Circular agricultural irrigation system using regenerated water obtained by treating wastewater

Abstract

[Problem] To treat kitchen wastewater at a low cost and to transport the wastewater as agricultural irrigation water to an agriculture-related facility, without expending an overly wasteful amount of energy in performing a cleaning treatment.　[Solution] A circular agricultural irrigation system 100 comprises: a kitchen wastewater facility 110 which receives kitchen wastewater from a living environment of a person; and a kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120 which receives the kitchen wastewater from the kitchen wastewater facility 110 and changes the same to a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water that can be transported by a transportation piping facility 130. The kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120 changes the kitchen wastewater to a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water, supplies the kitchen wastewater to an agriculture-related facility 200 via the transportation piping facility 130, and circulates water resources between the living environment of the person and the agriculture-related facility. The kitchen wastewater facility 110 is also configured to selectively receive kitchen wastewater not containing a surfactant, excluding kitchen wastewater containing a surfactant.

Description

A recycling-based agricultural irrigation system using reclaimed wastewater

[0001] The present invention relates to a recycling-type agricultural irrigation system and a recycling-type microbial cultivation system that treat wastewater from residential and office spaces, such as kitchen wastewater from kitchen use, rinse wastewater from laundry, and rinse wastewater from showering, to produce reclaimed treated water and utilize the reclaimed treated water.

[0002] Water resources are important resources, but they are ubiquitous around the world, and how to secure and utilize water resources is becoming an important issue in national strategies in the future. Water resources are beginning to be recognized as an important strategic substance, as they are directly linked to improving people's lives, securing food and drinking water, and promoting domestic industries that consume water. Various approaches have been taken to address the issue of how to secure and effectively utilize precious water resources.

[0003] One of these is aquaponic technology. Aquaponic technology aims to create a circular ecosystem in which water is circulated between aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponic cultivation (water cultivation). This technology allows fish and plants to grow simultaneously by utilizing the decomposition action of microorganisms, which converts the waste of aquatic fish into nutrients for plants.

[0004] Aquaponic technology appears to have economic potential, but has only been realized on a small scale. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-29014 (Patent Document 1), shown in Figure 8, discloses a basic aquaponic technology that uses the decomposition action of microorganisms to grow fish and plants. This technology involves stacking multiple hydroponic plant containers vertically in a multi-tier configuration. Water is supplied to the topmost plant container, and excess water from the topmost plant container is drained into the lower plant containers, which then serve as the water source for the lower plant containers. Water is then transferred between the hydroponic plant containers. The bottom tier contains an aquarium for raising aquatic fish, and water is circulated by pumping water from the bottom tier to the topmost plant container. Here, each plant container contains a filter bed containing microorganisms, and treated water that has been decomposed by the microorganisms is circulated. Another feature of the system is that the water level is kept constant during the transfer of water between hydroponic plant containers in accordance with the respiration period of the plants.

[0005] 9, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-136164 (Patent Document 2) discloses a hydroponic cultivation system including ornamental flower cultivation on the top floor of a five-story building, with multiple fish and shellfish farming systems on the lower floors. This aquaponic technology was considered relatively large-scale at the time, and involved circulating water between the hydroponic cultivation system and the multiple fish and shellfish farming systems via pipes, spanning multiple floors of the building, to circulate the water for hydroponic cultivation of flowers and the water for cultivating aquatic fish.

[0006] JP 2017-29014 A JP 2009-136164 A

[0007] As mentioned above, water resources are extremely important, and securing and utilizing water resources is a key issue in national strategy. However, a large-scale water circulation system at the societal level is required. However, the aquaponic technology mentioned above is necessarily small-scale, and is not powerful enough to solve, for example, the food problem at the national level.

[0008] The aquatic fish assumed in Patent Document 1 are small ornamental fish, and the hydroponic cultivation is ornamental flowers, both of which are assumed to be used in an office environment. The system assumed in Patent Document 2 is intended for a building, and is also quite small-scale. For example, the aquatic fish assumed to be shellfish such as oysters that can be grown in tanks, ornamental fish such as carp and goldfish, and the hydroponic cultivation is intended to be small leafy vegetables such as bok choy, which are edible.

[0009] Inventor Masaaki Takano recognized the importance of water resources early on and has been developing technologies related to the utilization of water resources. For example, he has developed a groundbreaking water-saving faucet for kitchen sinks that reduces water consumption while improving cleaning power, a water-saving shower for bathrooms, and kitchenware such as dishes that have excellent stain-resistant properties and reduce water consumption during washing. In the process, inventor Masaaki Takano has also developed a system for using wastewater after reducing water consumption in the kitchen as agricultural irrigation water or algae cultivation water. One of the key points to consider when utilizing wastewater effectively is to avoid the excessive and unnecessary energy required for wastewater purification treatment, and to aim for effective utilization of wastewater at low cost.

