Continuous annular chromatography for the separation of beet molasses

The continuous separation of a multicomponent feedstock on a rotating annular chromatograph is described. The annulus width was 12 mm, diameter 300 mm and height 1400 mm. The annulus was packed with a 420 micron ion‐exchange resin in the sodium form. The feedstock separated was beet molasses which is the final syrup spun off after repeated crystallisations in the extraction of sugar. Two basic mechanisms were in operation to separate sucrose from impurities: ion exclusion and molecular sieving. A statistical approach was made to set up an experimental programme and analyse the results. Four factors were studied: feed flowrate, feed concentration, annulus rotation rate and eluent rate. Two of these, namely feed rate and eluent rate, significantly affected the response. The response was the separation achieved using the annular chromatograph between the sucrose and non‐sucrose solids. A further series of experiments demonstrated the practical considerations to be made when separating beet molasses. A crystallisable product sucrose rate of 207 gh −1 was achieved.