JP7593390B2 - Seaweed resource recovery system and seaweed resource recovery method - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a seaweed resource processing system and a seaweed resource processing method.

Patent Document 1 discloses a system that cultivates seaweed, captures carbon dioxide from the air, and uses the seaweed to produce, separate, and recover methanol, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide.

JP 2005-035967 A

Meanwhile, the inventors are considering a seaweed resource utilization system that includes an alginic acid extraction apparatus that extracts alginic acid from seaweed, and a fermentation apparatus that ferments the seaweed using yeast (to produce methane, ethanol, etc.).
Therefore, seaweed collected from the ocean must be divided into those for alginic acid extraction and those for fermentation. If the seaweed is not divided appropriately according to its use, it will not be possible to efficiently utilize the seaweed as a resource.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of these circumstances, and provides a seaweed recycling system and method that can appropriately allocate seaweed according to its use and efficiently recycle the seaweed.

A seaweed resource production system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes:
an alginic acid extractor for extracting alginic acid from the first group of seaweeds collected from the sea;
A seaweed resource production system comprising: a fermentation device for fermenting the second group of seaweed with yeast;
A seaweed component measuring device for measuring the alginic acid concentration in the seaweed;
A sorting device that sorts the seaweed based on the alginic acid concentration measured by the seaweed component measuring device,
The sorting device sorts into the first group only seaweed whose alginic acid concentration exceeds a predetermined first reference value.

A method for producing seaweed resources according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes:
Extracting alginic acid from a first group of seaweeds collected from the ocean;
and fermenting the second group of seaweed to produce methane or ethanol.
Measure the alginic acid concentration in the seaweed;
Only seaweed whose measured alginic acid concentration exceeds a predetermined first reference value is assigned to the first group.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, only seaweed whose measured alginic acid concentration exceeds a predetermined first reference value is sorted into a first group for extracting alginic acid. This allows seaweed to be appropriately sorted according to its intended use, enabling efficient resource utilization of the seaweed.

In the above seaweed resource recovery system,
The third group of seaweed is carbonized in a low-oxygen atmosphere having an oxygen concentration lower than that in the atmosphere to produce biochar.
The seaweed component measuring device further measures the concentration of the hardly pyrolyzable component in the seaweed that does not decompose at 250 ° C.;
When the alginic acid concentration falls below the first standard value, the sorting device may sort seaweed whose concentration of the hardly-pyrolyzable components is below the second standard value into the second group, and sort seaweed whose concentration of the hardly-pyrolyzable components exceeds the second standard value into the third group.

In the above seaweed resource recovery method,
and carbonizing the third group of seaweed in a low-oxygen atmosphere having an oxygen concentration lower than that of atmospheric air to produce biochar.
The concentration of the hardly decomposable component in the seaweed that does not decompose at 250 ° C. is further measured,
If the alginic acid concentration falls below the first standard value, seaweed whose concentration of the thermally decomposable components is below the second standard value may be assigned to the second group, and seaweed whose concentration of the thermally decomposable components exceeds the second standard value may be assigned to the third group.

In this way, by measuring the concentration of components that are difficult to decompose thermally in seaweed, seaweed can be more appropriately allocated according to its intended use, and seaweed can be more efficiently utilized as a resource.

This disclosure provides a seaweed recycling system and method that can appropriately allocate seaweed according to its intended use and efficiently recycle the seaweed.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a seaweed resource conversion system according to a first embodiment. FIG. A block diagram showing the configuration of a seaweed resource production system according to a second embodiment.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the following embodiments. In addition, the following descriptions and drawings have been simplified as appropriate for clarity of explanation.

First Embodiment
First, the configuration of a seaweed resource production system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a seaweed resource production system according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the seaweed resource recovery system according to this embodiment includes a component measuring device 10, a sorting device 20, an alginic acid extraction device 30, and a fermentation device 40. In FIG. 1, the thick arrows indicate the flow of seaweed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the component measuring device 10 measures the alginic acid concentration in seaweed collected from the ocean. The alginic acid concentration measured by the component measuring device 10 is output to the sorting device 20.

The sorting device 20 sorts the seaweed collected from the ocean into a first group and a second group based on the alginic acid concentration measured by the component measuring device 10. Specifically, the sorting device 20 sorts only seaweed whose alginic acid concentration exceeds a predetermined first reference value (e.g., about 25% by mass) into the first group from which alginic acid is extracted in the alginic acid extraction device 30. This improves the extraction efficiency of alginic acid in the alginic acid extraction device 30.

