POTENTIAL NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT USING MEMBRANES

摘要

Membrane treatment of sugar processing streams holds great promise in reducing energy usage, reduction or elimination of chemical clarification and improved final product quality. Another promising area of application is in production of new products, such as organic sugars, or products from unusual sources in the process, such as the recovery house. The recovery house is an important area of the refinery, but one in which low purity samples are recycled back into the process to recover sugar, with the added expense of increased clarification demands and the introduction of additional impurities. A series of tests were undertaken using a Koch spiral membrane system to treat the various streams of the recovery house of a local refinery. Removal of total polysaccharides, starch, dextran, turbidity and color were noted, averaging 4 to 38% color removal, 93% turbidity removal, 73% starch removal, 63% dextran removal, and 73% total polysaccharide removal. The permeates from soft syrup (color > 12,000 ICU) and affination syrup (color >20,000) were further processed into crystalline products. These "soft light" sugars, color < 1000 had very pleasant aromas and appearance. The sensory characteristics of these new products are described.