Liquid purification or separation – Processes – Including controlling process in response to a sensed condition
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-01
2004-09-21
Popovics, Robert (Department: 1724)
Liquid purification or separation
Processes
Including controlling process in response to a sensed condition
C210S740000, C210S745000, C210S746000, C210S803000, C210S085000, C210S092000, C210S096100, C426S495000, C426S599000, C099S277100, C073S03200R, C073S053010, C073S061410, C073S061710, C073S064560
Reexamination Certificate
active
06793826
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to recovery of insoluble solids from a liquid mixture. As a particular example, the invention relates to methods for the selective recovery of valuable tartrate-containing solid material that settles, over time, to the bottom of a container of pressed grape juice or wine.
BACKGROUND ART
Techniques to separate and harvest valuable sub-components from liquid and from liquid-solid mixtures that contain varying proportions of soluble and insoluble solids have been under continuous development over many years. Methods for the clarification of these types of mixtures via natural sedimentation and separation of constituents without requiring agitation, centrifugation, or other application of force are appealing. However, practical problems to economically perform such separation of potentially valuable constituents from essentially worthless by-products remain.
For example, pressed fruit juices such as grape juice and other grape-based materials are typically, and undesirably, turbid or cloudy when first pressed. Such solid-liquid mixtures may be stored in tanks or other containers for long time periods so that they may settle for clarification and other purposes. A typical type of storage/settling tank, as is later described in detail, is fitted with a number of valved access ports located at different elevations. These access ports may be used to periodically draw samples for analyses. For example, samples may be drawn from the valved access ports on a weekly basis and analyzed to determine specific characteristics or properties present in the mixture at the corresponding levels within the tank. As mixture density will generally decrease with elevation, samples harvested from higher elevation ports will usually meet an accepted clarification level in a shorter storage time than the liquid that is closer to the bottom of the tank. As the mixture settles/clarifies over time, it may be drawn, as saleable product, from the tank via the upper valved access ports. Periodic analyses may eventually show no change in the measured characteristic (say, for example, volume percentage of insoluble solids or “ISS”) at a particular level within the tank. At that time, that portion of the material below that level down to the bottom of the tank would be declared to be a “bottom.” The term “tank bottom” is, therefore, used to describe the mixture of juice/liquid and sediment existing at or near the bottom of a tank of settled liquid or juice. Tank bottoms are not suitable for the production of finished products due to the high proportion of mixture components that have settled by gravity to the bottom of the tank or storage container.
“Filter trim” is generated as a resultant by-product during the process of recovering saleable/clarified grape juice from tank bottoms. Filter trim describes the solid material that is separated out of the mixture or “tank bottom.” This is typically generated as a result of filtration, wherein diatomaceous earth (DE) may serve as a filtration aid. The DE is added to the liquid “tank bottoms” immediately prior to filtration and remains present in the “filter trim” in varying proportions depending on when, during the recovery process, the material is collected. Whether the “filter trim” is produced from single strength juice (herein denoted SS Bottoms) or comes from the processing of concentrate, it contains a significant amount of valuable tartrate precipitates. Excess argol (argol is, chemically, potassium bitartrate) separates from grape juice and wine precipitating in the form of crystals that gravitate to the bottom of the storage tank. These crystals are valuable as precursors for the production of cream of tartar, tartaric acid and other chemicals. This phenomenon is well known and was described, for example, in Reissued U.S. Pat. No. 14,636 to Welch, reissue date of Apr. 15, 1919. Screening and centrifugation techniques are therein described as typical argol recovery techniques. SS Bottoms are very inhomogeneous. Other insoluble solids, including bits of grape pulp and skin that remained after the pressing process, also may gravitate to the bottom of the storage tank. In this state, the aggregated, settled “tank bottom” material is not suitable for bottling and sale. The juice contained in the “Stank bottoms” should be recovered for use in the production of finished products; the “filter trim” portion should also be recovered with the DE and insoluble plant material effectively separated from the valuable argol.
Referring now to
FIG. 1
, tank
10
has valved access ports
11
-
15
with associated valves
111
-
115
. Following settling/clarification, clarified juice, or other saleable liquids, may be drawn out of the tank at levels above the “tank bottom,” shown as
100
. Such drawing might occur by, per
FIG. 1
, siphoning out liquid through access port
13
. Then, an operator desiring to clean out tank
10
, filter the tank bottom
100
, recover the juice therein and, thereby, also collect filter trim connects a pump
17
directly to a gutter valve
116
associated with gutter port
16
located at the bottom of storage tank
10
. Activating pump
17
leads to a single step recovery of an entire tank bottom
100
. Diatomaceous earth is added at unit
18
along fluid path, F. The juice separated at unit
19
is recovered along fluid path
192
. The resulting solids (filter trim) separated at unit
19
are recovered along solids path
191
. For single strength grape juice processing, for example, the consistency of SS Bottoms is that of a thick, free-flowing liquid that may contain anywhere from about 1% to about 15%, or more, insoluble solids (ISS). The ISS in SS Bottoms contains tartrates (also called argol) as well as a significant percentage of other insoluble plant material (particles of pulp, skin, etc.). Tartrates are crystalline and are heavier than the insoluble plant material. The non-homogeneous nature of SS Bottoms is such that the heavier ISS (tartrates) will tend to settle closer to the bottom of a tank
10
than the lighter ISS plant material. Using the above harvesting method via gutter port
16
, suction caused by pump
17
inevitably creates a channel through the thickest/most dense material residing at the bottom of the tank
10
. As a result, the lighter material near the top liquid surface may easily be pumped out through this channel and down fluid path F before much of the heavier material residing at the bottom of the tank
10
is extracted. Therefore, at flow onset, relatively little of the heavier tartrate-containing material is harvested before it becomes diluted, both in density and in economic value. As a result, it is difficult to ascertain when the tartrate content of the filter trim is high enough to make the collection and sale of the filter trim economically desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with an embodiment, a method for recovery of tartrate-containing, insoluble solids from an essentially settled grape-based mixture is provided. The mixture is housed in a container having a sidewall, a bottom, a vertical axis, a valved gutter port capable of providing access to container contents through the bottom, and a plurality of valved access ports capable of providing access to container contents through the sidewall. The access ports are disposed upon the sidewall at heights defined as distances from the bottom measured along the vertical axis. A siphoning port is chosen from among the plurality of valved access ports. A first pumping system is attached to the siphoning port. A siphoning port valve is opened to provide fluid communication between container contents resident essentially above a siphoning height and the first pumping system through the sidewall. The first pumping system is activated and a first container contents portion resident essentially above the siphoning height is extracted. A second pumping system is then attached to the valved gutter port, the second pumping system having a conduit permitting samples of an extracted second container contents portion
Barth Charles
Currit David
Western Richard M.
Bromberg & Sunstein LLP
Popovics Robert
Welch Foods Inc.
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