Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd.

Osaka Prefecture University Public Corporation

Osaka Industrial Promotion Organization

Osaka Prefecture University

Hiroyuki Yoshida

Takaharu Nakagawa

Tetsuya Maekawa

Masaru Hidaka

Toyoyuki Urabe

Hidemi Nakamura

An apparatus and method permit continuous separation of an adsorbate from a processing material containing solid particles, sticky substances and water-soluble proteins, alone or in combination, without pretreatment. The processing is carried out while a loop adsorbent is circulated. An adsorbate is adsorbed, not by supply of the processing solution through the adsorbent, but by contact thereof with the adsorbent. In addition, the adsorbent after desorption of the adsorbate is cleaned. As a result, the apparatus and the method achieve continuous processing and separation of the adsorbate even from a processing material containing solid particles, sticky substances and water-soluble proteins alone or in combination without pretreatment.

Method of continuously separating adsorbate

A method of and an apparatus for continuous sub-critical water decomposition treatment for material to be processed containing solid matter are provided, which are capable of controlling decomposition reaction of the material to be processed and suitable for large-scale operations. The method and the apparatus are also capable of minimizing equipment costs and selectively producing desired useful substances at high yield rates. Material to be processed is grinded in advance into particles, which are mixed with water to prepare slurry. The slurry is sent to a compressing device () through a pipe and is compressed. Next, the compressed slurry is sent to a heating deviceand heated, and is brought into a sub-critical state. The slurry in a sub-critical condition is introduced through an inlet () into a bottom part of a reactor (). In the reactor () a fixed bed, a fluidized bed, and a sub-critical water dissolution part are formed in that order from the bottom. One(s) of outlets () toprovided at top and side portions of the reactoris/are selected so that the sub-critical water dissolution part is taken out therethrough, whereby the residence time of the sub-critical water is adjusted and thus the reaction time of sub-critical water decomposition of the material to be processed is adjusted.

Method of and apparatus for producing sub-critical water decomposition products

A practical technique that enables effective utilization of organic wastes is provided. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a method for producing methane gas from organic wastes according to the present invention includes: treating organic wastes with at least one of supercritical water and sub-critical water to convert the organic wastes into low molecular weight substances; and subjecting the low molecular weight substances to methane fermentation. According to the method, initially, the organic wastes are treated with at least one of the supercritical water and the sub-critical water so as to be converted into low molecular weight substances that are easily subjected to methane fermentation. Then, the treated substances are subjected to methane fermentation. Consequently, methane gas can be produced from the organic wastes at a high speed with high digestion efficiency.

Method for producing methane gas

The present invention relates to a process for decomposing a polymer into a monomer or oligomer by hydrolysis with sub- or supercritical water. The process of the present invention is characterized in that at least a part of the polymer is a polymer comprising a constitutional unit derived from an organic acid in the molecular structure, and the polymer being contacted with sub- or supercritical water in the presence of a water-insoluble base.

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Sakai, Japan

Hiroyuki Yoshida