PT93857B - PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR CORODE DEODORIZATION - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for deodorization of cork accomplished by applying steam distillation to remove substances originating offensive odor in the cork is disclosed. The method comprises a first step of putting the cork into a container, a second step of supplying steam generated in a steam generator to the container, and a third step of discharging the steam along with the substance originating the offensive odor from the container. An apparatus for deodorization of cork by this method is also disclosed.

Description

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DEODORIZING CORK

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of invention

The present invention concerns the removal of offensive odors from cork. Specifically, the present invention relates to the removal of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) which has a characteristic smell.

Description of the basic technique

Cork has unique characteristics. It is light and has a high degree of elasticity and flexibility. In addition, it has excellent sealing properties for liquids and gases and has stability against solvents, such as alcohol. Furthermore, it is a hygienic material that protects food and is not harmful to humans, having no intrinsic smell.

Due to the mentioned characteristics, cork has been widely used as a stopper for containers, such as

* 5 »bottles, filled with alcoholic beverages, such as wine, brandy or whiskey, or for packaging containers of various types of food.

However, despite not having any intrinsic smell, on rare occasions unpleasant intrinsic smells are found in cork stoppers. This smell, when present, deteriorates the quality of the contents of bottles or other containers sealed by cork. Recently, through several studies, the

2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) as the substance that gives rise to the unpleasant smell. TCA is considered a substance produced by molds from 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) that is used in agents conventionally used to spray the cork oak. Likewise, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (1982, pp. 359 to 362, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, and other related chlorinated compounds, is presumed to originate from the chlorination of the related liquid substance during bleaching by chlorine used in the processing of cork and that these compounds are then extracted into a liquor, for example a wine A similar consideration that the chlorinating agent is the origin of another substance was made in Science des Aliments (1984, p. 81 to 93. in the discussion it was pointed out that 2,4,6-trichloroanisole is derived from pentachlorophenol or other chlorinated pesticides applied to the tree.Another consideration was made that cork material and cork stored in facilities with a polluted atmosphere by chloroanisols can contaminate wine

-3./ bottled aged in healthy cellars.

Processes for the effective deodorization of cork were studied, with the following being found:

1) Dry heating deodorization

The cork is heated and dried at 80 ° C for 6 to 8 hours, so that the substances that produce odors are substantially evaporated. However, TCA is absorbed specifically by the macromolecular compounds that form cork, such as cellulose, lignin and sovereign, making it difficult to remove TCA in the dry state. The boiling point of the TCA is 240 ° C at 738.2 mm Hg and 132 ° C at 28 mm Hg. Therefore, in order to evaporate the TCA, a heating temperature higher than the boiling point of the TCA must be applied. However, it is difficult to raise the internal temperature of the cork without overheating the surface, resulting in the deterioration of desirable characteristics of the cork. As such, heating is applied only to the surface of the cork, and therefore the TCA cannot be completely removed from the inside.

2) Repeated heating deodorization

The cork is heated at 80 ° C for 6 hours and then left at room temperature for about a month. TCA can be removed by repeating this treatment many times. However, this process

-4ζ · * * requires long periods of treatment until the TCA is removed entirely, therefore the yield is low (2 or 3 repetitions of the previous treatment are insufficient to completely remove the TCA).

3) Deodorization by citric acid

The cork is deodorized by soaking it in a 37% citric acid solution, in volume for 3 to 5 minutes. However, the effects of this deodorization technique are only maintained for a short period. This is because, as cork resists the absorption of liquids, the citric acid solution cannot reach the interior of the cork. Therefore, the deodorization treatment affects only the surface of the cork, the untreated TCA moving inside the cork to the surface over time, thus reappearing the unpleasant odor.

4) Oxidizing deodorizing bath

The cork is deodorized and sterilized by soaking it in a solution of hydrogen peroxide at I in volume (I ^ C ^). but problems arise as in the case of deodorization by citric acid.

5) Deodorization by alcohol vapor

The cork is left to deodorize in an atmosphere of alcohol /

-5 to 18-24 ° C for 1 month. However, this process encounters the same problems as processes 3 and 4.

6) Washing with hot water

Wash the cork beans with hot water at a temperature of 60 ° C. The treatment must be repeated 2 times. But as TCA has a relatively strong affinity for cork, it is moved to the inner portions of the cork and retained there. Therefore, according to this process, the deodorizing effect is still insufficient because the treatment affects only the surface of the cork.

