JP7281112B2 - Production process of raw sugar and refined sugar - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a process for producing raw sugar from sweet resource crops, and further to a process for producing refined sugar from raw sugar.

For example, in order to produce colorless and transparent refined sugar from sweet resource crops such as sugarcane and sugar beet, in general, a raw sugar production process for producing red-brown raw sugar from sweet resource crops, and It can be divided into refined sugar manufacturing processes that refine colorless and transparent refined sugar.

The raw sugar manufacturing process is often carried out near the farms where sweet resource crops are grown, and the raw sugar manufactured there is transported to refined sugar factories around the world. It is manufactured into transparent refined sugar (eg, Patent Document 1).
The conventional raw sugar manufacturing process generally consists of a pressing process in which sugar cane is pressed using a press to refine the sugar solution (squeezed juice), lime is added to the sugar solution, and it is placed in a continuous sedimentation tank to precipitate impurities. a concentration step in which water is removed from the supernatant liquid after precipitation to purify a high concentration syrup; It has a separation process in which the crystals (raw sugar) and syrup are separated from each other, and a drying process in which the separated crystals are placed in a dryer to dry.

On the other hand, the conventional manufacturing process of refined sugar generally involves adding a high-concentration sugar solution to the raw sugar to dissolve it, and using a centrifuge to separate the film that covers the crystal surface of the raw sugar to remove impurities. A sugar solution (raw liquor) with a predetermined concentration is prepared by adding water to the sugar solution, and lime is added to the sugar solution to which powdered charcoal has been added as a decolorizing aid, if necessary. Carbonation step in which carbon dioxide gas is blown in to generate calcium carbonate, impurities are removed by adsorption on the calcium carbonate, and pressure filtration is performed to separate the sugar solution from the calcium carbonate after the sugar solution is saturated with carbonation. Further, a bone char step of decolorizing the sugar solution by passing the sugar solution through the bone char, a first check filtration step of removing the fine coal contained in the sugar solution by passing the bone char with a filter, and ion exchange. The ion-exchange resin process removes pigments contained in the sugar solution by passing it through a resin. Second check filtration process to refine (fine liquor) Crystals that refine refined sugar consisting of colorless and transparent sucrose crystals by heating and concentrating a clear sugar solution (fine liquor) in a vacuum crystallizer. It has a process, etc.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-511651

However, raw sugar contains a large amount of cellulose, calcium pectate, etc. as fine turbidity generated by finely decomposing sugarcane cell walls and plant fibers when sugarcane is pressed. However, it was difficult to remove such fine turbidity in the sugar washing process or the carbonation process.

For this reason, particularly in the first check filtration step in the manufacturing process of refined sugar, there is a problem that fine suspended matter clogs the filter and the filtration pressure increases. In this respect, it is possible to reduce the concentration of the sugar solution so that the filtration pressure does not increase, but in that case, it will be necessary to increase the amount of steam used for crystallization in the crystallization process, resulting in energy costs. there is a problem of soaring

In addition, fine suspended matter clogs the bone char in the bone char process in the manufacturing process of refined sugar or the ion exchange resin in the ion exchange resin process, and the decolorization ability tends to decrease significantly, so the amount of powdered coal used is increased. There is also the problem of having to let

In order to solve the above-described problems in the prior art, the present invention provides fine turbidity that not only affects each step of the manufacturing process of refined sugar, but also greatly affects each step of the manufacturing process of raw sugar. An object of the present invention is to create a production process for raw sugar and refined sugar that can efficiently decompose and remove sugar by using ozone composed of fine bubbles (also referred to as microbubbles, the same shall apply hereinafter).

Among the means for solving the above problems, the main first means of the present invention is
A raw sugar production process for producing raw sugar from sweet resource crops,
The sweet resource crops are squeezed through a compressor to refine the sugar solution containing sucrose, the lime cleaning step in which lime is added to the sugar solution, and the lime-added sugar solution is placed in a continuous sedimentation tank to precipitate impurities. A continuous sedimentation process, a concentration process in which the supernatant liquid of the continuous sedimentation tank is concentrated to refine the syrup, a crystallization process in which the syrup is boiled down in a vacuum crystallization tank to make sucrose crystals, and a centrifugal separator is used to extract sucrose. A separation step of separating crystals and honey, and a drying step of refining the raw sugar by drying the separated sucrose crystals,
After the continuous precipitation step, an ozone treatment step of dissolving and removing cellulose and calcium pectate, which are fine suspended substances contained in the sugar solution, by dissolving ozone consisting of fine bubbles in the sugar solution. It is characterized by
According to the first main means of the present invention, it is possible to decompose and remove fine turbidity contained in the sugar solution in the production process of raw sugar.

