Beet Sugar Production via Pressing and Vacuum Crystallization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional sugar production from sugar beets is costly and energy-intensive, involves significant water heating, and results in nutritional loss due to complex and polluting processes, including diffusion and successive jet crystallization.
Innovation Solution
A process involving beet pressing to extract sweet juice, followed by filtration and concentration under vacuum to achieve crystallization without the need for diffusion or lime, reducing equipment costs and environmental impact while retaining nutritional quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If traditional diffusion method is used to extract sugar from beets, then sugar extraction is achieved, but water consumption and energy consumption for heating water are significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the extraction parameter from water-based diffusion to press juice extraction, eliminating the need to heat large volumes of water while maintaining effective sugar extraction from beet slices
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and removes the diffusion step that requires heating water, replacing it with a pressing operation that uses mechanical pressure to extract sugary juice directly without water consumption and heating energy
2Quantity of substance
If traditional diffusion and liming process is used for sugar production, then sugar purification is achieved, but chemical use and carbon dioxide emission are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the liming step that uses chemical lime for purification, replacing it with a vacuum crystallization process that purifies sugar without chemical additives and without generating carbon dioxide emissions
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the chemical-based liming purification system with a physical vacuum crystallization system that uses pressure reduction and temperature control to purify sugar without chemicals
3Quantity of substance
If successive jet crystallization method is used, then sugar crystallization is achieved, but process complexity and equipment cost are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the complex successive jet crystallization equipment and multi-step process, replacing it with a single vacuum crystallization chamber that achieves sugar crystallization in one operation
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the concentration and crystallization steps into a single vacuum crystallization process, where the concentrated sugary juice is directly crystallized under vacuum without requiring separate jet crystallization equipment
4Quantity of substance
If traditional diffusion and centrifugation process is used, then sugar production is achieved, but nutritional quality is reduced due to loss of minerals and vitamins
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the centrifugation and molasses separation steps that discard nutritious components, retaining all minerals, vitamins, and trace elements in the final sugar product
Solution Approach 2:
The invention recovers and retains the nutritional components (minerals, vitamins, trace elements) that would otherwise be discarded in the molasses, incorporating them into the final sugar product to maintain nutritional quality
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 lowers equipment and energy costs, reduces water consumption, minimizes chemical use, and maintains nutritional quality by eliminating the need for centrifugation and refining steps, resulting in a more efficient and environmentally friendly sugar production method.
Implementation Method 1
the sugary juice is filtered using at least one filter membrane
Implementation Method 2
the concentrated filtered juice is heated under vacuum to evaporate the residual liquid contained in the concentrated filtered juice
Implementation Method 3
heating being continued until a complete crystallized sugar with a moisture content between 0% and 10% is obtained
Implementation Method 4
the sugary juice is concentrated by evaporation to obtain a concentrated filtered juice with a dry matter concentration above a predetermined concentration threshold
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
Process for producing sugar from beets (B), the process comprising the steps in which at least one batch of beets is supplied; at least one step of pressing the beets is carried out so as to extract a sugar juice (Js1); the sugar juice is filtered using at least one filter membrane (18); the filtered sugar juice (Jsf) is concentrated by evaporation so as to obtain a concentrated filtered juice (Jsfc) having a dry matter concentration above a predetermined concentration threshold; a crystallization step is carried out in which the concentrated filtered juice is heated under vacuum in order to evaporate the residual liquid contained in the concentrated filtered juice, the heating being continued until a whole crystallized sugar (S) is obtained having a moisture content of between 0% and 10%.