JPS6232875A - tank - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Field of Application] This invention is a tank in which fluid substances containing organic substances are allowed to stay for a long time for biological treatment or ripening. The present invention relates to a tank for separately storing liquids, and a tank that is also used for storing liquid, powdery, or granular solid raw materials or products, such as food and feed.

[Technical issues] In the structural food industry and other industries, large amounts of fluid substances are kept in large-capacity tanks for long periods of time for fermentation, other biological processing, or aging of fluid materials containing valuable substances. It is being held.

A large number of large-capacity units (for the time being,
Great consideration must be given to the structural strength and constituent materials, especially the inner wall surface material, and a large amount of equipment costs are invested.

If the fluid substance accumulated in the tank is a high-priced substance, amortization of a large amount of equipment cost will not be an unbearable burden, but the lower the value of the fluid substance accumulated in the tank, the more v1 units will be required. The equipment costs for large-capacity rows are difficult or impossible to amortize.

In addition, when many types of liquid raw materials or products are handled, for example in the production of lubricating oil, lubricating oil is an expensive substance, but the number of tanks corresponding to the number of types is required, which increases the cost of tank equipment and installation space. Both have become a huge burden.

As an example of a case where the carrying capacity for equipment costs is small, municipal garbage, sewage sludge from cities and factories, human and animal excrement, plants, trees, etc. are subjected to methane stirrup fermentation, and these toxic and worthless wastes are treated and converted into by-products. Methane gas may also be obtained. .

Most of the materials that are the origin of the methane M method are derived from plants grown by solar energy and animals grown by plants.

Converting this raw material into methane gas using an energy-saving biological method is a wise use of solar energy, and is attracting attention not only as a waste treatment method but also as an important means of fuel production, and will continue to grow in the future. There is a need for efficient equipment for this purpose.

One of the obstacles to utilizing methane fermentation to obtain useful fuel gas is that the raw material for methane fermentation contains a large amount of water, and since fermentation is a vital activity, it is slow compared to chemical reactions. As a result, the amount of accumulated material in the Mll fermentation apparatus is extremely large, and in addition to the fermentation tank, many large-capacity tanks such as a pretreatment adjustment tank and a fermentation waste liquid 4 soda tank are required.

In methane fermentation, the residence time in the tank is about 10 to 20 days in the case of medium temperature fermentation of 36 to 38°C, and about 5 to 10 days in the case of high temperature fermentation of 53 to 55°C.

Since the purpose is to process organic matter-containing raw materials with a low one-turn value and to obtain low-priced methane gas, a large amount of capital investment is essentially undesirable.

5i! can meet many uses, including the severe requirement that it is unsuitable as a capital investment target and has the largest amount of accumulated material in the equipment! It is necessary.

[Objective of the Invention 1 The object of the present invention is to provide a 1q tank that is installed at a low cost and used in various industries.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the present invention, 1.) a is installed at a fixed position in a liquid in a submerged bottom state or a floating state.

The body side wall of the tank is a bellows made of a flexible or relatively thin layer of elastomeric material.

In the case of a bellows that expands and contracts in the vertical direction, the cross-sectional shape of the bellows is circular or regular polygonal.

In the case of a bellows that expands and contracts in the vertical direction, the cross-sectional shape of the bellows should be circular or regular hexagonal, in order to install multiple paddles vertically as densely as possible, as well as in terms of manufacturing man-hours and building strength. It is appropriate to have a rectangular shape.

The bellows may be cylindrical in shape with equal diameter from one end to the other, or may be frustum-shaped, inverted frustum-shaped, or lantern-shaped, oval-shaped, or other similar shape.

Are the densities of the liquid outside the tank and the liquid inside the tank equal?1. When the density of the liquid inside the tank is lower than that of the liquid outside the tank and there is no or a small amount of settled sludge, and when the bellows is designed to expand and contract in the horizontal direction, the cross-sectional shape of the bellows is rectangular. , rectangular, oval, circular, or regular polygon.

Appropriate materials for the bellows include woven fabrics, such as nylon cloth, and appropriate polymer sidewalls, such as rubberized rubber made from nitrile rubber or the like.

