JP7531433B2 - Concentration measurement system, waste treatment system, concentration measurement method, and waste treatment method - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a concentration measurement system, a waste disposal system, a concentration measurement method, and a waste disposal method.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a sensor that detects the ammonia concentration, a sensor that detects the sodium concentration, a sensor that detects the organic acid concentration, and a sensor that detects the hydrogen ion concentration contained in a solid-liquid mixture (slurry), which is a mixture of a liquid and a solid.

JP 2020-163280 A

Incidentally, concentration detection using various sensors is performed after the liquid has been separated from the solid-liquid mixture (solids have been removed) using a centrifuge or the like. However, when a centrifuge is used, it takes a long time to separate the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture, making it difficult to quickly measure the concentration of the solute (such as ammonia) from the solid-liquid mixture. In addition, the installation costs of a centrifuge tend to be high.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a concentration measurement system and a concentration measurement method that can quickly measure the concentration of a solute from a solid-liquid mixture and reduce installation costs.

To achieve the above object, the concentration measurement system according to the present disclosure is a concentration measurement system that measures the concentration of a solute contained in a liquid of a solid-liquid mixture, which is a mixture of a liquid and a solid, and includes a solid-liquid separation device that separates the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture, and a concentration measurement device that measures the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated by the solid-liquid separation device, and the solid-liquid separation device includes a porous body in which pores that can be impregnated with the liquid are formed.

In order to achieve the above object, the concentration measurement method according to the present disclosure is a method for measuring the concentration of a solute contained in a liquid of a solid-liquid mixture, which is a mixture of a liquid and a solid, and includes the steps of: separating the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture using a porous body having pores formed therein that can be impregnated with the liquid; and measuring the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated from the solid-liquid mixture.

The concentration measurement system and method disclosed herein can quickly measure the concentration of a solute from a solid-liquid mixture while keeping installation costs low.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a concentration measurement system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a concentration measuring device according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. 1 is a graph showing the relationship between wavelength and absorbance. 1 is a graph showing the relationship between wavelength and amount of change in absorbance. 1 is a graph showing the relationship between wavelength and amount of change in absorbance. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an optical concentration measurement device according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an optical concentration measurement device according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. 1 is a graph showing the relationship between solute concentration and absorbance. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a concentration measurement system according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a waste treatment system according to a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a waste treatment system according to a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a concentration measuring method according to an embodiment. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a waste treatment method according to an embodiment.

The following describes a concentration measurement system, a waste disposal system, a concentration measurement method, and a waste disposal method according to embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the drawings. The embodiment shows one aspect of the present disclosure and does not limit the disclosure, and can be modified as desired within the scope of the technical concept of the present disclosure.

(Embodiment 1)
<Configuration of concentration measurement system according to the first embodiment>
1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a concentration measurement system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of a solute contained in liquid X1 of a solid-liquid mixture A, which is a mixture of liquid X1 and solid Y1. The solid-liquid mixture A is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, a modified product obtained by hydrolyzing waste, or a low molecular weight product obtained by low molecular weight conversion of the modified product by microorganisms. In the first embodiment, a case will be described in which the solid-liquid mixture A contains low molecular weight products.

As shown in FIG. 1, the concentration measurement system 1 includes a solid-liquid separator 2, a dilution device 4, and a concentration measurement device 6. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the concentration measurement system 1 further includes a sampling device 42 that samples a solid-liquid mixture A from a distributed low molecular weight substance fA.

The solid-liquid separation device 2 includes a porous body 8 having a plurality of pores 10 formed therein that can be impregnated with the liquid X1. The porous body 8 is configured to be easily elastically deformable, for example, a sponge. The solid-liquid separation device 2 separates the liquid X1 from the solid-liquid mixture A by contacting the solid-liquid mixture A collected by the collection device 42 with the porous body 8 and impregnating the pores 10 of the porous body 8 with the liquid X1. Note that a chemical (such as a flocculant) may be added before the solid-liquid mixture A is brought into contact with the porous body 8 for solid-liquid separation.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the solid-liquid separation device 2 further includes a dehydration device 12 that dehydrates the liquid X1 from the porous body 8. The dehydration device 12 dehydrates the liquid X1 from the porous body 8, for example, by compressing the porous body 8 (sponge). Hereinafter, the liquid X1 dehydrated from the porous body 8 by the dehydration device 12 is referred to as separated liquid X2.

The solid-liquid separator 2 is configured to adjust the suspended matter concentration in the separation liquid X2 to 5% or less, for example, by adjusting the porosity of the porous body 8, the diameter of the pores 10, and the magnitude of the compressive force acting on the porous body 8 from the dehydrator 12. The suspended matter is, for example, solid Y1 with a particle size of 1 μm or more and 2 mm or less. The suspended matter concentration is calculated by dividing the mass of the suspended matter contained in the separation liquid X2 by the mass of the separation liquid X2.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the solid-liquid separation device 2 further includes a nonwoven fabric 14. The nonwoven fabric 14 is disposed upstream of the porous body 8 in the flow direction of the liquid X1 in the solid-liquid separation device 2. In other words, the solid-liquid separation device 2 is configured to bring the solid-liquid mixture A that has flowed through the nonwoven fabric 14 into contact with the porous body 8.

The porous body 8 included in the solid-liquid separation device 2 is not limited to the sponge of embodiment 1. In some embodiments, the porous body 8 is a separation membrane that blocks the inflow of solid Y1 contained in the solid-liquid mixture A and allows liquid X1 contained in the solid-liquid mixture A to flow. The pores formed in the separation membrane are temporarily impregnated with liquid X1 when liquid X1 flows through the separation membrane.

The dilution device 4 dilutes the separated liquid X2 to produce a diluted liquid X3. The dilution device 4 dilutes the separated liquid X2 with, for example, pure water W, but it may also be diluted with something other than pure water W. By providing the dilution device 4, the influence of suspended matter contained in the separated liquid X2 can be suppressed when the concentration is measured by the concentration measuring device 6. In addition, a chemical to improve color development may be added to the pure water W used to dilute the separated liquid X2. With this configuration, the accuracy of the concentration measurement by the concentration measuring device 6 can be improved.

The concentration measuring device 6 measures the concentration of a solute contained in the liquid X1 separated by the solid-liquid separator 2 and diluted by the dilution device 4. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the concentration measuring device 6 measures the concentration of a solute contained in the diluted liquid X3 supplied from the dilution device 4. Here, an example configuration of the concentration measuring device 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the concentration measuring device 6 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

2, the concentration measuring device 6 is an optical concentration measuring device 24 (6) including a cell 16 to which the dilution liquid X3 is supplied, a light source 18 that irradiates the cell 16 with light 17, a detector 20 that receives the light 17 that has passed through the cell 16, and a concentration calculating device 22 that calculates the concentration of the solute contained in the dilution liquid X3 based on the light 17 received by the detector 20. Such an optical concentration measuring device 24 includes an optical fiber 25 for transmitting the light 17 irradiated from the light source 18 to the detector 20 via the cell 16. The optical concentration measuring device 24 may be configured to continuously measure the concentration of the solute from the dilution liquid X3 flowing through the cell 16, or may be configured to batchwise measure the concentration of the solute from the dilution liquid X3 filled in the cell 16.

