IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR THE CONVERSION OF AMYLACEOUS MATTERS INTO SACCHARINE, AND OTHER USEFUL PRO- DUCTS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Marc Antoine François Mennons
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th May 1862.-A communication from Georges Serret,. Paul
Hamoir, and Achille Duquesne, residing in the Faubourg de Paris,
Valenciennes, France.
I, MARC ANTIONE FRANÇOIS MENNONS, of the British and Foreign Patent
Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR THE
CONVERSION OF AMYLACEOUS MATTERS INTO SACCHARINE, AND OTHER USEFUL PRO-
DUCTS," (a communication) to be as follows:-
The Invention communicated to me relates to an improved mode of
treating amylaceous matters in the manufacturing process of saccharification
by acids, with a view to obtain, 1stly, more perfect-extraction of the saccharine
constituents of the raw material than by the ordinary methods; 2dly, preser-
vation of the nutritive principles of the residues of the manufacture, which are
thus rendered advantageously applicable to the nourishment of live stock.
The two methods hitherto in general use for the saccharification of
amylaceous substances (treatment by malt and treatment by acids) are, as at
present followed out, open to serious objections.
When the malt process is adopted, the transformation is attended by diffi-
culties which are only overcome by the most incessant care, while the
resulting juices contain a large proportion of dextrine, are, subject to acidifi-
cation, and are wanting in limpidity..
On the other band, the juices thus prepared are free from substances

page_text: foreign to the constitution of the matters from which they are extracted, while
the residues of the manufacture are sufficiently charged with nutritive
elements to be economised as food for cattle.
The processes of treatment by the acids offer no difficulty, but as at present
carried out the saccharine products always retain a portion of the re-agents by
which the transformation is effected, while the finely divided vegetable tissue,
despoiled of its fecula and wanting in consistence precludes all attempts at
filtration. The nutritive residues are therefore entirely lost, being carried off
with, the calcareous precipitates in the manufacture of glucose, and by the
mother waters in the extraction of alcohol from the fermented juices.
As above stated the object of the present improvements is so to modify the
processess of transformation by acids as to obtain from the raw material
the largest possible quantity of pure saccharine product, while preserving
unimpaired the alimentary properties of the residues. In this mode of treat-
ment the preliminary mechanical disintegration of the raw material, as
hitherto practised, is entirely suppressed, and replaced by exposure to the
action of steam or boiling water. Thus, for instance, in taking maize or other
grain of similar nature, as the matter to be operated on, the process of trans-
formation may be carried out as follows:-A given quantitity, say one ton of
maize, is placed with about five hundred and fifty gallons of water in a wooden
vat of the capacity of about eleven hundred gallons, provided with a perforated
false bottom. Through this false bottom is admitted a current of steam by
which the water is brought into ebullition, and so maintained for about two
hours. After this the mass is left in repose for about four hours, the
temperature being kept during this time at about 95° centigrade (203°
Fahrenheit). The maize being thus thoroughly swollen, the acid is intro-
duced in the same proportions as in the ordinary modes of treatment, and the
liquid is from time to time tested with iodine until the non-coloration of the
latter indicates the approaching completion of the saccharification. This result
is generally obtained within from three to four hours. The purge cock at
the bottom of the vat is then opened, and the quantity of liquid drawn off is
replaced at the same time by boiling water admitted from above. The
drawing off is continued slowly until the complete separation of the soluble
principles is effected, which point is ascertained by testing the density and
acidity of the liquid. The supply of water being stopped, the solid matters
remaining on the double bottom are allowed to drain, and are finally removed
from the vat. The saccharine fluid thus obtained is treated in the ordinary
way according to its intended applications, while the solid residues are
employed as food for cattle, either directly or in a pressed and dried state.

page_text: When so required the saccharification may be performed in a series of vats,
the preliminary scalding being effected in a separate vessel. In the majority
of cases, and especially when the production of glucose is in view, it is pre-
ferable to have recourse to methodical digestion and washing as a means of
obtaining the juices in a more concentrated state, and so reducing the expense
of after evaporation. To this end a certain number of vats, say, from six to
eight, are ranged side by side on the same level; the communication being
established between them by tubes passing from the bottom of the one to the
top of the other, and so on throughout the set. The steam being applied to:
the surface, the liquid in contact with the most exhausted matter flows from
one vat into the other, and takes up in its passage the soluble principles of the.
more and more recently charged grains, thus effecting simultaneously the
transformation and lixiviation of the mass." "Every four hours or so a quantity
of the saccharine juice is drawn off from the vat last charged with scalded
grain, a new supply of which is at the same time introduced into the vat at:
the head of the range. At the same intervals of time the most completely
macerated matter is removed from the end vat, the water with which it is:
impregnated being previously drawn off: The acid is passed into the second
vat from the head at the same moment as the liquid flows into that in which.
the grain is placed. The distribution, above described, may, of course, be
varied according to circumstances.
When this mode of saccharification is adopted it is necessary before the
fermentation (or before the saturating process when glucose is in question) to
boil the extracted juices until all trace of starch has disappeared. The reason.
of this precaution is too obvious to require explanation.
It should be remarked that all amylaceous products do not cede with equal
facility to the modes of treatment above described. Such of these matters as
are too rich in fecula, and consequently too poor in liqueous fibre, leave a
residue, through which (owing to its feeble consistence) the displacement of the
water is all but impossible under ordinary circumstances. The difficulties
presented by such products, and especially by rice, are overcome by a slight
modification of the above processes, viz., by causing the liquid to flow from
below upwards.
When an isolated vat is employed, the boiling water is admitted by a pipe
fixed below the false bottom, or more readily still by a wooden conduit set
vertically against the inner side of the vessel. When the reaction is ter-
minated, and the displacement no longer requisite, the juice flows off by a
lateral excess orifice.
To ensure the complete transformation of the fecula, the liquid should be
:

page_text: kept in movement during the operation, the more so that in certain cases the
raw material offers a considerable amount of resistance. The circulation is
produced in the following manner by the current of steam, which serves to
maintain the temperature:-Above the vat is mounted a small wooden barrel
of about three feet in height by sixteen inches in diameter. This barrel is
open at the top, and its bottom is placed at about twenty inches below the
level of the liquid in the vat. The communication between the excess orifice
of the latter and the bottom of the barrel is formed by a leaden pipe, into
which is admitted a jet of steam. Lastly, an outlet tube to throw off the
liquid raised to this point in the wooden conduit is mounted on the barrel at
about four inches above the water level. With this arrangement the regular
displacement of the liquid is kept up by means of a feeble current of steam.
When the operation is performed by digestion and washing in a series of
vats, the distribution may be the same as when the circulation is effected from
above downwards.
In following out one or other of the processes above described, the whole
amylaceous constituents of the raw material are eliminated in a soluble state,
while the residues charged with nutritive principles are left thoroughly washed
and free from acid.