Inulin industrial production

The present utilization of carbohydrates as a feedstock for the chemical industry is modest, when considering their ready availability, low cost and huge potential [92], The bulk of the annually renewable carbohydrate biomass consists of polysaccharides, but their non-food utilization is still modest. The low-molecular-weight carbohydrates, that is, the constituent units of these polysaccharides, are potential raw materials for several commodity chemicals in fact, glucose (available from cornstarch, bagasse, molasses, wood), fructose (inulin), xylose (hemicelluloses) or the disaccharide sucrose (world production 140 Mtons year-1) are inexpensive and available on a scale of several ten thousands. 

A method is presented for producing concentrate of dehydrated Jerusalem artichoke tubers. The novel product is characterized by a high content of micro- and macroelements (e.g., silicon, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium). It provides a biologically active additive for foodstuffs, a base or component of food products, and can also be a source material for the production of inulin for use in the biotechnological, medicine, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. 

A method is disclosed for the production of an inulin extract from Jerusalem artichoke tubers. Inulin crystallization is done in two stages. The product is used for preparing diagnostic agents and in the food industry. 

A unique plant on many levels, the distinctive properties of the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) present novel answers to some of today s most pressing problems. Jerusalem artichoke is potentially a major source of inulin, a fructose polymer that provides dietary health benefits as a prebiotic that promotes intestinal health and as a low-calorie carbohydrate to combat obesity and diabetes. Inulin also has myriad industrial applications, including ethanol production — making Jerusalem artichoke a potential source of biofuel. With its ready cultivation and minimal pest and disease problems, Jerusalem artichoke is an underutilized resource that possesses the potential to meet major health and energy challenges. 

Stereoselective chemical synthesis of DFAs is instrumental in obtaining pure standards for the validation of analytical methods for the identification and quantification of DFAs in mixtures, particularly in food products. Yet it is inadequate for mass production of DFAs or nutritional applications. Biotechnological approaches using inulin or levan fructosyltransferases, while limited to certain diastereomers, show much promise in these respects. Most of the reports on enzymatic synthesis of DFAs are related to the monospiranic difuranose DFA 111 (1) and the non-spiranic DFA rV (15), while reports on the dispiranic DFA I (10) are much less frequent. Their synthesis has become an issue of industrial interest [56]. 

Sugar crops deliver mainly two types of sugar which can be used for industrial purposes-sucrose, a disaccharide composed by one glucose and one fructose monomer, and inulin, a polysaccharid. The latter can be obtained from topinam-bur (Hdianthus tuberosus) but is only of minor commercial importance. One example for such an application is the production of diets for diabetics [lOj. 

As a last example of an ultrasound application to catalytic reactions using solid catalysts, we refer to unpublished results. The hydrolysis of inuline (Eq. 12) is catalyzed by acid substances, i.e., inorganic or organic acids in aqueous solution, or acid solids or enzymes. The products of acid hydrolysis are fructose and glucose. Because of the use of the reaction in the food industry, an acid catalyst should not pollute the products at the end of the process. Therefore, solid acids, much more easily separable from the reaction products than liquid acids, must be preferred. In the present work, the employed catalyst was Amberlite IR-120-H (Carlo Erba), that is to say, a solid catalyst with a particle size from 15 to 45 mesh. The reaction was studied in a batch and in a continuous sonicated reactor. 

FOS mixtures are commercialized with a purity level above 95%, while commercial GOS mixtures contain between 40% and 70% of tri- and tetrasaccharides, except for the purified TOS-100 powder, commercialized byYakult that contains more than 99% GOS. In Europe, FOS synthesized using enzymes are only commercialized by Beghin-Meiji Industries while inulin and oligofructose extracted from the chicory root are produced by Beneo-Orafti, Cosucra, and Sensus. A compilation of the fruc-tans, GOS, and lactulose products currently produced and commercially available is presented in (Table 19.6). 

A number of years ago, the food industry began adding fructans to dairy products and other foods for nutritional and physiological reasons. These are carbohydrates such as inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS) that are not hydrolyzed by enzymes in the human body. Inulin is a linear polyfructan with (1- 2)-linked D-fructofliranosyl units bormd on the terminal end of a trisaccharide... 

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