WO2008032182A1

WO2008032182A1 - Equipment and process for the regeneration of filtering material

Info

Publication number: WO2008032182A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/002617
Authority: WO
Inventors: Luciana Scalco
Original assignee: Luciana Scalco
Priority date: 2006-09-12
Filing date: 2007-09-07
Publication date: 2008-03-20
Also published as: ITVI20060276A1

Abstract

The invention describes equipment for the regeneration of filtering material, comprising one or more tanks, inside of which the processes of degreasing, washing and drip-drying of the filtering material take place; in particular, according to preferred embodiments of the invention, a single tank (10) is used, equipped with rack (11), on whose bottom the filtering material is positioned and which can be automatically lifted, for the various steps of washing and dripping of the filters. The described regeneration method allows achieving eco-compatible production, in the best public interests, also lowering the purchasing and disposal costs of the filtering material, as well as the management costs of the washing equipment.

Description

EQUIPMENT AND PROCESS FOR THE REGENERATION OF FILTERING MATERIAL

The present invention generally refers to an improved process for the regeneration and subsequent reuse of filtering material.

In particular, the invention regards a process for the regeneration of filters for hydraulic oil cleaning, for fuel, water, steam, alimentary liquid or semi-liquids . Moreover, the invention regards filter regeneration and reuse equipment implementing the abovementioned process. Numerous types of filters are used in various fields of applications, in order to remove the generally powder, dust and dirt particles which are usually present in fluids, such as air. For example, filters are known which can be used for the passage of air in conditioning systems for buildings or underground environments or for air inlet lines of turbine generators or the like. Such filters are mainly used for removing salts, dirt particles, oil particles,- fibres and other contaminating substances contained in the air.

In particular, the contaminating substances are collected inside a resin element of the filter, usually bent and/or shaped, in order to retain the undesired particles inside the separator means appropriately arranged in the structure . In any case, the contamination level of the filters varies according to the use conditions and, above all, the contaminants removed from the filtering means always tend to quickly reform on the same filtering means, making a complete cleaning operation of the filter difficult and hindering the complete regeneration of the same for a subsequent, suitable reuse.

In the scope of the abovementioned needs, the object of the present invention is therefore to overcome the mentioned drawbacks, and in particular that indicate an improved process for the regeneration of filtering material which permits reducing the quantity and/or volume of filtering material to be removed, ensuring a suitable reuse of the same, in order to obtain an eco- compatible production, while satisfying the principal need of preserving and improving the technical characteristics of filtering.

Another object of the present invention is to indicate an improved process for the regeneration and subsequent reuse of filtering material which allows companies that operate in industrial production to preserve and/or improve competitiveness in the reuse or recycling field. A further object of the present invention is that of making improved equipment for regenerating filtering material, adapted to implement the above process.

Not least object of the present invention is that of indicating an improved process for the regeneration of filtering material, which allows lowering the purchase and disposal costs of the filtering material, as well as the management costs of the employed regeneration equipment .

These and other objects are attained by improved equipment for the regeneration of filtering material, according to the attached claim 1, and by a related regeneration process according to claim 2. The dependent claims contain other particular characteristics of the invention.

Advantageously, the process of the invention permits a substantial reduction of the polluting sources and environmental impact, with related improvement of the image of the industries using it; at the same time, one achieves considerably savings on the removal costs and purchase costs of new filtering material, as well as on the management costs of the filter regeneration and reuse equipment, made according to the present invention, in terms of bulk reduction, lower quantity of used fluid and lower number of washing tanks to be purchased and maintained, with respect to equipment of traditional type. In particular, the quantity or volume reduction of filtering material to be disposed is obtained by means of a reconditioning process and subsequent reuse of the filters or by means of an appropriate use of the raw materials which make up the filtering material. Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be clear from the following description, referred to a preferred but not limiting embodiment of the filtering material regeneration equipment, and from the related drawings, attached to the present invention, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic and partial top view of improved equipment for the regeneration of filtering material, according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows a schematic and partial side view of the equipment of figure 1, according to the invention. The improved filtering material regeneration and reuse process, object of the present invention, is characterised by a series of specific steps . First, there is a material reception and control step, by means of identification of the producer codes, identification and cataloguing of the filter composition (plastic, wire mesh or other) , as well as labelling and CER code assigning processes.

At this point, based on the control procedure, if the filtering material is deemed to be reusable, there proceeds the specific regeneration step,- if on the other hand the controls carried out show that the aforesaid material is not suitable for reuse, it will be subjected to a recovery process of some materials, and a disposal process of other materials.

