Natural crystalline colorant and process for production

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10640628-B2
Application number	US-201715449835-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2017
Priority date	Jun 30, 2011
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

A crystalline pigment or colorant composition having high color intensity and/or low sugar content, and methods and processes of preparation. The composition may comprise purified fruit and/or vegetable color juices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a conveyor belt having a top surface, wherein the conveyor belt is configured to receive a liquid feed on the top surface;
an applicator tray at a first end of the conveyor belt that receives the liquid feed and provides the liquid feed to the top surface;
one or more heating trays underneath the conveyor belt that heats the liquid feed to facilitate production of a crystalline product from the liquid feed, wherein hot water circulates through the one or more heating trays.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an air pump;
a suction hose connected to the air pump; and a feed barrel connected to the suction hose.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the air pump pumps a raw liquid feed from the feed barrel through a filter into a feed balance tank.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the air pump is controlled by a level of the liquid feed in the feed balance tank.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising valves on one or more feed spouts that drain the liquid feed onto the applicator tray, forming a thin layer on the moving surface of the belt.

6. The system of claim 1 , where the hot water is at a temperature of up to about 210° F.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a tunnel through which the conveyor belt passes.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein a temperature of the liquid feed is lower than a hot water temperature.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising air blowers that move water vapor away from the conveyor belt.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plastic edge to facilitate removing the crystalline product from the conveyor belt.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the liquid feed includes a pigment selected from the group consisting of anthocyanins, carotenoids, betalains, curcumin, carminic acid, carminic acid derivatives, chlorophyll, and chlorophyll derivatives.

12. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a heat exchanger.

Assignees

• Gallo Winery E & J

Inventors

• Rossi Joseph
• Kattamuri Sundeep

Classifications

• B01D61/145

  Ultrafiltration · CPC title

• B01D9/0031

  by heating (B01D9/0022, B01D9/0027 take precedence) · CPC title

• B01D3/001

  Processes specially adapted for distillation or rectification of fermented solutions · CPC title

• C08K5/1545

  Six-membered rings · CPC title

• C09B67/0096

  Purification; Precipitation; Filtration · CPC title