If necessary, two or more layers of fabric may be made into a rubberized fabric.

The appropriate thickness of the rubber coating is in the range of 1 to 5 ITITn.

The inner surface of the upper end sealing cap and bottom sealer of the tank, or of the sealing lids at both ends in the case of a horizontally expandable bellows, shall be made of the same material (A material) as the main body side wall, or may be made of a different material. However, in order to ensure smooth expansion and contraction of the bellows-shaped tank as the contents enter and exit the tank, the sealing lid should always have sufficient rigidity to maintain the shape of the edge of the bellows. Of course this is necessary.

Similarly, if necessary, in order to secure the cross-sectional shape of parts other than the end edges of the bellows, an annular expansion frame may be installed at appropriate intervals in the vertical or horizontal direction on the outside or inside of the bellows or on the rubber. It is provided in a layer of drawn fabric.

The sealing cap at the end of the bellows is liquid-tightly or airtightly combined with the support extension frame joined to the end of the bellows to prevent the contents of the tank from coming into contact with external liquid or gas.

The sealing lid at the end of the bellows and the support extension frame joined to the end of the bellows may be manufactured in one piece.

The hermetically sealed lid of the tank is equipped with a nozzle for discharging the gas generated inside, a nozzle for feeding raw materials for storage or fermentation, and, if desired, a manhole.

The bottom seal of the bellows, which expands and contracts in the vertical direction, is provided with a suitable discharge hole for discharging the settled sludge.

The drain hole for draining the settled sludge in the bottom sealing lid is also used in case the contents are drained and transferred to another tank.

When the tank is set in a floating state at a fixed position in the liquid, if desired, a bellows bottom sealing lid that expands and contracts in the vertical direction may also be used to promote contraction of the tank as the internal volume of the tank decreases. Floats providing appropriate buoyancy are arranged and attached to the periphery of the lower surface to promote outflow of generated gas or evaporated gas.

This float is useful for maximizing the effectiveness of the tower.

By providing the float, the structure of the joint between the bellows and the support expansion frame or the bottom sealing lid is simplified and durability is improved.

A float is also attached to the support expansion frame at the upper end of the bellows, which expands and contracts in the vertical direction, as required.

The float installed on the support expansion frame has the function of keeping the top of the tank above the water surface, and works in conjunction with the float on the bottom sealing lid, so that when the density of the fluid in the tank is higher than the liquid outside, It also has the function of maintaining the tank at a predetermined depth with less bellows load.

The required number of protrusions are provided on the periphery of each of the support expansion frame and the sealing lid to fix the position of the tank or to guide the raising and lowering or horizontal movement of the sealing lid by the expansion and contraction movement of the bellows type. be done.

The airtight lid is provided with 52 nozzles for introducing gas or liquid for stirring the contents, and for blowing steam for heating the contents.

If a temperature control means is used in which the liquid in the tank is extracted, sent to a heat exchanger provided separately, heated or cooled, and returned to the tank, the liquid in the tank is extracted at an appropriate position on the airtight lid. An extraction nozzle and an inlet nozzle are installed.

When this tank is used for methane Rt￥B, the most important thing in tank management is to maintain an appropriate temperature.Since methane fermentation is a one-dimensional reaction, there is no heat generation by itself, and the temperature of the tank can be maintained. The amount of heat required for is given from outside,
These nozzles work.

For methane fermentation, which produces a large amount of settled sludge, a rose-shaped tank that expands and contracts in the vertical direction is suitable, but in order to ensure smooth outflow of settled sludge, the inner surface of the bottom sealing lid is designed to allow the settling sludge to flow toward the discharge hole at the lowest position. It is desirable that the downward slope is greater than the angle of repose of the sludge.

When the tank of the present invention is used for methane fermentation, complex organic substances in the raw materials are converted into acetic acid by passing through substances with small molecular weight such as monosaccharides and amino acids due to the action of a group of producing bacteria during the first stage acid production process. It is converted into lower fatty acids such as propionic acid, acetic acid, and valeric acid.The tank used in the first stage, which does not generate gas, should preferably be of the vertically expandable bellows type, with a sealing lid attached to the top of the tank. may be omitted, the upper end may be open, and only the support expansion frame at the upper end of the bellows is required.

