Natural crystalline colorant and process for production

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11753525-B2
Application number	US-202217708949-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2022
Priority date	Jun 30, 2011
Publication date	Sep 12, 2023
Grant date	Sep 12, 2023

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 purifier device for purifying a juice of a plant containing pigments by removing at least a portion of non-pigment compounds from the juice to produce a liquid feed, wherein the purifying comprises at least one of ultrafiltration and diafiltration, adsorption/desorption chromatography, fermentation, a subcritical fluid extraction process, or a supercritical fluid extraction process;
a conveyor belt having a top surface, wherein the conveyor belt is configured to receive the 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; and
one or more heating trays underneath the conveyor belt that heat the liquid feed to facilitate production of a crystalline product from the liquid feed, wherein hot water at a temperature of up to about 210° F. circulates through the one or more heating trays.

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

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the air pump pumps the liquid feed from the feed barrel 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 of the liquid feed on the moving surface of the belt.

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

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

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

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

10. 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.

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

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the purifier device comprises a polymeric membrane system, and wherein the purifying comprises performing the ultrafiltration and diafiltration across the polymeric membrane system.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a mill for milling the crystalline product.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the conveyor belt is made of plastic.

Assignees

• Gallo Winery E & J

Inventors

• Rossi Joseph
• Kattamuri Sundeep

Classifications

• B01D63/10

  Spiral-wound membrane modules · CPC title

• C08K5/3417 Primary

  condensed with carbocyclic rings · CPC title

• A61K8/97 Primary

  from algae, fungi, lichens or plants; from derivatives thereof · CPC title

• A23L5/42

  Addition of dyes or pigments, e.g. in combination with optical brighteners · CPC title

• A23L5/44

  using carotenoids or xanthophylls · CPC title