[0010] To achieve the above-mentioned object of the present invention, the recycling agricultural irrigation system of the present invention utilizes kitchen wastewater generated in human living environments, including residential, office, and commercial facilities. The system comprises a drainage facility that receives the kitchen wastewater from the human living environment, a transport piping system that connects the drainage facility to agricultural-related equipment, and a kitchen wastewater treatment facility that receives the kitchen wastewater from the drainage facility and converts it into water suitable for agricultural irrigation and transportable by the transport piping. The recycling agricultural irrigation system of the present invention is characterized in that the kitchen wastewater treatment facility receives the kitchen wastewater from the drainage facility, converts it into water suitable for agricultural irrigation and transportable by the transport piping, and supplies it to the agricultural-related equipment via the transport piping, thereby circulating water resources between the human living environment and the agricultural-related equipment. Here, a state suitable for transport by the transport piping refers to a state with a high solid content, such as food waste, or a high viscosity that is impossible or difficult to transport by the transport piping. The kitchen wastewater treatment facility receives the kitchen wastewater from the drainage facility and converts it into water suitable for transport by the transport piping. Agricultural facilities also include soil cultivation of plants, hydroponic cultivation of plants, and ponds for cultivating algae and seaweed. In the description of this patent application, kitchen wastewater is used as a representative example of usable wastewater. While the term "kitchen wastewater" is used, it is also possible to use shower wastewater, laundry rinse wastewater, and toilet wastewater. Bath wastewater and laundry wastewater are unsuitable for use as agricultural irrigation water if they contain large amounts of surfactants. Therefore, as with the description of kitchen wastewater treatment below, it is possible to either exclude wastewater containing large amounts of surfactants from acceptance or to remove surfactants from the wastewater to make it usable.

[0011] The above configuration makes it possible to provide a social infrastructure system that circulates water resources on a much larger scale than conventional standalone hydroponic cultivation systems or conventional aquaponic systems that combine aquaculture with hydroponic cultivation of fish, etc. In other words, the aim is to circulate water resources on a large scale between food consumption activities and food production activities.

[0012] In the recycling agricultural irrigation system described above, the first treatment facility of the kitchen wastewater treatment facility includes a biodegradation tank containing bacteria, germs, and microorganisms with biodegradation capabilities. By providing the biodegradation tank, at least a portion of the food waste fragmentation process can be performed by bacteria, germs, and microorganisms to convert the solid-liquid (a mixture of solid food residues and liquid) in the kitchen wastewater into a state that can be transported via a transport piping system. This first treatment facility of the kitchen wastewater treatment facility utilizes the biodegradation capabilities of the bacteria, germs, and microorganisms in the biodegradation tank to promote inorganic nutrient conversion through oxidation and reduction reactions of nutrients.

[0013] Furthermore, in the recycling-type agricultural irrigation system having the above configuration, the second treatment facility of the kitchen wastewater treatment facility includes a solid-liquid separator that separates the solid and liquid components of the kitchen wastewater into solid and liquid components, a grinding device that grinds the solid components separated by the solid-liquid separator, an oil-water separator that separates the liquid component separated by the solid-liquid separator into an oil component and a water-soluble liquid component, an oxidation treatment device that oxidizes the water component separated by the oil-water separator, and a reduction treatment device that reduces the oxidized liquid component oxidized by the oxidation treatment device. The oxidation treatment device and the reduction treatment device of the second treatment facility of the kitchen wastewater treatment facility can be specifically configured as follows. For example, the oxidation treatment device can be configured to include an ozone supplying device, and nitrification treatment can be performed by supplying ozone to the water separated by the oil-water separator. Alternatively, the reduction treatment device can be configured to include a reduced hydrogen water supplying device, and denitrification treatment and dephosphorization treatment can be performed by supplying reduced hydrogen water to the nitrified liquid component.

[0014] By using the solid-liquid separation device of the second treatment facility, it is possible to separate the treatments for the solid and liquid fractions. The solid fraction can be pulverized using the pulverization device of the second treatment facility, making it easier to transport along with the liquid fraction. For the liquid fraction, the water-soluble fraction is extracted through the oil-water separation device, oxidation treatment device, and reduction treatment device of the second treatment facility, and then the oxidation reaction of nutrients is carried out in a short time as an oxidation reaction (nitrification reaction) using ozone, and then the reduction reaction (denitrification reaction) is carried out in a short time to produce reduced hydrogen water (alkaline ionized water). This second treatment facility of the kitchen wastewater treatment facility promotes inorganic nutrient treatment of kitchen wastewater containing nutrients using physicochemical methods: the oxidation reaction (nitrification reaction) using ozone and the reduction reaction (denitrification reaction) using reduced hydrogen water.

[0015] The nature of kitchen wastewater varies greatly depending on the timeline of kitchen use. Normal kitchen use includes cooking wastewater, which is generated during the cooking process, such as cutting, heating, and stewing food; washing wastewater, which is generated by applying detergent to dishes and cooking utensils after eating and then rinsing them to remove dirt; and rinsing wastewater, which is generated by rinsing dishes and cooking utensils after rinsing the detergent. In particular, in kitchens in homes with a high standard of living where dishwashers are used, the wastewater generated during dishwashing and rinsing is often relatively clearly separated. Some users who prefer cleanliness may also rinse their dishes using the water faucet after rinsing them in the dishwasher.

[0016] Here, treating kitchen wastewater contaminated with surfactants resulting from washing with detergents to water for agricultural irrigation requires a large amount of energy input, resulting in poor energy cost performance. Therefore, a device can be adopted that includes a wastewater switching device as part of the kitchen wastewater treatment system, which excludes kitchen wastewater containing surfactants and selectively receives kitchen wastewater that does not contain surfactants. By using this wastewater switching device, it is possible to selectively supply kitchen wastewater that does not contain surfactants to the kitchen wastewater treatment system.

