Spinning cone column

Although conventional separators are successful in removing the volatiles from juice streams, the resulting strip will usually require further rectification and thereby concentration in order to render it a flavour component in its own right. 

The juice feed is introduced at the top of the column, on to a distributor disc, and runs down the column in a thinly layered stream between the stators and spinning cone assembly. Counter to its flow and moving up the column is a gas phase, which may be non-intrusive, such as nitrogen, or more commonly a live steam feed. The multiple-stage effect produces a highly efficient separation of the component volatiles from the juice stream and an enriched fraction is produced. 

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In hot-climate viticulture it is a common practice to lower the high ethanol content of wines made from overripe fruit by partial dealcoholisation. This objective can be achieved by vacuum distillation, where the spinning cone column technique allows even more viscous liquids to be processed. Alternatively, a water-ethanol fraction can be separated from wine by reverse osmosis, followed by distillation of the water-ethanol permeate to yield high-grade ethanol and pure water. The latter will be added back to the treated wine. 

Additional heat treatment inevitably involves losses in efficiency as there are likely to be subtle changes in quality and yields due to heat degradation of some of the components. The spinning cone column (Figure 3.9) is designed to selectively isolate a volatiles fraction in one operation. It is in effect a... 

Sample preparation. For the study of trace compounds we used two different sample preparation procedures SPI and SPII for wine no. 1 and wine no. 2, respectively. The first flavor extract SP I was obtained by liquid-liquid extraction with fluorochloromethane and dichloromethane (9+1) from 45 L Scheurebe wine. For further analysis a portion of 1/3 was used. After separation on silica gel (pentane/diethyl ether) 6 fractions were analyzed. For the second flavor extract SP II we started from 200 L wine stripping off volatile compounds with vapour in a spinning cone column (SCC) system (5). The condensate was sequentially collected in two main portions of 8 and 2 L, respectively. The first condensate was discarded. The second condensate (2 L) was subjected to liquid-liquid extration with fluorochloromethane and dichloromethane (9+1). After separation on silica gel (pentane/diethyl ether) using medium pressure chromatography (MPLC) 4 fractions were analyzed. 

Flavourtech, Spinning Cone Column product information, 1996. 

Sykes S., Casimir D., Prince R., Recent advances in spinning cone column technology. Food Australia, 44. 462-464 (1992)... 

The Centritherm-Evaporator (27) is very popular for the concentration of passion fruit juice. This is a one-stage rotary thin film evaporator which can be fitted with or without aroma recovery. Originally developed by Alfa Laval for concentrating sensitive products in the pharmaceutical industry, this machine is now sold and serviced by FLAVOURTECH Pty. Ltd (27). For the very efficient recovery of the aroma FLA-VOURTECH can also offer a so-called Spinning Cone Column which has been successfully applied for the recovery of difficult-to-recover aromas such as coffee aroma. 

Six-blade turbine, six-blade vaned disc, two-blade paddle, spinning cone (co = 100-220 s-i) Sparging/bubble column Required rotational speed highest for conical rotor. Significant amounts of liquids entrained with exhaust air 0.19 Cone 0.1 others 0.115 2.1-6.4 Commercial detergent, Triton X-100, Tween 60, saponin, egg albumin... 

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