Moreover, the main second means of the present invention is
A raw sugar production process for producing raw sugar from sweet resource crops,
A cutting step (C1) of cutting the sweet-resource crop into a predetermined shape, an extraction step (C2) of extracting a sugar solution from the cut sweet-resource crop, and carbon dioxide gas and lime being added to the sugar solution to remove impurities. A saturation step (C3), a filtration step (C4) for purifying the sugar solution from which calcium carbonate has been separated by filtering the sugar solution under pressure, and a purification step (C4) for purifying the sugar solution from which the pigment has been removed by an ion exchange resin. An ion exchange resin step (C6), a crystallization step (C7) for purifying sucrose crystals by heating and concentrating the sugar solution in a vacuum crystallizer, and a centrifuge to separate honey. A separation step (C8) for extracting crystals of only sucrose, and a drying step (C9) for purifying the raw sugar by drying the crystals obtained in the separation step (C8),
After the filtration step (C4), an ozone treatment step of dissolving and removing cellulose and calcium pectate, which are fine suspended substances contained in the sugar solution, by dissolving ozone consisting of fine bubbles into the sugar solution. (C5) .
The second main means of the present invention can also decompose and remove fine turbidity contained in the sugar solution in the production process of raw sugar.

The main third means of the present invention is
A refined sugar manufacturing process for refining refined sugar from raw sugar,
A high-concentration sugar solution is added to the raw sugar to dissolve it, and a centrifuge is used to separate the honey film that covers the crystal surface of the raw sugar. a sugar washing process,
Water is added to the washed sugar to purify a sugar solution (low liquor) of a predetermined concentration, and lime is added to the sugar solution to which powdered charcoal has been added as a decolorizing aid as needed, and carbon dioxide gas is blown into the sugar solution to produce calcium carbonate. and a carbonic acid saturation step of adsorbing impurities to calcium carbonate;
a pressure filtration step of subjecting the sugar solution after the carbonation step to pressure filtration to remove and separate calcium carbonate to which impurities are adsorbed from the sugar solution;
a bone char step of decolorizing the sugar solution after the pressure filtration step through bone char;
a first check filtration step of refining the sugar solution (brown liquor) from which pulverized coal has been removed by passing the sugar solution through a filter;
An ion exchange resin step of passing the sugar solution (brown liquor) through an ion exchange resin to remove the pigment;
A second check filtration step of passing the sugar solution after the ion exchange resin step through a filter to remove fine substances and purifying a transparent sugar solution (fine liquor);
A crystallization step of refining colorless and transparent sucrose crystals by heating and concentrating the sugar solution (fine liquor) in a vacuum crystallizer,
After the pressure filtration step, an ozone treatment step of dissolving and removing cellulose and calcium pectate, which are fine suspended substances contained in the sugar solution, by dissolving ozone consisting of fine bubbles in the sugar solution. It is said that it is characterized by being provided.
According to the third main means of the present invention, it is possible to decompose and remove fine suspended matter contained in the sugar solution in the manufacturing process of refined sugar.

Another means of the present invention is the above means,
A means of omitting at least one of the bone charcoal step and the carbonation step is added.
The means described above can reduce the production cost required for the carbonation step and the bone char step.

Another means of the present invention is any of the above means,
The ozonation process is a process of stirring and mixing fine bubbles of ozone into the sugar solution using a stirrer.
In the above means, ozone can be efficiently dissolved by kneading fine ozone bubbles into the sugar solution, and the ozone is selected to decompose fine turbidity contained in the sugar solution, but not to decompose sucrose. It is possible to efficiently carry out the desired reaction.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION Since this invention becomes an above-described structure, there exists an effect shown below.
Since the production process of raw sugar and the production process of refined sugar have an ozone treatment process, fine suspended matter can be decomposed and removed, so that the carbonic acid saturation process can be omitted.

