Partial Beet Pressing for High-Sugar Pulp Preservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current beet processing methods result in beet pulps with low sugar content, making them difficult to preserve and use as animal feed, requiring costly storage solutions and risking contamination by butyric acid bacteria, while also leading to inefficient sugar extraction and high energy costs due to complex lime-carbon treatment processes.
Innovation Solution
A beet processing process involving partial pressing of beets to produce a press cake with over 20% sugar content and a sugar juice with greater than 15% dry matter content, followed by centrifugation and optional flocculent addition for membrane filtration, allowing for rapid lactic acid bacteria development and simplified preservation without the need for packing, and subsequent evaporation to produce a high-purity sugar syrup.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If traditional diffusion process is used to extract sugar from beets, then sugar juice can be obtained, but the beet pulps have low sugar content (7% on dry matter basis) making them difficult to preserve and use as animal feed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only a portion of the sugar from the beet cossettes through partial diffusion, leaving a significant amount (more than 7% on dry matter basis) in the pulps. This selective extraction approach maintains sufficient sugar content in the pulps for preservation and animal feed use, while still obtaining usable sugar juice for further processing.
2Quantity of substance
If overpressed pulps are produced with higher dry matter content for animal feed, then transportation cost is reduced, but the pulps require rapid placement in silos and careful preservation to prevent butyric acid bacteria contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the sugar content parameter in the pulps by controlling the diffusion process to retain more than 7% sugar on dry matter basis. This parameter change enables the pulps to be preserved without requiring rapid silo placement and complex preservation measures, as the retained sugar supports beneficial lactic acid fermentation rather than butyric acid contamination.
3Productivity
If complete sugar extraction is performed to maximize sugar yield, then more sugar juice is obtained, but the pulps become too depleted for effective use as animal feedingstuff
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial extraction by intentionally leaving more than 7% sugar in the pulps on a dry matter basis. This partial action approach balances sugar production with pulp quality, ensuring the pulps remain valuable for animal feed while still providing sufficient sugar juice for processing. The diffusion process is controlled to achieve this optimal balance rather than complete extraction.
4Productivity
If dilute diffusion juice is produced through traditional diffusion, then sugar extraction is efficient, but the juice requires complex and costly lime-carbon treatment for concentration and crystallization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the diffusion parameters to produce a diffusion juice with optimized sugar concentration. By controlling the diffusion time, temperature, and water flow rate, the process generates juice with higher sugar content that requires less intensive lime-carbon treatment and energy for concentration and crystallization, thereby reducing overall process complexity and cost.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This process enhances the preservation of beet press cake and sugar juice, reduces contamination risks, and increases the fermentative capacity of the products, enabling their use as high-quality animal feed and fermentation substrates while minimizing energy costs and storage complexities.
Implementation Method 1
a beet processing unit in order to produce a sugar juice and a press cake, said beet processing unit comprising a screw press
Implementation Method 2
a centrifugal separation device arranged to separate a sugar juice from solid particles
Implementation Method 3
rapid development of lactic acid bacteria
Implementation Method 4
subsequent evaporation to produce a high-purity sugar syrup
Data Source
AI summary
A beet processing process including the step of washing of the beets and the step of partial pressing of the beets for the production, on the one hand, of a press cake containing more than 20% sugar relative to the dry matter content and, on the other hand, of a sugar juice at a concentration greater than 15% dry matter content. The process further includes the step of separation of the press cake and of the sugar juice.