Application of Ceramic Membrane in Sweetener Production

Ⅰ. Application of ceramic membrane in sweetener production

Sweeteners refer to food additives that can impart sweetness to soft drinks. Sweeteners can be divided into nutritive sweeteners and non-nutritive sweeteners according to their nutritional value. According to their sweetness, they can be divided into low-sweetness sweeteners and high-sweetness sweeteners; according to their sources, they can be divided into natural sweeteners and synthetic sweeteners.

At present, it is a general trend in the sweetener industry to use membrane separation technology to replace traditional filtration technologies, such as traditional filtration vacuum drums or pressure filters. Its advantage is that it does not require any filter aid-diatomaceous earth, which can filter out all impurities and bacteria. This can also retain most of the soluble protein.

Take aspartame as an example. It is a new type of safe sweetener that has been widely used in food production and processing. The main components of aspartame are aspartic acid and phenylalanine. The production of phenylalanine requires a ceramic membrane system to clarify and filter the fermentation broth, replace the traditional filtration method, and increase the material concentration ratio. We can increase the product yield by adding washing water. In the production of aspartame, it is necessary to use microfiltration and uf membrane technology to purify and concentrate the enzyme fermentation broth to realize the repeated use of substrates and enzymes. In addition, this can concentrate the enzymatic hydrolysate through the nanofiltration membrane to prepare a high-concentration reducing sugar solution, which effectively reduces the pollution of the aspartame substrate on the ultrafiltration membrane and avoids the enzymatic hydrolysate from affecting the aspartame. The inhibitory effect of the enzyme improves the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis. This also reduces the cost of enzymatic hydrolysis, reduces energy and water consumption in the production process, and increases the concentration of aspartame in the enzymatic hydrolysate, making it easy for microbial fermentation to produce high-concentration products.

Ⅱ. Features of ceramic membrane concentration and separation equipment

1. The separation and concentration are carried out at normal temperature and low pressure, so the energy consumption is low, so that the operating cost of the concentration and separation equipment is low.

2. The equipment is small in size and simple in structure, so the investment cost is low.

3. Membrane separation technology process is simply pressurized to transport liquid. The process flow is simple and easy to operate and manage.

4. As the filter medium, the ceramic membrane is a uniform continuum made of polymer materials. It is filtered by a pure physical method, and the substance does not change qualitatively during the separation process (that is, it does not affect the molecular structure of the material).

5. The membrane is concentrated and dehydrated, while removing impurities such as small molecule inorganic salts, sugar, etc., making the product purity higher.

6. The equipment is fully automatic operation, which can realize clean production and reduce labor intensity.