Methods of treating commercial grade preservatives to remove undesirable odors and flavors

A method of removing undesirable odors and flavors from commercial grade preservatives, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a commercial grade preservative that contains a small amount of organic acid impurities;
• preparing a solution of the preservative using a solvent in which the preservative is soluble:
• and
• passing the preservative solution through a filter that removes the organic acid impurities from the solution;
• wherein said step of passing the preservative solution through a filter comprises passing the solution through a bed of calcium carbonate to convert the organic acid impurities into insoluble calcium salts that remain on the bed.

A method of removing undesirable odors and flavors from commercial grade preservatives, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a commercial grade preservative that contains a small amount of organic acid impurities;
• preparing a solution of the preservative using a solvent in which the preservative is soluble;
• and
• passing the preservative solution through a filter that removes the organic acid impurities from the solution;
• wherein said step of passing the preservative solution through a filter comprises passing the solution through a filter press having plates which are precoated with crushed limestone, whereby the organic acid impurities are converted into insoluble calcium salts and removed from the solution by the filter press.

A method of removing undesirable odors and flavors from commercial grade preservatives, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a commercial grade preservative that contains a small amount of organic acid impurities;
• preparing a solution of the preservative using a solvent in which the preservative is soluble;
• and
• passing the preservative solution through a filter that removes the organic acid impurities from the solution;
• wherein said solvent is methanol.

A preservative prepared by a method comprising the steps of:

• selecting a commercial grade preservative that contains a small amount of organic acid impurities;
• preparing a solution of the preservative using a solvent in which the preservative is soluble;
• and
• passing the preservative solution through a filter that reacts with and converts the organic acid impurities into insoluble salts and then removes the insoluble salts from the solution by filtration.

A method of using a filter press to remove impurities from a solution, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a material that chemically reacts with the impurities;
• coating at least one plate of the filter press with said material;
• and
• passing the solution through the filter press to cause the impurities to chemically react with the material and be removed from the solution.