Process improvements with innovative technologies in the starch and sugar industries

摘要

In the sugar and starch industries, increasing constraints could require producers to significantly modify their manufacturing processes. As main trends, we can mention reduction of the environmental impact of these processes regarding liquid and solid waste discharge, potential alternatives to the use of lime to achieve savings in operating costs and getting value out of the by-products. In this context, this presentation focuses on the introduction of innovative technologies that can potentially replace conventional processes, such as rotary filters, IX resins, centrifugation, etc. These allow Eurodia to propose cost-effective solutions while meeting the above-mentioned requirements. Operating for several years in European mills, the following technologies will be described: (1) Clarification of diffusion juices by crossflow microfiltration with Scepter~(~R) membranes. While the capital investment might be 50% higher with microfiltration, the operating costs are two times lower than rotary filters, and fixed costs are comparable. (2) Demineralization and purification by conventional electrodialysis (ED). Compared with IX resins, this technology allows mainly a reduction of the pollution load and an improvement of the sugar yield. (3) Separation of sugars from non-sugars by the Improved Simulated Moving Bed (ISMB~(~R)) process. This type of chromatography allows high separation yields at lower capital and running costs than traditional simulated moving bed chromatography. These three techniques were supplied by Eurodia Industrie in European plants and are the basis of innovative process combinations for the production of sugars or starch derivatives.