[0017] This drainage switching device may be manually switched by the kitchen user by manually determining the type of drainage, or it may be automated. A drainage switching device equipped with an automatic switching function may include a "photography device" that photographs the kitchen drainage flowing into the drain outlet of the kitchen drainage system, a "drainage image learning unit" having a learning database of images of the kitchen drainage containing foam caused by the surfactant, and an "AI drainage diagnosis device" that refers to the learning database of the drainage image learning unit based on the photographed image of the kitchen drainage from the photography device and determines whether or not the kitchen drainage contains foam caused by the surfactant. By including this "photography device," "drainage image learning unit," and "AI drainage diagnosis device," the drainage switching device can selectively determine whether or not to accept the kitchen drainage flowing into the drain outlet of the kitchen drainage system and automatically switch.

[0018] In addition, in a drainage switching device equipped with this automatic switching function, when the AI ​​drainage diagnostic device references the learning database to determine whether the foam contained in the image represents drainage foam caused by surfactant detergent or drainage foam caused by air-containing foam from the water faucet, it is important to distinguish. Therefore, it is preferable that the learning database includes trained images of the kitchen drainage containing foam caused by the surfactant as well as trained images of foam from foamy water generated by the water faucet, and that the drainage image learning unit selectively rejects images of the kitchen drainage containing foam caused by the surfactant and selectively accepts images of the kitchen drainage containing foam from foamy water generated by the water faucet.

[0019] The agricultural products grown in the agricultural facilities irrigated by the recycling agricultural irrigation system of the present invention can include soil crops in fields, hydroponic crops, and algae in culture tanks. All of these require water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, light, and temperature for growth, and the recycling agricultural irrigation system of the present invention can efficiently provide all of these. Regarding the planar or three-dimensional layout scale of the recycling agricultural irrigation system of the present invention, the kitchen wastewater treatment facility is preferably installed at each household, apartment building, office building, commercial facility, or cluster of these, and the transport piping system is preferably 100 meters or more, preferably 10 kilometers or more, from the kitchen wastewater treatment facility to the farmland or artificial plant factory. In principle, the recycling agricultural irrigation system of the present invention can be scaled up. For example, it could be applied to a megastructure currently being planned in Saudi Arabia.

[0020] The recycling-type agricultural irrigation system of the present invention can be applied not only to land suitable for agriculture, but also to any location, such as deserts, rocky soil, mountainous areas, and remote islands. The recycling-type agricultural irrigation system of the present invention can also be applied to cold regions, as long as the temperature of the agricultural-related facilities is adjusted to provide appropriate warmth. In other words, agricultural production is possible in any location, such as land suitable for agriculture, deserts, rocky soil, mountainous areas, and remote islands.

[0021] [Correction based on Rule 91, 25.12.2023] This figure shows an example of the configuration of a recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 according to Example 1 of the present invention. This figure shows an example of the configuration of a recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 equipped with a first kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-1. This figure shows an example of the configuration of a recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 equipped with a second kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-2. This figure shows a simplified diagram of the configuration of a first-pattern drainage switching device 111a and a second-pattern drainage switching device 111b. This figure shows a diagram for automatically performing the switching operation of the drainage switching unit 115. This figure shows a diagram for automatically performing the switching operation of the kitchen wastewater path in the drainage switching device 111 using photographed images of the kitchen wastewater and automatic discrimination by AI. This figure shows a simplified diagram of kitchen wastewater images registered in the learning database 119. This figure shows an example of a transport destination to which the transport piping facility 130 is connected. This figure shows an example of the configuration of an aquaponic system in the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2017-29014 (Patent Document 1). FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an aquaponic system in the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-136164 (Patent Document 2).

[0022] An embodiment of the recycling agricultural irrigation system of the present invention will be described. However, it goes without saying that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the specific uses, shapes, numbers, etc. shown in the following embodiment. In the following description, "kitchen wastewater" generated in kitchens will be described as a representative example of usable wastewater, and the term "kitchen wastewater" will be used. However, in addition to kitchen wastewater, other household wastewater such as shower wastewater generated from showering, laundry rinse wastewater generated from laundry, and toilet wastewater can also be used. Note that shower wastewater and laundry rinse wastewater are unsuitable for use as agricultural irrigation water if they contain large amounts of surfactants. Therefore, as explained below, wastewater containing large amounts of surfactants can be used by excluding it from acceptance or by performing a process to remove the surfactants.

[0023] The recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 of the present invention aims to circulate water resources between the large social infrastructure between the human living environment and the agricultural environment. In Figure 1, the human living environment is depicted on the left and the agricultural environment is depicted on the right, with water resources circulating between the two. Agricultural water resources are supplied from the human living environment to the agricultural environment, making it easy to understand that they are water resources. Meanwhile, food is supplied from the agricultural environment to the human living environment. Since food is produced by consuming a large amount of water resources in the agricultural environment, food is a transformed form of water resources, and in a sense, water resources can be considered to be supplied to the human living environment. In this way, the circulation of water resources between the large social infrastructure between the human living environment and the agricultural environment is depicted. The recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 of the present invention serves as part of the social infrastructure system that supports this circulation of water resources.

[0024] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the main parts of the recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100. In Fig. 1, the recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 is surrounded by a dashed line, and includes a kitchen drainage system 110, a kitchen wastewater treatment system 120, and a transportation piping system 130.