In particular, in such case, it is possible to carry out the manual dismantling of the filter, in order to divide the organic from the inorganic raw materials, such that the organic materials undergo a composting process and the inorganic materials are sold as single elements . According to alternative recovery processes, when the filter does not result suitable for being regenerated and returned to the client for reuse, rather than manually carrying out the filter dismantling operation, with tools that are sometimes dangerous notwithstanding adopted protections, in order to carry out the recovery of the secondary raw material, it is possible to automatically send the filter to a grinder, adapted to finely grind it and send it towards magnetic systems for the separation of the metal parts, while the plastic material filters are separately ground, On the other hand, the filtering material regeneration step can be conducted according to two different embodiments, described below as non-limiting examples. According to a first mode, several washing steps are provided for along with the use of several tanks, containing various products, so to be able to effectively clean the filtering material. In particular, a first degreasing step of the material is carried out in a first tank with water and surfactant, at different temperatures and moving; in some cases, in this step, the use of specific solvents may also be necessary.

After the degreasing step, there follows a nondestructive seal test of the filtering material, which consists of immerging the material into a second tank containing isopropyl alcohol . The system is then placed under pressure to show breaks or cracks, which would render the filter unsuitable for reuse; a detection system can be used in such case of "bubble point" type, which is based on the size of the air bubbles produced by the filtering separator. There then follows a washing step of the filtering material, only for the filters which have passed the aforesaid seal test; the washing occurs in ultrasound bath, with suitable liquids (such as water and surfactant or solvents, in the case of particular resistant pollutants) , inside additional tanks, where a filter is inserted which is suitable for cleaning the washing load, so to optimise the washing load and dispose of the least amount of liquid possible. Finally, the washed filtering material is drip-dried in a clean environment, with dried and filtered air.

As mentioned above, the regeneration step of the — V —

filtering material can be carried out according to alternative modes, with respect to that described up to now.

In particular, according to the modes illustrated in attached figures 1 and 2, the regeneration process of the filtering material is carried out by using a single tank 10, inside of which the filtering material is positioned and various process steps carried out. The tank 10 has an inner automated rack 11, which rests on appropriate feet 14 placed on the bottom of the tank 10, and which has a series of hooks (not visible in the figures) at its upper part for its lifting and subsequent dripping of the filtering material . During this step, following the first degreasing of the filtering material with water and surfactant (and possible solvent) , the tank 10 is emptied of the liquid contained therein by means of a pump 12, connected to an outlet valve 13 of the outlet duct 17. The pump 12 can be of self-priming type and is used for recycling the washing liquid, which, for every process step, returns in the tank 10 cleaned of the impurities left by the filtering material, by means of series of filtering and/or osmosis steps 15 present along the duct 18. Immediately downstream of the pump 12, one or more metal pre-filters 16 can also be present, which hold the coarser impurities, before conducting the filtering material to the subsequent filtering stages 15, up to the ultrafiltration.

Once the filtering and cleaning operation of the washing liquid has been carried out, the same liquid returns into the tank 10 through the duct 19 for the subsequent washing step, during which a detergent product is added and the filters are repositioned on the bottom of the rack 11 (possibly those which have passed the seal test, in the case a seal detection system is used to show breaks and/or cracks) , and so on for the entire washing sequence, until the final rinsing.

At the end of each cycle (which includes one or liquid filling steps, one or more steps of detergent metering and a series of repeated washings as a function of the type of filtering material to be regenerated and the quantity of dirt to be removed) , the liquid containing the detergent product, which is added, is normally vaporised on the walls of the tank 10 and is collected inside the air space 20 present between the tank 10 and the rack 11, such that the aforesaid liquid is filtered by stages 15, 16 and then cleaned in the subsequent washing stage before being inserted in the tank 10. At the end of the washing cycles, the liquid is unloaded from the tank 10 by means of the discharge tubing 21 and the washed material, positioned on the bottom of the rack 11, is drip-dried by means of a lifting action of the aforesaid rack 11, in a clean environment, with dried and filtered air.

The method described is furthermore advantageous, with respect to that mentioned above, since there is considerably savings on the amount of liquid and/or fluid used, in the consumption of detergent and in the quantity of tanks to purchase and maintain; moreover the plant maintains extremely limited dimensions with respect to the traditional plants.

At the end of the regeneration process, whether using a series of tanks with specific liquids and detergents, or using a single a single tank and the liquid recirculation technique, part of the filters subjected to such process are further subjected to an efficiency and/or integrity test.

The aforesaid test allows verifying, in random samples, the efficiency of the regenerated filter, so to establish if it is adaptable to the same original application or if it must be used in lesser applications (for example, the filtering material of fine type can be reused for coarser filtering, always keeping in mind that, if possible, every filter must return to the same client for the same application) . Finally, for some filtering material categories, a further sterilisation step is necessary. At the end of the above-described steps, there is a repackaging step of the product, with reconditioning labelling of the same and client code labelling, and a package identification process for the subsequent client mailing.

As mentioned above, the filters unsuitable for reconditioning, hence unsuitable for being returned to the client, after the degreasing step and following the reuse suitability test are manually dismantled and separated by material type, identifying plastic materials, metals and inorganic materials like paper or fabric which can be reinserted in the production cycle, while the fibres and organic material in general can be sent to a composting process, in order to avoid costly disposals and thereby obtain bio-gas to be used by small consumers .