In addition, in the refined sugar manufacturing process, it is no longer necessary to lower the concentration of the sugar solution so that the filtration pressure does not increase, so it becomes possible to suppress the increase in the amount of steam used in the crystallization process, resulting in a sharp rise in energy costs. can be prevented.
In addition, the amount of coal pulverized used can be greatly reduced, so the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Furthermore, in the manufacturing process of refined sugar, clogging of fine turbidity in the filter and ion exchange resin is suppressed, and it is possible to improve the decolorization ability, so it is possible to omit the bone char process. As a result, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

1 is a flow chart showing an example of a raw sugar production process as a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is the schematic which shows an ozone treatment process. FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing an example of a manufacturing process of refined sugar as a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a raw sugar production process as a modified example of the first embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an example of a raw sugar production process as a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an ozonation process.
The present invention is a process for producing refined sugar, which is the final refined product, from sweet resource crops. A manufacturing process of refined sugar for refining refined sugar from sugar will be described as a second embodiment.

First, as a first example, a production process of raw sugar for producing raw sugar from sweet resource crops will be described.
Fig. 1 shows an example in which the sweet resource crop is sugarcane. As shown in step A1, the harvested sugarcane is passed through a cutter, shredder, etc., cut into small pieces, and then squeezed out with a compressor while adding water to obtain sucrose. Purify the sugar solution (squeezed juice) containing (compression step). Next, in step A2, lime is added to the sugar solution (lime cleaning step), and the sugar solution is placed in the continuous sedimentation tank of step A3 to precipitate impurities (continuous sedimentation step).

Next, as shown in step A4, the sugar solution after the continuous precipitation step is subjected to ozone treatment (ozonation step).
The ozone treatment step is a step of dissolving the ozone gas generated by the ozone generator 1 into the sugar solution. Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. While extracting into the sugar solution inside, the stirrer 4 is used to stir and mix fine bubbles in the sugar solution. If the stirrer 4 is used here, fine bubbles of ozone can be dispersed in the sugar solution, which makes the process more efficient. As a result, it is possible to efficiently carry out a selective reaction of ozone that decomposes fine suspended matter (cellulose, calcium pectate, etc.) contained in the sugar solution but does not decompose sucrose. As a result, the decomposed fine suspended matter accumulates on the surface of the fine bubbles of ozone and agglomerates into clumps 6 which settle to the bottom of the tank 3 . Therefore, by filtering the sugar solution containing lumps 6 through the strainer 7, it is possible to obtain a sugar solution from which fine suspended matter has been removed.

Next, the syrup obtained by concentrating the ozonated sugar liquid in the concentration step of step A5 is refined.
In the next step A6, the syrup is boiled down in a vacuum crystallizer to form sucrose crystals (crystallization step). By drying the sucrose crystals in the drying step of (1), reddish-brown raw sugar is produced.
The raw sugar produced in this manner is refined into refined sugar at refinery sugar factories in various places.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a production process for refining refined sugar from raw sugar as a second embodiment of the present invention.
Since the surface of raw sugar crystals is covered with a film containing many impurities, impurities are removed by separating the film from the surface of the crystal in the sugar washing step of step B1. Specifically, a high-concentration sugar solution is added to the raw sugar to dissolve the honey film on the surface of the crystals, and a centrifugal separator is used to separate and remove the honey film from the crystal surface of the raw sugar to refine the washed sugar.
In the bone char step (B5), the ion exchange resin step (B7), the first check filtration step (B6) and the second check filtration step (B8), the decolorization ability was insufficient, and the color value of the crystallized sugar was below the standard. If not, powdered charcoal as a decolorizing aid is added to the sugar solution as needed. However, if the effect of the ozone treatment step (B4), which will be described later, can significantly exert the effect of decolorization in the above step, the addition of powdered coal may be omitted.

In the next step B2, the carbonation step, lime is added to a sugar solution (low liquor) of a predetermined concentration made by adding water to washed sugar, and carbon dioxide gas is blown in to generate calcium carbonate, and impurities are converted into calcium carbonate. Absorb and remove. In the pressure filtration step of step B3, the sugar solution from which calcium carbonate has been separated is refined by applying pressure filtration to the sugar solution after the carbonation treatment.

The ozone treatment step of step B4 is the same as step A4 of the raw sugar production process (see FIG. 2). calcium pectate, etc.) are removed. However, since the sugar concentration of the sugar liquid that has passed through the pressure filtration process is high, ordinary ozone gas is difficult to dissolve in the sugar liquid. Therefore, the ozone gas generated by the ozone generator 1 is converted into fine bubbles of 50 μm to 100 μm using the microbubble generator 2 and extracted into the sugar liquid in the tank 3. Fine bubbles of ozone are stirred and mixed in the liquid, and the selective reaction of ozone is efficiently carried out to purify the sugar solution from which fine turbidity components have been removed.