The concentration calculation device 22 is electrically connected to the detector 20 and acquires detection information detected by the detector 20. Such a concentration calculation device 22 is a computer such as an electronic control device, and includes a processor such as a CPU or GPU (not shown), memories such as ROM and RAM, and an I/O interface. The concentration calculation device 22 calculates the concentration of the solute contained in the diluted liquid X3 by the processor operating (calculating, etc.) according to the instructions of a program loaded into the memory. There are no particular limitations on the method of calculating this concentration, but a spectral statistical analysis method including a change amount including a change in absorbance for each wavelength change and partial least squares regression is applied.

In some embodiments, the concentration calculation device 22 of the optical concentration measurement device 24 calculates the concentration of the solute contained in the diluted liquid X3 based on the amount of change in absorbance calculated by differentiating the absorbance contained in the detection information detected by the detector 20 with respect to wavelength.

Figure 3 is a graph showing the relationship between wavelength and absorbance. Figure 4 is a graph showing the relationship between wavelength and absorbance change. In Figure 3, the horizontal axis shows wavelength, and the vertical axis shows absorbance. In Figure 4, the horizontal axis shows wavelength, and the vertical axis shows absorbance change. In Figure 3, A1 shows the absorbance of sludge (solid-liquid mixture A) to which acetic acid (solute) has not been added, A2 shows the absorbance of sludge to which acetic acid has been added, and A3 shows the absorbance of acetic acid added to the sludge. In Figure 4, A1' shows the absorbance change of sludge to which acetic acid has not been added, A2' shows the absorbance change of sludge to which acetic acid has been added, and A3' shows the absorbance change of acetic acid added to the sludge.

The optical concentration measuring device 24 may measure the concentration based on the absorbance at a predetermined set wavelength B1. However, as shown in FIG. 3, the absorbance at the set wavelength B1 may be affected by the absorbance at a wavelength B2 different from the set wavelength B1. In this case, it becomes difficult to measure the concentration of acetic acid (solute) based on the absorbance at the set wavelength B1. In particular, when the sludge (solid-liquid mixture A) is municipal waste that has been broken down into smaller molecules by microorganisms, it may be very difficult to measure the concentration based on the absorbance, since the municipal waste contains many components such as food waste, paper waste, and plastic waste.

In contrast, as shown in FIG. 4, the amount of absorbance change at the set wavelength B1 is not affected by the amount of absorbance change at wavelength B2, or is very small. Therefore, by measuring the concentration of acetic acid (solute) based on the amount of absorbance change at the set wavelength B1, it is possible to improve the measurement accuracy compared to measuring the concentration of acetic acid (solute) based on the absorbance at the set wavelength B1.

In some embodiments, the concentration calculation device 22 of the optical concentration measurement device 24 measures the concentration of the solute contained in the diluted liquid X3 based on the total area of the absorbance change amount having a peak within a preset wavelength range. This concentration measurement method will be specifically described using Figure 5.

Figure 5 is a graph showing the relationship between wavelength and absorbance change. In Figure 5, the horizontal axis shows wavelength, and the vertical axis shows absorbance change. In Figure 5, the absorbance change of furfural is shown as A4', and the absorbance change of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural is shown as A5'.

Furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural have similar functional groups. For this reason, as shown in Figure 5, the waveform of the absorbance change amount A4' of furfural and the waveform of the absorbance change amount A5' of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural have peaks at wavelengths close to each other.

The concentration calculation device 22 has a lower limit wavelength B3 and an upper limit wavelength B4 preset so that they include the peaks of the furfural waveform and the peaks of the 5-hydroxymethylfurfural waveform.

Then, the concentration calculation device 22 calculates the concentration of the solute containing furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural based on the sum of the area of the amount of absorbance change A4 of furfural included between the lower limit wavelength B3 and the upper limit wavelength B4 and the area of the amount of absorbance change A5 of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. In other words, the concentration calculation device 22 groups furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural together as furals and calculates the concentration of the furals.

This configuration makes it easier to calculate the concentrations of furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural compared to calculating the concentrations of furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural individually. This makes it possible to reduce the cost of the optical concentration measuring device 24.

<Actions and Effects of the Concentration Measurement System According to the First Embodiment>
The action and effect of the concentration measurement system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. According to the first embodiment, by bringing the porous body 8 into contact with the solid-liquid mixture A, the pores 10 of the porous body 8 are impregnated with the liquid X1, so that the liquid X1 can be quickly separated from the solid-liquid mixture A. Therefore, the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid X1 of the solid-liquid mixture A can be quickly measured. In addition, since the porous body 8 is less expensive than a centrifugal separator, the installation cost of the solid-liquid separator 2 can be reduced.

According to the first embodiment, the liquid X1 required for measuring the concentration of the solute can be quickly extracted (obtained) by dehydrating the liquid X1 from the porous body 8 using the dehydration device 12.

When the particle size of the solid Y1 contained in the solid-liquid mixture A becomes large, it may hinder the impregnation of the liquid X1 into the pores 10 of the porous body 8. According to the first embodiment, the solid-liquid mixture A comes into contact with the nonwoven fabric 14 before coming into contact with the porous body 8, so that the solid Y1 with a large particle size is removed by the nonwoven fabric 14. This allows the liquid X1 to be smoothly impregnated into the pores 10 of the porous body 8.

According to the first embodiment, the concentration measuring device 6 is an optical concentration measuring device 24, and therefore the concentration of the solute contained in the dilution liquid X3 in the cell 16 can be measured using light absorption, diffraction, scattering, etc. Note that the concentration measuring device 6 is not limited to the optical concentration measuring device 24, so long as it is capable of measuring the concentration of the solute contained in the dilution liquid X3. The concentration measuring device 6 may be, for example, an electric potential measuring device that measures the concentration of the solute contained in the dilution liquid X3 based on the change in the electric potential of the dilution liquid X3.

According to the findings of the inventors, if the concentration of the solute of the low molecular weight substance falls within a preset range, the state is suitable for low molecular weight conversion by microorganisms. On the other hand, if the concentration of the solute of the low molecular weight substance falls outside this range, the state is unsuitable for low molecular weight conversion by microorganisms. According to embodiment 1, the concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of the solute of the low molecular weight substance, and therefore, based on this measurement value, it is possible to quickly know whether or not low molecular weight conversion by microorganisms is suitable.

According to the first embodiment, the concentration measurement system 1 is equipped with a sampling device 42 that samples a solid-liquid mixture A from a low-molecular-weight material fA in circulation, so that the solid-liquid mixture A can be sampled from the low-molecular-weight material in a stirred state.

When the concentration of the solute contained in liquid X1 of solid-liquid mixture A is too high, it may be difficult for the concentration measuring device 6 to measure the concentration of the solute. According to embodiment 1, the concentration measuring device 6 measures the concentration of the solute contained in diluted liquid X3 obtained by diluting separated liquid X2 by dilution device 4. Therefore, even if the concentration of the solute contained in liquid X1 of solid-liquid mixture A is higher than the concentration that can be measured by the concentration measuring device 6, the concentration of the solute can be measured.

