WO2012175920A2

WO2012175920A2 - Material and manufacturing method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2012175920A2
Application number: PCT/GB2012/000539
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alkesh Ramesh PARMAR
Original assignee: Parmar Alkesh Ramesh
Priority date: 2011-06-22
Filing date: 2012-06-21
Publication date: 2012-12-27
Also published as: GB201110531D0; WO2012175920A3

Abstract

A method is disclosed for making a solid material from waste citrus peel and related peels includes the steps of extracting pectin as a binder from the peel, drying and grinding the peel, optionally grading the peel for dried peel particle sizes, mixing selected dried peel particles in selected ratios with a mixing binder that includes recovered pectin and optionally can include other natural and artificial binders and resins, and moulding and otherwise forming the mixture to provide a solid material in useable shapes and sizes. The solid material is suitable for low cost low technology third world fabrication, can be cut, milled and machined, and can replace wood, cork, and other materials in low or threatened supply.

Description

Material and Manufacturing Method Thereof

The present invention relates to a method of making a material and the material resulting there from. The invention particularly relates to use of waste matter from other enterprise to create the material. The invention, in greatest particularity, relates to material that is eco-friend)y and itself bio-degradable. The invention also relates to creation of sustainable materials that can provide replacements for cork, wood and plastics. The invention is hereafter explained and described in relation to citrus fruits and their discarded skins and by products. It is to be appreciated that the invention also applies to many other types of natural products, including, but not restricted to, sugar beet. Citrus fruit in commercial use includes many different varieties and species. Some commercially exploited varieties include oranges, grapefruit, ugli fruit, lemons, tangerines, limes and clemantines. In some processes, for example, where juice or pectin is extracted, a large quantity of discarded fruit skins are left and are generally disposed of in landfill or other waste sites. The present invention seeks to use waste skins to create useful products.

Many products made from recovered fibres, for example, chipboard and plywood, rely upon chemically manufactured resins and binders that are used to hold the fibres together, but which are not, themselves readily biodegradable and can take long periods to decay in landfill sites. The present invention seeks to provide a method and material using natural binding agents that can easily decay when buried for disposal.

Fruit growth happens, among other places, in third world or emerging economies where processing and manufacturing start up costs are to be kept to a minimum to be affordable, and importation of materials is impossible or very expensive. The present invention seeks to enable third world and emerging economy processing by keeping manufacturing equipment simple and by employing only locally available materials. United States Patent US4497838 discloses an improved process is provided tor the recovery of useful products from orange peels derived from the processing of oranges. The peel is contacted with a solution comprising a non-aqueous water- miscible solvent to extract the sugars, essential oils, and bioflavanoids contained therein. The solvent-extracted peel is dried to produce a product high in cellulose and pectin. The extract is diluted with an aqueous solution to render the essential oils insoluble, with the essential Oils being recovered from the extract, causing the bioflavanoids to precipitate and permit their recovery by filtration. The remaining portion of the extract may be recovered and purified to provide a sugar syrup. The present invention seeks to provide improvement there over by avoiding use of expensive non-aqueous water miscibl solvent and by using peel to and its natural products create a useful new material.

United States patent US6730249 discloses a material having reinforced composites containing cellulosic pulp fibres dispersed in a matrix, wherein the matrix comprises a thermoplastic polymeric material melting above 180 DEG C. and the cellulosic pulp fibres have an alpha-cellulose purity greater than 80% by weight. Methods of making and using the reinforced composites. The present invention seeks to provide improvement there over by avoiding use artificial thermoplastic polymers and avoiding use of highly pure starting materials.

United States Patent US7485332 discloses a by product from extracting citrus juice from whole fruit is made into a slurry and extracted to provide a rudimentary peel juice. This is processed into a raw peel juice and micro-filtered to prepare a clarified raw peel juice. The peel juice is processed to remove naturally occurring components which detract from the quality of the fruit juice. Such components are removed by contacting the peel juice with an adsorpti ve rein in order to provide an enhanced peel citrus juice, which can be blended with other juices. The present invention seeks to provide improvement there over by avoiding making a whole fruit slurry whereby the present invention permits peel to be used for creating of a useful solid material.