7) Extraction by Soxhlet extractor

TCA in cork is extracted by the Soxhlet extractor at 45 ° C for 24 hours, with n-pentane. By this process, the TCA is completely removed from both the internal area and the surface of the cork. But the equipment is very expensive and the production costs become very high. In addition, there is a certain degree of security risk in this process.

8) Dispersion

It was considered to simply grind the cork to obtain grains with a certain diameter and then recompose it with the shape

-6.desired by pressing with adhesives. But the TCA is simply dispersed in each grain, and therefore, a major improvement cannot be expected.

9) Sterilization with irradiation

Deutsche Lebensmittel-Rundschau (1984), p. 204-207, it is oriented towards sterilization with irradiation. The mechanism of color formation of cork in wine was discussed. It has been proposed to use an irradiation process to prevent the microbial conversion of TCP into TCA, and thus to prevent wine contamination. However, this process cannot remove the TCA residing in the internal structure of cork.

10) Sterilization with ozone

The German invention patent, first publication, N °.

05 422 describes that the cork is sterilized with ozonated water or with an ozonized cilicone emulsion, the ozone concentration being PI mg / 1 at a temperature below 30 ° C.

However, this process encounters the same problems as processes 3 and 4.

-7SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a process for deodorizing cork, by removing the substance that produces unpleasant odors, mainly TCA, from inside the cork.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for deodorizing cork without deteriorating the unique characteristics of cork.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for deodorizing cork in a simple and inexpensive manner.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a process for deodorizing cork comprises the step of applying the distillation of cork to water vapor to remove a substance that gives rise to the unpleasant odor, the temperature and pressure of the vapor being for the deodorization chosen to penetrate the water vapor molecules into the cork structure.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a process for removing a substance that gives rise to an unpleasant odor in cork comprises the following steps:

-8 a first stage of placing the cork in a container, a second stage of supplying water vapor to the container to produce a flow of steam at a given temperature and a given pressure, the temperature and pressure being chosen to penetrate the molecules of water vapor inside the cork structure and the promotion of steam distillation inside the internal cork structure, a third phase of steam discharge after passing through the cork and containing the substance that gives rise to the unpleasant odor outside the container .

The substance that gives rise to the unpleasant odor can be

2,4,6-trichloroanisole, which may be a precursor to 2,4,6-trichloroanisole.

The process also comprises the phases of:

cut the cork into pieces with predetermined dimensions, preheat the cut cork to a certain temperature, and maintain the temperature and pressure during deodorization.

-9V7

In that case, the temperature of the water vapor is at least 100 ° C; the system pressure is at least 760 mm Hg. In the preferred embodiment, the second stage further includes the supply of water vapor to the cork from the bottom of the container. The second stage can also include agitating the container. In this case, the stirring phase consists of the rotation and / or oscillation of the container. The stirring phase can comprise stirring the cork inside the container.

The process may further comprise a cooling phase of the cork in the container. The cooling phase may include the phases of: · generating a warm atmosphere, supplying the warm atmosphere to the interior of the container while maintaining the rotation and oscillation of the container.

Preferably, the atmosphere is supplied after natural cooling and at times when the cooling performance by natural cooling is low.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for deodorizing cork by distillation of water vapor comprises:

means for generating a flow of steam at a given temperature and at a given pressure, chosen so as to cause the distillation of the steam inside the internal structure of the cork to remove a substance contained in the cork that gives rise to the uncomfortable odor.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for deodorizing cork comprises:

first means for containing cork, second means for supplying water vapor from a steam carrier to form a flow of steam from an inlet to an outlet of the first means, the steam in the steam flow being maintained at a given temperature and at a given pressure, chosen to remove a substance that causes an unpleasant odor from cork, and third means for discharging the vapor together with the substance that gives rise to the unpleasant odor by leaving the first media.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be better understood from the preferred embodiments described below and with reference to the accompanying drawings that illustrate the detailed composition of the

embodiments which, however, should not be considered as limiting the present invention but as simply explanatory. The figures in the drawings represent:

Fig. 1, a block diagram representing a process for removing substances with unpleasant odors according to the present invention;

Fig. 2, a sectional view of an apparatus for deodorizing cork according to the present invention;

Fig. 3, a graph that represents the relationship between water vapor penetration and water vapor temperature and pressure; and

Fig. 4, a graph showing the relationship between the total amount of steam delivered and the TCA removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is carried out using conventional steam distillation.

