Process for softening a sugary juice, such as molasses from the sugar industry, and applying it to a

摘要

The invention relates to a process for softening an aqueous sugar (sugar cane) juice containing sugars and Ca2+ and/or Mg2+ ions, such as a sugar refinery molasses, by means of a cation-exchange resin, in the Na+ and/or K+ form, and for regenerating the said resin, which comprises: (a) a softening stage consisting in bringing the said sugar juice into contact with the said cation-exchange resin, in the Na+ and/or K+ form, in order to obtain, on the one hand, a softened sugar juice depleted in Ca2+ and/or Mg2+ ions and loaded with Na+ and/or K+ ions and, on the other hand, a cation-exchange resin loaded with Ca2+ and/or Mg2+ ions, and (b) a stage for regeneration of the latter resin, characterised in that the regeneration stage (b) consists in bringing the said resin into contact with a liquid effluent produced during the separation by chromatography of the sugars of a softened aqueous sugar juice containing sugars and Na+ and/or K+ ions, this liquid effluent containing the greater part of the Na+ and/or K+ ions initially present in the softened sugar juice.