Improvements in Purifying Vegetable and Animal Albumen and Substances containing the same.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 30th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 11th Nov., 1899
Communicated from abroad by Dr. GEORG EICHELBAUM, of No. 62, Kant Strasse,
Charlottenburg, near Berlin, Germany, Chemist.
Improvements in Purifying Vegetable and Animal Albumen and
Substances containing the same.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, 6, Lord
Street, Liverpool, and G, Bank Street, Manchester, both in the County of Lan-
caster, and Lower Temple Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The employment of albuminous substances and refuse of animal or vegetable
origin such as flesh tissues, blood, gluten, etc., for foods and feeding purposes,
requires the removal of the odoriferous and disagreeable tasting admixtures.
Although different processes with this object are already known, the purification
of the said products on an industrial scale is always conducted with difficulty.
The object of the present process is the complete removal of the contami-
nating substances with the object of rendering the preparation of albumen fit
for human or animal food. The process is further remarkable for its practic-
ability while the reagents used are cheap, and can be partially recovered.
The process is based on the removal of all disagreeably smelling and tasting
contaminating portions of the raw material without any change or decompo-
sition of the albumen prejudicial to its use, arising, by means of preferably
high percentage alcohol at a temperature above its boiling point, which tempera-
ture can be attained under pressure. Hitherto alcohol has been employed only
at its boiling temperature for the purification or precipitation of native soluble
albumen from blood and the like. A sufficient purification is not however
obtainable in this way, and further extraction of the waste albumen substances
and bleaching are necessary. Insoluble albumen as found in fish meal, dead
bodies, dried blood and the like so treated allows of the retention in particular
of the evil smelling materials so that the albumen therefrom is quite unsuitable
for food.
The action of alcohol at a temperature beyond boiling point under pressure
on the other hand practically removes all bad-smelling and tasting contami-
nating substances while at the same time the material is bleached. Old American
flesh meal evil-smelling brown meat meal, red brown stinking fish meal are
converted by the treatment with alcohol under pressure into white or yellow
powders which are entirely without taste or smell.
Alcohol of the highest obtainable degree and in any case not below 90 per
cent. is the best suited for the process, because if the alcohol contains more
water a swelling of the material takes place so that the resulting product (when
using 60 per dent. alcohol, for instance) is of a slimy, pulpy consistency,
whereby in addition to the product not having the required purity, the filtra-
tion is attended with unusual difficulties.

page_text: A modification of the described process consists in using alcohol not by itself
alone under pressure but with reagents dissolved in it. The latter must not be
such as react upon alcohol under the specific conditions such as sulphuric or
nitric acids for instance. Nor must a decomposition of the albumen take place,
for which reason alkalis and hydro-chloric acid are not applicable. Some
reagents, as for instance citric acid, offer no particular advantage.
On the other hand, a solution of sulphurous acid or ammonia in alcohol is
used with advantage, because considerable quantities of the reagent can be
made use of without increasing the percentage of water in the alcohol; their
removal from the product is easy and the pressure can be increased without a
corresponding increase of the temperature. The admixtures are thus more
quickly and completely removed, while the albumen is better dissolved.
The process can be carried out as follows:
The raw material (meat meal, fish, gluten, etc.,) is saturated with three or four
times its weight of 90% of alcohol, which may be saturated with sulphurous
acid or ammonia, and is heated in retorts for from five to six hours under pressure
at upwards of 100° C.
The choice of the temperature depends on the material chosen, and the
desired length of the operation, as well as on the degree of purification desired.
The only condition is that the alcohol be above boiling point, so that there is a
suitable pressure. The cooled treated mass is pressed in a filter and eventually
washed with hot water and dried. A greyish-white or yellow powder is obtained
which is completely without taste or smell, which feels gritty on the tongue,
and can be used direct for human or animal food.
อก1
000
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W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
322, High Holborn, London, W.C., Patent Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Purifying Vegetable and Animal Albumen and
Substances containing the same.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of 322, High Holborn, in the County of
London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The employment of raw materials containing albumen, and albuminous refuse
of animal or vegetable origin, such as flesh-meal, blood-meal, fish-meal,
gluten, etc., for foods and forage purposes, requires the removal of the odori-
ferous and unpleasantly tasting admixtures. Although various processes have
already been suggested for this purpose, the purification of the said products
on an industrial scale still presents difficulties.
The object of this invention is to effect the complete removal of the impuri-
ties so as to render such preparations of albumen fit for human or animal food.
