Chemistry plays a vital part in our daily lives. Even if it’s not immediately noticeable. Products from LANXESS ensure that food tastes well and remains fresh.
Lewatit sweetens your day
For most people, a cup of coffee is an important part of starting their day off to the right. However, many of us really only start to enjoy the caffeinated beverage once we add one or two pieces of sugar. Sugar is white and sweet because the raw sugar has been treated with a Lewatit ion exchange resin from LANXESS.
Before refined white sugar or liquid sugar for the confectionery industry can be produced from raw sugar, the substance needs to go through a longer process. An extract is initially taken from sugar beets or sugar cane. In addition to sucrose (based on the Latin term for sugar), it also contains non-sugar substances such as salts, acids, proteins, and natural colorants. Using LANXESS ion exchange resins, non-sugar substances and natural colorants can be easily removed. Raw sugar syrup acquired from sugar beets contains considerably less non-sugar substances and natural colorants compared to raw sugar syrup acquired from sugar cane. Generally speaking, the raw sugar syrup just needs to be softened before it is concentrated through an evaporation unit before it is finally crystallized. The result of this, for example, is the white granulated sugar we are familiar with. In contrast to that, the dark syrup from sugar cane is filtered in several stages using Lewatit ion exchange resins, thereby decolorized and non-sugar substances almost entirely removed. The result is a clear sugar syrup, which can either be directly used as a liquid sugar in the confectionery industry or crystallized. Refined sugar can be produced from both sugar acquired from sugar beets as well as sugar cane. This is a pure white sugar of the highest quality or various other sugar qualities.
Food industry makes extensive use of ion exchange resins
Ion exchange resins work in a simple way. The millimeter-sized polymer beads bind certain ions from the raw sugar solutions and release other ions into the solution. In this way for example, they absorb undesired salts and supply the raw sugar solution with hydrogen or hydroxide ions instead – hence they release water. To extract the dark color from the raw sugar, the polymer beads absorb the color molecules. Customers from the food industry have already been impressed by this procedure. They use the small beads to produce soft drinks, yoghurt, bread, beer, jelly babies and even toothpaste.
Softer water
However, the tiny Lewatit beads can do much more than that. Potential applications include the softening of water in dishwashers or decarbonization in domestic water filters. Weakly acidic cation exchangers are primarily used in cartridges for domestic water filters as well as in domestic water systems, which are becoming increasingly popular. Here, they remove hardness-causing calcium and magnesium ions as well as harmful lead and copper ions from the tap water, and replace them with other harmless ions. This improves the quality and taste of the water.
Ensuring that beverages last longer
To enable beverages to remain preserved, Velcorin® from LANXESS is used. “Velcorin can be used with many types of beverages. From carbonated soft drinks, iced tea, and juice drinks to sports and energy drinks, as well as in mixed beer beverages, cider, and wine,” says Ingo Broda, head of Beverage Technology at MPP.
Germs such as yeast, molds, and bacteria are present in the bottling process of beverages – in indoor air, in production systems, inside the lids, and in the beverage itself. They do not only affect the sensory properties of the beverage, but can also pose a health risk to the consumer. Even in small doses, Velcorin is highly effective against harmful microorganisms and protects the product from spoilage.
It is added directly before the beverage is bottled. The LANXESS product enters the cells of the microorganisms and deactivates its key enzymes. After it is added to the beverage, Velcorin quickly decomposes into tiny quantities of methanol and carbon dioxide, which are naturally present in many beverages such as fruit and vegetable juices. The stabilizing agent does not affect the taste, odor, or color of the beverage. “These important product benefits have impressed enologists all over the world, who need to achieve a high standard of wine production every year,” Broda says.
Good enough to eat
Food and sulfuric acid – at first glance, this does not seem like a natural pairing. However, sulfuric acid in extremely diluted form is a recognized acidifier and is permitted in Europe as an additive under number E 513 for the food industry. LANXESS produces the product in this ultra-pure quality in Leverkusen. The production facility is an approved food processing facility.
When you enjoy some bread and cheese, you do not normally think about sulfuric acid. However, the inorganic acid is used as a technical adjuvant, for example in dairy factories for the production of cheese, as well as in sugar refineries and in water purification. Producers make use of the disintegrating power of the acid, which splits proteins and carbohydrates in concentrated form. These properties are required in the production of modified starch and special whey proteins, which are necessary in bodybuilding supplements.
The entire sulfuric acid production process needs to be monitored and controlled precisely for use in the food industry – from production and bottling through to transportation. This is necessary for an E-approval as a food additives. Incidentally, the sulfuric acid is only used in the production. It is virtually untraceable in the finished product.
Softening without phthalates
LANXESS products are not only found in food, but also in their packaging, such as phthalate-free plasticizers. The polymeric plasticizers of the Ultramoll IV segment are approved for use in consumer goods in contact with foodstuffs. The composition of Ultramoll IV complies with the EU Commission Regulation 10/2011 and various FDA guidelines. As polymeric plasticizers, the adipic acid polyesters Ultramoll IV are characterized by good extraction and migration resistance. Due to their high molecular weight they are not very volatile.
The right coloring for PET bottles
PET bottles offer benefits for the beverage industry. They are light and also unbreakable. The only blemish: Their yellow tint. If a beverage producer wants to fill PET bottles with a colorless or white liquid, the contents appear yellowish, which is not popular among consumers. Milk must appear white, and mineral water must appear colorless. Macrolex colorants from LANXESS provide remedy. The colorants are provided in the form of microgranules. These hollow spheres can be easily compressed and quickly, evenly, and completely dissolved in the plastic. This ensures consistent coloring without clumping. There is a different issue at hand in the case of beer and fruit juice, as they are light-sensitive and must be protected from light. The PET is colored dark brown in this case. The Macrolex color range is therefore suitable for this. It offers protection from light and is migration-proof, so it does not enter into the beverage. Macrolex meets the requirements of the FDA in relation to the coloring of food packaging.