The dilution device 4 is not an essential component of the concentration measurement system 1 according to the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the concentration measurement device 6 measures the concentration of the solute contained in the separation liquid X2 separated by the solid-liquid separation device 2.

(Embodiment 2)
A concentration measurement system 1 according to embodiment 2 will be described. The concentration measurement system 1 according to embodiment 2 is a system in which the configuration of the optical concentration measurement device 24 according to embodiment 1 is further limited. In embodiment 2, the same components as those in embodiment 1 are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

<Configuration of concentration measurement system according to the second embodiment>
Fig. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an optical concentration measuring device 24 according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 6, the cell 16 is filled with pure water W. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, the optical concentration measuring device 24 includes a pure water supply device 30 that supplies the pure water W to the cell 16. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to the configuration of the second embodiment as long as the cell 16 is configured to be filled with the pure water W. For example, the cell 16 may be configured to be filled with the pure water W supplied to the dilution device 4 described above.

The pure water supply device 30 supplies pure water W to the cell 16 when the dilution liquid X3 is not being supplied to the cell 16, specifically, when the optical concentration measuring device 24 is in a maintenance state or in a standby state. Then, when the cell 16 is filled with the pure water W, the light source 18 irradiates the cell 16 filled with the pure water W with light 17. Then, the detector 20 receives the correction light, which is the light 17 that has passed through the cell 16 filled with the pure water W.

The concentration calculation device 22 acquires the detection information of the correction light detected by the detector 20. The concentration calculation device 22 prestores comparison information for comparison with the detection information of the correction light. The comparison information is, for example, detection information detected when the cell 16 to which the dilution liquid X3 has never been supplied is filled with pure water W and the cell 16 is irradiated with light 17. Alternatively, the comparison information is detection information of the correction light detected during the previous maintenance. The concentration calculation device 22 corrects (zero point correction) the absorbance of the dilution liquid X3 detected by the detector 20 with the difference Δ1 obtained by comparing the comparison information with the detection information of the correction light. For example, the concentration calculation device 22 offsets (shifts) the absorbance of the dilution liquid by the difference Δ1. Then, the concentration calculation device 22 calculates the concentration of the solute contained in the dilution liquid X3 based on the amount of absorbance change calculated by differentiating the zero point corrected absorbance by wavelength. The zero point correction may be performed by a device other than the concentration calculation device 22.

<Actions and Effects of the Concentration Measurement System According to the Second Embodiment>
Even if the optical concentration measuring device 24 measures the same concentration of a solute at both the first timing and the second timing that is later than the first timing, for example, the degree of contamination of the cell 16 at the first timing and the second timing may differ from each other, and the concentration of the solute measured at the first timing may slightly differ from the concentration of the solute measured at the second timing. In contrast, according to the second embodiment, the concentration of the solute is zero-point corrected, so that the influence of the difference in measurement timing can be suppressed.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a concentration measurement system 1 according to a third embodiment will be described. The concentration measurement system 1 according to the third embodiment is a further limited version of the optical concentration measurement device 24 according to the second embodiment. The optical concentration measurement device 24 further includes a calibration liquid cell 32. In the third embodiment, the same components as those in the second embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted. In another embodiment, the optical concentration measurement device 24 of the concentration measurement system 1 according to the first embodiment further includes a calibration liquid cell 32.

<Configuration of concentration measurement system according to the third embodiment>
Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an optical concentration measuring device 24 according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in Fig. 7, the optical concentration measuring device 24 further includes a calibration solution cell 32 disposed between the cell 16 and the detector 20. The calibration solution cell 32 is connected to each of the cell 16 and the detector 20 via an optical fiber 25. Light 17 irradiated from the light source 18 to the cell 16 passes through the calibration solution cell 32 and is then received by the detector 20.

When the dilution liquid X3 is not supplied to the cell 16, specifically, when the optical concentration measuring device 24 is in a maintenance state or a standby state, the calibration liquid cell 32 is supplied with a calibration liquid having a known solute concentration. Such a calibration liquid is, for example, the dilution liquid X3 whose solute concentration has already been measured. When the calibration liquid is supplied to the calibration liquid cell 32, the light source 18 irradiates the cell 16 to which the dilution liquid X3 has not been supplied with light 17. The detector 20 then receives the calibration light, which is the light 17 that has passed through the cell 16 to which the dilution liquid X3 has not been supplied and the calibration liquid cell 32 to which the calibration liquid has been supplied. Note that when the detector 20 receives the calibration light, the cell may be filled with pure water W or may be empty.

Figure 8 is a graph Gr showing the relationship between solute concentration and absorbance. In Figure 8, the circular plots show the net absorbance of the calibration solution (the absorbance actually detected by the detector 20), and the rectangular plots show the theoretical absorbance of the calibration solution (the absorbance that should be detected by the detector 20).

As shown in FIG. 8, the graph Gr plots the net absorbance p1 when the concentration of the solute contained in the calibration solution is the first concentration C1, the net absorbance p2 when the concentration is the second concentration C2, and the net absorbance p3 when the concentration is the third concentration C3. In addition, the graph Gr has a virtual straight line L1 passing through the three net absorbances p1, p2, and p3. Similarly, the graph Gr plots the theoretical absorbance p4 when the concentration of the solute contained in the calibration solution is the first concentration C1, the theoretical absorbance p5 when the concentration is the second concentration C2, and the theoretical absorbance p6 when the concentration is the third concentration C3. In the graph Gr shown in FIG. 8, the concentrations increase in the order of the first concentration C1 < the second concentration C2 < the third concentration C3.

The concentration calculation device 22 corrects (sensitivity correction) the absorbance of the diluted liquid X3 detected by the detector 20 with the difference in sensitivity Δ2 obtained by comparing the slope of the straight line L1 with the slope of the straight line L2. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the concentration calculation device 22 forms a straight line L2a by changing the slope of the straight line L2 to the slope of the straight line L1, and obtains the absorbance plotted on this straight line L2a. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, the zero point p7 where the concentration of the solute on the straight line L2 is zero and the zero point p8 where the concentration of the solute on the straight line L2a is zero are at the same position. The concentration calculation device 22 then calculates the concentration of the solute contained in the diluted liquid X3 based on the amount of absorbance change calculated by differentiating the sensitivity-corrected absorbance with respect to the wavelength. The sensitivity correction may be performed by a device other than the concentration calculation device 22.

<Actions and Effects of the Concentration Measurement System According to the Third Embodiment>
There are cases where it is not easy for the detector 20 to maintain the detection sensitivity for receiving the light 17. According to the third embodiment, the absorbance of the diluted liquid X3 detected by the detector 20 is sensitivity corrected, so that the difference in detection sensitivity can be suppressed.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a concentration measurement system 1 according to a fourth embodiment will be described. The concentration measurement system 1 according to the fourth embodiment is obtained by adding a cleaning line 34 to the first embodiment. In the fourth embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted. In another embodiment, the concentration measurement system 1 is obtained by adding a cleaning line 34 to the second or third embodiment.