On the other hand, the sorting device 20 sorts seaweed whose alginic acid concentration is below the first reference value into a second group to be fermented in the fermentation device 40 .
When the alginic acid concentration is equal to the first reference value, the seaweed may be sorted into either the first group or the second group, if this has been determined in advance.

Although not shown, the sorting device 20 includes a calculation unit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a storage unit such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which various programs and data are stored. In other words, the sorting device 20 functions as a computer and executes sorting processing based on the various programs and the like.

The alginic acid extraction device 30 extracts alginic acid from the first group of seaweed sorted by the sorting device 20. More specifically, in the alginic acid extraction device 30, as shown below, washing, extraction, dilution, separation, precipitation, and dehydration processes are carried out in sequence to extract alginic acid from the seaweed.

First, in the alginic acid extraction device 30, seaweed obtained from the sea is washed with fresh water (washing process).
Next, in the alginic acid extraction device 30, an aqueous solution containing alginic acid components is extracted from the washed seaweed (extraction process). Specifically, the alginic acid contained in the seaweed combines with polyvalent cations such as Ca to form insoluble salts. Therefore, in the alginic acid extraction device 30, polyvalent cations such as Ca are ion-exchanged with Na to extract an aqueous solution containing water-soluble sodium alginate (sodium alginate aqueous solution).

Next, in the alginic acid extraction device 30, a large amount of water is added to the extracted sodium alginate aqueous solution to dilute it (dilution process). The viscosity is reduced by dilution, making it easier to separate from the seaweed.
Next, in the alginic acid extraction device 30, the diluted sodium alginate aqueous solution is separated from the seaweed (separation process).

Next, alginic acid is coagulated and precipitated from the aqueous sodium alginate solution separated from the seaweed in the alginic acid extraction device 30 (precipitation treatment). Specifically, an acid is added to the aqueous sodium alginate solution to coagulate and precipitate insoluble alginic acid.
Then, in the alginic acid extraction device 30, the precipitated alginic acid is dehydrated (dehydration treatment).
In this manner, alginic acid is extracted from the seaweed in the alginic acid extraction device 30.

The fermentation device 40 ferments the second group of seaweed sorted by the sorting device 20 with yeast to produce methane. In the fermentation device 40, the seaweed is hydrolyzed and then fermented to produce methane.
In addition, the fermentation device 40 may ferment the second group of seaweed using other yeast and then distill it to produce alcohol such as ethanol.

As described above, the seaweed resource recovery system according to this embodiment includes a component measuring device 10 that measures the alginic acid concentration in the seaweed, and a sorting device 20 that sorts the seaweed based on the alginic acid concentration measured by the component measuring device 10.

Here, the sorting device 20 sorts only the seaweed whose alginic acid concentration exceeds the first reference value into the first group from which alginic acid is extracted in the alginic acid extraction device 30. Therefore, the extraction efficiency of alginic acid in the alginic acid extraction device 30 is improved.
In this way, in the seaweed resource recovery system according to this embodiment, seaweed can be appropriately allocated according to its use, and the seaweed can be efficiently recovered as a resource.

Second Embodiment
Next, the configuration of a seaweed resource-producing system according to a second embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a seaweed resource-producing system according to the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the seaweed resource recovery system according to this embodiment includes a carbonization device 50 in addition to the component measuring device 10, the sorting device 20, the alginic acid extraction device 30, and the fermentation device 40 shown in FIG. 1.

The carbonization device 50 heats the third group of seaweed to about 300°C in a low-oxygen atmosphere to produce biochar. A low-oxygen atmosphere is an atmosphere with a lower oxygen concentration than the atmosphere. Specifically, a low-oxygen atmosphere is an atmosphere with an oxygen concentration of, for example, 1% by volume or less.

As shown in FIG. 2, the component measuring device 10 according to this embodiment measures the concentration of pyrolytic components in seaweed that do not decompose at 250°C, in addition to the alginic acid concentration in seaweed. In other words, the component measuring device 10 according to this embodiment has a thermogravimetric analysis function.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sorting device 20 according to this embodiment sorts seaweed collected from the ocean into a first group, a second group, and a third group based on the alginic acid concentration and the concentration of the pyrolyzable components measured by the component measuring device 10.