Unites States patent application US20020031581 discloses a processing system and methods that allow useful by products to be extracted and organic and or plant materials reduced to a food grade or other useful product, the present invention seeks to provide improvemen there over by using fruit by products to be turned into useful adaptable solid material without having to meet the stringencies of food grade production. European Patent EP0616878 discloses a process for making material, the process comprises grinding dried fruit skin, especially almond shell, to specific grain sizes, and mixing the same with stearic acid or paraffin, and thermoplastic derivatives, to yield a compression or injection mouldable material to obtain several objects, in particular packages, stoppers, furniture and the like, of an ecological and recyclable kind. The present invention seeks to provide improvement there over by avoiding use of artificial acid and mineral derived binders and by extending the process into a range of a further range of fruit types.

International Patent Application W02D10/013994 A2 discloses a fibre-granule board for construction industry, furniture industry and the like made of agricultural solid waste in particular comprising fibrous empty fruit bunch materials, porous oil palm shells materials and a suitable binder. The fibrous materials, porous materials and the binder are mixed, cold pressed for thickness and hot pressed for binder to set and further cooled before use. Binders used are in no way derived from the fruit itself and involve industrially manufactured binder products. The present invention seeks to improve there over by using, as binders, naturally derived substances and by extending material making to a greater and other range of fruits.

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of creating a solid material from peel, the method comprising the step of:

a step of extracting a binder substance from the peel;

a step of drying the peel;

a step of grinding the peel to produce dried peel particles;

a step of blending dried peel particles in selectable proportions with mixing binder to form a mixture;

and a step of drying and forming the mixture to provide a solid material. According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a solid material, made by a process including the steps of:

a step of extracting a binder substance from the peel;

a step of drying the peel;

a step of grinding the peel to produce dried peel particles;

and

a step of drying and forming the mixture to provide a solid material.

The invention also provides that the step of grinding peel can include a step of grading particle size of the dried peel particles. The invention also provides that the step of blending dried peel particles can include a step of selecting the size or sizes of graded dried peel particles to be added to make the mixture.

The invention can also provide a step of adding other particulate materials, other than dried peel particles, to the mixture.

The invention also provides that the peel can be obtained from at least one of: lemon; lime; grapefruit; Clementine; leech lime; sweety; mandarins; tangerine; kumquat; minneola; tangelo; orange; ugli; rough lemon; pummelo; satsuma; passion fruits; and melons.

The invention also provides that the step of blending dried peel particles in selectable proportions with mixing binder to form a mixture includes the step of employing as the mixing binder, in whole or in part, pectin derived in the a step of extracting a binder substance from the peel. The invention also provides, when the mixing binder comprises pectin from the step of extracting binder substance from the peel only in part that the step of blending dried peel particles includes a step providing, as the remainder of the binder substance at least one of: honey; cashew nutshell liquid; bio-adhesives; sap; latex; mucilage; gum arabic; shellac; starch; biodegradable thermoplastic resin; Plastarch Material (PSM); ootheca foam; amylum; epoxy resin; polyester resin; acetyl resin; ion exchange resin; at-10 resin; melamine resin; and any other natural or synthetic substance. The invention also provides that the step of drying and forming the mixture to provide a solid material can include one, some or all of the steps of; moulding and drying the mixture; pressing and drying the mixture; extruding and drying the mixture; machining the moulded and dried mixture; machining the pressed and dried mixture; and machining the extruded and dried mixture. The invention is further explained, by way of examples; by the following description to be read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a process sequence chart of the initial stages of processing. and

Figure 2, showing how prepared raw materials of Figure 1 are processed to become a finished solid product.

Attention is first drawn to Figure 1, showing a process sequence chart of initial processing.

The main raw material used in the invention is the rind from hespiridium fruits. These are fruits with a thick peel, such as a citrus fruits. In hesperidiums, the inner layer (also called albedo or, among non-botanists, pith) is peeled off together with the outer layer (also called zest), and together they are called the peel. The zest and albedo, respectively, are the exocarp and the mesocarp. The juicy layer inside the peel (containing the seeds) is the endocarp. Example of hespirirdums are citrus fruits such as lemon, lime, grapefruit, Clementine, leech lime, sweety, mandarin, tangerine, kumquat, minneola, tangelo. Orange, ugli, rough lemon, pummelo, Satsuma and passion fruits

Other fruit peels that can also be used in the invention are from from berry type fruits, these being mainly fruits with very soft epicarp and with the mesocarp and endocarp very fleshy, and include avocado and pomegranate. Some pepos fruits can also be used, being fruits that come from an inferior ovary with the outer part of the pericarp stiffened, for example melons.

