Solid material comminution or disintegration – Processes – With classifying or separating of material
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-14
2004-01-20
Ostrager, Allen (Department: 3725)
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Processes
With classifying or separating of material
Reexamination Certificate
active
06679442
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of recycling office automation (OA) machines, such as copiers, printers and facsimiles, and household electrical products. More particularly, this invention relates to a recycling method capable of constructing the plastic closed-loop material recycle (PCMR).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the current society, importance on environmental issues has been recognized increasingly more than before. In addition, consumers and investors have become strict to choose enterprises on the basis of their consideration on environment. The enterprises are therefore required to have future subjects for environmental protective activities as well as previously performed benefit creative activities.
In terms of effective use of resources and reduction of wastes, the enterprises are urgently required to establish a system for recycling and using reusable products, components and materials. With respect to such the recycling, processing manners (process levels) can be roughly classified into the following classification.
1. Home reuse,
Home reuse is defined as a process of recycle performed by the user of a product to reuse a part of the product (such as a component). For example, in a copier, it corresponds to a process of refilling toner in a toner container for reuse by the user itself. In this case, a recycling object (the toner container in the above example) will not lower its value. Accordingly, the home reuse can be considered as a processing manner (process level) that has the largest effect and the least cost on environmental load reduction.
2. Product reuse,
Reuse of products is defined as a process of recycle for performing a certain recycling process to used products themselves collected from the market, which are so-called collected machines, to reuse them as recycled machines. In this processing, the major part of the product can be employed as such, exhibiting an extremely large effect on environmental load reduction.
3. Component reuse,
Reuse of components is defined as a process of recycle for removing components or units from the collected machines to reuse them as units or components for new products. In this processing, the components or units, which are otherwise produced with a considerable amount of energy consumed on processing and the like, can be employed in recycled machines, exhibiting a large effect on environmental load reduction.
4. Material recycle,
Recycle of materials is defined as a process of recycle for decomposing and fractionating the collected machines into basic materials, thereafter performing a certain processing to them for reuse as recycled materials. This processing includes the closed-loop material recycle for reusing them as materials of products in the same field and the open-loop material recycle for reusing them as materials of products in different fields.
5. Recycle to raw materials,
Recycle to raw materials is defined as a process of recycle for decomposing and fractionating the collected machines and finally returning them to a raw material level for reuse. This processing is effective to achieve zero-waste.
6. Energy recovery,
Energy recovery is defined as a process of burning plastics, for example, to effectively utilize their thermal energy.
The above processing manners (process levels) 1 to 6 have effects on the environmental load reduction in an order of 1, the most desirable, then 2, 3, . . . Therefore, it is important for specific recycle promotion to continuously recycle in the upper process as long as possible.
In practice, however, a process can not be continued on a semi-permanent basis only at the upper level of the above process levels, for example, the “Home reuse”. It is therefore required to abandon the process after a certain time period. Because the function of the product is degraded after a certain time period and the function itself becomes useless already in the market (or to the user).
In that case, the recycle performed at the upper process is forced to transfer to the lower process (for example, the matter recycled at the “Home reuse” transfers to the process 2 or below). Thus, the process transferred lower is employed to recycle again for a certain time period. If it is degraded, then sequentially transferred to a further lower process.
In the recycle, therefore, it is not sufficient to perform either one of the above processes 1 to 6. Rather, it is important to perform all the processes to stand the environmental protective activities together with the benefit creative activities.
In such the situation, importance on the “Material recycle”, in particular on the closed-loop material recycle has been remarked recently. The material recycle described above is considered as an important processing. Because it is possible “to more easily create anew function (value)” compared to the three upper processes described above. In a word, it has an advantage on profit creation.
In the recycles performed in the “Home reuse”, “Product reuse” and “Component reuse”, functions of objects to be reused are directly developed in the next recycled machines (the products in the case of the home reuse) and accordingly hardly improved. In new products having renewed functions compared to the conventional products, the higher the function renewal level, the harder the above three recycle processes respond.
On the other hand, through the use of objective materials to produce entirely new components, the material recycle can be applied to new products with improved or renewed functions. Because the material recycle in the first place means a cycle to “reuse a property of material” to “newly create a matter provided with new functions”.
The material recycle has a characteristic that is also in common with the process of the “Recycle to raw materials”. The process of recycle to raw materials is a process of returning the material to its original state of raw material and accordingly has a disadvantage because it requires an increased number of process steps compared to the material recycle. In general, the “Recycle to raw materials” is disadvantageous in cost compared to the material recycle.
Of the material recycles, when the closed-loop material recycle is compared with the open-loop material recycle, the closed-loop material recycle is more excellent in multi-time circulation of resources, in other words, in possibility of many-time usability.
The Inventors et al. report effects on the environmental protection in the publication, “OA MACHINES” (“PLASTICS AGE ENCYCLOPEDIA<Progressed version>2000”, October 1991). In this report, LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) technology is utilized to compare loads on the environment. One load is imparted from an entirely new production and another from a production by the closed-loop material recycle. The result demonstrates that the closed-loop material recycle is more effective on the environmental protection.
The success or failure of the closed-loop material recycle therefore determines the success or failure of the environmental protection challenged by an enterprise while maintaining the profit creation.
In the objective materials of the material recycle, the plastic closed-loop material recycle (hereinafter referred to as PCMR, if required) has further increased importance on recycling OA machines such as copiers from the following ground.
A copier is often employed in an office due to its characteristic of product. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the office security, the copier is required to have extremely high-level fire prevention or flame redundancy. This need is fundamentally an issue necessarily kept based on the fire-related law.
A component of plastic material in the copier, for example, an exterior cover employs a plastic that contains a flame-redundant agent. The flame-redundant agent for use in the plastic is roughly classified into halogen series mainly containing bromine and non-halogen series, both of which influence greatly on the environment.
In consideration of future risks on environmental loads, desirably, OA ma
Morii Yoshihiro
Ogawa Shunichi
Souma Satosu
Nguyen Jimmy T
Ostrager Allen
Ricoh Company Limited
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