New technology for invert sugar and high fructose syrups from …

Indian Journal of Chemical Technology Vol. 8, Janua ry 200 I, pp. 28-32

New technology for invert sugar and high fructose syrups from sugarcane

J K Gehl awat

Raha Gchlawat Sugar Academy, 248, R K Vihar, I P Extension, Delhi 110092, India Receil?ed 28 Jun e 1998; accepred 13 No1'e111ber 2000

The in vert sugar is an cquimolar mixture of glucose and fructose. It may be obtained on hydrolysis of sucrose under milder conditi ons using strong cat ioni c res in s. The fru ctose contelll may be incre::tsed to about 60 per cent level by a partial removal of glucose from invert sugar using the technique of column chromatography. The resultant product is called hi gh fructose syrups (HFS) whi ch is traditi onal ly produced from starch. HFS may be produced from sucrose wi th econom ic adva ntage by thi s novel process. The production of invert sugar and high fructose sy rups from suc rose (cane juice) is cost effecti ve. It has been co mmercialized in India . Thi s paper discusses the sali ent features of thi s novel technology, which results in an effective 25 per cent increase in the sweetener output from the same quantity of suga rcane as molasses as a waste product is avoided.

In vert Sugar

In vert sugar finds applications for biscuits,

confectionery, beverages, bakery , several other food

and pharmaceutical formu lations. Traditionally, invert

sugar is produced from sucrose usin g minerals acids

like H2S0 4 and HCI. This conventional method suffers from low conversion efficiency (65-70 per

cent), hi gh ash content and undesirable products (7-8

per cent). Moreover, the invert syrup thus obtained is

dark in colour. In view of these drawbacks of the

traditional process, attempts have been made to

develop alternate methods to produce invert suga r

und er relatively milder process conditions. Enzymatic

hydrolysis of sucrose with in ve rtase has been

recommended

in

th e

literature

13 ?

?

Recentl y,

the

use

of

an immobili zed invertase as a cata lyst in a fixed-bed

reactor is claimed to produce invert sugar sy rups of

I11.g

I

1

pun.ty-??4.

Inversion of sucrose may be carried out usin g

cationi c res ins. Strong cationic resins behave as

catalysts in liquid media. They possess catalytic

properties comparable to strong acids . Thus, by

choosi ng a cation resin of? proper acidity and porosity,

any degree of sucrose inversion could be achieved

without the introd ucti on of any electrolyte into the

syr

up

56 ?.

The

inv ers ion

of

sucrose

usin g

strong

cation

resins is a cheaper process for invert suga rs and hi gh fru ctose syrups7.

High Fructose Syrups During the past three decades, high fructose syru ps

(HFS ) have emerged as cheaper alternati ve sweeteners. They are manufactured by isomerization

of high purity (+98 DE) starch hydrolysates usi ng

immobilized glucose isomerase as th e catalyst. The

equ ilibrium mixture thus obtained contains about 42

per cent fructose and 58 per cent glucose.

Commercially acceptable syrups must possess

minimum 55 per cent fructose content. Thi s is

ach ieved by enrichment of fructose co ntent in th e

mixture through column chromatography. Geh lawat

has been a strong supporter of production of HFS on

large scale in Indi a to supplement the supply of cane

suga

r8?

10 ?

Th e

production

of

hi gh

fructose

syrups

from

sucrose through its cationic inversion has been suggested 11 ?

Cane juice is the principal source of sucrose. The

raw cane juice may be clarified by membrane

techniques like ultrafiltration to el iminate organic

impurities and by electrodialysis to remove inorgani c salts12?16? The sucrose soluti on (c larifi ed cane juice)

thu s obtained may be inverted in a fixed bed reactor

of strong cation res ins as di sc ussed by Seema and

Geblawat 17

and

Sinha

and

Ge

hlaw

at

18 .

Nea rly

equ al

amou nts of glucose and fructose are formed with

cation resins in H+ form. Interestingly, theCa++ form

of the same res in is found to separate glucose from fructose in column chromatography' 9.

Inversion of sucrose present in refined cane juice is

the most economical meth od of obtaining eq uimolar

mixtures of glucose and fru ctose which on enri chment

through the column chromatographic technique

produces the cheapest and superior grades of hi gh

fructose syrups. Thus, in Ind ia, HFS from cane juice

may compete favou:?ab ly with the syrups obtained

from

corn

in

countri es

like

USA

17 20 '.

Fig .

1

shows

two

GEHLAWAT: INVERT SUGAR AND HIGH FRUCTOSE SYRUPS FROM SUGARCANE

29

c,z Hn o,, .+ Sucrose

H~ /Invertase INVERSION

+

Glucose

Fructose

t Invert SugarT

J

Adsorp-tion . ,

Chromatgpy~

+

c::Y

(/)

0

u c

~ 0

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