A first process stage 10 involves extracting pectin and other binder substances from discarded citrus peel following another, different process that is not part of the present invention. The other process can be any process that results in unwanted and discarded citrus peel that has not yet had any substances extracted from it, such as, but not limited to: recovery of citrus fruit for canning; and extraction of citrus juice. A proportion ranging from all to a fraction of the discarded peel, being solid hesperidia (citrus) peel waste that is a by-product from fruit processing, is first pressed under compression to drain excess juices. The excess juice waste is then blended to a consistent liquid and can be stored in a cool dry place to be added as a binder. Pectin is then extracted from the pressed waste in the form of low-grade unrefined non-food grade pectin, which is cost efficient. Over-refining is avoided. Any solids left from the pectin production is dried and broken down into powder. Citrus peel or other peel is sourced, for example, from a number of juice producers. In most cases this material has been washed and dried so it can be transported and stored without spoilage.

Prior to pressing, a hydrolysis process takes place where dried sourced peel is added to hot water preferably containing a processing aid, that can be a mineral acid, although others known in the art such as enzymes can also be used, since water alone will only extract a very limited amount of pectin.

After a period of time has passed, sufficient to extract pectin, remaining solids are separated and used later in the process. The pectin containing solution is then clarified and concentrated by removing some of the water. Solids can be separated by filter, centrifuge, or other suitable means. If necessary, the solution can then be filtered again to clarify it.

Either directly, or after further holding time to modify the pectin, the concentrated liquid is stored in a cool dry place for later mixing with the solid. An optional further process involves the concentrated liquid being mixed with an alcohol to precipitate pectin. The precipitate is separated, washed with more alcohol to remove impurities, and dried. The alcohol wash can be provided with salts or alkalis to convert the pectin to a partial salt form as a sodium, potassium, calcium or ammonium salt. The alcohol employed is preferably isopropanol that lends itself to very efficient recovery for reuse to precipitate further pectin.

There is a wide variety of pectin types: rapid set pectin; slow set pectin for low- temperature cooking; stabilizing pectins for acidic, protein-laden foods; and low methyl ester and amidated pectins for low-sugar products. Any variety is suitable for use in the present invention. A second process stage 12 then dries fruit peel. Solid pee) now has reduced water content which helps the drying process. The solid peel is dried either using industrial ovens at a steady heat or with the use of solar heat. Other forms of peel drying ar also encompassed by the invention. Drying times vary depending upon the method used. For example* air drying can take up to 4 days until fully hard. Sun drying can take 2days. Oven drying can take 3 hours. The drying time for melon peel is longer by roughly 20%.

A third process stage 14 then breaks down dried peel into particles and powders. This can be done by any available method, including, but not limited to, individually or in combination: milling; grinding; chopping; mechanical blending and mincing. The invention also encompasses any other form of dried particle size reduction.

A fourth process stage 16 then grades the peel particles. Dried peel particles are sieved through meshes from 10 to 300, grades range from 7cm particle down to fine powder of 300 microns. A selection of graded particle sizes is then available for use in preparing solid material. Attention is next drawn to Figure 2, showing how prepared raw materials of Figure 1 are processed to become a finished solid product that can be used for many varied applications.

A fifth process stage 18 then has the dried particles from selected sizes mixed together in selectable proportions to make the dry mix required for preparation of a preferred solid material. The particle size mix can range from "just as it comes'' in which case the fourth process stage 16 can be omitted, through different mixtures of different selected particle sizes, to use on a particle size of only one size. The selected mixture depends upon the desired properties of the resultant solid material. Mixing can be achieved using any kind of mixer that ensures reasonable

homogeneousness of the final dry mixture to be achieved,.

A sixth process stage 20 then mixes the binder with the selected dry peel particle mixture so that pectin is then coated or mixed with the particles/powder.

The ratio of weight of particles to weight of binder depends upon the resultant product to be made and the sizes ol the solid particles used. In general, the amount of particle surface area increases as the cube of the reciprocal of particle size. Thus, the smaller the particles that are used, the greater is the proportional weight of binder that is used.