<Configuration of concentration measurement system according to the fourth embodiment>
9 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a concentration measurement system 1 according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the concentration measurement system 1 further includes a cleaning line 34 through which a cleaning fluid flows. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, the cleaning line 34 includes a first cleaning line 36 (34) through which a first cleaning fluid f1 for cleaning the solid-liquid separation device 2 flows, a second cleaning line 38 (34) through which a second cleaning fluid f2 for cleaning the dilution device 4 flows, and a third cleaning line 40 (34) through which a third cleaning fluid f3 for cleaning the concentration measurement device 6 flows.

The first cleaning fluid f1 is, for example, pure water or nitrogen-containing water such as ammonia water. That is, the solid-liquid separation device 2 is adapted to be cleaned with pure water or nitrogen-containing water. The second cleaning fluid f2 is, for example, nitrogen-containing water, and the dilution device 4 is adapted to be cleaned with nitrogen-containing water. The third cleaning fluid f3 is, for example, nitrogen-containing water, and the concentration measurement device 6 is adapted to be cleaned with nitrogen-containing water. Although not shown, the concentration measurement system 1 may further include a drying device for drying each of the solid-liquid separation device 2, the dilution device 4, and the concentration measurement device 6.

<Actions and Effects of the Concentration Measurement System According to the Fourth Embodiment>
According to the fourth embodiment, the first cleaning line 36 is provided to suppress the liquid X1 and the solid Y1 from remaining in the solid-liquid separation device 2 (particularly the porous body 8). In particular, the solid Y1 adsorbed to the porous body 8 can be removed. The second cleaning line 38 is provided to suppress the separation liquid X2 and the fine solid Y1 contained in the separation liquid X2 from remaining in the dilution device 4. The third cleaning line 40 is provided to suppress the dilution liquid X3 and the fine solid Y1 contained in the dilution liquid X3 from remaining in the concentration measurement device 6. Therefore, the period during which each of the solid-liquid separation device 2, the dilution device 4, and the concentration measurement device 6 is in a good condition can be extended.

In the fourth embodiment, the cleaning line 34 includes the first cleaning line 36, the second cleaning line 38, and the third cleaning line 40, but the present disclosure is not limited to this embodiment. The cleaning line 34 may include at least one of the first cleaning line 36 and the third cleaning line 40, and may include, for example, only the first cleaning line 36.

(Embodiment 5)
<Configuration of waste treatment system according to embodiment 5>
Next, a waste treatment system 50 according to embodiment 5 will be described. Fig. 10 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the waste treatment system 50 according to embodiment 5 of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 10, the waste treatment system 50 includes a reformer 52, a microbial reaction device (biogas fermenter 100), the concentration measurement system 1 according to embodiment 1, and an adjustment device 54. Note that in another embodiment, the waste treatment system 50 includes the concentration measurement system 1 according to any one of embodiments 2 to 4, instead of the concentration measurement system 1 according to embodiment 1.

The reformer 52 receives waste directly from, for example, a vehicle or a plant that collects waste, and hydrolyzes the waste in a batch manner using steam. Specifically, the reformer is a batch-type reformer equipped with a housing 60 including an inlet 56 through which the waste is introduced and an outlet 58 through which the hydrolyzed waste is discharged. The inlet 56 and the outlet 58 are each provided with an on-off valve (not shown), and the housing 60 can be sealed by closing each of the on-off valves. The hydrolysis of the waste in the reformer 52 may be wet hydrolysis in which steam contacts the waste and heats it, or dry hydrolysis in which steam does not contact the waste and indirectly heats it. In the case of dry hydrolysis, the moisture in the waste in the housing 60 evaporates to become water vapor, and the waste in the housing 60 is uniformly heated by the water vapor. In addition, moisture is necessary for hydrolysis, and the moisture is supplied by the water vapor adhering to the surface of the waste. Although FIG. 10 shows one reformer 52, it is also possible to have a configuration in which multiple reformers 52 are connected in series, a configuration in which multiple reformers 52 are connected in parallel, or a configuration in which the series and parallel connections are combined.

The microbial reaction device uses microorganisms to reduce the modified material Z1, which is waste hydrolyzed by the reforming device 52, into smaller molecules. In other words, the microbial reaction device reduces the modified material Z1 to produce smaller molecules. In the fifth embodiment, the microbial reaction device is a biogas fermenter 100. The biogas fermenter 100 reduces the modified material Z1 into smaller molecules using microorganisms to produce smaller molecules such as methane fermentation sludge, and also produces biogas such as methane as a valuable resource. The microbial reaction device is not limited to the biogas fermenter 100. The microbial reaction device may be a saccharification tank that produces sugar as a valuable resource from carbohydrates such as starch and cellulose, or a composting device that produces compost by composting.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10, the biogas fermenter 100 is connected to the reformer 52 via a reforming line 53 through which the reformed material Z1 flows. The reforming line 53 is provided with an adjustment valve 55 for adjusting the amount of the reformed material Z1 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100. The opening of this adjustment valve 55 is adjusted according to instructions transmitted from an adjustment device 54, as described below.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10, the biogas fermenter 100 is provided with a circulation line 102 that removes a portion of the contents, including low molecular weight substances, to the outside and returns it to the biogas fermenter 100. Specifically, the circulation line 102 connects an outlet 104 formed at the bottom of the biogas fermenter 100 to an inlet 106 formed at an upper portion of the biogas fermenter 100 that is located above the bottom. The circulation line 102 removes a portion of the contents to the outside of the biogas fermenter 100 via the outlet 104. Then, a portion of the contents circulating through the circulation line 102 is returned to the biogas fermenter 100 via the inlet 106. In this way, the contents of the biogas fermenter 100 are stirred by circulating a portion of the contents through the circulation line 102.

The circulation line 102 is provided with a collection line 107 that branches off from the circulation line 102 and connects to the solid-liquid separation device 2 of the concentration measurement system 1. This collection line 107 is provided with, for example, a pump, and functions as a collection device 42 that collects a portion of the contents circulating through the circulation line 102 as a solid-liquid mixture A. The concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of solutes contained in liquid X1 of the contents (solid-liquid mixture A) of the biogas fermenter 100.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10, the concentration measurement system 1 further includes a waste liquid line 108 that connects the circulation line 102 and the concentration measurement device 6. The waste liquid line 108 connects the circulation line 102 downstream of the collection line 107 in the direction in which a portion of the contents of the biogas fermenter 100 flows. By providing such a waste liquid line 108 in the circulation line 102, the diluted liquid X3 that has flowed through the concentration measurement device 6 returns to the circulation line 102 via the waste liquid line 108. Although not shown, the diluted liquid X3 that has flowed through the concentration measurement device 6 may not return to the circulation line 102, but may be sent to a waste liquid treatment device that treats the diluted liquid X3 as waste liquid.