As is well known, cork has a water resistance property to prevent water molecules from penetrating its internal structure. Therefore, although it is known that the

TCA on the cork surface can be removed by washing with water, the TCA contained internally cannot be removed by means of water. At this point it became known that TCA has a characteristic that it can be volatilized with water vapor. Additionally, it has a relatively low boiling point at 28 mm Hg. Therefore, if the treatment temperatures are controlled to the level at which the partial pressure of the TCA is 28 mm Hg, the TCA can be evaporated at relatively low temperatures. Taking into account the factors mentioned above, the inventors recognized that the distillation of water vapor can be used efficiently for the deodorization of cork. Previously, water vapor distillation has never been applied to deodorizing cork. In several attempts made by the inventors, they recognized that the temperature and pressure of the steam are a very important factor to allow the distillation of steam. In particular, according to the present invention, steam can penetrate the internal structure of cork to heat the latter. so that the steam distillation takes place inside the cork to remove the TCA present there.

It is considered that the vapor molecules can be excited to have greater mobility at a given temperature. This greater mobility of the vapor molecules is excited to successfully penetrate the internal structure of cork. The vapor molecules that penetrate the internal structure of the cork heat the interior of the cork to a temperature at which the steam is distilled internally. For this reason, the TCA contained in the internal structure of cork can be evaporated.

Any type of cork can be used, without any limit determined by the field of use or its shape. For example, cork for bottle caps, for wine bottle stoppers or crown discs, for architectural use, for materials against vibration or thermal insulation, in all cases can benefit from the treatment according to the present invention.

The shape of the first means is not specifically limited, but for the efficient use of steam, a longitudinal shape of the container from which they are formed is preferred, with a diameter smaller than their height.

Any state of the cork is acceptable, but to improve the removal performance, it is preferred to homogenize the steam and the cork, and to keep the cork in a state of agitation while supplying the steam. For agitation it is acceptable to move the container itself (for example by oscillation or by rolling) or to place agitation means in the container in the first means for stirring the materials inside.

In general, the temperature of the steam should be at least 100 ° C and the pressure at least 760 mm Hg and the amount of fluid at least 0.1 liter per liter of cork. When time-14-

the steam is less than 100 ° C, the partial pressure cannot be high enough to cause the steam to distill inside the internal structure of the cork. Also at a temperature below 100 ° C, the penetration of vapor molecules into the internal structure of cork may not be sufficient. On the other hand, when the steam temperature is higher than 130 ° C, it is difficult to control the temperature during the cooling process. That is, at a high steam temperature, a significant amount of steam can penetrate the internal structure. The steam that penetrates the internal structure of the cork can cause the cork to shrink when subjected to atmospheric temperature, which can result in rapid cooling. An important value of contraction of cork can cause the degradation of the properties of cork. Therefore, the temperature must be kept below or equal to 130 ° C.

The dimensions of the cork are not specifically limited, however the smaller dimensions are preferred, due to the fact that the movement of the TCA from the inside of the cork to its surface becomes easier. This results in a more efficient TCA removal.

It should be understood that the treatment temperature, the system pressure, the configuration of the container and the quantity of cork to be treated and other conditions for the treatment by distillation of water vapor can be chosen according to, · -15-

.¼ yield and the degree of TCA removal required.

According to the steam distillation identified above, the partial pressure of the TCA can be reduced by the partial pressure of the steam, and the boiling point of the TCA can then be lowered to a pressure roughly equal to atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the deterioration of cork can be prevented and deodorized (TCA removal) to a sufficient degree.

A process for removing the unpleasant odor in cork according to the present invention is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings that illustrate a processing system for removing the TCA.