The binder is preferably fruit peel derived pectin alone. However, within the invention the binder need not contain pectin alone, but may also comprise other binding substances. Suitable other substances can comprise: honey for use in making flexible sheet: cashew nutshell liquid; bio-adhesives; natural resins such as, but not restricted to sap, latex, mucilage, gum arabic, and shellac; carbohydrates such as, but not limited to, starch; biodegradable, thermoplastic resin such as Plastarch Material (PSM); ootheca foam; and amylum. While it is preferred that natural substances be included in the binder, the invention also encompasses that synthetic binders can also be used, for example synthetic resins, such as epoxy resin and polyester resin, acetyl resin, ion exchange resin, at-10 resin and melamine resin. Where pectin alone is used as the binder, dried powdered peel is combined with pectin with a selected a pulp in a selected weight ratio ranging from 1 :1 (1 part peel to 1 part pectin) down to 1 :0.5 ( 1 part peel to 0.5 parts pectin), depending upon the final properties of the material to be created. A seventh processing stage then applies finishing treatments that vary according to the properties of the material created.

In a first treatment, employed where the binder coated particles are intended for final finishing elsewhere or later, coated particles are allowed to dry off as separate powder/granules and to be left or transported to be moulded or formed into sheets at a later date. Various forms of drying can be employed, including kiln, sun and air- drying. Coated dried granules can later be mixed with an industrial alcohol such as isopropyl alcohol and can be used in compression, injection, and other moulding processes using heat and compression to make articles of use.

In a second treatment, the mix is directly moulded, again using compression, injection, and other moulding processes using heat and compression to make articles of use. As an example thereof, pulp is poured into moulds of various materials shapes and sizes, it is then placed into a compression or other relevant machinary where by pressures ranging from 5-1000 tons are applied at

temperatures from 80- 160 degress celcius. The pulp this left at this stage for approximately 10minutes. Once removed the following exemplary methods of drying are applied: cool air drying that, depending on the size of the mould, can take anything from 2-24 hours to fully dry; and oven drying, where, depending on object size and oven temperature, in one example takes from 1-12 hours to fully dry, at a constant temperature of 40 degree Celsius.

The same process is applied for other fruit peels, in some cases ratios may vary which can then be, formed or placed into moulds. The moulds are various shapes and are made from, but not restricted to materials such as aluminium, card, silicone, and calico. The resultant material can be made, for example, into a block or rod and then worked with milling machines, files, laser cutters and any similar cutting and forming tools and machines to make items of use. As an alternative, the pulp mixture is simply poured directly into a mould and allowed to dry to create an end product.

In a third treatment, a flexible sheet is made, suitable for use, for example, in forming soles of shoes and sandals, as well as all manner of products for which cork is currently employed. Making sheet forms requires the dried raw material the be combined with pectin and honey at a ratio of: a) 1 part ground dried peel (powder) to 0.5 parts of pectin: 0.5 part honey (calculated by weight): or b) 1 part ground dried orange peel (particle sizes of 1 -2mm) to 0.3 part of pectin and 0.3 parts of honey (calculated by weight); or c) 1 part peel (equal particles and powder) to 0.4 parts of pectin and 0.4 parts of honey (calculated by weight.) The above examples show that honey can form 50% by weight of the binder and the total binder weight can range between 60% and 100% by weight of the ground dried peel. The selected ground dried peel particle size can range from powder (very small) up to use only of large particles in the range of 1mm to 2mm.

In other examples for making sheet, all binder is pectin. In yet another example of making sheet, the honey component is replaced in different ratios with the pectin to provide, for example, a binder that is part pectin and part any other binder material stated here before. As an example of sheet formation, all of the three components are mixed thoroughly to ensure the binders make the peel wet and tacky. The material is then laid flat onto a calico and then onto a flat surface such as a wooden board.lt then gets rolled out with a rolling pin or equivalent, or pressed into a flat sheet and, once at the desired thickness, weight (amount depends on size of sheet) is applied on top. The applied weight remains in place for 12 hours and the sheet is then taken out of the mould and cool air dried for a further 12 hours. It is to be appreciated that this exemplary process a basic way to form sheets and than any other more refined and/or industrial process can be used within the invention as a sheet forming processes.

Peel to binder weight ratios may vary slightly depending on the type of peel used. Other binders natural and artificial can also be used to give different qualities of material. The ground dried peel can have other particulate materia) added to the mixture, such as other vegetable waste and mineral substances, to adjust the properties of the final product, Within the invention, such additions are made with the main bulk of any mixture dry comprising waste peel.