In the next step B5, the bone charcoal process, the sugar solution is decolorized by passing it through porous charcoal (bone char) obtained by baking bovine bones. Subsequently, in the first check filtration step of step B6, the sugar solution (brown liquor) is purified by removing the finely divided coal of the bone char, which was slightly contained in the sugar solution by passing the bone char in the bone char step, with a filter. do. Furthermore, in the ion exchange resin step of step B7, the sugar solution (brown liquor) is passed through the ion exchange resin to adsorb and remove fine impurities and to remove the ion level pigment, and in the next step B8 of the second check filtration step In the ion-exchange resin step, a clear sugar solution (fine liquor: FL) is purified by removing fine substances contained in the sugar solution by passing it through the ion-exchange resin with a filter.

Next, the crystallizing process of Step B9, in which the clear sugar solution is heated and concentrated in a vacuum crystallizer, yields refined sugar as the final product.

At least one of the production process of the raw sugar and the production process of the refined sugar should be provided with the above ozone treatment step. That is, the ozonation step (step B4) of the refined sugar production process is particularly effective when producing refined sugar from raw sugar produced through a raw sugar production process that does not have an ozonation step (step A4). However, if the raw sugar production process has an ozonation step (step A4) to sufficiently remove fine turbidity, the refined sugar production process may include the ozonation step (step B4). It is also possible to have a configuration that does not have Even if the raw sugar manufacturing process includes the ozonation step (step A4), if the refined sugar manufacturing process includes the ozonation step (step B4), the ozonation step may be performed twice. It is possible to purify a sugar solution from which fine suspended matter has been more completely removed.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing an example of a production process of raw sugar as a modified example of the first embodiment. FIG. 4 shows a case where the sweet resource crop is sugar beet (also called sugar beet or beet).
In step C1, the roots of the sugar beet washed after harvesting are shredded into a predetermined shape and cut (cutting step), and in step C2, the cut sugar beet is soaked in hot water to extract the sugar content ( extraction process). In step C3, carbon dioxide gas and lime are used to remove impurities from the sugar solution (carbonation step) in the same manner as in step B2 above, and in subsequent step C4, the sugar solution after carbonation is pressurized and filtered in the same manner as in step B3 above. By doing so, the sugar solution from which calcium carbonate has been separated is purified (filtration step).

Then, in step C5, similarly to steps A4 and B4, the sugar solution is subjected to an ozone treatment process to purify the sugar solution from which fine suspended matter has been removed. Further, in step C6, the ozone-treated sugar solution is passed through an ion-exchange resin to adsorb impurities and to remove pigments to purify a transparent sugar solution (fine liquor) (ion-exchange resin step).

Then, in step C7, the transparent sugar solution is heated and concentrated in a vacuum crystallizer to form colorless and transparent sucrose crystals (crystallization step), and in step C8, these crystals are centrifuged to separate honey. Then, crystals of sucrose only are taken out (separation step), and in the final step C9, the crystals obtained in the separation step are dried to produce raw sugar as the final product.

As described above, in the first embodiment and its modification, which describe the raw sugar manufacturing process for refining raw sugar from sweet resource crops, in steps A4 and C5, refined sugar for refining refined sugar from raw sugar In the second embodiment that explains the manufacturing process of , in step B4, since fine turbidity can be decomposed and removed by having an ozone treatment step, the lime cleaning step in step A2 and the carbonic acid in steps B2 and C3 It is possible to omit the filling step. Incidentally, if the step C3 of saturating with carbon dioxide is omitted, the addition of powdered coal is essential.
In addition, in the second embodiment, since it is not necessary to lower the concentration of the sugar solution so as not to increase the filtration pressure, it is possible to suppress an increase in the amount of steam used in the crystallization process, resulting in a reduction in energy costs. In addition to being able to prevent this, it is also possible to greatly reduce the amount of powdered coal used, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced in this respect as well.
Furthermore, in the second embodiment, clogging of fine suspended matter in the filter and the ion exchange resin is suppressed, and the decolorization ability can be improved, so that the bone char process in step B5 can be omitted. Become.
In the second embodiment, if step B2 (carbonation step) and step B5 (bone char step) are not omitted, the addition of powdered coal can be omitted. When omitting B5 (bone char step), it is preferable to increase the amount of powdered charcoal added.

