Innovation: ENEA patents process to produce sugars from plants for food, drugs and biofuels
17/6/2021
One simple, low-cost process to obtain soluble sugars from plants, such as glucose and fructose, which finds applications in the food, pharmaceutical and biofuel industry. Patented by the ENEA researchers at the Laboratory of Technologies and Processes for Biorefineries and Green Chemistry in the Trisaia Research Center, in the province of Matera, it consists in obtaining a solution of monomeric sugar from plants, particularly roots, placed in a container in which water is introduced, as compared to the systems currently in use, which require a sequence of treatments with different equipment.
“Our invention consists in a box with a tube containing the root and a tube containing a catalyst. When the water, previously heated, flows into the first tube, it extracts the oligomers from the plant and drags them into the second tube, where the catalyst converts them into simple sugars such as glucose and fructose; an aqueous solution containing the dissolved monomeric sugars flows out of the second tube”, explained ENEA researcher Egidio Viola, inventor of the patent together with Vito Valerio, Federico Liuzzi, Isabella De Bari and Giacobbe Braccio.
One of the technical features of the invention is the presence inside the box of active ultrasounds that improve both the extraction efficiency and the conversion of carbohydrates from oligomers to simple sugars.
“The system can work cyclically, performing repeated extractions and concentrating the sugar solution until the plant material is exhausted”, Viola said.
The catalyst found in the second tube is preferably an acid resin which partly acts as a purifier of the solution and can be easily regenerated and reused.
"The prototype that we developed in the laboratory and which reached a level of technological maturity (TRL) 4[1], after one hour produced fructose through a thistle root with an efficiency of 94%, working at temperatures lower than those of current industrial processes. Specifically, the oligomer extracted is inulin, which is mainly composed of fructose ", Viola concluded.
Obtaining sugars from different plants is one of the most common biorefinery schemes, i.e. processes which aim to create sustainable alternatives to fossil supply chains along the entire value chain through processes with a lower environmental impact.
For more information please contact:
Egidio Viola, ENEA – Laboratory of Technologies and Processes for Biorefineries and Green Chemistry , egidio.viola@enea.it