Preparation and metering of components mixed with Co2

Details Preparation and metering of components mixed with Co2 Preparation and metering of components mixed with Co2

2001-12-18

2004-07-13

Bomberg, Kenneth (Department: 3754)

Dispensing

With discharge assistant

Fluid pressure

C222S001000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06761289

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to pressurized containers containing additives for water, beverages or foods and carbon dioxide. The containers of the invention are useful for metering additives an soluble form and of predetermined and constant saline concentration.
Pressurized carbon dioxide serves to promote the formation of water-soluble species, for example in the case of calcium and magnesium salts in the form of bicarbonates, and, simultaneously, to act as a propellent when the dispensing system is opened.
This method also has the advantage of not requiring the addition of preserving agents to the preparations, given the sterilizing action exerted by carbon dioxide on the components of the mixture.
Mixtures containing additives are prepared in a stirred reactor under a pressure of carbon dioxide, and from there are transferred into containers that are suitable for maintaining the internal pressure generated by the carbon dioxide in the form of vapour, in the form of a liquid/vapour mixture or under supercritical conditions.
Carbon dioxide performs a multitude of functions: reagent, preserving agent, propellent and, finally, solvent, in virtue of its low condensation pressure (6.5 MPa at 20° C.).
The present invention is able to respond to the demands of all situations requiring:
the modification of the chemical nature and behaviour of the substances in the mixture;
the preservation of the substances to be dispensed in an inert and/or sterile atmosphere;
metering in an automatic or time-controlled mode or in a mode linked to the control of process parameters;
the dispersal of the substances added in the receptor means.
One of the fields in which there are requirements of particular importance and for which there are currently no adequate highly-automated solutions is that of the supplementation of salts or other chemical substances or preparations intended for:
1. water for aquaria (for example metering of salts);
2. water for consumption (for example metering of salts);
3. water for therapeutic or thermal use;
4. water for industrial use (for example metering of additives of various types);
5. water for agricultural or animal-rearing use (for example metering of nutrients, drugs or phytopharmaceuticals);
6. supplementation of foods and beverages intended for either human or animal consumption;
7. extemporaneous preparation of dietary drinks and/or beverages in general.
PRIOR ART
According to the conventional technique, when it is necessary to form any liquid preparation in which a plurality of salts or chemical substances are present in solutions, typically aqueous solutions, under conditions of controlled concentration, the solution generally consists in adding saline mixtures or other components in the form of powders, tablets or the like.
These methods cannot be used when a simultaneous metering needs to be made of substances which have different solubilities or solubilization rates or when some of these substances are actually sparingly soluble, such as many calcium and magnesium salts.
The main fields in which requirements for the metering of calcium and magnesium in aqueous solution are identified are, schematically:
production of foods or beverages;
production of drugs for the treatment and prophylaxis of diseases, such as hypocalcaemia, osteoporosis, etc., which require the supplementation of calcium;
conditioning of water to be made suitable for consumption or for given technological or applied uses (for example for particular types of aquarium).
In all these cases, the solutions offered by the prior art are entirely unsuitable for use to obtain mineralized waters, in particular mineralized with calcium and magnesium.
Thus, when there is a need to have concentrations of calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate ions at levels comparable with those usually found in waters intended for human consumption, or even higher levels, such as in the case of aquaria, in which it is necessary to have calcium and magnesium concentrations that are constant over time, the problems relating to the metering of these ions are associated with the natural difficulty of dissociating many of their salts in water.
Various solutions have been put into practice for this purpose, which are at times characterized by a certain degree of complexity.
Some of the solutions proposed involve the use of ceramic material, in the form of filters or pellets, or of calcium carbonates mainly of mineral origin (for example calcite, aragonite, etc.) alone or mixed with the corresponding magnesium salts in the form of fixed beds of varied conformation and structure (mainly in the form of columns or cartridges) used as sources for the release of the salts in solution following lixiviation by the water to be enriched.
One adopted system consists in adding carbon dioxide to the water immediately before it is placed in contact with the fixed bed. This type of process is based on the solubilizing action of carbon dioxide on calcium salts, according to the known equilibrium:
CaCO
3
(s)+H
2
O+CO
2
—Ca
2+
+2HCO
3
−
given that calcium carbonate is insoluble and calcium bicarbonate (which does not exist in solid form under ordinary conditions) is soluble in water.
On the other hand, the solubility of calcium carbonate as a function of the pH can be represented schematically as follows:
such that the action of the carbon dioxide, by consequently lowering the pH of the solution, brings about its dissolution.
As an alternative to methods involving the use of carbonates, it is possible to use partially soluble calcium and magnesium salts, such as the respective oxides or hydroxides, with which saturated solutions are generally produced, the homogeneous part of which can be used directly following separation from the residual material.
In this case also, the use of pressurized carbon dioxide, fed separately into the reactor in which the dissolution of salts is carried out, allows better exploitation of the saline preparation.
The reaction which takes place is as follows, which brings about the dissolution of calcium here too:
Ca(OH)
2
+2CO
2
—Ca
2+
2HCO
3
−
The insoluble residue which remains after the treatment can in turn be converted into bicarbonate (soluble salt) by further treatment with carbonated water.
On the whole, this is relatively difficult to achieve.
Independently of the type of matrix used as the source of calcium or magnesium, the existing applications still suffer from a series of considerable limitations.
In the case of processes starting with carbonates, the objective simplicity of the plants comes up against an appreciable difficulty in ensuring a constant result in terms of concentration of the dissolved salts, especially in processes which do not involve rigorously continuous control.
Although the use of oxides or hydroxides ensures the possibility of a more reliable control of the process both under continuous and batchwise conditions, this approach involves decidedly greater production-plant complexity.
Using soluble calcium and magnesium salts (for example the respective chlorides) alone or in mixtures thereof, it is possible to obtain the respective solutions, although these are considerably acidic (due to the hydrolysis of the salt) and above all have high concentrations of chloride ions, which is often unsuitable for many applications.
In addition, in the presence of other soluble salts, such as sodium bicarbonate or potassium bicarbonate, even those calcium and/or magnesium salts that are individually very soluble in water, such as, the chlorides or nitrates, result in the spontaneous formation of the corresponding insoluble carbonates.
The metering of these mixtures would then result in the incomplete solubilization of the salts, or else, for low levels of salinity, relatively long times and prolonged stirring would be required to obtain a clear solution.
When it is desired to prepare a “synthetic water”, by adding salts to water having low salt content, or when it is simply desired to supplement calcium and magnesium salts into o

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