With reference to fig. 1, there is shown a block diagram showing the process for removing the unpleasant odor according to the present invention. A given quantity of cork (2), cut to predetermined dimensions, is placed in a treatment container (1). Purified water is supplied from a generator (4) of purified water to a steam generator (3). Then, after the generation of water vapor in the generator (3), it is supplied to the container (1) through a steam supply tube (5). The steam is distilled from the cork (2) in the container (1), and the steam is then discharged from the container (1) through a steam discharge tube (6) out of the system. The steam supply is controlled by a, 6-

supply (7), a flow meter (8), manomers (9) and (10), a discharge valve (11) and a flow control valve (12). Temperature sensors (13), (14) and (15) are installed in the upper, middle and lower doors of the container (1), respectively. The temperature in the container (1) is supervised by these sensors by a monitor system (16), the temperature being then controlled in order to have a predetermined constant value.

container (1) has an outer container (17) and an inner container (18), away from the outer container (17) at a constant distance, as shown in fig. 2. It can be done in the shape of a cylinder. In this way, the container (1) is formed as a pressure-proof container with a double wall structure. This structure allows steam to be introduced into the space between the exterior and interior walls before it passes through the cork (2). Therefore, the steam in the space through which the steam passes to the cork serves to maintain the temperature of the container at the desired treatment temperature and thereby reduce heat losses in the steam.

Referring now to fig. 2, when a quantity of cork (2) is placed in the inner container (18), opening a lid (19), the various layers are stacked on the bottom plate (20). The steam is injected into the container (1) through several steam holes (21) through the

7V bottom (20), then passing through the cork stack (2) from bottom to top.

A steam inlet duct (22) is connected to the central port on the bottom of the container and extends from the lower end of the outer container (17) of the container (1) to the outside of the latter. The lower edge of the inlet duct (22) is connected to the steam supply duct (5) via a first rotary joint (23). The steam supplied through the supply line (5) is supplied to the inlet line (22) into the container (18) through the steam injection holes (21) in the bottom plate (20) of the container (1) . Then, the steam supplied to the interior of the inner container (18) rises through the cork (2), heating it at the same time, being discharged through the steam discharge holes (24) that cross the upper surface of the wall or walls. inner container (18) into the space (25) between the outer container (17) and the inner container (18) and an outlet tube (26) coaxially arranged and surrounding the outside of the steam inlet tube (22) .

It is then discharged from the steam discharge tube (6) connected to the outlet tube (26), via a second rotary connection (27).

The pressure and steam flow can be controlled at a constant level by the discharge valve (11) and the flow control valve (12).

-13 In order to homogenize the injected steam and the cork (2), it is efficient to gitate the material in the container (1). Surrounding the outlet tube (26) is mounted a central shaft (28) for rotation, rotatably supported by a lower portion (30a) of an oscillating frame (30), in the form of a U, through a bearing (29). The container (1) can be rotated in relation to the central axis by a rotating drive device (31) installed in the lower part (30a) of the oscillating frame (30) consisting of a motor, rotating gears, translation gears, etc. .. In addition, the container (1) can be oscillated by the oscillating frame (30). Then, by rotating with oscillation, the cork (2) and the steam in the container (1) can be sufficiently agitated. On an outer surface of an upper end of side portions (30b) of the oscillating frame (30) two support shafts (32) and (33) are installed. These shafts (32) and (33) are supported oscillatingly by two fixed frames (36) and (37) through bearings (34) and (35), to be oscillated by a device (38) for actuating the oscillation.

oscillation drive device (38) consists of a worm (39) installed on the support shaft (33) and a motor (42) that rotates a worm (40) through the belt (41), engaging the worm (40) in the worm teeth (39) When the motor (42) rotates in one direction, the worm (40) and worm (39) are rotated in order. This rotation slowly oscillates the oscillating frame (30) in one direction. On the other hand, when the engine

(42) rotates in the other direction, slowly rotates and oscillates the frame (30) in the other direction. In this way the frame (30) is oscillated.

In order to supply water vapor independently of the oscillation of the oscillating frame (30), the steam supply tube (5) is mounted through the central part of the support shaft (33), connected to the oscillating frame (30), through a third rotary joint (43), being further connected to the container (1) via the first rotary joint (23). The steam discharge pipe (6) is mounted through the central part of the other support shaft (32), connected to the oscillating frame (30) through a fourth rotating connection (44) and still connected to the container (1) through the second rotating joint (27).

A sliding contact ring (45) is mounted on the end of the central shaft (28) of the container (1). The signals obtained from the temperature sensors (13), (14) and (15), connected to the outside of the oscillating frame (30) through the sliding contact ring (45), are sent to the input of a monitor device (16) which is connected to the sliding contact ring (45) (as shown in fig. 1), allowing effective monitoring of the temperature in the container.

