granular form modifies the fine glass).

[0030] The screen-equipped hammer crusher and sieving machine used in the preceding process can be the same as those described above.

[0031] In this way, the film material with fine glass particles obtained through all of the steps of the pre-processing and additional processing steps can be melt-molded to form pellets containing fine glass powder, making it possible to reuse it as a plastic material. When melt-molding the film material with fine glass particles to form pellets, it is preferable to use a melt extruder with an 80 to 160 mesh screen, as described above, to prevent the extruder from clogging.

[0032] When the fine glass-containing film material obtained through all of the preceding and additional processing steps is melt-molded to produce pellets, as described above, 1 to 20% by weight, preferably 3 to 8% by weight, of at least one material selected from polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, white carbon, and talc is added to the fine glass-containing film material, and the melt-molded pellets are produced, thereby preventing the pellets from sticking together and forming lumps.

[0033] When such pellets are molded into a plastic molded product using an injection molding machine or the like, it is preferable to attach an 80 to 160 mesh screen to the injection molding machine to prevent clogging of the injection nozzle.

[0034] Film materials containing fine glass particles obtained only through the pre-processing step, and film materials containing fine glass particles obtained through all of the pre-processing step and additional processing steps, can be reused as plastic materials containing fine glass particles, and these plastic materials can be used to manufacture, for example, plastic floor boards, car stops, rebar flooring, sheet materials, etc. through the desired plastic processing step.They can also be used as extenders for resins, such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyamide (PA), ABS resin, polyvinyl chloride, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, etc.

[0035] As described above, this film material with fine glass particles as a plastic material can be used as a raw material for pellets, and in this case, a pellet processing step is carried out. In this pellet processing step, a pellet manufacturing machine (melt extruder for pellet manufacturing) is used to produce chip-shaped pellets from the film material with fine glass particles. This pellet manufacturing machine may be a well-known, commercially available machine, and may, for example, be one equipped with a melting section that melts the plastic that constitutes the glass-coated film material as a plastic material, an extrusion section that extrudes the molten plastic material, and a cutting section that cuts the extruded plastic material. By using such a pellet manufacturing machine, chip-shaped pellets can be produced from the plastic material.

[0036] In order to prevent clogging of the extrusion nozzle, it is preferable that the pelletizing machine is provided with a screen of 80 to 160 mesh in front of the extrusion nozzle, as described above.

[0037] The produced pellets are reused in the form of pellets, and can be used to produce, for example, plastic spacers, sheet materials, automobile bumpers, hangers, etc. using a desired plastic melt molding machine.In addition, as mentioned above, the pellets can also be used as a resin extender, such as an extender for polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyamide (PA), ABS resin, polyvinyl chloride, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, etc.

[0038] In the above-described waste glass recycling method, waste laminated glass is crushed into glass material and a film material with fine glass particles through the above-described pre-processing step alone, or through both the pre-processing step and the additional processing step, to obtain glass material and a film material with fine glass particles suitable for reuse. This film material with fine glass particles can then be made into a plastic material suitable for reuse. Furthermore, the glass particles separated from the crushed film material can be processed into glass molded products. Granular film material with fine glass particles that has passed through a sieve in the additional processing step can be used as an additive for synthetic resins.

[0039] The particle diameter of the fine glass particles adhering to the film of the above-mentioned film material with fine glass particles is not particularly limited, but it is preferable that the film material with fine glass particles has an arithmetic mean particle diameter of 100 observed glass particles, measured by observing the maximum diameter of each glass particle from above with a microscope, of 100 to 200 μm. When such a film material with fine glass particles is molded into a plastic molded product, it is easy to mold even when it contains glass particles, and is also suitable as a reinforced plastic.

[0040] Although one embodiment of the method for recycling waste glass according to the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and various changes and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for recycling waste glass, which is a laminated glass having a plastic film material provided between glass sheets, into a glass material and a plastic material containing fine glass powder, comprising: The laminated glass waste glass, which was crushed into pieces roughly the size of a palm, was This method for recycling waste glass comprises crushing the waste glass using a hammer crusher equipped with a screen having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 10 to 50 mm to a size that can pass through the screen, passing the resulting fine glass and film material with fine glass through a sieve machine having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 5 to 15 mm, collecting the fine glass that has passed through the sieve machine, crushing the film material with fine glass remaining on the sieve using a crusher equipped with a screen having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 5 to 20 mm, and collecting the film material with fine glass through the screen of the crusher.

2. A method for recycling waste glass, comprising forming the fine glass obtained according to claim 1 into a glass product.

3. 2. A method for recycling waste glass, comprising melt-molding the film material with fine glass particles obtained according to claim 1 into pellets containing fine glass powder.

4. A method for recycling waste glass, comprising the steps of melt-molding the fine glass-containing film material according to claim 3 to produce pellets, adding 1 to 20% by weight of at least one selected from polypropylene, polyethylene, white carbon, talc, polyvinyl chloride, natural rubber, and synthetic rubber to the fine glass-containing film material, and melt-molding the film material to produce pellets.

5. A method for recycling waste glass, comprising passing the film material with fine glass particles obtained in claim 1 through a sieve having a maximum sieve opening diameter of 0.5 to 8 mm, and separating and collecting the granular film material with fine glass particles that has passed through the sieve from the film material with fine glass particles that remains on the sieve.

6. 6. A method for recycling waste glass, comprising melt-molding the film material with fine glass remaining on the sieve obtained in claim 5 into pellets containing fine glass powder.

7. A method for recycling waste glass, comprising the steps of melt-molding the fine glass-containing film material according to claim 6 to produce pellets, adding 1 to 20% by weight of at least one selected from polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, white carbon, and talc to the fine glass-containing film material, and melt-molding the film material to produce pellets.

8. A method for recycling waste glass, wherein the film material with fine glass particles obtained according to claim 5 is used as an additive for synthetic resin.