The process is further characterized by its capability of being easily carried
into practice on an industrial scale, whilst the reagents employed are cheap and
can be partly recovered.
The process is based on the fact that alcohol, preferably of a high strength,
at a temperature above its boiling point, which can be attained by employing
pressure, removes all unpleasantly smelling and tasting impurities from the raw
material, without involving decomposition of the albumen or any change which

page_text: may be injurious to the use or sale of the albumen. Heretofore alcohol has
only been employed at temperatures up to its boiling point for the purification
or precipitation of native dissolved or soluble albumen obtained from blood
and the like.
It is not however practicable to effect a sufficient purification in this manner,
for which reason further extraction of the precipitated albumen and bleaching
are necessary. The employment of the said process with insoluble albumen,
as it exists in fish, dead bodies, blood and the like, leaves the evil-tasting
material unremoved so that the albumen product obtained from the above-men-
tioned materials is not suitable for food purposes.
On the other hand, the action of alcohol under pressure at a temperature
exceeding the boiling point practically effects the removal of the evil-smelling
and tasting impurities, whilst a strong decoloration of the material takes place
at the same time. Old American flesh meal, evil-smelling brown meat-meal,
red-brown repulsively-smelling fish meal, on treatment with alcohol under pres-
sure, gave whitish to yellow powders which were perfectly odourless and
tasteless.
As high a grade of alcohol as possible, for example, 90 degrees, is the most
advantageous for the process, since with a greater quantity of water in the
alcohol, swelling of the material takes place, so that the product of the reaction,
when employing 60 degrees alcohol, for example, has a slimy, pulpy condition
whereby, independently of the fact that the product otherwise does not satisfy
requirements as regards purity, the filtration presents unusual difficulties.
A modification of the improved process consists in that not alcohol alone is
employed under pressure, but reagents are dissolved in the alcohol.
These
reagents should be such as do not react like sulphuric acid or nitric acid on
alcohol under the conditions stated above. Likewise decomposition of the
albumen should not take place, for which reason the alkalies and hydrochloric
acid are not applicable. Some reagents, such for example, as citric acid, offer
no special advantage.
On the other hand, a solution of sulphurous acid or of ammonia in alcohol
can be advantageously employed, since considerable quantities of the reagents
can be used without increasing the amount of water contained in the alcohol,
they can be easily removed from the product, and the pressure can be increased
without correspondingly increasing the temperature. The removal of admix-
tures thus takes place more rapidly and completely since the albumen is better
dissolved.
The ethyl alcohol can also be replaced in certain cases, according to the nature
of the material to be purified, by methyl alcohol or acetone or by a mixture of
these three substances in the desired proportion. Moreover the effect can be
increased, or the time of treatment shortened, if the pressure in the apparatus
be artificially increased by pumping a neutral or indifferent gas under pressure
into the pressure-chamber employed.
1
The process can be carried into practice by heating the raw material (flesh
meal, meal made from dead bodies, fish meal, gluten, etc.) from which the fat
or grease is preferably first removed, with three to four times its weight of
90 degrees alcohol, which, if desired, may be saturated with sulphurous acid or
ammonia, in autoclaves or digesters for 5 to 6 hours with stirring, under pressure,
at a temperature of 100 degrees Centigrade. The choice of temperature
depends upon the material employed and upon the desired duration of the
reaction, as well as upon the desired degree of purification. The only condi-
tion is that the boiling point of the alcohol shall be exceeded, so that there
will be a suitable pressure. The cooled mass forming the product of the reac-
tion is cooled, pressed in filter-presses and, if desired, washed with hot water
and dried. A whitish-grey to yellow powder is obtained, which is completely
odourless and tasteless, feels sandy on the tongue and can be employed directly
for human food or as forage for beasts.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. A process for the purification of vegetable and animal albuminous materials,
such as flesh meal, fish meal, blood, gluten and the like, wherein the albuminous
material is treated with alcohol under pressure at a temperature above the
boiling point of alcohol.
2. A modification of the process claimed in the preceding claiming clause,
wherein sulphurous acid or ammonia is dissolved in the alcohol.
3. In a process such as is hereinbefore described, the replacement of the ethyl
alcohol by methyl alcohol or acetone or by a mixture of the said substances,
substantially as set forth.
4. The modification of the process hereinbefore described, wherein the pres-
sure is artificially increased in the reaction by introducing neutral gas into the
vessel containing the substance to be purified, substantially as, and for the
purposes set forth.