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US 7,182,818 B2Granted
System to produce sugar from plant materials
AssigneeNalco Company
InventorDavid O. Sanders
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Abstract
A process system that uses a reduced amount of lime or other base to clarify or purify juice or other process liquid (1) obtained from plant material (2) such as sugar cane, sugar beets, or sweet sorghum. Specifically, apparatus and methods to reduce volatile materials in juice or other process liquid (1) to increase pH requiring the use of less lime or other base to achieve the desired pH values for clarification or purification in subsequent steps, such as preliming (33).
Claims7
A method of purifying juice obtained from plant material, comprising the steps of:
- a. obtaining plant material;
- b. removing juice from said plant material to obtain a process liquid, wherein said process liquid contains sucrose, non-sucrose substances, and water, and wherein a portion of said non-sucrose substances comprise dissolved material;
- c. heating said process liquid to a temperature between about 55.degree. C. to about 80.degree. C.;
- d. introducing a mixture of gases into said process liquid;
- e. establishing a process liquid-gas interface area between said process liquid and said mixture of gases;
- and
- f. reducing concentration of said dissolved material within said process liquid to less than the initial concentration of said dissolved material in said process liquid.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.