ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Membrane Filtration in the Sugar Industry

A. Hinková, Z. Bubník, P. Kadlec, V. Pour, and H. Štarhová

Department of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, CZ-166 28 Prague, Czech Republic

E-mail: hinkovaa@vscht.cz

Received: 19 May 2000

Abstract: This research work deals with possibilities of raw sugar juice purification by micro-, ultra-, and nanofiltration. Conditions that enable to reach such a juice purity for proceeding of crystallization without the prerequisite of the whole complex of purification techniques, which involve liming, carbonation, and filtration, were sought. Samples were treated with cross-flow micro- and ultrafiltration on ceramic membranes having mean pore size 20 nm, 50 nm, and 100 nm. Increasing of juice purity and retention of almost 50 % of colour impurities by micro filtration is one of the most important results of this study. For nanofiltration tests, a special cross-flow testing cell with adjustable tangential speed of 0—3 m s⁻¹ has been designed. Several flat polymeric membranes have been tested. The aim was to find a membrane capable to reject the main part of the melassigenic elements as potassium and sodium ions, i.e. elements that increase amount of waste product (molasses) during sugar crystallization.

Full paper in Portable Document Format: 546aa375.pdf

Chemical Papers 54 (6a) 375–382 (2000)