Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Separating a starting material into plural different...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-24
2001-08-07
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Separating a starting material into plural different...
C426S491000, C426S495000, C426S583000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270823
ABSTRACT:
It is the object of this invention to provide a method to treat whey, and according to the said method the separated whey is led to a pasteurizing apparatus, from there to a nano- and/or microfiltration unit, wherefrom the retentate part of the whey is transferred to be further processed and the permeate part is led elsewhere.
In the processes in foodstuff industry, waste water is created which is purified by leading it through nano- and/or microfilters. The whey that is created during the processing of milk in the cheese industry is saliferous, and it is led to a filtration unit for desalination. The permeate flowing out of the filtration unit is also wastewater, because its salt content is high. Such wastewaters are discharged as sewage e.g. to an industrial or a municipal sewage treatment plant. The prices for water and wastewater treatment are high, and great costs must be paid for large amounts of wastewater even if the wastewaters were almost clean.
The presently employed processes have an additional disadvantage: the potentially useful ingredients in the permeate are lost. In such cases, new corresponding ingredients may have to be bought for the process in order to replace the ingredients which were discharged as sewage along with the permeate. The recycling of the permeate back to the process does not at present necessarily yield satisfactory results, for the recycling may result in non-desired ingredients plugging the nanofiltration apparatus.
It is the objective of this invention to present a method which helps decrease the amount of wastewaters and to utilize the permeate and the ingredients therein. It is a further objective to present a method that can be realized and employed in a simple and profitable way. The aim of the invention is also improve the presently employed treatment and purification methods, so as to make possible a closed system use water or to essentially lower costs of sewage treatment and of the use of water needed from outside the industrial plant.
The objective of this invention is attained through the method which is characterized by what is presented in the appended claims.
According to the invention, the permeate is treated by leading it to an additional filter and by purifying it there. Thereafter, the permeate leaving the additional reverse osmosis filter and/or to a second reverse osmosis filter and/or to a third reverse osmosis filter at a later stage of the process, so that the peremeate is treated by means of reverse osmosis filter(s) as to purify it, and that the resulting technically/commercially clean water is mixed with condensation water. By exploiting reverse osmosis, the salinity can be reduced appropriately. Thereafter, the permeate leaving the additional reverse osmosis filter(s) is clean in the technical sense of the word, and it can be utilized at many various phases of the process e.g. for electrodialysis by leading it back to the process. Both the amount of wastewater and that of the water introduced to the process can be considerably reduced, which results in cost reduction. If, however, it is desired to lead the permeate to the sewage system, it is sufficiently clean and it can be led directly into e.g. a waterway, at least if the possibly existing bacteria are eliminated first. From nanofiltration stage, kalium and the other valuable salts and other ingredients are aquired. In many cases, the retentate, e.g. sodium, acquired from the additional reverse osmosis filter is useful in other processes and the amount of ingredients to be purchased that are necessary for the processes, can be reduced. The invention can be used at least for purifying the wastewaters resulting from foodstuff industry processes and, particularly, for purifying the wastewaters created in milk processing industry, especially in cheese production
In an additional application of the invention, the permeate is sterilized by UV light, thereby eliminating harmful ingredients and bacteria. This step already exists at many milk processing plants.
In a second additional application of the invention, the permeate is pasteurized after the additional reverse osmosis filtration. During the pasteurization, temperatures ranging from 75° C. to 90° C. should preferably be reached, thereby eliminating detrimental ingredients. This step already exists at many milk processing plants. After cooling the resulting liquid can be further led to an electrodialysis apparatus.
One important addition to the process is that condensation water is appropriately mixed with the clean water emitted from the process. E.g. the electroconductivity values—originally about 300 microS—are considerably improved when the clean water emitted from the process is mixed with condensation water whose electroconductivity may be in the range of about 10 microS Thereby, water fulfilling even strict environmental safety requirements is obtained, which can be directly discharged into waterways or led to a closed water system.
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Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Weier Anthony J.
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