Ionic Resins for Sugar Industry
Alfa Chemistry offers food grade ion exchange resins for the sugar industry. As people's standard of living has increased, so has the level of food requirements. Ion exchange resins have been used in the refined sugar industry for decades. Existing ion exchange technology can increase the color and storage time of sugar syrups without the addition of sulfur dioxide, and Alfa Chemistry has always held itself to the most stringent industry standards, and our resins can achieve ultra-high efficiency.
Sugar is an indispensable sweetener and nutrient in human life. The global average annual consumption of sugar is about 20kg, most of which is sucrose. At present, there are two main international sugar production processes: one is to directly produce white sugar from sugar cane or sugar beet, and the other is to first make raw sugar and then remelt and process refined sugar to make white sugar. The raw material composition of sugar is very complex, containing a large amount of impurities such as inorganic salts, fats, colored substances, etc., which makes the sugar making process more complicated. It mainly includes: raw molasses washing, re-dissolution, carbon dioxide filling, filtration, decolorization, evaporation concentration, crystallization, and separation. Honey, dry, etc. The most important of these is the decolorization process. Since most of the pigments in sugar are ionized and can be exchanged with ionic resins, ionic resins are often used in the decolorization step. Generally, macroporous resin is used for adsorption and decolorization. The macroporous adsorption resin has a significant effect on the decolorization of syrup, especially on the removal of colloidal substances and pigments, and has good regeneration characteristics. It also has the advantages of fast adsorption speed, mild separation conditions, good selectivity, and long service life.
Figure 1 Decolorization process
The principle of using ion exchange resins for decolorization is due to the fact that most colorants show good selectivity for ionic resins. There are two types of resins that can be used - propionic acid resins and styrene resins. Propionic acid resins are more resistant to impurities and are usually used for "dirty" juices, where 60-70% decolorization can be accomplished. Styrene resin has a higher decolorization rate (70-80%), but is less resistant to prolonged contamination by impurities, so it is usually used for "cleaner" juices. The ion exchange decolorization system mainly consists of three decolorization columns, two operating and one regenerating, with the production flow sketch shown in Figure 1. The process flow is shown in Figure 1. The strong negative resin of chlorine type in the decolorization column is used to remove caramel, pigments and phenols from the syrup to reduce the color value of the syrup.
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