Method for managing ion exchanger

Abstract

To provide a method for managing an ion exchanger by which a cartridge recycler can efficiently manage the number of recycled cartridges in stock.SOLUTION: A method for managing an ion exchanger includes an acquisition step of acquiring an integrated flow rate of water to be treated which is treated by the ion exchanger and a residual ion exchange amount of a regenerated resin which is valued after regeneration of the ion exchange resin, and a determination step of determining a regeneration time which is a time when it is preferable to regenerate the ion exchange resin based on the integrated flow rate and the residual ion exchange amount.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for managing an ion exchanger, for managing the inventory status of an ion exchanger used in a pure water manufacturing system or the like. [Background technology]

[0002] There is a pure water production system equipped with an ion exchanger containing ion exchange resin. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for crushing the ion exchange resin and directly determining the adsorption state of the ion exchange resin by fluorometry, thereby managing the replacement timing of the ion exchange resin. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-180592 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When an ion exchanger uses ion exchange resin, the resin loses its water-collecting capacity after processing a predetermined amount of liquid, and must be replaced with an ion exchange resin with ion exchange capacity. The process of restoring the capacity of ion exchange resin that has lost its water-collecting capacity is called regeneration. When an ion exchanger uses a cartridge filled with ion exchange resin, the ion exchange resin can be replaced by replacing a used cartridge with a cartridge filled with regenerated ion exchange resin. A cartridge filled with regenerated ion exchange resin is called a regenerated cartridge. Regenerated cartridges are manufactured by a party other than the person who uses the water purification system. A person who uses a water purification system is called an equipment user. A person who manufactures regenerated cartridges is called a cartridge regenerator. A cartridge regenerator may be required to deliver regenerated cartridges to equipment users within a short period of time in response to requests from equipment users.

[0005] Here, the regenerated ion exchange resin continues to exchange ions with atmospheric ions and carbon dioxide even during storage. Therefore, the amount of water that the cartridge can process gradually decreases as the storage period increases. It is preferable that the time between when a cartridge remanufacturer produces a regenerated cartridge and when it provides the regenerated cartridge to a device user is short. In other words, cartridge remanufacturers need to stock regenerated cartridges to meet immediate delivery requests, but do not want to hold the inventory for a long period of time. To date, no technology has been proposed that allows cartridge remanufacturers to efficiently manage the number of regenerated cartridges in stock.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for managing ion exchangers that enables a cartridge remanufacturer to efficiently manage the manufacturing date, inventory number, etc. of remanufactured cartridges. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The ion exchanger management method of the present invention is a method for managing an inventory of ion exchangers used in a pure water production system and filled with ion exchange resin, and includes an acquisition step of acquiring an accumulated flow rate of water to be treated by the ion exchanger in the pure water production system and a remaining ion exchange volume of the regenerated resin priced after regeneration of the ion exchange resin, and a determination step of determining a regeneration time, which is a time when it is preferable to regenerate the ion exchange resin, based on the accumulated flow rate and the remaining ion exchange volume. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] The ion exchanger management method of the present invention allows for appropriate management of regeneration timing, taking into account the remaining ion exchange capacity of the regenerated resin, making it possible to stock and deliver only the appropriate number of regenerated cartridges for the next replacement to the site of use of the pure water production system at the appropriate time (not too early).As a result, the storage period of the regenerated cartridges can be shortened as much as possible, preventing deterioration of the ion exchange capacity and making the most of the ion exchange capacity of the regenerated cartridges. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of the exchange of ion exchange resin cartridges between a device user and a cartridge regenerator. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the method for managing an ion exchange resin cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] An embodiment of the ion exchanger management method of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is a diagram showing an overview of the exchange of an ion exchanger between a device user 10 and a cartridge remanufacturer 50. Figure 2 is a flow chart showing the steps of the ion exchanger management method of the present invention. The following description will be given taking as an example a case where the ion exchanger is a cartridge filled with ion exchange resin.