The aforesaid dismantling operations for the recovery of secondary raw material can also be automatically carried out, if a single tank 10 is used along with a washing liquid recirculation process, directly depositing the unsuitable filters, during the lifting step of the rack 11 from the test zone, inside a grinder, which grinds the filter and conveys it towards magnetic systems for the separation of the metal parts, while the remaining part is conveyed into a container containing water, in such a manner that the fibrous portion is deposited on -li¬

the bottom and the remaining plastic material quantity can be sieved during emptying and separately ground. From the above description, the characteristics of the improved equipment and process for the regeneration and subsequent reuse of filtering material, the object of the present invention, are clear, as are its advantages. Finally, it is clear that numerous other variants can be made to the present regeneration equipment and process, without departing from the novelty principles inherent in the inventive idea, as it is clear that, in the practical actuation of the invention, the materials, forms and dimensions of the illustrated details can be of any type according to requirements, and the same can be substituted with other technically equivalent elements .

Claims

1. Improved equipment for the regeneration of filtering material, characterised in that it comprises:

- control means of the filtering material; - degreasing and/or washing means of the filtering material;

- drying means of the filtering material in a clean environment and dried and filtered air; repackaging means of the reconditioned and/or regenerated filtering material and means for affixing a client code; means for sending the regenerated filtering material to the client.

2. Improved process for the regeneration of filtering material, characterised in that it comprises the following steps :

- reception and control of the filtering material;

- degreasing of the filtering material to be reused; seal test on said filtering material in order to show breaks and/or cracks, which do not render it suitable for reuse,- one or more washing cycles of the filtering material which has passed the seal test;

- drip-drying of the filtering material in a clean environment and dried and filtered air;

- repackaging with reconditioning label of the filtering material and affixing of at least one client code; sending of the regenerated filtering material to the client .

3. Improved process as in claim 2, characterised in that said filtering material unsuitable for reuse is recovered and/or disposed, in order to obtain secondary raw material, by means of separation of the raw materials into organic materials and inorganic materials, making the organic materials undergo a composting process and having the inorganic materials sold as single elements.

4. Improved process as in claim 3, characterised in that said filtering material unsuitable for reuse is recovered and/or disposed following the manual dismantling of said filtering material.

5. Improved process as in claim 3 , characterised in that said filtering material unsuitable for reuse is recovered and/or disposed, by means of the automatic sending of said filtering material to grinding means, adapted to finely grind said filtering material and to convey it towards magnetic systems, for the separation of the metal parts, while the remaining portions are conveyed into a container containing water, such that fibrous parts are deposited on the bottom and remaining quantities of plastic material can be sieved during emptying and separately ground.

6. Improved equipment as in claim 1, characterised in that said degreasing and/or washing means of the filtering material include detergent products, inserted inside at least one first washing tank together with water and surfactant .

7. Improved equipment as in claim 6, characterised in that said degreasing and/or washing means of the filtering material include alcohol solutions, inserted inside at least one second washing tank, in order to show breaks or cracks of the filtering material .

8. Improved equipment as in claim 7, characterised in that said degreasing and/or washing means of the filtering material include ultrasound baths, which are placed inside additional washing tanks, where at least one filter is inserted which is suitable for cleaning the washing load.

9. Improved equipment as in claim 1, characterised in that said filtering material is placed inside a single washing tank (10) , positioned on the bottom of at least one rack (11) , inside said tank (10) and which can be lifted for the dripping of the filtering material .

10. Improved equipment as in claim 1, characterised in that said degreasing means include detergent products, such as water, surfactants and possible solvents .

11. Improved equipment as in claim 9, characterised in that said tank (10) is connected to at least one pump (12) of an outlet duct (17) , adapted to empty the tank (10) of the liquid contained therein, said outlet duct (17) being connected to a recirculation duct (18) of the filtering material washing liquid, along which filtration (15, 16) , ultrafiltration and/or osmosis stages are placed, such that for every degreasing and/or washing step of the filtering material, the employed washing liquid returns into the tank (10) , by means of a return duct (19) , cleaned of the impurities released by the filtering material .

12. Improved equipment as in claim 11, characterised in that, at the end of every washing cycle, which includes one or more liquid filling steps, one or more detergent product metering steps and a series of repeated washings as a function of the type of filtering material to be regenerated and the quantity of impurities to be removed, the detergent products in solution are sent onto the walls of the tank (10) and collected inside the air space (20) present between the tank (10) and the rack (11) , such that said solution runs through said recirculation duct (18) and said stages (15, 16) of filtration, ultrafiltration and/or osmosis.

13. Improved equipment as in claim 9, characterised in that said tank (10) has at least one discharge tubing (21) for the discharge of the washing liquids at the end of the filtering material washing cycles.

14. Improved equipment and process for the regeneration of filtering material, as substantially described and llustrated and for the specified objects.