[0025] The kitchen drainage system 110 is a system that receives kitchen wastewater from the human living environment. It typically includes a drain opening in the kitchen sink and a drainage channel connected below the drainage outlet. The kitchen drainage system 110 is connected to the kitchen wastewater treatment system 120. A switching unit 115 may be interposed between the kitchen drainage system 110 and the kitchen wastewater treatment system 120. It is also preferable to use the switching unit 115 to filter out kitchen wastewater that is unsuitable for treatment as an agricultural water resource from the kitchen drainage system 110 and selectively select wastewater that is suitable for treatment as an agricultural water resource and send it to the kitchen wastewater treatment system 120. As described below, there are several patterns for the kitchen drainage system 110 in the recycling agricultural irrigation system 100 of the present invention, depending on the presence or absence of the switching unit 115, the number of drainage outlets, the number of drainage systems, and so on. These various configurations of the kitchen drainage system 110 will be described later. The location of the kitchen drainage system 110 is not limited, but is preferably near each kitchen sink.

[0026] The kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120 receives kitchen wastewater from the kitchen wastewater facility 110 and treats it to a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water that can be transported by the transport piping facility 130. The kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120 transforms the wastewater into a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water that can be transported by the transport piping facility 130, and then supplies the transformed wastewater to the agriculture-related facility 200 via the transport piping facility 130, thereby circulating water resources between the human living environment and the agriculture-related facility 200. The kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120 performs wastewater treatment, such as physical treatment and biochemical treatment, on the kitchen wastewater received from the kitchen wastewater facility 110 to transform it into a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water, and there are multiple wastewater treatment patterns. These multiple configuration patterns for the kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120 will be described later. The kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120 may be installed at any location, including individual households, apartment complexes, office buildings, commercial facilities, food factories, public facilities (swimming pools, fountains, parks), or clusters of these.

[0027] The transport piping system 130 is a system equipped with transport piping that runs from the kitchen wastewater system 120 to the agriculture-related facility 200. It receives kitchen wastewater treated as agricultural irrigation water from the kitchen wastewater treatment system 120 and transports it to the agriculture-related facility 200. The piping of the transport piping system 130 is preferably a piping through which agricultural irrigation water can flow easily, and is not limited to a piping type, but preferably has a smooth inner wall surface with low friction, and its cross-sectional shape is preferably, for example, circular. The location where the transport piping system 130 is installed is not limited, but it extends, for example, from the kitchen wastewater treatment system 120 to the agriculture-related facility 200. The length is not limited, but may be 100 meters or more depending on the scale, and may be 10 kilometers or more in large-scale systems.

[0028] The agriculture-related facility 200 is not limited to, but may include, for example, farmland with soil such as fields and rice paddies, farmland for artificial cultivation such as artificial plant factories, green spaces on building rooftops or inside buildings, and culture tanks and culture reservoirs for cultivating algae. The products produced therein include a variety of crops, such as edible grains such as wheat, rice, potatoes, and corn, as well as edible vegetables and fruits, regardless of whether they are soil-based or hydroponic. Algae may also include edible algae and algae that produce and store petroleum within their cells.

[0029] Next, we will explain each configuration pattern for the configuration of the kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120. Below, as examples, we will explain the configuration pattern of the first kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-1 and the configuration pattern of the second kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-2.

[0030] The configuration pattern of the first kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120-1 is a configuration that includes a biodegradation tank 121 containing bacteria, germs, and microorganisms with biodegradability as part of the kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a circulatory agricultural irrigation system 100 that includes this first kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120-1. As shown in FIG. 2, the first kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120-1 is configured to include a biodegradation tank 121. This biodegradation tank 121 can perform a fragmentation treatment on at least a portion of the food residues contained in the kitchen wastewater through the biodegradation ability of the bacteria, germs, and microorganisms. The treated wastewater that has been fragmented by the biodegradation tank 121 of the first kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120-1 is sent to the transport piping equipment 130.

[0031] Kitchen wastewater contains solids, such as food residues generated during cooking, and is mixed with liquids (solid-liquid) generated during cooking. If the solid food residues are large and have a specific gravity similar to that of water, they may be impossible or difficult to transport using the transport piping system 130. Furthermore, depending on the state of the solids, they may be highly viscous. These untransportable or difficult-to-transport wastewater needs to be remediated. By utilizing the biodegradation capabilities of bacteria, microorganisms, and other microorganisms, plant residues and other wastewater can be remediated into a liquid. Food residues are decomposed by the biodegradation capabilities of these bacteria, microorganisms, and microorganisms, and then nutrient-enriched with carbohydrates, fiber, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and other inorganic salts, resulting in a liquid suitable for agricultural irrigation. This remediation process results in a state suitable for agricultural irrigation that can be transported using the transport piping system.

[0032] Here, the type of bacteria, germs, and microorganisms that can be used are not particularly limited as long as they have the decomposition ability to biodegrade food residues. Examples of aerobic, agriculturally beneficial bacteria include bacteria such as those of the genera Bacillus, Cellulomonas, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, and Pseudomonas; filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium; yeasts such as Saccharomyces and Pichia; and actinomycetes such as Streptomyces. Fermentation bacteria include lactic acid bacteria, bifidobacteria, and yeast. One or more of these bacteria, germs, and microorganisms can be selected and used. These bacteria, germs, and microorganisms may be supported on a support. The above are merely examples, and in addition to currently known bacteria, germs, and microorganisms, bacteria, germs, and microorganisms discovered in the future, as well as new bacteria, germs, and microorganisms artificially created using genetic engineering technology, can also be used in the biodegradation tank 121 of the first kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-1.

[0033] In addition, to promote the biodegradation of food residues, it is preferable to physically crush large food residues into smaller pieces. Therefore, a solid-liquid separator 122, a crusher 123, and an oil-water separator 124, which will be described in the second kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-2 below, may be adopted in this first kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-1 and installed upstream of the biodegradation tank 121 to perform pretreatment.

