Method for producing carbon black and equipment for producing carbon black

Abstract

To provide a method and equipment for producing carbon black, enabling the carbon black to be produced without using natural resources.SOLUTION: A method for producing carbon black includes a combustion gas generation step in which waste is combusted to generate combustion gas, a cooling step in which the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generation step is cooled, and a collecting step in which carbon black in the cooled combustion gas is collected. Equipment for producing carbon black includes a combustion gas generation unit that combusts waste to generate combustion gas, a cooling unit that cools the combustion gas generated by the combustion gas generation unit, and a collecting unit that collects the carbon black included in the combustion gas cooled by the cooling unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing carbon black. [Background technology]

[0002] Carbon black has been known as a material added as a filler to rubber to increase the mechanical strength of rubber components. The oil furnace method is primarily used to produce this carbon black (see, for example, Patent Document 1). For example, the carbon black production apparatus described in Patent Document 1 produces carbon black using a generator furnace that is successively equipped with a raw material introduction zone for introducing raw material hydrocarbons into a high-temperature combustion gas flow, a carbon black production reaction zone for thermally decomposing the raw material hydrocarbons, and a reaction termination zone for rapidly cooling the produced gas, and a filter collection device that filters carbon black from a carbon black-containing gas. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-161879 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the carbon black production apparatus described in Patent Document 1 uses aromatic hydrocarbons, coal-based or petroleum-based feedstock oils, or the like as raw material hydrocarbons, which has the effect of increasing production costs due to rising raw material costs, and is also undesirable from the viewpoint of reducing consumption of natural resources.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a carbon black production method and a carbon black production apparatus that are capable of producing carbon black without using natural resources. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing carbon black, comprising: a combustion gas generating step of burning waste to generate a combustion gas; a cooling step of cooling the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generating step; and a collection step of collecting carbon black in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling step.

[0007] In the method for producing carbon black according to one aspect of the present invention, the waste preferably includes waste cooking oil.

[0008] Furthermore, the method for producing carbon black according to one aspect of the present invention more preferably includes a filtration step of filtering impurities from the waste cooking oil.

[0009] In the method for producing carbon black according to one aspect of the present invention, the waste edible oil is preferably used rapeseed oil.

[0010] Furthermore, a carbon black production apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is characterized by including: a combustion gas generation unit that combusts waste to generate a combustion gas; a cooling unit that cools the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generation unit; and a collection unit that collects carbon black contained in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a carbon black production method and a carbon black production apparatus that are capable of producing carbon black without using natural resources. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a carbon black production apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a reactor according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a collection unit according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a filtering device according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] Preferred embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the inventions according to the claims, and not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the solution of the invention. Furthermore, in the present embodiments, the scale and dimensions of each component may be exaggerated, and some components may be omitted.

[0014] [Overall configuration of carbon black manufacturing equipment] First, a carbon black production apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described. Schematically, as shown in FIG. 1 , the carbon black production apparatus 1 according to this embodiment includes a combustion gas generation unit 20 that combusts waste materials to generate a combustion gas, a cooling unit 30 that cools the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generation unit 20, and a collection unit 40 that collects the carbon black contained in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling unit 30. Furthermore, when the waste material is oil, the carbon black production apparatus 1 preferably includes a filtration unit 50 that can filter impurities from waste edible oil, as described below. Furthermore, when the waste material contains moisture, the carbon black production apparatus 1 preferably includes a drying unit (not shown) that dries the waste material.

[0015] In this specification, the upstream direction of the combustion gas (the left direction on the paper in FIG. 2) is described as "left" and the downstream direction of the combustion gas (the right direction on the paper in FIG. 2) is described as "right", but the left and right directions in this embodiment are merely directions defined for the convenience of explanation and are not limited to these.

[0016] [Configuration of reactor 10] In this embodiment, the combustion gas generation unit 20 and the cooling unit 30 are provided in a reactor 10. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2 , the reactor 10 includes, for example, the combustion gas generation unit 20 at one end and the cooling unit 30 at the other end. The reactor 10 also includes a combustion gas inlet passage 11 between the combustion gas generation unit 20 and the cooling unit 30. The reactor 10 is preferably made of a material that is heat-resistant and rigid enough to avoid deformation due to high temperatures during combustion. Various known materials, such as nickel- and chromium-containing steel and titanium alloys, can be used as such materials. In this embodiment, the combustion gas generation unit 20 is formed in a cylindrical shape tapered from the upstream direction to the downstream direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various known shapes, such as a cylindrical shape or a rectangular shape, can be used.