In the upper part of the side portion (30b) of the oscillating frame (30), circular frames (46) are mounted. On the surface

inside the radial frames (46) rollers (47) are installed to rotate the container (1) smoothly supporting the outer surface of the upper container door (1).

In the illustrated embodiment, the rotation speed of the container is preferably at least 10 rpm, the angle of inclination being preferably equal to at least + 60 °, although they depend on conditions such as the quantity and dimensions of the cork treated. The angle of inclination of the container is not strictly limited to + 60 °, but any other value can be chosen. In general, the angle of inclination of the container can be determined according to the degree of filling of the cork inside the interior space of the container. In particular, the tilt angle is chosen so that the cork can be distributed over the entire steam path area so that the steam cannot escape without contacting the cork. Similarly, in the case of rolling or stirring, care must be taken not to cause the steam to blow out. Therefore, the driving speed in the bearing and agitation can be determined according to the amount of cork that fills the container.

It may be added that there is no problem in the steam distillation processing in a fixed environment (neither rotated nor oscillated).

To prevent the physical alteration of the cork, for example its contraction, it may be preferable to cool the cork slowly, keeping it inside the container (1). This is due to the fact that the volume of cork decreases (contracts) when subjected to a substantially low temperature after the penetration of steam at a relatively high temperature. In particular, due to the fact that the temperature of the internal structure of the cork cannot be lowered as it is to the surface, it takes a relatively long time to cool the internal structure of the cork satisfactorily. This means that if it is removed from the container immediately into the ambient atmosphere, it may cause a contraction, with a substantial value of the cork making it stiff and degrading its properties. On the other hand, natural cooling takes time. Therefore, it may be more efficient to provide a warm atmosphere to the container for cooling. In this case, the rotation and oscillation of the container (1) continues while cooling. During natural cooling, the cooling efficiency was found to significantly decrease at a certain temperature. To speed up cooling, the hot atmosphere is generated in a hot atmosphere generator (not shown in the figures) and supplied to the container (1) by the control valve (7) located in the steam inlet. As the cork (2) is wetted by steam, the hot atmosphere supplied to the container (1) can absorb latent heat from the surface of the cork (2) when the steam evaporates. This increases the cooling speed. The results of the cork cooling tests are shown in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1

Repetition 1 2 3 4 5 Cooling periods 47 48 49 50 46 (minutes) Volume ratio (Z) 111.4 98.0 95.0 96.4 104.7

Volume (Z) dry weight ratio after treatment Dry weight before treatment

Materials contract when this value becomes greater than 100.

Treatment indicates steam distillation.

Test conditions:

Steam flow: 280 1 / h

Treatment time: 64 min.

- - 2 Pressure (gauge): 1 kg / cm

As shown in Table 1, the contraction of cork was avoided.

EXAMPLE 1

To demonstrate the advantages obtained by the present invention, experiments were carried out. In these experiments, natural cork measuring 10 x 10 x 5 cm was heated in an autoclave for 60 minutes, with temperatures respectively of 100 ° C, 110 ° C,

120 ° C and 130 ° C. Pressures at various temperatures are shown in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2

Temperature (° C) 2 Pressure (kg / cm) 100 1,033 110 1,461 120 2,055 130 2,754

To check the depth or degree of penetration of the vapor into the internal structure of the cork, the cork samples were cut with a knife and the dimension of penetration was measured from the surface of the cork. The measurement result is shown in Table 3 and in fig. 3.

Z ²⁴ '

TABLE 3

Temperature (° C) Penetration magnitude (mm) 100 0.5 110 5.0 120 10.0 130 20.0

As can be seen from table 3 above and fig. 3, the degree of penetration increases exponentially with increasing steam temperature.

EXAMPLE 2

A cork stopper was crushed in a known grinding machine, to obtain the particle sizes usually used to form long cork, for the molding of cork pieces that served as samples. 4 g of the sample cork was placed in a gauze bag (15 x 20 cm). The bag containing the sample cork was placed in the middle part of the cork load in the container (1). The deodorization treatment was carried out using the apparatus of fig. 2. In the treatment, the container (1)

was rotated with progressive variation of the angle of inclination.

Water vapor was passed through container 1, at a flow rate of 20 liters / hour and 40 liters / hour. The deodorization treatment was carried out for 30 minutes, 60 minutes and 90 minutes after reaching a predetermined condition, that is, the temperature of 120 ° C and the pressure of 1 kg / cm2 in the container. After the treatment, the residual amount of TAC was verified. The verification of the residual amount of TAC was done by cutting the cork sample into slices, extracting the TCA from the slices with n-pentane and measuring by gas chromatography. The result of the measurements is shown in Table 4 and in fig. 4.