[0034] Next, the configuration pattern of the second kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-2 is configured to include a solid-liquid separator 122, a crusher 123, an oil-water separator 124, an oxidation treatment device 125, and a reduction treatment device 126 as part of the kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120. This configuration pattern of the second kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-2 has the advantages of being significantly smaller in scale than the first kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-1, and of being significantly shorter in treatment time.

[0035] 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 equipped with this second kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-2. As shown in FIG. 3, kitchen wastewater received from the kitchen wastewater facility 110 is treated through a solid-liquid separator 122, an oil-water separator 124, an oxidation treatment device 125, and a reduction treatment device 126 to change the state of the wastewater into a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water that can be transported by a transport piping facility 130, and then sent to the transport piping facility 130. Note that, as shown in FIG. 3, the crushing device 123 may crush the solids separated by the solid-liquid separator 122 and transport the crushed solids separately to the agriculture-related facility 200.

[0036] The solid-liquid separator 122 is a device that separates the kitchen wastewater into a solid component and a liquid component. The solid-liquid separator 122 may be a known device.

[0037] The pulverizer 123 is a device for pulverizing solid content. While the particle size of the pulverized solid content is not limited, pulverization to a particle size of, for example, several centimeters or less, preferably several millimeters or less, is considered to have a wide range of applications in the agriculture-related facility 200. The solid content pulverized by the pulverizer 123 may be transported separately to the agriculture-related facility 200. The pulverized solid food waste can be further biodegraded to convert it into useful nutrients that can be used in the agriculture-related facility. The order of the solid-liquid separator 122 and the pulverizer 123 and the order of the processes do not matter. In the configuration shown in Figure 3, the kitchen wastewater received from the kitchen drainage system 110 is separated into solid and liquid components by the solid-liquid separator 122, and the solid components are then pulverized by the pulverizer 123. However, the kitchen wastewater may first be passed through the pulverizer 123 to finely pulverize the solids contained in the liquid, and then the solid liquid after the pulverization process may be separated into solid and liquid components by the solid-liquid separator 122. In this case, the solid content separated by the solid-liquid separator 122 is transported to the agriculture-related facility 200 .

[0038] The oil-water separator 124 is a device that separates the separated liquid fraction separated by the solid-liquid separator 122 into an oil fraction and a water-soluble liquid fraction. The oil-water separator 124 can have various structures, but a low-cost one is a floating oil separation and recovery device that separates and recovers the oil by floating it. There are also other types, such as a filter type that adsorbs the oil, but a floating oil separation and recovery device that simply separates the oil fraction and the water-soluble liquid fraction can be applied. The aqueous solution separated by the oil-water separator 124 is sent to the oxidation treatment device 125. The oil separated by the oil-water separator 124 can also be modified into useful nutrients that can be used in agricultural facilities by undergoing treatment such as emulsification.

[0039] Next, the oxidation treatment device 125 and the reduction treatment device 126 will be described. The oxidation treatment device 125 is a device that oxidizes the water-soluble liquid component separated by the oil-water separation device 124. The reduction treatment device 126 is a device that reduces the oxidized liquid component oxidized by the oxidation treatment device 125. In other words, by performing the oxidation treatment by the oxidation treatment device 125 and the reduction treatment by the reduction treatment device 126, nutrients are mineralized, and the value of the water resource is improved as agricultural irrigation water containing inorganic nutrients.

[0040] The oxidation treatment device 125 may have any configuration, but may, for example, include an ozone supply device, which supplies ozone to the water-soluble liquid fraction separated by the oil-water separator 124 to perform a nitrification treatment to nitrify the water-soluble fraction. The wastewater treatment using ozone performed by the oxidation treatment device 125 including this ozone supply device is a nitrification treatment represented by the process shown in the following [Equation 1] and [Equation 2]. [Equation 1] 2NH ４ ＋ + 2O ３ → 2NO ２ － +2H ２ O + 4H ＋ [Number 2] 2NO ２ － + 2O ３ → 2NO ３ － +20 ２

[0041] The reduction treatment device 126 is not limited to this, but for example, the reduction treatment device 126 includes a reduced hydrogen water supply device, and reduces hydrogen water is supplied to the liquid fraction that has been nitrified through the above [Equation 1] and [Equation 2], and denitrification treatment and dephosphorization treatment are performed according to the following [Equation 3] and [Equation 4]. [Equation 3] 2NO ２ － + 3H ２ → N ２ +2OH － +2H ２ O [Number 4] 2NO ３ － + 5H ２ → N ２ +2OH － +4H ２ O

[0042] If the biodegradation tank 121 of the first kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120-1 were used for the above-mentioned denitrification treatment, it would have been necessary to create anaerobic conditions and carry out the biodegradation treatment over a long period of time, but if the reduction treatment device 126 uses this reduced hydrogen water supply device, it can be carried out in a short period of time.

[0043] Next, the configuration of each pattern of the kitchen drainage system 110 will be described. The kitchen drainage system 110 excludes kitchen wastewater containing surfactants and selectively uses kitchen wastewater that does not contain surfactants. Therefore, the system is configured with a drainage switching device 111, which selectively supplies only kitchen wastewater that does not contain surfactants to the kitchen wastewater treatment system 120. This drainage switching device 111 comes in a number of patterns. Here, the following first pattern of drainage switching device 111a and second pattern of drainage switching device 111b will be described.