[0017] The combustion gas generating section 20 includes a combustion burner 21 provided to the left of the combustion gas generating section 20, a material introduction passage 23 provided downstream of the combustion burner 21, and an air introduction passage 22 provided between the combustion burner 21 and the material introduction passage 23. In the combustion gas generating section 20, the combustion burner 21 supplied with fuel generates a gas flow in the combustion gas generating section 20, and generates a high-temperature gas flow by supplying air introduced from the air introduction passage 22 to the gas flow. Thereafter, waste is introduced from the material introduction passage 23 into the high-temperature gas flow, whereby the waste is combusted and combustion gas is generated.

[0018] From the viewpoint of efficiently combusting the waste, the temperature of the high-temperature gas flow is preferably 500°C or higher and 1700°C or lower. In this embodiment, one air introduction passage 22 and one material introduction passage 23 are provided in the combustion gas generation section 20, but this is not limited to this, and multiple air introduction passages 22 and multiple material introduction passages 23 may be provided. In addition, it is preferable to use gaseous or liquid fuel hydrocarbons or the like as the fuel supplied to the combustion burner 21.

[0019] The material introduction passage 23 is configured to allow waste to be introduced into the combustion gas generation unit 20. The waste may be any material that can be carbonized by combustion, such as, but not limited to, household combustible waste. Furthermore, the waste preferably includes waste cooking oil from the viewpoint of increasing the purity of the generated carbon black. Here, "waste cooking oil" refers to commercially available vegetable cooking oil after use for cooking or other purposes. The vegetable cooking oil is not particularly limited, and examples include soybean oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, sesame oil, corn oil, palm oil, safflower oil, olive oil, and rice bran oil. Of these, rapeseed oil is preferred from the viewpoint of increasing the purity of the generated carbon black and its ease of availability. Furthermore, the waste cooking oil according to this embodiment is preferably filtered in advance using the filtration unit 50 to remove impurities, as described below.

[0020] The combustion gas introduction passage 11 is formed in a cylindrical shape and includes an introduction passage for introducing the combustion gas, and is connected to the combustion gas generation section 20. The combustion gas introduction passage 11 also communicates with the cooling section 30. In other words, the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generation section 20 is configured to be introduced into the cooling section 30 via the combustion gas introduction passage 11.

[0021] The cooling unit 30 is configured to cool the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generating unit 20. Specifically, the cooling unit 30 includes a cooling medium introduction passage 31 and is configured to be able to discharge a cooling medium into the combustion gas introduced through the combustion gas introduction passage 11. Note that, from the viewpoint of evenly discharging the cooling medium into the combustion gas, the cooling medium introduction passage 31 is preferably configured to be able to spray the cooling medium. In the present embodiment, the cooling unit 30 is formed in a cylindrical shape, but this is not limited thereto, and various shapes can be adopted. In the present embodiment, the cooling medium is water, but this is not limited thereto, and various media can be used as long as they can cool the combustion gas. In addition, from the viewpoint of suppressing the combustion reaction of the combustion gas and generating carbon black particles in the combustion gas, the cooling unit 30 preferably cools the temperature of the combustion gas from a temperature of 500°C to 1700°C before cooling to a temperature of 250°C to 750°C.

[0022] [Configuration of the collection unit] 2 and 3, the collection unit 40 is in communication with the cooling unit 30 and collects carbon black, which is one of the substances produced in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling unit 30, and discharges other substances. Specifically, the collection unit 40 includes a bag filter 41, a dust outlet 43 provided in the lower part of the collection unit 40, and an exhaust port 44 provided in the upper part of the collection unit 40. When the combustion gas cooled in the cooling unit 30 passes through the bag filter 41, the carbon black contained in the combustion gas is collected by the bag filter 41, and dust 42 that is not collected by the bag filter 41 is discharged from the dust outlet 43. The combustion gas that has passed through the bag filter 41 is discharged from the exhaust port 44. In this specification, the flow direction of the combustion gas (upward in the plane of FIG. 3) is described as the "upper" and the discharge direction of the dust 42 (downward in the plane of FIG. 3) is described as the "lower", but the up and down directions in this embodiment are merely defined for the convenience of explanation and are not limited to these.

