The Sweet Side of Membrane Separation: Enhancing the Sweetener Manufacturing Processes

Image courtesy of Solecta Inc.

Sweeteners are essential in the global food and beverage industry, serving as an important ingredient in countless products. Amid consumer preferences shifting toward healthier, natural, and low-calorie options, the industry is experiencing exponential growth. Producers face the challenge of efficiently and sustainably creating high-quality sweeteners to keep pace with this demand. In this ever-evolving landscape, sweetener production has progressed into both an art and a science, demanding stable and robust methods for separation and refining processes. As a solution to these challenges, separation technology has emerged as an advanced and increasingly essential step in manufacturing to help producers achieve increased purity and quality. One approach, in particular, has captured industry attention for its efficiency and sustainability: membrane separation.

Leveraging Membrane Separation Technology in Sweetener Production Membrane separation processes offer a wide array of advantages in producing various sweeteners. These processes include:

Often processes can go hand in hand, such as purification and fractionation. For example, one could utilize a purification step in the manufacture of dextrose followed by a fractionation step that separates the mixture into high-purity sugar syrups streams.

Separation and Purification Processes

As outlined in the aforementioned processes, separation plays a key role in isolating and purifying sweetening agents, removing impurities, and achieving the desired composition and characteristics. Some common separation methods used in the industry include the following process steps:

Example of Solecta's spiral wound membrane filtration element. Image courtesy of Soletec

Introduction to Membrane Separation Technology—Common Membrane Form Factors and Types

Membranes come in various form factors including tubular, ceramic, and polymeric. Due to its flexibility, compatibility and cost-effectiveness, polymeric provides the greatest benefit. Membrane separation technology encompasses several distinct types designed to address different separation needs. There are four primary classifications of membranes:

Using appropriate technology, sweetener producers can achieve precise and efficient separation, producing high-quality, pure and desirable products.

Examples of Membrane Separation Technology Applications used in Various Sweeteners:

From clarification to purification, concentration to decolorization, membranes offer precise control over the composition, purity and functionality of sweeteners. Incorporating membrane separation technology into production processes increases operational efficiency while reducing costs improves product quality, and enables producers to deliver higher-quality products.

Advantages of Membrane Separation Technology In producing sweeteners, membrane separation technology is critical in enhancing product purity and quality. This technology efficiently eliminates impurities from raw materials, ensuring the final product meets strict quality standards. By selectively removing undesirable components, they make it possible for producers to deliver pure and refined sweeteners while maintaining consistent standards, even with varying raw material compositions.

The size selectivity and separation capabilities of membranes help producers maintain product consistency and quality, regardless of variations in the feedstock composition. They can also operate at a wide range of temperatures, which prevents product degradation. This versatility allows sweetener producers to customize their processes and achieve desired product characteristics, such as sweetness profile, purity and consistency. Membranes can also minimize environmental impact by reducing water, energy and chemical usage and waste generation compared to other methods. Finally, the optimized use of membranes offers the lowest cost of operations, making it the most cost-effective separation technology.

Future Prospects and Industry Outlook

The sweetener industry is changing to meet the growing demand for natural and healthier alternatives, and membrane separation technology is expected to play a big role in this shift. Producers can use this technology to improve product quality, meet consumer preferences, and create more efficient and sustainable production practices.

As technology advances, we can expect new and improved membranes that offer better selectivity, stability and fouling resistance. Smart technologies and automation will also optimize process control and monitoring, making it possible to adjust processes in real-time for optimal performance. These advancements will transform the sweetener industry, allowing endless possibilities for innovation, growth and a more sustainable future.

Success Story—Improving Purity and Increasing Productivity with a Dextrose Processor

Solecta, Inc., an advanced membrane separation technology and solution provider, recently assisted a dextrose processor in improving the quality and increasing the productivity of their production process. The client was interested in improving operational performance and faced quality issues and long lead times from one of their nanofiltration (NF) suppliers.

Solecta collaborated with the client to develop a new solution that significantly improved the quality of the dextrose (achieving a purity level of over 99.5%) and increased productivity, resulting in approximately 2% higher flow rates during the first three months of operation. This solution resulted in >$1.5 million in added productivity across all their NF systems.

Conclusion

In summary, using membrane separation technology in the sweetener industry can enhance production processes, boost efficiency and reduce environmental impact. This technology allows for precise separations, uses minimal energy, and generates minimal waste, making it an appealing solution for sustainable growth in the sweetener market.

As science and technology advance, sweetener companies should adopt membrane technology to drive process optimizations, remain competitive in a constantly expanding market and contribute to global sustainability efforts. Additionally, membrane separation processes can be adapted for large-scale operations and niche manufacturers. It's an opportune time for manufacturers and stakeholders to adopt this technology, as it can potentially protect significant environmental resources and create new opportunities for industry growth and development.

Ben Weaver is a senior applications engineer at Solecta. He combines his technical expertise with his focus on understanding client challenges to help clients develop separation solutions that deliver proven value and optimize their membrane separation processes to improve their overall process economics. His hands-on expertise encompasses hollow fiber and spiral wound membrane technologies across a wide range of applications. Over the course of his career, Ben has held a variety of roles encompassing operations, product development, applications, and sales, with a key focus on process applications within the manufacturing markets, as well as the food and life sciences industries. He has a chemical engineering degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kris Olson leads Solecta’s global Food Ingredients & Life Sciences market segments. He is a result-oriented, relationship-driven business executive with a passion for developing and delivering innovative solutions to the marketplace that help clients exceed their goals. Before joining Solecta, Kris held multiple leadership positions at Ecolab and Nalco Water. His professional experience in sales, finance, marketing and global leadership is supplemented by an MBA from Michigan State University and a BA in Biology & Chemistry from St. John’s University