Patent ID: 7077953

Claim:
A nanofiltration system comprising: a chromatographic unit having an input to receive a mixture of water, acid and sugar, the chromatographic unit being configured to perform a partial separation of acids and sugars and having a first output to supply the separated sugar and a second output to supply a sugar-contaminated acid mixture; a filtration chamber having an input connection and an output connection; an input feed line coupled to the chromatographic unit second output and the filtration chamber input connection; an output line coupled to the filtration chamber output connection; a nanofiltration membrane positioned within the filtration chamber, the membrane having a first side in fluid communication with the input feed line to receive the sugar-contaminated mixture therefrom and a second side opposite the first side, the second side being in fluid communication with the output line, the membrane allowing passage of the acids in the mixture while substantially blocking passage of the sugars in the mixture; and an evaporative acid processor coupled to the output line, the evaporative acid processor configured to receive dilute acid via the output line and to reconcentrate the acid using an evaporation process, wherein removal of sugars from the mixture prevents malfunctioning of the evaporative acid processor.