The substrate is CHa by a group of methanobacteria with strong substrate specificity.
, GO2, etc., is equipped with a top sealing lid in the tank for the second stage gas generation process.

For ease of maintenance, it is desirable that the upper end sealing lid has a structure that allows it to be installed in a liquid-tight manner and is removable.

If the first stage acid generation process and the second stage gas generation process are to be completed in the same tank, an airtight lid on the top end is naturally required.

Fixed vertical struts are placed around various areas to keep the tank vertically in place underwater and to guide expansion and contraction movements of the tank as the contents of the tank enter and exit the tank. This is desirable.

The strut may be a cord body whose upper and lower ends are fixed and extend.

The tank is installed in an artificial aquarium, a natural pond, a lake, or the sea, with the protruding portion of the sealing lid or support extension frame slidably connected to a vertical support fixed in a predetermined position.

When this tank is used for methane dairy fermentation, it is placed on or directly above the water surface as close as possible to multiple tanks fixed in the water at predetermined locations, so that it can rise and fall freely within a certain range. A floating lid for storing generated gas with a liquid-sealed gas phase space formed directly below and a water surface at the bottom is installed as required, and connected to the gas discharge nozzle on the upper end of the methane fermentation tank. The generated gas is sent to the closed gas phase space in the floating lid through the flexible gas pipe and temporarily stored.

If the situation of the tank installation location allows, the floating lid for gas storage should be installed in a position other than directly above the tank group, rather than directly above the tank group. Equipment construction/
It is suitable for both operation and maintenance.

The floating lid for storing generated waste maintains a horizontal state without breaking the water seal at the bottom edge, and the internal pressure of the sealed gas phase space inside the floating lid is kept as low as possible to promote fermentation. In order to do this, floats of equal volume and equal buoyancy are attached to the lower edge of the floating lid, which are continuous over the entire length or are arranged at equal intervals.

A nozzle for connecting a flexible gas pipe or a nozzle is installed at the highest position of the closed gas phase space to allow the waste in the closed gas phase space inside the lid to flow out.

The closed gas phase space inside the floating lid may itself be used as a scum tank, but in order to promote fermentation, the gas in the closed gas phase space is discharged through a flexible gas pipe, and the gas is compressed and installed separately. - Preferably stored in a tank.

In a similar vein, the lower edge of the float is kept at a predetermined depth below the water surface so that it is prevented from submerging below the water surface beyond a predetermined limit and the internal pressure of the closed gas phase space is maintained as low as possible. A support frame for the lower edge of the floating lid is disposed at the position.

It is desirable that the fluid raw materials supplied to the tank be preheated to a temperature suitable for fermentation, but since they remain in the tank for a long time, it is impossible to maintain the appropriate temperature by preheating alone. A small amount of steam at 0 temperature may be blown into the fluid material from a steam supply nozzle installed in the bottom sealing lid of the tank, and the water outside the tank in the compartment type surrounding the underwater tank group may be blown into the fluid material. The entire tank group may be heated by blowing steam into the tank.

In this case, naturally, the hot water becomes the upper layer of the cold water, so only the partition wall extending downward from the water surface is sufficient, and the partition wall surrounding the bank does not need to have a partition wall for the bottom surface.

If desired, the bottom sealing lid may be provided with an extraction nozzle and an inlet nozzle for the content liquid in the tank to send the content liquid to a heat exchanger to maintain an appropriate temperature in the tank.

If the tank is used for brewing or aging, cooling may be required to maintain the contents at the appropriate temperature.
The brine in which the brine is immersed is circulated back and forth to a separately installed refrigeration system to be cooled.

Of course, the liquid in the tank may be sent to the heat exchanger of the refrigeration system by an extraction nozzle and an inlet nozzle for the liquid contained in the container, if desired, to maintain an appropriate temperature in the tank.

When the tank of the present invention is installed in a large tank that stores petroleum crude oil and other types of product oil, a heat exchanger at the bottom of the large tank can adjust the temperature necessary to preserve the product oil. be exposed.

Temperature regulation of the liquid outside the tank using a heat exchanger may be used when the tank of the present invention is used for applications other than product oil storage.