[0044] The drainage switching device 111a of the first pattern is configured to have two independent systems for the opening 112 and the drain groove 113. Fig. 4(a) is a diagram simply showing the configuration of the drainage switching device 111a of the first pattern. As shown in Fig. 4(a), the drainage switching device 111a of the first pattern is configured to have a first system including a first drain outlet 112a opening at the bottom of the kitchen sink and a first drain groove 113a connected thereto, and a second system including a second drain outlet 112b opening at the bottom of the kitchen sink and a second drain groove 113b connected thereto.

[0045] For example, the first drain 113a of the first system is connected to the kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120, but the second drain 113b of the second system is not connected to the kitchen wastewater treatment facility 120. For example, the second drain 113b of the second system is connected to a sewage treatment facility.

[0046] In the case of this first pattern drainage switching device 111a, when a kitchen user drains kitchen wastewater from the kitchen sink themselves, with an awareness of environmental conservation and the promotion of local agriculture, they can choose to drain it into either the first drain outlet 112a or the second drain outlet 112b.

[0047] The second pattern of drainage switching device 111b has a single shared opening, two independent drain channels, and is internally switched. Figure 4(b) is a simplified diagram showing the configuration of the second pattern of drainage switching device 111b. As shown in Figure 4(b), the second pattern of drainage switching device 111b has one drain outlet 112b opening at the bottom of the kitchen sink, and two drain channels connected below it: a first drain channel 113a connected to the kitchen wastewater treatment system 120 and a second drain channel 113b connected to the sewage treatment system. At the branching point, there is a drain chamber 114 that temporarily receives kitchen wastewater. The drain chamber 114 has two outlets, a first outlet 115a and a second outlet 115b, and a drain switching unit 115 that switches between opening and closing these outlets. The drain switching unit 115 is configured to open and close to control whether the drain water flowing from the kitchen sink flows into the first drain groove 113a or the second drain groove 113b. If the drain switching unit 115 is configured to be manually switched, when a kitchen user wants to drain kitchen wastewater from the kitchen sink, they operate the drain switching unit 115 to select whether the water flows into the first drain groove 113a or the second drain groove 113b. For example, it would be convenient if the drain switching unit 115 could be operated with a foot switch.

[0048] The switching operation of the drain switching unit 115 may also be performed automatically. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration for automatically switching the drain switching unit 115. As shown in FIG. 5, a surfactant sensor 116 is a component that issues a switching command to the drain switching unit 115. The surfactant sensor 116 can detect whether the kitchen wastewater contains a surfactant. The surfactant sensor 116 is commercially available. If the surfactant sensor 116 detects that the kitchen wastewater received in the drain chamber 114 does not contain a surfactant, the outlet switching unit 115a opens the first outlet, and the kitchen wastewater is selectively discharged from the first outlet to the kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120. On the other hand, if the surfactant sensor 116 detects that the kitchen wastewater received in the drain chamber 114 contains a surfactant, the outlet switching unit 115b opens the second outlet, and the kitchen wastewater is excluded from the second outlet. In this way, the configuration of drain chamber 114, surfactant sensor 116, outlet switching unit 115a, and outlet switching unit 115b allows the operation of switching the flow of kitchen drainage in drain switching unit 115 to be performed automatically.

[0049] 6 is a diagram showing a configuration in which the switching operation of the kitchen drainage route in the drainage switching device 111 is performed by photographing images of the kitchen drainage and automatically determining by AI. As shown in Fig. 6, in addition to the drainage chamber 114, the outlet switching unit 115a, and the outlet switching unit 115b, the configuration includes components that issue switching instructions, such as a photographing device 117, an AI drainage diagnostic device 118, and a drainage image learning unit 119 that has a drainage image learning database.

[0050] The drain chamber 114, outlet switching unit 115a, and outlet switching unit 115b may be similar to those shown in FIG. 4 . The drain chamber 114 is provided at a branching point of the drain ditch 113. The outlet switching unit 115a and outlet switching unit 115b have movable parts and switch the drain outlet 112 between connecting to the first drain ditch 113a or the second drain ditch 113b in response to a switching command from the AI ​​drainage diagnostic device 118. The image capture device 117 captures images of the kitchen drainage flowing into the drain ditch 112 and acquires drainage images. Any device capable of capturing drainage images may be used. The location of the image capture device 117 is not limited, but it may be located above the bottom of the kitchen sink (above the drain ditch 112). For example, it may be located on the side of the wall of the faucet housing facing the drain ditch 112. It is preferable that the lens of the camera of the image capture device 117 is directed toward the vicinity of the drain ditch 112. The installation height of the imaging device 117 may be within the drain outlet 112. For example, it may be on the side wall near the entrance of the drain outlet 112, above the branch point of the drain ditch 113. It is preferable that the imaging lens of the camera of the imaging device 117 is directed toward the inside of the drain ditch 113. It is also preferable to have a configuration that includes a lighting device, as it is possible that the brightness may be insufficient.

[0051] The training database provided by the drainage image training unit 119 preferably includes trained images containing foam from foamy water generated by a water faucet, in addition to trained images containing foam from kitchen drainage caused by surfactants. Figure 7 is a simplified diagram showing kitchen drainage images registered in the training database of the drainage image training unit 119. As shown in Figure 7, the training database can store at least a group of trained images A containing foam from foamy water generated by a water faucet, and a group of trained images B containing foam from surfactants.