As described above, the configuration and effects of the present invention have been described according to the embodiments, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above embodiments.
In the above examples, sugarcane and sugar beet are used as the sweet resource crops. may

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in a wider range of applications in the field of refining raw sugar or refined sugar.

1: Ozone generator 2: Microbubble generator 3: Tank 4: Stirrer 5: Blade 6: Lump 7: Strainer

Claims (7)

A raw sugar production process for producing raw sugar from sweet resource crops,
A pressing step (A1) for squeezing sweet resource crops through a compressor and refining a sugar solution containing sucrose, a lime cleaning step (A2) for adding lime to the sugar solution, and a continuous sedimentation tank for adding lime to the sugar solution. A continuous sedimentation step (A3) in which impurities are precipitated by adding the Crystallization step (A6), Separation step (A7) in which sucrose crystals and honey are separated by centrifugation, and Drying step (A8) in which raw sugar is purified by drying the separated sucrose crystals. and
After the continuous precipitation step (A3), an ozone treatment for decomposing and removing cellulose and calcium pectate, which are fine suspended substances contained in the sugar solution, by dissolving ozone consisting of fine bubbles into the sugar solution. A raw material sugar production process comprising step (A4). A raw sugar production process for producing raw sugar from sweet resource crops,
A cutting step (C1) of cutting the sweet-resource crop into a predetermined shape, an extraction step (C2) of extracting a sugar solution from the cut sweet-resource crop, and carbon dioxide gas and lime being added to the sugar solution to remove impurities. A saturation step (C3), a filtration step (C4) for purifying the sugar solution from which calcium carbonate has been separated by filtering the sugar solution under pressure, and a purification step (C4) for purifying the sugar solution from which the pigment has been removed by an ion exchange resin. An ion exchange resin step (C6), a crystallization step (C7) for purifying sucrose crystals by heating and concentrating the sugar solution in a vacuum crystallizer, and a centrifuge to separate honey. A separation step (C8) for extracting crystals of only sucrose, and a drying step (C9) for purifying the raw sugar by drying the crystals obtained in the separation step (C8),
After the filtration step (C4), an ozone treatment step of dissolving and removing cellulose and calcium pectate, which are fine suspended substances contained in the sugar solution, by dissolving ozone consisting of fine bubbles into the sugar solution. A process for producing refined sugar, comprising (C5). A refined sugar manufacturing process for refining refined sugar from raw sugar,
A high-concentration sugar solution is added to the raw sugar to dissolve it, and a centrifuge is used to separate the honey film that covers the crystal surface of the raw sugar. Sugar washing step (B1) to
Water is added to the washed sugar to purify a sugar solution (low liquor) of a predetermined concentration, and lime is added to the sugar solution to which powdered charcoal has been added as a decolorizing aid as needed, and carbon dioxide gas is blown into the sugar solution to produce calcium carbonate. and a carbonic acid saturation step (B2) in which impurities are adsorbed on calcium carbonate;
A pressure filtration step (B3) in which the sugar solution after the carbonic acid saturation step (B2) is subjected to pressure filtration to remove and separate calcium carbonate to which impurities are adsorbed from the sugar solution;
A bone char step (B5) in which the sugar solution after the pressure filtration step (B3) is passed through bone char to decolorize;
A first check filtration step (B6) of refining the sugar solution (brown liquor) from which pulverized coal has been removed by passing the sugar solution through a filter;
An ion exchange resin step (B7) of passing the sugar solution (brown liquor) through an ion exchange resin to remove the pigment;
A second check filtration step (B8) in which the sugar solution after the ion-exchange resin step (B7) is passed through a filter to remove fine substances and purify a transparent sugar solution (fine liquor);
A crystallization step (B9) for purifying colorless and transparent sucrose crystals by heating and concentrating the sugar solution (fine liquor) in a vacuum crystallizer,
After the pressure filtration step (B3), ozone composed of fine bubbles is dissolved in the sugar liquid to decompose and remove cellulose and calcium pectate, which are fine suspended substances contained in the sugar liquid. A process for producing refined sugar, characterized by comprising a treatment step (B4). 4. The manufacturing process according to claim 3, wherein the bone char step (B5) is omitted. A manufacturing process according to claim 1, wherein the lime cleaning step (A2) is omitted . 5. A manufacturing process according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the carbonation step (B2 , C3) is omitted. 7. The production process according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the ozone treatment step is a treatment of stirring and mixing fine ozone bubbles into the sugar solution using a stirrer.

Images