TABLE 4

Steam flow (20 1 / h) Steam flow (40 1 / h) 30 min 25, 25, 18, 22, 24, 28, 19, 30, 32, 32 Average 25.5 (ng / g) Standard deviation 4.99 CV (%) 22.8% Removal 89.7% 5, 4, 6, 6, 5, 6, 8, 6, 5 Average 5.3 (ng / g) Standard deviation 1.77 CV (%) 33.4% Removal 97.8% 60 min 7, 8, 8, 11, 9, 13, 12, 13, 13, 12 Average 10.5 (ng / g) Standard deviation 2.51 CV (%) 23.9% Removal 95.7 1.5, 1.3, 1.6, 2.8, 2.8 1.6, 1.7, 2.7, 1.5, 3.0 Average 2.1 (ng / g) Standard deviation 0.68 CV (%) 32.4% Removal 99.1 90 min 7, 9, 8, 7, 8, 8, 10, 7 9, 10 Average 8.3 (ng / g) Standard deviation 1.16 CV (%) 14.0% Removal 96.6 Mean ND 100% removal

-2Ί-

As can be appreciated, the present invention is successful in obtaining the object and the intended advantages.

Although the present invention has been presented in terms of the preferred embodiment to facilitate its better understanding, it is to be understood that it can be modified in several ways without departing from the principle of the invention. Therefore, the present invention should be considered as including all possible embodiments that can be realized without departing from the principle of the invention defined by the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1. - Process for deodorizing cork) by removing cork from a substance that gives rise to an unpleasant smell, characterized by the fact that it comprises the phases that consist of: supply of water vapor to said cork to produce a stream of water vapor in a container with a temperature between 100 ° C and 130 ° C and a pressure of at least 101.1 KPa (760 mmHg) to penetrate the molecules of water vapor in the internal structure of the cork, thus promoting a distillation of water vapor within the internal structure of the cork, and discharge of water vapor that has passed through the cork and contains the substance that gives rise to the unpleasant smell outside of the aforementioned container. 2. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that said substance that gives rise to the unpleasant smell is 2,4,6-trichloroanisole. -23. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that said substance that gives rise to the unpleasant smell is 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. 4. Process according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising the stages of: cut said cork into pieces with a predetermined dimension and preheat said cut cork to an appropriate temperature for the deodorization treatment. 5. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that said temperature and pressure are maintained during deodorization. 6. A process according to claim 1 or 4, characterized in that the container is agitated while the water vapor is supplied. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein said stirring comprises rotating and / or oscillating said container. -38. Process according to claim 6, characterized in that said agitation comprises agitating said cork in said container. 9. A process according to claim 1 or 4, characterized in that it further comprises a cooling phase of said cork in said container. ) 10. A process according to claim 9, characterized in that said cooling phase comprises the phases of: maintain said cork inside said container after the deodorization treatment and interrupt the supply of water vapor, thus producing the natural cooling of the cork, generate a warm atmosphere, supply said hot atmosphere to the interior of said container after having decreased cooling efficiency by natural cooling. 11.- Apparatus for the deodorization of cork by distillation of water vapor, characterized by comprising: (a) first means (1) to contain said cork, -4 (b) second means (5) for supplying water vapor from a steam generator to form a flow of steam from an inlet (22) to an outlet (26) of the first said means (1), (c ) third means (6) for discharging water vapor together with a substance that gives rise to the unpleasant smell in cork through said outlet (26) of said first means (1). 12. Apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that said first means (1) are formed with a longitudinally elongated shape in the direction of water vapor supply. 13. Apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that it further comprises means for agitating said first means (1). ) Apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that said stirring means comprise means for producing the rotation (28) and / or oscillation (30) of said first means (1). 15. Apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that said stirring means are placed inside the first means (1) and comprise means for stirring said cork in said first means (1). 16. Apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that it further comprises means for cooling said cork in said first means (1). 17. Apparatus according to claim 16, characterized in that said cooling means consist of: means for generating a hot atmosphere, and means for providing said hot atmosphere into said first means (1), while maintaining the rotation and oscillation of said first means (1).