[0011] As shown in FIG. 1, a water purifying apparatus 12 used by an apparatus user 10 is equipped with a cartridge 14 filled with ion exchange resin. When the cartridge 14 is used, that is, when the ion exchange resin filled in the cartridge 14 loses its water-collecting capacity, the cartridge 14 is replaced with an unused cartridge that was prepared as a spare. The used cartridge is then sent to a cartridge remanufacturer 50 as a used cartridge. The used cartridge that has been sent is regenerated by the cartridge remanufacturer 50. The cartridge remanufacturer 50 replaces the ion exchange resin that was filled in the used cartridge with regenerated ion exchange resin (hereinafter also referred to as regenerated resin). A regenerated cartridge is manufactured by refilling the ion exchange resin. The manufactured regenerated cartridge is sent to the apparatus user 10. The apparatus user 10 stores the received regenerated cartridge as a spare cartridge.

[0012] The ion exchanger management method of this embodiment makes it possible to appropriately determine the time to regenerate the ion exchange resin for manufacturing regenerated cartridges. When predicting the time to regenerate the ion exchange resin, the remaining ion exchange volume of the regenerated resin after regeneration of the ion exchange resin is taken into account in addition to the current cumulative flow rate processed by the cartridge, thereby more accurately predicting the time to regenerate (the time to replace the regenerated resin when the water quality required by the user is no longer met). Here, the remaining ion exchange volume refers to the amount of ions remaining in the resin that can be exchanged.

[0013] First, the outline of the implementation flow of the ion exchanger management method will be described. However, the flow shown below is an example and various modifications are possible.

[0014] (1) The treatable amount is calculated for each ion exchanger from the electrical conductivity information of the water to be treated and the remaining ion exchange amount of the regenerated resin after regeneration.

[0015] (2) Determine the regeneration timing, which is the time when the cumulative processing volume reaches the processing capacity. If there are multiple ion exchangers, determine the regeneration timing in the same way using the total remaining ion exchange volume of the multiple ion exchangers and the total processing capacity of the multiple ion exchangers.

[0016] (3) The number of recycled cartridges required for shipment within a predetermined period is estimated based on the cartridge replacement timing and the number of replacements required for each user, i.e., each device user 10. The predetermined period can be, for example, one month. A recycling plan is then created so that the inventory of recycled cartridges is kept to a minimum. Here, the minimum inventory can be, for example, a safety stock quantity that corresponds to an average shipping volume of about one month. Recycling is then carried out based on the created recycling plan.

[0017] Furthermore, when recycling, the recycling plant, i.e., cartridge recycler 50, takes into consideration the amount of recycled resin per lot and the time required for recycling, and carries out recycling so as to accommodate the required number of shipments.

[0018] (4) During regeneration, the residual ion exchange capacity of the regenerated resin determined for each lot is assigned a value to the ion exchanger, and is used as the residual ion exchange capacity in (1).

[0019] Typically, the usage status of the ion exchange resin in used cartridges removed for regeneration at a regeneration plant varies from cartridge to cartridge, resulting in unintended variations in the remaining ion exchange capacity of the regenerated resin for each regeneration lot, even if the regeneration conditions are the same.

[0020] In the ion exchanger management method of this embodiment, a regeneration plan is created taking into account the above-mentioned variation in the remaining ion exchange capacity of the regenerated resin. Therefore, the next regeneration time can be accurately predicted. As a result, a more appropriate regeneration plan can be created.

[0021] The procedure for the ion exchanger management method will be specifically described below with reference to Figure 2. In Figure 2 and the following description, S1 indicates step 1. The same applies to the other steps. This management method is used to manage the inventory of ion exchangers filled with ion exchange resin and used in pure water production systems.

[0022] (S1) This is a step for acquiring information used to determine the timing of regeneration of the ion exchange resin. The information acquired in S1 includes the following (1) to (3). (1) The cumulative flow rate of water treated by an ion exchanger in a pure water production system. (2) The remaining ion exchange capacity of a pre-used ion exchanger priced for recycled resin. (3) Electrical conductivity information of the water to be treated by the ion exchanger in the pure water production system.

[0023] Here, the integrated flow rate of the water to be treated (1) and the electrical conductivity of the water to be treated (3) are provided by the device user 10 to the cartridge remanufacturer 50. For the integrated flow rate of (1) and the electrical conductivity of (3), values ​​detected by a detector or the like provided in the pure water production device 12 may be transmitted to the cartridge remanufacturer 50, for example.

[0024] (2) The remaining ion exchange capacity of the regenerated resin can be determined by the cartridge regenerator 50 by measuring the ion exchange resin after regenerating it.

