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Reverse Osmosis Saves Energy and Water in Corn Wet Milling
Author(s) -
Cicuttini A.,
Kollacks W. A.,
Rekers C. J. N.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
starch ‐ stärke
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1521-379X
pISSN - 0038-9056
DOI - 10.1002/star.19830350502
Subject(s) - reverse osmosis , starch , suspension (topology) , evaporator , osmosis , permeation , materials science , pulp and paper industry , membrane , chemistry , chemical engineering , engineering , food science , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , mathematics , heat exchanger , homotopy , pure mathematics
The production of high purity starch from corn by the wet milling process requires the addition of considerable volumes of water, which subsequently must be removed by energy intensive processes including pressing, evaporation and drying. To reduce the process energy requirement, the water added for starch washing should be reduced, since this would result in a corresponding reduction in the steepwater to be evaporated. However, this also lowers starch quality. To overcome this problem, a tubular membrane reverse osmosis system was installed to produce a high purity process water from an intermediate stream (a starch‐protein suspension). This permeate replaces a large part of the fresh make‐up water added for starch washing. Each liter of water separated via reverse osmosis with a primary energy input of about 100 joule reduces the energy use of the triple effect steepwater evaporator by 1 300 joule.