GB1048326A - A process and apparatus for heating sugar containing materials - Google Patents

Abstract

In a process and apparatus for heating sugar beet cossettes before they enter a diffusion device 20, Figs 1 and 2, the cossettes are fed, by a conveyer 1 and through a hopper 2, on to the upper flight of a permeable, e.g. perforated, endless travelling conveyer belt 4 supported by drums 5. A regulator 6 and side baffles 7 maintain a uniform layer of cossettes on said upper flight. Juice-distributing, perforated surfaces or sprinklers 10 are provided above said upper flight and a juice-collecting tank 11 is provided below it. The conveyer assembly 3 is pivoted at a point 13 and mounted on a jack 14, so that the upper flight of the belt 4 can be tilted. The conveyer assembly 3, the sprinklers 10 and the tank 11 are disposed within a casing 15, which is provided with an outlet pipe 17 connected to an inclined duct 18 leading into the diffusion device 20. A device for cleaning the conveyer belt 4 is provided. This device may comprise nozzles 8, for directing air or pressurized fluid at the belt, or a brush 9 rotating in the opposite direction to that part of the belt which it engages. Hot juice is withdrawn from the diffusion device 20 through a screen 21 and a pump 22. Part of this juice is sprinkled, by the sprinklers 10, on to the layer of cossettes and passes through the cossettes-thus heating them-into tank 11. The remainder of the hot diffusion juice is passed through a heat-exchanger 23, to acquire a desired sterilizing temperature, and then through a pipe 16 to mix with the heated cossettes received in the pipe 17. The resulting mixture passes into the diffusion device 20 through the duct 18, which is of such a length that a desired exchange of heat takes place and the cossettes are rendered aseptic. The final diffusion juice issuing from the diffusion device 20 and the juice from the tank 11 are subjected to further sugar-manufacturing processes. In order to isolate the conveyer belt, so that it can be stopped and repaired, a pivoted distributer 27 Fig. 3 (not shown), provided in the hopper 2, is operated to deflect cossettes away from the belt into the bottom of the casing 15 near the pipe 16, which is connected to the lower part of the casing at its inlet end. <PICT:1048326/C6-C7/1> <PICT:1048326/C6-C7/2>