[0052] The images included in the group of trained images A, which contain bubbles from foamy water generated by a water faucet from kitchen drainage, have bubbles of uniform size. Because the bubbles themselves are generated mechanically by drawing in outside air using a tap attached to the water faucet, the size of the bubbles is uniform and close to a predetermined value. The predetermined value is not limited, but may be 3 mm, for example. Furthermore, the bubbles from foamy water are often neatly dispersed within the water flow.

[0053] On the other hand, images captured in the images included in the trained image group B, which contains foam from surfactants in kitchen wastewater, often have bubbles of non-uniform size, some of which contain large, expanded detergent bubbles. If the images contain bubbles of a size equal to or larger than a predetermined value, they are registered as image group A. The predetermined value is not limited, but may be 3 mm, for example. When detergent surfactants are lathered with a sponge or the like, large, expanded bubbles are often included. Furthermore, many bubbles are often formed on the surface of the water flow.

[0054] These are all assumed to be learned images and stored in advance in the drainage image database when the recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 of the present invention is installed. If the recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 of the present invention is installed after renovating a kitchen, it is preferable to store these learned images in the drainage image database at the time of renovation.

[0055] The drainage image learning unit 119 preferably performs so-called supervised learning in advance. That is, the supervised learning is performed to determine that images of kitchen drainage containing foam caused by surfactants are correct data that should be accepted into the second drain 113b (incorrect data that should not be accepted into the first drain 113a), and that images of foamy water generated by a water faucet are correct data that should be accepted into the first drain 113a connected to the kitchen drainage treatment unit 120.

[0056] In the above, the drain image learning unit 119 has learned both group of images A, which contains only foam from foamy water generated by a water faucet, and group of images B, which contains foam from surfactants. However, group of images B, which originally contains foam from surfactants, also contains foam from foamy water generated by the water faucet flowing from the faucet in addition to foam from surfactants. Therefore, it is conceivable that processing load can be reduced by identifying kitchen drainage containing foam from surfactants and discharging it into the second drain 113b.

[0057] Therefore, the first learning pattern may be one in which only image group A, which contains only bubbles from foamy water generated by a water faucet, is learned as the correct answer, because it is possible to process kitchen drainage water determined to be correct into the first drain 113a and the rest into the second drain 113b.

[0058] The second learning pattern may be one in which only kitchen drainage images B containing foam caused by surfactants are learned as correct answers, because it is possible to process kitchen drainage determined to be correct (kitchen drainage images B containing foam caused by surfactants) into the second drain 113b and the rest into the first drain 113a.

[0059] The AI ​​image diagnostic device 117 refers to the learning database of the drainage image learning unit 119 based on the captured image of the kitchen drainage from the imaging device 117 and determines whether the kitchen drainage contains foam caused by surfactants. The AI ​​image diagnostic device 117 determines whether the kitchen drainage flowing into the drain outlet 112 of the kitchen drainage equipment 110 should be received into the first drain ditch 113a and discharged into the kitchen drainage treatment unit 120, or whether it should be discharged into the second drain ditch 113b and removed so as not to flow into the kitchen drainage treatment unit 120, and issues a switching instruction to the switching unit 115.

[0060] In this way, the configuration including the drainage switching unit 115, the photography device 117, the AI ​​drainage diagnostic device 118, and the drainage image learning unit 119 makes it possible to automate the drainage switching process in the kitchen drainage treatment unit 110.

[0061] Next, the transport piping equipment 130 will be described. The transport piping equipment 130 is a transport pipe that runs from the kitchen drainage equipment 110 through the kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120 to the agriculture-related equipment 200. In order to transport the kitchen wastewater treated in the kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 120, it is preferable that the inner wall surface is smooth to facilitate flow, and that the cross section is close to circular. The length of the transport piping equipment 130 is not limited.

[0062] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing examples of destinations connected to the transport piping system 130. As shown in FIG. 8, the destination agricultural-related facilities may include soil farmland, hydroponic farmland, artificial plant factories, green land for buildings, and farmland in large-scale artificial cities. In recent years, ultra-large artificial cities have been planned, and some of them are being realized with lengths of several hundred kilometers. The recycling-type agricultural irrigation system 100 of the present invention can circulate water resources obtained from human activity areas that use water resources, such as residential areas, commercial areas, and food factories, within such ultra-large artificial cities to agricultural-related areas such as hydroponic farmland, artificial plant factories, and green land for buildings.

[0063] The recycling agricultural irrigation system according to the present invention has been described above, and although the term "kitchen wastewater" has been used, kitchen wastewater may be any of or a combination of household wastewater such as kitchen wastewater generated in kitchens, shower wastewater generated from shower use, laundry rinse wastewater generated from laundry, and toilet wastewater generated from toilets. For shower wastewater, the kitchen drainage facility is the shower drainage facility, for laundry rinse wastewater, the kitchen drainage facility is the laundry rinse drainage facility, and for toilet wastewater, the kitchen drainage facility is the toilet drainage facility. As with the kitchen drainage facility described above, each facility may be one that excludes wastewater containing a large amount of surfactants and accepts wastewater that does not contain surfactants.