Those skilled in the art will be aware of many modifications and adaptations that can be made without departing from the invention as more clearly defined in the appended claims given here below.

Claims

1. A method of creating a solid material from peel, the method comprising the step of:

a step of extracting a binder substance from the peel;

a step of drying the peel;

a step of grinding the peel to produce dried peel particles;

and

a step of drying and forming the mixture to provide a solid material.

2. The method of Claim 1 wherein the step of grinding peel includes a step of grading particle size of the dried peel particles.

3. The method of Claim 2 wherein the step of blending dried peel particles includes a step of selecting the size or sizes of graded dried peel particles to be added to make the mixture.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims including a step of adding other particulate materials, other than dried peel particles, to the mixture.

5. The method, according to any of the preceding Claims, for use where the peel is obtained from at least one of: lemon; lime; grapefruit; Clementine; leech lime; sweety; mandarins; tangerine; kumquat; minneola; tangelo; orange; ugli; rough lemon; pummelo; satsuma; passion fruits; and melons.

6. The method of any of the preceding Claims wherein the step of blending dried peel particles in selectable proportions with mixing binder to form a mixture includes the step of employing as the mixing binder, in whole or in part, pectin derived in the a step of extracting a binder substance from the peel.

7. The method, according to Claim 6, where, when the mixing binder comprises pectin from the step of extracting binder substance from the peel only in part, the step of blending dried peel particles includes a step providing, as the remainder of the binder substance at least one of: honey; cashew nutshell liquid; bio-adhesives; sap; latex; mucilage; gum arabic; shellac; starch; biodegradable thermoplastic resin; Plastarch Material (PSM); ootheca foam; amylum; epoxy resin; polyester resin; acetyl resin; ion exchange resin; at-10 resin; and melamine resin.

8. The method of any of the preceding Claims including the step of drying and forming the mixture to provide a solid material includes one, some or all of the steps of: moulding and drying the mixture; pressing and drying the mixture; extruding and drying the mixture; machining the moulded and dried mixture; machining the pressed and dried mixture; and machining the extruded and dried mixture.

9. A solid material, made by a process including the steps of :

a step of extracting a binder substance from the peel;

a step of drying the peel;

a step of grinding the peel to produce dried peel particles;

and

a step of drying and forming the mixture to provide a solid material.

10. The material of Claim 9 wherein the step of grinding peel includes a step of grading particle size of the dried peel particles.

11. The material of Claim 10 wherein the step of blending dried peel particles includes a step of selecting the size or sizes of graded dried peel particles to be added to make the mixture.

12. The material of any of claims 9 to 11 including a step of adding other particulate materials, other than dried peel particles, to the mixture.

13. The material, according to any of Claims 9 to 12 , wherein the peel is obtained from at least one of: lemon; lime; grapefruit; Clementine; leech lime;

sweety; mandarins; tangerine; kumquat; minneola; tangelo; orange; ugli; rough lemon; pummelo; satsuma; passion fruits; and melons.

1 . The material of any of Claims 9 to 13, wherein the step of blending dried peel particles in selectable proportions with mixing binder to form a mixture includes the step of employing as the mixing binder, in whole or in part, pectin derived in the a step of extracting a binder substance from the peel.

15. The material, according to Claim 14, where, when the mixing binder comprises pectin from the step of extracting binder substance from the peel only in part, the step of blending dried peel particles includes a step providing, as the remainder of the binder substance at least one of; honey; cashew nutshell liquid; bio-adhesives; sap; latex; mucilage; gum arabic; shellac; starch; biodegradable thermoplastic resin; Plastarch Materia⁾ (PSM); ootheca foam; amylum; epoxy resin; polyester resin; acetyl resin; ion exchange resin; at-10 resin; and melamine resin.

16. The material of any of Claims 9 to 15 including the step of drying and forming the mixture to provide a solid material includes one, some or all of the steps of; moulding and drying the mixture; pressing and drying the mixture; extruding and drying the mixture; machining the moulded and dried mixture; machining the pressed and dried mixture; and machining the extruded and dried mixture.

17. A method, substantial as described with reference to the appended drawings.

18. A solid material, substantially as described with reference to the appended drawings.