Concentration and purification of steepwater from corn starch industry by ultrafiltration

摘要

Governments of the developed countries have tried to increase the pressure on the largest waste producers in order to reduce the undesired environmental pollution. For example, the Commission of the European Communities introduced the Integral Pollution and Prevention Control Directive. The purpose of the directive is to achieve integrated prevention and the control of pollution arising from the particular activities listed in its Annex I. Membrane techniques in corn starch industry are used in order to achieve an increase in the quality of the finished sweetening and syrup products. It has also found its application in the process of water elimination, i.e. dehydration in the course of the production. It is used to isolate proteins from diluted process flows. Now, the aim of this work was to look into possibility for steepwater ultrafiltration in order to obtain more concentrated steepwater by low energy intake process such as membrane separation and to get process water that could be reused in starch indutry, which otherwise is not valorized. The consumption of process water would thus be reduced, the nutrients from the steepwater could be exploited as feed and the wastewater problem would consequently be solved.