The adjustment device 54 adjusts the amount and timing of the reformate Z1 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100 based on the concentration of the solute, which is the measured value of the concentration measurement system 1. Such an adjustment device 54 is a computer such as an electronic control device, and includes a processor such as a CPU or GPU (not shown), a memory such as a ROM or RAM, and an I/O interface. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10, the adjustment device 54 is electrically connected to each of the concentration measurement device 6 (optical concentration measurement device 24) and the adjustment valve 55 of the concentration measurement system 1. The adjustment device 54 calculates the opening degree of the adjustment valve 55 by the processor operating (calculating, etc.) according to the instructions of the program loaded into the memory based on the concentration of the solute measured by the concentration measurement device 6. Then, the adjustment device 54 instructs the adjustment valve 55 to adjust to this calculated opening degree. The adjustment device 54 may be installed in the plant together with the reformer 52 and the biogas fermenter 100, or may be installed in a place different from the plant. The adjustment device 54 may also be configured on a cloud server.

Hereinafter, the concentration measurement system 1 will be described taking as an example a case where the concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFA) contained in the contents of the biogas fermenter 100 is measured. In some embodiments, the concentration measurement device 6 of the concentration measurement system 1 measures only the concentration of volatile fatty acids contained in the dilution liquid X3. The concentration of volatile fatty acids may be a major factor affecting the microorganisms in the biogas fermenter 100. With this configuration, the measurement target of the concentration measurement device 6 is limited to volatile fatty acids, thereby reducing the measurement cost (time and expense) required for the concentration measurement system 1 to obtain measured values. Note that the present disclosure does not limit the measurement target of the concentration measurement system 1 to volatile fatty acids. The concentration measurement system 1 may measure the concentrations of the above-mentioned furals and phenols, or may measure the concentrations of multiple solutes.

An example of the adjustment of the reformed material Z1 by the adjustment device 54 will be described. When the concentration of the volatile fatty acid measured by the concentration measurement system 1 becomes smaller than a preset lower limit (e.g., 1000 ppm), the adjustment device 54 increases the opening of the adjustment valve 55 and increases the amount of the reformed material Z1 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100. This makes it possible to suppress the death of microorganisms due to a shortage of the reformed material Z1 (feed) in the biogas fermenter 100. On the other hand, when the concentration of the volatile fatty acid measured by the concentration measurement system 1 becomes larger than a preset upper limit (e.g., 10000 ppm), the adjustment device 54 reduces the opening of the adjustment valve 55 and reduces the amount of the reformed material Z1 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100. This makes it possible to suppress the death of microorganisms due to the contents of the biogas fermenter 100 becoming rancid.

<Actions and Effects of the Waste Treatment System According to the Fifth Embodiment>
According to the fifth embodiment, the concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of volatile fatty acids contained in the content of the biogas fermenter 100. Then, the adjustment device 54 adjusts the amount and timing of the reformate Z1 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100 based on the measured concentration of the volatile fatty acids. This makes it possible to continue to maintain the biogas fermenter 100 in a state suitable for degradation by microorganisms.

When the waste treatment system 50 includes a reformer 52 and a biogas fermenter 100, the reformer 52 has the effect of amplifying the effect of the raw material (waste) composition, so if the system only includes the reformer 52 and the biogas fermenter 100, small fluctuations in the inlet composition are amplified if the reforming operation fails, and it is often difficult to stably operate the biogas fermenter 100. According to the fifth embodiment, the waste treatment system 50 includes, in addition to the reformer 52 and the biogas fermenter 100, a concentration measurement system 1 and an adjustment device 54, so that the biogas fermenter 100 can be maintained in a state suitable for low molecular weight conversion by microorganisms.

In some embodiments, the waste treatment system 50 is configured to set the hydrolysis conditions (temperature/pressure/time/agitation speed, etc.) in the reformer 52 based on the measured values of the concentration measurement system 1. With this configuration, the reformed material Z1 under conditions suitable for the microbial reaction can be supplied to the biogas fermenter 100, and valuable materials can be efficiently produced by the microbial reaction.

In addition, in the fifth embodiment, the concentration measurement system 1 is arranged to measure the concentration of solutes (volatile fatty acids) contained in the contents of the biogas fermenter 100, but the present disclosure is not limited to this form. The concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of solutes contained in the liquid X1 of the solid-liquid mixture A generated in the waste treatment system 50. Although not shown, in some embodiments, the concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of solutes contained in the reformed product Z1 flowing through the reforming line 53.

(Embodiment 6)
<Configuration of waste treatment system according to embodiment 6>
A waste treatment system 50 according to embodiment 6 will be described. The waste treatment system 50 according to embodiment 6 differs from the waste treatment system 50 according to embodiment 5 in that an adjustment device 54 is configured to adjust the supply amount and timing of the easily decomposed materials Z2 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100. In embodiment 6, the same components as those in embodiment 5 are given the same reference symbols, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

Here, we will explain about easily decomposed materials Z2 and difficult to decompose materials Z3. Easily decomposed materials Z2 are those of the modified material Z1 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100 that can be decomposed into smaller molecules by microorganisms within a predetermined time, such as sugars such as glucose. Difficult to decompose materials Z3 are those that take longer to be decomposed into smaller molecules by microorganisms in the biogas fermenter 100 than the easily decomposed materials Z2, such as casein and cellulose. The predetermined time is a time that can be determined arbitrarily, such as 100 hours.

Figure 11 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a waste treatment system 50 according to embodiment 6 of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 11, the waste treatment system 50 further includes a separation device 62, an easily decomposed material tank 64 in which easily decomposed material Z2 is stored, and a difficult to decompose material tank 66 in which difficult to decompose material Z3 is stored. The easily decomposed material tank 64 and the difficult to decompose material tank 66 are each arranged in parallel with each other between the reformer 52 and the biogas fermenter 100.

The separator 62 is disposed between the reformer 52 and the biogas fermenter 100. The separator 62 separates the reformed material Z1 supplied from the reformer 52 into easily decomposed material Z2 and less easily decomposed material Z3. Such a separator 62 is, for example, a screen that separates the reformed material Z1 into large particle size components and small particle size components having a particle size smaller than that of the large particle size components.

The small particle size components separated by the separator 62 are supplied to the easily decomposed material tank 64 as easily decomposed material Z2. The easily decomposed material tank 64 is connected to the biogas fermenter 100 via an easily decomposed material line 68 through which the easily decomposed material Z2 flows. The easily decomposed material line 68 is provided with an easily decomposed material adjustment valve 70 for adjusting the amount of easily decomposed material Z2 supplied from the easily decomposed material tank 64 to the biogas fermenter 100. This easily decomposed material adjustment valve 70 is configured in the same manner as the above-mentioned adjustment valve 55, and its opening is adjusted according to an instruction transmitted from the adjustment device 54. In other words, the adjustment device 54 adjusts the supply amount and timing of the easily decomposed material Z2 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100 based on the concentration of the volatile fatty acid measured by the concentration measurement system 1. The easily decomposed material Z2 (small particle size components) supplied to the biogas fermenter 100 is decomposed into low molecular weight substances to generate biogas G. The biogas G generated in the biogas fermenter 100 is stored in the gas holder 72.

The large particle size components separated by the separator 62 are supplied to the difficult to decompose tank 66 as difficult to decompose Z3. The main components of the large particle size components are those derived from plastic waste and those that cannot be broken down into smaller molecules in the biogas fermenter 100, such as metals. In other words, the large particle size components are unsuitable for reaction with microbial reactions, and the small particle size components are suitable for reaction with microbial reactions. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 11, the difficult to decompose tank 66 is connected to the biogas fermenter 100 via a difficult to decompose line 69 through which the difficult to decompose Z3 flows.