[0064] 100 Circulating agricultural irrigation system 110 Kitchen drainage equipment 120 Kitchen wastewater treatment equipment 130 Transport piping equipment 200 Agriculture-related equipment

Claims

1. A circular agricultural irrigation system that utilizes kitchen wastewater generated from the living environment of humans, including residential environments, office environments, and commercial facilities, comprising: - Kitchen wastewater facilities that receive the kitchen wastewater from the living environment of humans; - Transportation piping facilities that are connected from the kitchen wastewater facilities to agricultural-related facilities; - Kitchen wastewater treatment facilities that receive the kitchen wastewater from the kitchen wastewater facilities and change it to a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water that can be transported by the transportation piping facilities, wherein the kitchen wastewater treatment facilities receive the kitchen wastewater from the kitchen wastewater facilities, change it to a state suitable for agricultural irrigation water that can be transported by the transportation piping facilities, and supply it to the agricultural-related facilities via the transportation piping facilities, thereby circulating water resources between the living environment of humans and the agricultural-related facilities.

2. As part of the facilities of the kitchen wastewater treatment facilities, it includes a biodegradation tank containing any one or a combination of bacteria, microorganisms, or bacteria with biodegradability, and at least a part of the subdivision treatment of the food residues modifies the solid-liquid in the kitchen wastewater in the biodegradation tank to a state that can be transported. The circular agricultural irrigation system according to claim 1.

3. As part of the facilities of the kitchen wastewater treatment facilities, it includes: - A solid-liquid separation device that separates the solid-liquid of the kitchen wastewater into solid components and liquid components; - A pulverizing device that pulverizes the solid components separated by the solid-liquid separation device; - An oil-water separation device that separates the liquid components separated by the solid-liquid separation device into oil components and water-soluble liquid components; - An oxidation treatment device that oxidizes the water separated by the oil-water separation device; - A reduction treatment device that reduces the oxidized liquid components oxidized by the oxidation treatment device. The circular agricultural irrigation system according to claim 1, characterized in that it is provided with the above.

4. The oxidation treatment device includes an ozone supply device, and performs a nitrification treatment by supplying ozone to the water separated by the oil-water separation device for nitrification. The reduction treatment device includes a reduced hydrogen water supply device, and supplies the reduced hydrogen water to the liquid components after the nitrification treatment to perform denitrification treatment and dephosphorization treatment. The circular agricultural irrigation system according to claim 3, characterized in that it is as described above.

5. As part of the kitchen drainage facility, a drainage switching device is provided that excludes the kitchen drainage containing surfactant and selectively accepts the kitchen drainage not containing the surfactant, and the drainage switching device selectively supplies only the kitchen drainage not containing the surfactant to the kitchen drainage treatment facility. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 1, characterized in that.

6. As the drainage switching device, a first system including a first drainage port opening to the kitchen sink and a first drainage groove connected below it, and a second system including a second drainage port opening to the kitchen sink and a second drainage groove connected below it are provided. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 5, characterized in that the first system is connected to the kitchen drainage treatment facility and the second system is not connected to the kitchen drainage treatment facility.

7. The drainage switching device includes a drainage chamber for temporarily receiving the kitchen drainage, an inlet to the drainage chamber is connected to a drainage port opening to the kitchen sink, and there are two outlets from the drainage chamber, a first outlet connected to the kitchen drainage treatment facility and a second outlet connected to the sewage treatment facility. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 5, characterized in that the drainage switching device is provided with an outlet switching device that opens either the first outlet or the second outlet depending on the presence or absence of the surfactant in the kitchen drainage received in the drainage chamber.

8. The drainage switching device is provided with a surfactant sensor capable of detecting whether or not the surfactant is contained in the kitchen drainage. For the kitchen drainage received in the drainage chamber, if the surfactant sensor does not detect the presence of the surfactant, the outlet switching device selectively accepts the kitchen drainage from the first outlet, and if the surfactant sensor detects the presence of the surfactant, the outlet switching device excludes the kitchen drainage from the second outlet. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 7, characterized in that.

9. An imaging device that captures the kitchen wastewater flowing into the drain outlet, a wastewater image learning unit having a learning database that has learned images of the kitchen wastewater containing foam formed by the surfactant, and based on the captured image of the kitchen wastewater from the imaging device, referring to the learning database of the wastewater image learning unit to determine whether or not foam formed by the surfactant is included, an AI image diagnostic device, wherein the AI image diagnostic device outputs the switching instruction to the outlet switching device. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 7, characterized in that.

10. In the learning database, there are included learned images of the kitchen wastewater containing foam formed by the surfactant and learned images of the foam water generated at the faucet containing foam. The wastewater image learning unit has learned that it does not accept those having the learned images of the kitchen wastewater containing foam formed by the surfactant, and the wastewater image learning unit has learned that it selectively accepts those having the learned images of the kitchen wastewater containing foam of the foam water generated at the faucet. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 9, characterized in that.

11. An image in which bubbles of a predetermined size are uniformly dispersed is learned as the learned image of the foam water generated at the faucet containing foam, and an image in which the size of the bubbles is non-uniform and contains bubbles larger than the predetermined size is learned as the learned image of the foam containing the surfactant. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 10, characterized in that.

12. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein what is produced by the agricultural-related equipment includes soil crops, hydroponic crops, and algae in a culture tank.

13. The kitchen wastewater treatment equipment is provided in each household unit, each apartment unit, each office building unit, each commercial facility unit, each food factory unit, or an integrated area unit thereof, and the transport piping equipment has a length of 100 meters or more, preferably 10 kilometers or more, from the kitchen wastewater treatment equipment to the agricultural-related equipment. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to claim 12, characterized in that.

14. The circulating agricultural irrigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the kitchen wastewater includes any one or a combination thereof of domestic wastewater such as shower wastewater generated by using a shower, washing wastewater generated by washing, and toilet wastewater generated in a toilet, in addition to the kitchen wastewater generated in the kitchen.

Images