[0025] (3) If the electrical conductivity of the water to be treated is EC, the amount of water that can be extracted can be estimated using (priced remaining ion exchange capacity / EC) as a guideline. In addition, the regeneration period can be predicted by dividing this by the amount of water used per day by the equipment user. The amount of water used per day can be predicted from the information in (1). This makes it possible to appropriately manage the regeneration period while taking into account the priced remaining ion exchange capacity of the recycled resin.

[0026] The electrical conductivity information of the water to be treated flowing into the ion exchanger is not limited to information measured in real time by a detector (sensor) or the like provided in the pure water production system 12 as described above. The electrical conductivity information of the water to be treated may be a value based on the results of manual analysis of the raw water or past water analysis data, in addition to automatic analysis by a sensor or the like.

[0027] Generally, resin from multiple used cartridges is removed, mixed together, and regenerated all at once. In this case, the resins processed together are called "regenerated resin from the same lot." Since the residual ion exchange capacity of regenerated resins regenerated on a lot-by-lot basis differs from lot to lot, it is desirable to determine the residual ion exchange capacity used for pricing for each lot.

[0028] (S2) S2 is a step for determining the regeneration time. The regeneration time is the time when it is preferable to regenerate the ion exchange resin. In S2, the regeneration time is determined based on (1) to (3) described in S1.

[0029] In the ion exchanger management method of this embodiment, the regeneration time is determined based on the above (1) to (3), taking into account the remaining ion exchange volume of the pre-used ion exchanger, which is priced for the regenerated resin (2). Therefore, an appropriate regeneration time is determined. Specifically, the above-described management method can accurately determine the regeneration time of the ion exchange resin by taking into account the customer's usage status of the ion exchanger as well as the actual processing capacity of the ion exchanger used by the customer. Consequently, the above-described management method enables appropriate inventory management. In other words, by accurately predicting the regeneration time as described above, the number of regenerated cartridges held in inventory by the cartridge remanufacturer 50 can be minimized.

[0030] The effects of the ion exchanger management method of the present invention can be summarized as follows: The ion exchange resin used in cartridge-type demineralizers exchanges ions with ions in the atmosphere, so the amount of water extracted gradually decreases even after regeneration, even if the device is not used. For this reason, it is desirable to use cartridge-type demineralizers as soon as possible after regeneration, rather than storing them in stock.

[0031] The inventory quantity can be determined based on the number of regeneration requests and the timing of the regeneration requests. Regeneration requests are usually made shortly before the cartridge-type deionizer becomes unable to dispense water. The timing of a regeneration request is determined by factors such as the operating status of the equipment, such as the deionizer, the cumulative flow rate, the electrical conductivity of the water being treated, and the amount of water dispensed by the ion exchange resin itself.

[0032] The ion exchanger management method of the present invention allows for appropriate management of regeneration timing, taking into account the remaining ion exchange capacity of the regenerated resin, making it possible to stock and deliver only the appropriate number of regenerated cartridges for the next replacement to the site of use of the pure water production system at the appropriate time (not too early).As a result, the storage period of the regenerated cartridges can be shortened as much as possible, preventing deterioration of the ion exchange capacity and making the most of the ion exchange capacity of the regenerated cartridges.

[0033] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment described above and that various modifications, variations, and combinations are possible.

[0034] [Contribution to the United Nations-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)] This disclosure includes matters that contribute to achieving Goal 6 of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), "Clean water and sanitation," and Goal 9, "Industry, innovation and infrastructure." [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 10 Device user 12 Pure water production equipment 14 cartridges 50 Cartridge Refurbishers

Claims

1. 1. A method for managing an inventory of ion exchangers filled with ion exchange resin used in a pure water production system, comprising: an acquiring step of acquiring an integrated flow rate of the water to be treated treated by the ion exchanger in the pure water manufacturing apparatus and a residual ion exchange capacity of the regenerated resin priced after regeneration of the ion exchange resin; and determining a regeneration time, which is a time when it is preferable to regenerate the ion exchange resin, based on the integrated flow rate and the remaining ion exchange amount.

2. In the obtaining step, electrical conductivity information of the water to be treated by the ion exchanger in the pure water producing apparatus is further obtained, The method for managing an ion exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein in the determining step, the regeneration timing is determined further based on the electrical conductivity information.

3. 3. The method for managing an ion exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the remaining ion exchange capacity is a remaining ion exchange capacity of a regenerated resin determined for each lot in lot regeneration.

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