<Actions and Effects of the Waste Treatment System According to the Sixth Embodiment>
Whether the biogas fermenter 100 is in a suitable state for degradation by microorganisms is often governed by the amount and timing of the easily decomposed materials Z2 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100. According to the sixth embodiment, the adjustment device 54 adjusts the amount of easily decomposed materials Z2 supplied to the biogas fermenter 100 and the timing of supplying the easily decomposed materials Z2 to the biogas fermenter 100 based on the concentration of volatile fatty acids measured by the concentration measurement system 1, so that the biogas fermenter 100 can be continuously maintained in a suitable state for degradation by microorganisms.

Furthermore, according to the sixth embodiment, by disposing the separation device 62, it is possible to supply the easily decomposed material Z2 having a high purity and fluidity to the biogas fermenter 100 compared to a case in which the separation device 62 is not disposed. This allows the biogas fermenter 100 to be quickly brought into a state suitable for degradation by microorganisms. Furthermore, by disposing the separation device 62, it is possible to separate the less decomposed material Z3 from the reformed material Z1, and reduce the amount of unsuitable materials for reaction supplied to the biogas fermenter 100. As a result, the risk of degradation being inhibited in the biogas fermenter 100 is reduced, and degradation can be performed efficiently.

In the example shown in FIG. 11, the waste treatment system 50 includes a separation device 62, a tank for easily decomposed materials 64, and a tank for less decomposed materials 66, and describes an ideal form in which the easily decomposed materials Z2 and the less decomposed materials Z3 are clearly separated and stored in separate tanks, but complete separation is not necessarily required. The waste treatment system 50 can achieve the same effects as those described above by configuring it to be able to adjust the supply amount of the easily decomposed materials Z2, which react particularly quickly.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 11, the concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of solutes contained in the liquid X1 of the contents (solid-liquid mixture A) of the biogas fermenter 100, but the present disclosure is not limited to this embodiment. In some embodiments, the concentration measurement system 1 measures the concentration of solutes contained in the liquid of the reformed material Z1 (solid-liquid mixture A), which is waste hydrolyzed by the reformer 52. In this case, the reformed material Z1 (hydrothermal hydrolysis product) may be collected from a line that supplies the reformed material Z1 from the reformer 52 to the separator 62, or the easily decomposed material Z2 (mixing adjustment tank slurry) may be collected from the easily decomposed material tank 64.

<Concentration measurement method>
The concentration measurement method according to the present disclosure is a method for measuring the concentration of a solute contained in liquid X1 of a solid-liquid mixture A, which is a mixture of liquid X1 and solid Y1. Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing a concentration measurement method according to one embodiment. As shown in Fig. 12, the concentration measurement method includes a solid-liquid separation step S2, a dilution step S4, and a concentration measurement step S6.

In the solid-liquid separation step S2, liquid X1 is separated from solid-liquid mixture A using a porous body 8 having pores 10 formed therein that can be impregnated with liquid X1. Specifically, the porous body 8 is brought into contact with solid-liquid mixture A. In the dilution step S4, liquid X1 separated from solid-liquid mixture A in the solid-liquid separation step S2 is diluted to produce diluted liquid X3. In the concentration measurement step S6, the concentration of the solute contained in the diluted liquid X3 produced in the dilution step S4 is measured.

According to this concentration measurement method, by contacting the porous body 8 with the solid-liquid mixture A, the pores 10 formed in the porous body 8 are impregnated with the liquid X1, so that the liquid X1 can be quickly separated from the solid-liquid mixture A. Therefore, the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid X1 of the solid-liquid mixture A can be quickly measured. In addition, since the porous body 8 is less expensive than a centrifuge device, the cost of the device prepared to perform the solid-liquid separation step S2 can be reduced.

Note that dilution step S4 is not a required component of the concentration measurement method according to the present disclosure. In some embodiments, concentration measurement step S6 measures the concentration of the solute contained in separation liquid X2 separated in solid-liquid separation step S2.

<Waste disposal method>
Fig. 13 is a flow chart showing a waste treatment method according to one embodiment. As shown in Fig. 13, the waste treatment method includes a hydrolysis step S52, a molecular weight reduction step S54, the above-mentioned concentration measurement method (solid-liquid separation step S2, dilution step S4, and concentration measurement step S6), and an adjustment step S56. The solid-liquid mixture A is a low molecular weight product obtained by reducing the molecular weight of the modified material Z1 by microorganisms. In other words, the concentration measurement method measures the concentration of a solute contained in the liquid of the low molecular weight product.

In the hydrolysis step S52, the waste is hydrolyzed. In the molecular reduction step S54, the modified material Z1, which is the waste hydrolyzed in the hydrolysis step S52, is reduced to smaller molecules by microorganisms. In the adjustment step S56, the amount and timing of the modified material Z1 reduced to smaller molecules in the molecular reduction step S54 are adjusted based on the concentration of the solute measured by the concentration measurement method. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13, the adjustment step S56 is performed after the hydrolysis step S52 and before the molecular reduction step S54.

With this waste treatment method, it is possible to continue to maintain conditions suitable for the microorganisms to break down the modified material into smaller molecules in the molecular weight reduction step S54.

The contents described in each of the above embodiments can be understood, for example, as follows:

[1] A concentration measurement system according to the present disclosure,
A concentration measurement system (1) for measuring a concentration of a solute contained in a solid-liquid mixture (A) which is a mixture of a liquid (X1) and a solid (Y1), comprising:
a solid-liquid separation device (2) for separating the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture;
a concentration measuring device (6) for measuring the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated by the solid-liquid separation device;
The solid-liquid separation device includes a porous body (8) having pores (10) formed therein that can be impregnated with the liquid.

According to the configuration described in [1] above, by contacting the porous body with the solid-liquid mixture, the liquid penetrates the pores formed in the porous body, and the liquid can be quickly separated from the solid-liquid mixture. This makes it possible to quickly measure the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid of the solid-liquid mixture. In addition, since the porous body is less expensive than a centrifugal separator, the installation costs of the solid-liquid separator can be reduced.

[2] In some embodiments, in the configuration described in [1] above,
The liquid separated in the solid-liquid separator is further diluted (4).
The concentration measuring device measures the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated by the solid-liquid separator and diluted by the dilution device.

When the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid of the solid-liquid mixture is too high, it may be difficult for the concentration measuring device to measure the concentration of the solute. According to the configuration described in [2] above, the concentration measuring device measures the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid diluted by the dilution device. Therefore, even if the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid of the solid-liquid mixture is higher than the concentration that can be measured by the concentration measuring device, the concentration of the solute can be measured.

[3] In some embodiments, in the configuration described in [1] or [2] above,
The solid-liquid separation device further includes a dehydrator (12) for dehydrating the liquid from the porous body.

According to the configuration described in [3] above, the liquid required for measuring the concentration of the solute can be quickly extracted by dehydrating the liquid from the porous body using a dehydration device.

