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Sugar purification by MEGA electrodialysis

Sugar purification by MEGA electrodialysis

Ecological and cost effective applications for sugar industry

Did you know?

With MEGA electrodialysis you can purify various types of saccharides and get the final product with a desalination ratio of up to 97 %.

Sugar purification process

New challenges for sugar industry

New challenges for sugar and starch industry

Today, sugar production has been established for years, yet the sugar industry is facing new challenges such as new environmental regulations. The goal is to maintain the quality of the product and reduce the use of chemicals and water and thereby reduce the discharge of waste into the environment and electricity consumption.

The use of new techniques such as membrane technologies, which have proven successful in other industries such as dairy, pharmacy etc., is an inevitable step of modernisation in the sugar and starch industry.

Why demineralize saccharides by electrodialysis technology

Why purify sugar by electrodialysis

Various saccharides (sucrose, glucose, fructose, molasses, xylose etc.) and their derivatives like lactulose are valuable biomolecules used in the food and nutrition industry as well as in the pharmaceutical industry.

Process sugar solutions often contain dissolved salts and other contaminant – ash. Ash negatively affects the processing and production of saccharides, for example, it reduces sucrose yield, crystal growth or contributes to scaling formation on evaporators, therefore it must be removed.

Testing of various technologies in the sugar industry in recent years has resulted in the use of electrodialysis to remove ash from sugar solutions as one of the more efficient technologies for demineralization of saccharides such as molasses, fructose, glucose, syrups, and sugar juices.

Through demineralization you get the final product of higher quality with lower OPEX.

Why choose MEGA electrodialysis technology

Why choose MEGA electrodialysis technology

Electrodialysis is a very efficient technology for food solutions desalination with low energy and chemicals consumption.

The electrodialysis solution by MEGA is universal and can process different saccharides as Galactooligosaccharides – GOS, Fructooligosaccharides – FOS, Chitooligosaccharides – COS, Xylooligosaccharides – XOS, Isomaltooligosaccharides – IMO or Soybean oligosaccharides – SOS.

MEGA electrodialysis is adapted to perform the final purification of sugar solution by decolourising, deodorising, deacidifying or thickening the sugar cane/beet juice, which ensures maximum removal of unwanted impurities.

MEGA offers electrodialysis as a demineralization step after filtration in sugar processing. In combination with IEX, ED can be more advantageous regarding the required ions and product quality, while at the same time achieving lower water and chemical consumption.

MEGA ED – cost-effective solution for sugar purification

MEGA ED – cost-effective solution for sugar purification

MEGA offers electrodialysis technology for higher purity product with lower energy consumption and chemicals processing technology that increases yield, reduces cost and is environmentally friendly.

The electrodialysis improves the cost-effectiveness of sugar factories by:

  • controlling of organic fouling,
  • reduction of chemical consumption,
  • environmentally friendly technology - reducing waste effluents and pollution loads,
  • reducing costs for water treatment,
  • improving sugar yields,
  • reducing the volume of molasses,
  • saving capital costs,
  • recovery & re-use of ions like P, Mg, Mo, Ni.

Final product of high quality with low protein content and low colour and high colour stability. Demineralized saccharides are a new source of profit and supplementary nutrition. It is a very beneficial ingredient used in many foods and pharmaceutical products.

Electrodialysis in the sugar purification process

Electrodialysis in the sugar purification process

Electrodialysis is an electrochemical separation process in which ions from the treated liquid are transferred through ion-exchange membranes from one solution (feed/diluate) to another solution (brine/concentrate) under the influence of DC voltage. The charged components are attracted to the cathode or anode and collected in the concentrate stream. The product - organic non-ionic compounds are retained in the diluate stream.

Unwanted by-products of chemical and/or enzymatic conversion can be therefore easily removed.

In addition, the removed components could be often recovered and returned to the reaction stage as required reactant or catalyst or pH controlling agent.

Our saccharides demineralization projects

Sugar molasses purification

Gorodejskij Sacharnyj Kombinat, Belarus

Sugar molasses purification

MEGA developed a tailor-made solution for demineralization of sugar molasses – purification of sucrose, disaccharide - a molecule composed of two monosaccharides: glucose and fructose.

Industrial installation of two units ELPU 8×EDRII/250 1S proceed 100 t of feed per day at a temperature of 33–37 ℃ and produces a solution containing sugar with a degree of demineralization of 90 %, dry matter content of less than 40 %, and ash content of less than 6 %.

Preliminary purification of the raw material to remove high molecular weight and other non-sugars. Adjustment of the dry matter content to 40 %.

GSK highlights

Waste to product 100 tons per day Ash content lower than 6 %
Ask about this project
Ask about this project

Request a free quotation for your sugar purification project

Our experts are ready to find the best solution for your saccharides demineralization project.

Please, fill out the form below. We will reach out to you as soon as possible.

Interested? Contact us.

Ales Platzer

Ales Platzer

Sales Manager

+420 702 176 317 ales.platzer@mega.cz
Lukas Semian

Lukas Semian

Sales Manager

+420 778 463 642 lukas.semian@mega.cz

MEGA a.s.

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Straz pod Ralskem
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