[0023] The bag filter 41 has a mesh that is fine enough to capture carbon black and prevent other substances from passing through. Specifically, the mesh of the bag filter 41 allows carbon black structures (particle groups) with particle diameters of 10 nm or more and less than 100 nm to pass through, and is configured so that the carbon black can be adsorbed by a filter paper or the like provided inside the bag filter 41. That is, the bag filter 41 can capture substances generated in the combustion gas that are smaller than or approximately the same size as the carbon black structures with particle diameters of less than 100 nm. However, substances larger than the carbon black structures cannot pass through the mesh of the bag filter 41 and are therefore not captured inside the bag filter 41 and are discharged as dust 42 from the dust outlet 43. Note that the configuration of the collection unit 40 is not limited to the above-described configuration, and various known configurations can be adopted as long as the collection unit 40 is capable of capturing at least carbon black.

[0024] [Configuration of the filtration section] As shown in Figure 4, the filtering unit 50 comprises an oil storage tank 51 formed in the shape of a rectangular box with an open top, a first filtering unit 52 formed in a mesh pattern, and a second filtering unit 53 with a finer mesh than the first filtering unit 52. From the waste cooking oil filtered in the filtering unit 50, large-sized impurities such as fried food scraps are removed by the first filtering unit 52, and small-sized impurities such as fried food scraps that were not completely removed by the first filtering unit 52 are filtered by the second filtering unit 53, and the resulting oil is then stored in the oil storage tank 51. Here, "impurities" refers to components contained in the waste cooking oil other than liquid oil, including solids such as fried food scraps and animal fat, and liquids such as water. Furthermore, the oil storage tank 51 is preferably configured to be connected to the material introduction path 23 by a connection unit 54 so that the waste cooking oil from which impurities have been filtered can be supplied to the material introduction path 23. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, filtration unit 50 is configured integrally with carbon black production apparatus 1, but this is not limiting, and filtration unit 50 may be a separate device, or carbon black production apparatus 1 may not be provided with filtration unit 50. Furthermore, filtration unit 50 is not limited to the configuration described above, and may have any configuration that is capable of filtering out impurities from waste cooking oil. For example, various known filtering means, such as filtering out impurities using filter paper, may be used.

[0025] [Method of manufacturing carbon black] Next, we will explain the carbon black production method according to this embodiment using the carbon black production apparatus 1. The carbon black production method according to this embodiment generally includes a combustion gas production step of burning waste to produce combustion gas, a cooling step of cooling the combustion gas produced in the combustion gas production step, and a collection step of collecting carbon black in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling step.

[0026] The waste preferably includes waste cooking oil, and the method for producing carbon black according to this embodiment more preferably includes a filtration step of filtering impurities from the waste cooking oil. Furthermore, the waste cooking oil is more preferably used rapeseed oil.

[0027] First, in the carbon black production apparatus 1, the filtration unit 50 filters the waste cooking oil. Specifically, the filtration unit 50 filters out large impurities contained in the waste cooking oil using the first filtration unit 52, and then filters out small impurities contained in the waste cooking oil using the second filtration unit 53. The filtration unit 50 then stores the filtered waste cooking oil in the oil storage tank 51. Note that the filtered waste cooking oil is preferably configured to be able to be supplied to the material introduction path 23 connected to the oil storage tank 51 via the connection unit 54.

[0028] The carbon black production apparatus 1 also generates combustion gas in a combustion gas generation unit 20 of the reaction furnace 10. Specifically, the combustion gas generation unit 20 generates a gas flow using a combustion burner 21 supplied with fuel, and generates a high-temperature gas flow by introducing air, oxygen, or an air flow with an increased oxygen content into the gas flow through an air inlet path 22.

[0029] The combustion gas generating section 20 supplies waste material to the high-temperature gas flow through the material inlet passage 23, and the waste material is combusted to generate combustion gas. The generated combustion gas is introduced into the cooling section 30 through the combustion gas inlet passage 11.

[0030] Thereafter, the cooling unit 30 cools the combustion gas introduced through the combustion gas introduction path 11. Specifically, the cooling unit 30 cools the combustion gas to a predetermined temperature by discharging a cooling medium through the cooling medium introduction path 31 onto the combustion gas introduced into the cooling unit 30 from the combustion gas introduction path 11. Carbon black particles are then generated in the combustion gas in which the combustion reaction has been suppressed. Note that, from the viewpoint of enhancing the effect of suppressing the combustion reaction, it is preferable that the cooling medium be discharged in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the combustion gas.