[4] In some embodiments, in the configuration according to any one of [1] to [3] above,
The solid-liquid separation device further comprises a nonwoven fabric (14),
The nonwoven fabric is disposed upstream of the porous body in the flow direction of the liquid in the solid-liquid separation device.

When the particle size of the solids contained in the solid-liquid mixture becomes large, this can hinder the impregnation of the liquid into the pores of the porous body. According to the configuration described in [4] above, the solid-liquid mixture comes into contact with the nonwoven fabric before coming into contact with the porous body, so that the nonwoven fabric removes solids with large particle sizes. This allows the liquid to smoothly impregnate the pores of the porous body.

[5] In some embodiments, in the configuration according to any one of [1] to [4] above,
The apparatus further includes a cleaning line (34) through which cleaning fluids (f1, f3) for cleaning at least one of the solid-liquid separator and the concentration measuring device flow.

According to the configuration described in [5] above, the liquid separated from the solid-liquid mixture is prevented from remaining in at least one of the solid-liquid separation device and the concentration measurement device. This makes it possible to extend the period during which at least one of the solid-liquid separation device and the concentration measurement device is in a good condition.

[6] In some embodiments, in the configuration according to any one of [1] to [5] above,
The concentration measuring device is
A cell (16) to which a separated liquid (X2) which is the liquid separated in the solid-liquid separator is supplied;
A light source (18) for irradiating the cell with light;
a detector (20) for receiving the light that has passed through the cell;
An optical concentration measuring device (24) including:

According to the configuration described in [6] above, the concentration measurement system can apply an optical concentration measurement device that measures the concentration of a solute contained in a separation liquid in a cell using light absorption, diffraction, scattering, etc.

[7] In some embodiments, in the configuration described in [6] above,
The optical concentration measuring device measures the concentration of the solute contained in the separation liquid based on an amount of change in absorbance calculated by differentiating the absorbance with respect to wavelength.

The absorbance at a specific wavelength may be affected by the absorbance at wavelengths other than the specific wavelength. In contrast, the amount of absorbance change at a specific wavelength is not affected by the amount of absorbance change at wavelengths other than the specific wavelength, or is very small. According to the configuration described in [7] above, the optical concentration measurement device measures the concentration of the solute contained in the separated liquid based on the amount of absorbance change, so that the measurement accuracy can be improved compared to the case where the concentration of the solute contained in the separated liquid is measured based on absorbance.

[8] In some embodiments, in the configuration described in [7] above,
The optical concentration measuring device measures the concentration of the solute contained in the separation liquid based on the total area of the amount of change in absorbance having a peak within a preset wavelength range.

According to the configuration described in [8] above, the concentration of the solute contained in the diluted liquid is measured based on the sum of the areas of the absorbance change amounts that have peaks within a preset wavelength range. In other words, multiple solutes are grouped together as one solute (for example, furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural are grouped together as furals), and the concentration of this one solute is measured. This makes it easier to measure the concentration of the solute compared to measuring the concentrations of multiple solutes individually.

[9] In some embodiments, in the configuration according to any one of [6] to [8] above,
the cell is configured to be filled with a compensation liquid different from the separation liquid,
The light source is configured to irradiate the light onto the cell filled with the correction liquid;
The detector is configured to receive correction light that is the light that has passed through the cell filled with the correction liquid,
The optical concentration measuring device is configured to correct the detection value of the detector based on the correction light received by the detector.

Even if an optical concentration measuring device measures the same concentration of a solute at both a first timing and a second timing that follows the first timing, the concentration of the solute measured at the first timing may be slightly different from the concentration of the solute measured at the second timing. According to the configuration described in [9] above, the concentration of the solute is corrected based on the correction light that has passed through a cell filled with a correction liquid, so that the effects of differences in measurement timing can be suppressed.

[10] In some embodiments, in the configuration according to any one of [6] to [9] above,
The optical concentration measuring device is
a calibration cell (32) disposed between the cell and the detector;
a calibration solution having a known concentration is supplied to the calibration solution cell when the separation liquid is not supplied to the cell;
the detector is configured to receive calibration light that has passed through both the cell to which the separation liquid is not supplied and the calibration liquid cell to which the calibration liquid is supplied;
The optical concentration measuring device is configured to correct the detection value of the detector based on the calibration light received by the detector.

It may not be easy for the detector of an optical concentration measuring device to maintain the detection sensitivity for receiving light. According to the configuration described in [10] above, the detection value of the detector is corrected based on the calibration light that has passed through both the cell to which no separation liquid has been supplied and the calibration liquid cell to which the calibration liquid has been supplied, so that the difference in detection sensitivity can be suppressed.

[11] In some embodiments, in the configuration according to any one of [1] to [10] above,
The solid-liquid mixture contains low molecular weight substances that have been degraded by the microorganisms.

According to the findings of the present inventors, if the concentration of the solute of the low molecular weight substance falls within a preset range, the state is suitable for low molecular weight conversion by microorganisms. On the other hand, if the concentration of the solute of the low molecular weight substance falls outside this range, the state is unsuitable for low molecular weight conversion by microorganisms. According to the configuration described in [11] above, the concentration of the solute of the low molecular weight substance is measured, and therefore, based on this measurement value, it is possible to quickly know whether or not low molecular weight conversion by microorganisms is suitable.

[12] In some embodiments, in the configuration described in [11] above,
The apparatus further includes a collection device (42) for collecting the solid-liquid mixture from the circulating low molecular weight product (fA).

According to the configuration described in [12] above, a solid-liquid mixture is collected from low molecular weight materials in circulation, so that a solid-liquid mixture can be collected from low molecular weight materials in a stirred state.

[13] In some embodiments, in the configuration according to any one of [1] to [12] above,
The solid-liquid mixture contains a modified product (Z1) obtained by hydrolyzing waste.

The conditions for hydrolyzing the waste may be determined based on the concentration of the solute contained in the modified material. According to the configuration described in [13] above, the concentration of the solute contained in the modified material is measured, so that the conditions for hydrolyzing the waste can be quickly determined based on this measured value.

[14] The waste treatment system (50) according to the present disclosure comprises:
At least one reformer (52) for hydrolyzing the waste material;
A microbial reaction device (100) that converts the waste material hydrolyzed in the at least one reforming device into smaller molecules using microorganisms;
A concentration measurement system according to any one of claims 1 to 13;
and an adjusting device (54) for adjusting the amount and timing of the amendant supplied to the microbial reactor based on the measurement value of the concentration measuring device;
The solid-liquid mixture contains at least one of the modified material and low molecular weight products obtained by decomposing the modified material by a microorganism.

According to the configuration described in [14] above, the microbial reaction device can be continuously maintained in a state suitable for the microbial modification of the modified substance into smaller molecules.

[15] The concentration measuring method according to the present disclosure comprises:
A method for measuring a concentration of a solute contained in a liquid of a solid-liquid mixture, the solid being a mixture of a liquid and a solid, comprising the steps of:
A step (S2) of separating the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture using a porous body having pores formed therein that can be impregnated with the liquid;
and measuring the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated from the solid-liquid mixture (S6).