First, the sorting device 20 sorts only seaweed whose alginic acid concentration exceeds a first reference value into a first group from which alginic acid is extracted in the alginic acid extraction device 30. This improves the efficiency of alginic acid extraction in the alginic acid extraction device 30.

Next, based on the concentration of the pyrolysis-resistant components measured by the component measuring device 10, the sorting device 20 sorts the seaweed whose alginic acid concentration is below the first reference value into a second group and a third group.

Specifically, the sorting device 20 sorts seaweed having a concentration of hardly pyrolyzable components below a second reference value (e.g., about 30% by mass) into a second group to be fermented in the fermentation device 40 .
On the other hand, the sorting device 20 sorts seaweed having a concentration of hardly pyrolyzable components exceeding the second reference value into a third group to be carbonized in the carbonization device 50. This suppresses the thermal decomposition of seaweed in the carbonization device 50, improving the efficiency of biochar production.
In addition, when the concentration of the hardly pyrolyzable components is equal to the second standard value, the seaweed may be assigned to either the second group or the third group, as long as this is determined in advance.

As described above, in the seaweed resource recovery system according to this embodiment, the sorting device 20 sorts only seaweed whose alginic acid concentration exceeds a predetermined first reference value into a first group from which alginic acid is extracted in the alginic acid extraction device 30. This allows alginic acid to be extracted efficiently in the alginic acid extraction device 30.

Next, in the seaweed resource recovery system according to this embodiment, the sorting device 20 sorts seaweed whose alginic acid concentration is below the first reference value into a second group and a third group based on the concentration of the pyrolysis-resistant components measured by the component measuring device 10.

Specifically, the sorting device 20 sorts seaweed having a concentration of hardly pyrolyzable components below a second standard value into a second group to be fermented in the fermentation device 40 .
On the other hand, the sorting device 20 sorts seaweed having a concentration of hardly pyrolyzable components exceeding the second reference value into a third group to be carbonized in the carbonization device 50. This suppresses the thermal decomposition of seaweed in the carbonization device 50, improving the efficiency of biochar production.

In this way, in the seaweed resource recovery system according to this embodiment, seaweed can be appropriately allocated according to its use, and the seaweed can be efficiently recovered as a resource.
The other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment, and therefore will not be described.

The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
In addition, the present disclosure will promote the use of blue carbon (seaweed) and contribute to carbon neutrality, decarbonization, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

10 Component measuring device 20 Distributor 30 Alginic acid extractor 40 Fermenter 50 Carbonizer

Claims (4)

an alginic acid extractor for extracting alginic acid from the first group of seaweeds collected from the sea;
A seaweed resource production system comprising: a fermentation device for fermenting the second group of seaweed with yeast;
A seaweed component measuring device for measuring the alginic acid concentration in the seaweed;
A sorting device that sorts the seaweed based on the alginic acid concentration measured by the seaweed component measuring device,
The sorting device sorts only seaweed whose alginic acid concentration exceeds a predetermined first reference value into the first group.
Seaweed resource utilization system. The third group of seaweed is carbonized in a low-oxygen atmosphere having an oxygen concentration lower than that in the atmosphere to produce biochar.
The seaweed component measuring device further measures the concentration of the hardly pyrolyzable component in the seaweed that does not decompose at 250 ° C.;
When the alginic acid concentration falls below the first reference value, the sorting device sorts the seaweed having a concentration of the hardly-pyrolyzable components below the second reference value into the second group, and sorts the seaweed having a concentration of the hardly-pyrolyzable components exceeding the second reference value into the third group.
The seaweed resource production system according to claim 1. Extracting alginic acid from a first group of seaweeds collected from the ocean;
and fermenting the second group of seaweed to produce methane or ethanol.
Measure the alginic acid concentration in the seaweed;
Only seaweed whose measured alginic acid concentration exceeds a predetermined first reference value is sorted into the first group.
Methods for turning seaweed into resources. and carbonizing the third group of seaweed in a low-oxygen atmosphere having an oxygen concentration lower than that of atmospheric air to produce biochar.
The concentration of the hardly decomposable component in the seaweed that does not decompose at 250 ° C. is further measured,
When the alginic acid concentration is below the first reference value, the seaweed having a concentration of the hardly-pyrolyzable component below the second reference value is assigned to the second group, and the seaweed having a concentration of the hardly-pyrolyzable component exceeding the second reference value is assigned to the third group.
The method for converting seaweed into resources according to claim 3.

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