[0031] After the combustion gas is cooled, the collection unit 40 collects the carbon black contained in the cooled combustion gas. Specifically, the carbon black production apparatus 1 introduces the combustion gas that has been cooled into the collection unit 40, and the combustion gas passes through a bag filter 41 provided in the collection unit 40, whereby the carbon black generated in the combustion gas is collected inside the bag filter 41. Furthermore, of the substances generated in the combustion gas, substances larger than the mesh size of the bag filter 41 cannot pass through the mesh of the bag filter 41, and are therefore separated by the bag filter 41 into carbon black and dust 42. The dust 42 is then exhausted from a dust outlet 43 located at the bottom of the collection unit 40, and the combustion gas from which the carbon black and dust 42 have been removed is exhausted from an exhaust port 44.

[0032] [Advantages of the carbon black production method and carbon black production apparatus according to the present embodiment] The carbon black production method according to this embodiment includes a combustion gas generation step of burning waste to generate a combustion gas, a cooling step of cooling the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generation step, and a collection step of collecting carbon black in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling step. The inclusion of these steps enables carbon black to be collected from the combustion gas generated by burning the waste, which has the advantage of enabling carbon black to be produced without using natural resources.

[0033] Furthermore, the method for producing carbon black according to this embodiment has the advantage that it uses waste edible oil as waste material, thereby making it possible to recover highly pure carbon black without using natural resources.

[0034] Furthermore, the method for producing carbon black according to this embodiment includes a filtration step of filtering impurities from the waste cooking oil, which has the advantage of enabling the purity of the carbon black to be further increased.

[0035] Furthermore, the waste edible oil used in the method for producing carbon black according to this embodiment is used rapeseed oil, which has the advantages of being able to further increase the purity of carbon black and being easily available.

[0036] [Variations] The carbon black production method and carbon black production apparatus according to the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

[0037] For example, in the above-described embodiment, the carbon black production method has been described assuming that the waste material is waste cooking oil. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and mineral waste oil, animal oil, or the like may also be used.

[0038] In the above-described embodiment, the carbon black production method has been described as including a filtration step of filtering impurities from waste cooking oil, but the present invention is not limited to this and may not include a filtration step.

[0039] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the waste cooking oil is described as used rapeseed oil, but it is not limited to this and may be other than rapeseed oil. For example, palm oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, etc. may be used.

[0040] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the combustion gas generating section 20 has been described as including the combustion burner 21 provided to the left of the combustion gas generating section 20, the material introduction path 23 provided downstream of the combustion burner 21, and the air introduction path 22 provided between the combustion burner 21 and the material introduction path 23, but this is not limiting, and the combustion burner 21 and the air introduction path 22 may be provided side by side. In other words, the combustion burner 21 and the air introduction path 22 may be provided parallel to each other rather than in intersecting directions.

[0041] It is clear from the claims that the above-mentioned modifications are included within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 1: Carbon black manufacturing equipment 10: Reactor 11: Combustion gas introduction passage 20: Combustion gas generating section 21: Combustion burner 22: Air intake passage 23: Material introduction route 30: Cooling section 31:Cooling medium introduction path 40: Collection section 41: Bag filter 42: Dust 43: Dust outlet 44: Exhaust port 50:Filtration section 51: Oil storage tank 52: 1st filtration section 53:Second filtration section 54: Connection part

Claims

1. a combustion gas generating step of burning the waste to generate combustion gas; a cooling step of cooling the combustion gas generated in the combustion gas generating step; a collecting step of collecting carbon black produced in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling step; 1. A method for producing carbon black, comprising:

2. The waste material includes waste cooking oil. The method for producing carbon black according to claim 1.

3. A filtration step of filtering impurities from the waste cooking oil is included. The method for producing carbon black according to claim 2.

4. The waste cooking oil is used rapeseed oil. The method for producing carbon black according to claim 2 or 3.

5. a combustion gas generating unit that burns waste and generates combustion gas; a cooling unit that cools the combustion gas generated by the combustion gas generating unit; a collecting section that collects carbon black contained in the combustion gas cooled in the cooling section; A carbon black manufacturing apparatus comprising:

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