According to the method described in [15] above, by contacting a porous body with a solid-liquid mixture, the pores formed in the porous body are impregnated with the liquid, and the liquid can be quickly separated from the solid-liquid mixture. This makes it possible to quickly measure the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid of the solid-liquid mixture. In addition, since the porous body is less expensive than a centrifuge device, the cost of the device prepared to separate the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture can be reduced.

[16] The waste treatment method according to the present disclosure comprises:
A hydrolysis step (S52) of hydrolyzing the waste material;
A molecular weight reduction step (S54) of reducing the hydrolyzed waste material, which is the modified material, by microorganisms;
The concentration measuring method according to the above [15],
and an adjustment step (S56) of adjusting the amount and timing of the modified substance to be degraded in the degrading step based on the measured concentration of the solute;
The solid-liquid mixture contains at least one of the modified material and low molecular weight products obtained by decomposing the modified material by a microorganism.

According to the method described in [16] above, it is possible to continuously maintain conditions suitable for the microbial decomposition of the modified material in the decomposition step.

1 Concentration measurement system 2 Solid-liquid separation device 4 Dilution device 6 Concentration measurement device 8 Porous body 10 Pore 12 Dehydration device 14 Nonwoven fabric 16 Cell 18 Light source 20 Detector 24 Optical concentration measurement device 32 Calibration solution cell 34 Cleaning line 42 Sampling device 50 Waste treatment system 52 Modification device 54 Adjustment device 62 Separation device 64 Easily decomposable material tank 66 Difficult to decompose material tank 100 Biogas fermenter (microbial reaction device)
A Solid-liquid mixture X1 Liquid X3 Diluent liquid Y1 Solid Z1 Modified substance Z2 Easily decomposed substance Z3 Hardly decomposed substance f1 First cleaning fluid f2 Second cleaning fluid f3 Third cleaning fluid

S2 Solid-liquid separation step S4 Dilution step S6 Concentration measurement step S52 Hydrolysis step S54 Depolymerization step S56 Adjustment step

Claims (12)

A concentration measurement system for measuring a concentration of a solute contained in a liquid of a solid-liquid mixture, the solid being a mixture of a liquid and a solid, comprising:
a solid-liquid separation device for separating the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture containing at least one of a modified product obtained by hydrolyzing waste and a low molecular weight product obtained by low molecular weight conversion using microorganisms ;
a concentration measuring device for measuring a concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated by the solid-liquid separator;
The solid-liquid separation device includes a porous body having pores formed therein that can be impregnated with the liquid,
The concentration measuring device is
A cell to which a separated liquid, which is the liquid separated in the solid-liquid separator, is supplied;
A light source that irradiates the cell with light;
a detector that receives the light that has passed through the cell;
and measuring the concentration of the solute contained in the separation liquid based on an amount of change in absorbance calculated by differentiating the absorbance detected by the detector with respect to wavelength.
Concentration measurement system. Further comprising a dilution device for diluting the liquid separated by the solid-liquid separation device,
the concentration measuring device measures the concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated by the solid-liquid separator and diluted by the dilution device;
The concentration measurement system according to claim 1 . The solid-liquid separation device further includes a dehydration device that dehydrates the liquid from the porous body.
The concentration measurement system according to claim 1 . The solid-liquid separation device further includes a nonwoven fabric,
The nonwoven fabric is arranged upstream of the porous body in the flow direction of the liquid in the solid-liquid separation device.
The concentration measurement system according to claim 1 . a cleaning line through which a cleaning fluid for cleaning at least one of the solid-liquid separation device and the concentration measurement device flows;
The concentration measurement system according to claim 1 . the optical concentration measuring device measures the concentration of the solute contained in the separation liquid based on a total area of an amount of change in absorbance having a peak within a preset wavelength range.
The concentration measurement system according to claim 1 . the cell is configured to be filled with a compensation liquid different from the separation liquid,
The light source is configured to irradiate the light onto the cell filled with the correction liquid;
The detector is configured to receive correction light that is the light that has passed through the cell filled with the correction liquid,
the optical concentration measuring device is configured to correct the detection value of the detector based on the correction light received by the detector;
The concentration measurement system according to any one of claims 1 to 6 . The optical concentration measuring device is
a calibration cell disposed between the cell and the detector;
a calibration solution having a known concentration is supplied to the calibration solution cell when the separation liquid is not supplied to the cell;
the detector is configured to receive calibration light that has passed through both the cell to which the separation liquid is not supplied and the calibration liquid cell to which the calibration liquid is supplied;
the optical concentration measuring device is configured to correct a detection value of the detector based on the calibration light received by the detector;
A concentration measurement system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 . The solid-liquid mixture contains low molecular weight substances that have been low molecular weighted by microorganisms,
The method further includes a collection device for collecting the distributed low molecular weight products as the solid-liquid mixture.
A concentration measurement system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 . at least one reformer for hydrolyzing the waste material;
a microbial reaction device that converts the waste material hydrolyzed in the at least one reforming device into smaller molecules using microorganisms;
A concentration measurement system for measuring a concentration of a solute contained in a liquid of a solid-liquid mixture, the solid being a mixture of a liquid and a solid, comprising:
a solid-liquid separator for separating the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture;
a concentration measuring device for measuring a concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated by the solid-liquid separator;
The solid-liquid separation device includes a porous body having pores formed therein that can be impregnated with the liquid; and
and an adjustment device that adjusts the amount and timing of the modified substance supplied to the microbial reaction device so that the concentration of the solute measured by the concentration measurement device falls within a preset range;
The solid-liquid mixture contains at least one of the modified material and a low molecular weight product obtained by low molecular weight conversion of the modified material by a microorganism.
Waste disposal system. A method for measuring a concentration of a solute contained in a liquid of a solid-liquid mixture, the solid being a mixture of a liquid and a solid, comprising the steps of:
a step of separating the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture containing at least one of a modified product obtained by hydrolysis of waste and low molecular weight products obtained by low molecular weight processing using a porous body having pores inside which the liquid can penetrate;
supplying a separated liquid, which is the liquid separated from the solid-liquid mixture, to a cell of an optical concentration measuring device;
illuminating the cell with light using a light source of the optical concentration measuring device;
receiving the light that has passed through the cell using a detector of the optical concentration measurement device;
and measuring a concentration of the solute contained in the separation liquid based on an amount of change in absorbance calculated by differentiating the absorbance detected by the detector with respect to wavelength.
Concentration measurement method. A hydrolysis step of hydrolyzing the waste material;
a step of converting the hydrolyzed waste material, which is the modified material, into smaller molecules using microorganisms;
A method for measuring a concentration of a solute contained in a liquid of a solid-liquid mixture, the solid being a mixture of a liquid and a solid, comprising the steps of:
Separating the liquid from the solid-liquid mixture using a porous body having pores formed therein that can be impregnated with the liquid;
measuring a concentration of the solute contained in the liquid separated from the solid-liquid mixture;
and an adjustment step of adjusting the amount and timing of the modified substance to be degraded in the degrading step so that the concentration of the measured solute falls within a preset range;
The solid-liquid mixture contains at least one of the modified material and a low molecular weight product obtained by low molecular weight conversion of the modified material by a microorganism.
Waste disposal methods.

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