[Description with Drawings] Regarding the embodiments of the present invention, the configuration, operation, and effects of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional end view showing an outline of a top closed type tank of the sinking bottom type, and FIG. 2 is a similar view of the top closed type tank of the sinking bottom type.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional end view showing an outline of one bellows horizontal @ type tank in a large storage tank.

FIG. 1 shows a sinking bottom type tank with an open top used for the acid production process of the first stage of methane fermentation.

The content liquid is supplied to this tank by means of a pipe 1 and a pump (not shown) which are disposed from the bottom of a similarly shaped adjustment tank to the top of this tank.

A required number of bases 2 for determining the position of the tank are arranged and fixed on the bottom of the water below the tank.

Either a support cable 3 that holds the tank in place, or a cable support machine whose lower end is fixed to the base 2 and whose upper end is installed above the tank.
(1118, not shown) is fixed and stretched.

A rubberized bellows 4 made of nylon cloth and nitrile rubber constitutes the side wall of the tank.

The bellows 4 has an annular expansion frame 5 for reinforcement and shape maintenance.
are attached at intervals.

The upper edge of the bellows 4 is coupled to an annular support expansion frame 6 to which is attached a float for obtaining buoyancy to extend the bellows upward.

The support extension 6 has three or more protrusions 7 around its outer periphery, one guide hole drilled in the protrusion, and the support cable 3 passes through each guide hole. Cage, support expansion frame 6
held in place.

The lower end edge of the bellows 4 is joined to the tank bottom cover part 8.

The tank bottom cover 8 is provided with a discharge port 9 and other necessary nozzles for discharging the content liquid or sediment.

The nozzle 10 is a nozzle for supplying heating steam.

The tank bottom cover 8 is removably mounted on the base 1.

Therefore, as the content of the tank decreases, the tank bottom cover 8 can rise. .

When it is necessary to promote the rise of the tank bottom cover part 8 1. I9,
Air or inert gas is introduced into the skirt 11 as desired.

When the outlet 9 is used only for draining sediment, the liquid content is sucked out through a tube 12 inserted from the top of the tank to the bottom of the tank.

Tube 1 and tube 12 are flexible tubes, if desired.

FIG. 2 shows a tank used for the second step of methane fermentation, which is a sludge generation process, and is equipped with an upper sealing device 13.

For convenience of maintenance, the upper end sealing lid 13 is desirably constructed so as to be liquid-tight and to allow the shield 1 to be attached to the support expansion frame 6. In the case where the first stage gas generation process and the second stage gas generation process are completed in the same tank, the upper end sealing lid 13 is naturally required.

The upper sealing lid 13 has nozzles 14 and 15 connected to flexible tubes at both upper and lower ends.

The nozzles 14 and 15 are for supplying liquid and discharging liquid, respectively.

A flexible pipe for discharging generated gas is attached to the upper end sealing lid 13, and a nozzle 16 is connected to the upper end.

FIG. 3 shows a tank installed on the back of a large tank and used to store substances different from the contents of the large tank.

In the tank shown in FIG. 3, the bellows 4 expands and contracts in the horizontal direction, and an annular expansion frame 5 is attached to the bellows 4.

In order to regulate the direction of expansion and contraction, a required number of support cables 3 are provided. In FIG. 3, only the uppermost one is shown.

A liquid supply pipe 18, a liquid drain pipe 19 and a pressure equalization pipe 20 are installed through the outer end cap 17 and the outer wall of the large tank.

The end cover 17 may be omitted and the bellows 4 may be attached directly to the outer wall of the large tank.

The inner end cover 21 is provided with a required number of protrusions 7 that engage with the support cables 3.

The space 22 is a space for a heat exchanger and other equipment installed at the bottom of the large tank.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional end view showing an outline of a sinking bottom type tank with an open top, and FIG. 2 is a similar view of a sinking bottom type tank with a closed top. FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional end view showing an outline of a first-base bellows horizontal type tank in a large storage tank. Partial symbol list 1, tube 12. tube

Claims (1)

[Claims] A tank characterized in that the main body of the tank is installed immersed in a liquid, and the side wall of the tank is made of a flexible material.