Highly refined fiber mass, process of their manufacture and products containing the fibers

• US 20040086626A1
• Filed: 11/06/2002
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiberstar Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Fiberstar Incorporated
• Inventors: Lundberg, Brock, Lindquist, Dale C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,094,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 426/658
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 29/262 Cellulose; Derivatives thereof, e.g. ethers
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 33/24 Cellulose or derivatives thereof
• CPC Class Codes: D21C 3/02 with inorganic bases or alkaline reacting compounds, e.g. sulfate processes
• CPC Class Codes: D21C 9/18 De-watering de-watering in general F26B; Elimination of cooking or pulp-treating liquors from the pulpD21C9/002, D21C9/02 take precedence; paper-making machines D21F; strainers in digesters D21C7/00; presses in general B30B

Abstract

The present invention comprises an improved method for refining cellulose that produces a highly refined cellulosic material. The method comprises soaking raw material from primarily parenchymal cell wall structures in an aqueous solution which need not contain an agent to modify the fiber (e.g., a mild alkalizing or alkaline agent and/or solution) using reduced temperatures and pressures, and refining the material with a plate refiner so that a waste water stream is reduced in volume. The mass is dried to produce the HRC fiber. The HRC fiber displays a water retention capacity of about 25 to at least about 56 g H₂O/g dry HRC and retains moisture under conditions that are ordinarily used to remove moisture from materials. The highly refined fiber product can also provide excellent thickening properties and can be used in a wide variety of materials, including edible materials.

Claims

2. The product of claim I wherein the highly refined cellulose product has a water retention capacity of at least 50 g H₂0/g dry highly refined cellulose product.

7. The product of claim 2 wherein the organic fiber mass comprises at least 50% by weight of fiber mass from organic products selected from the group consisting of sugar beets, carrots, citrus fruit, grapes, tomatoes, chicory, potatoes, pineapple, apples and cranberries.

8. The product of claim 2 wherein the organic fiber mass comprises at least 50% by weight of fiber mass from organic products selected from the group consisting of sugar beets, citrus fruit and grapes.

15. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose product of claim 2.

3. The product of claim I wherein the organic fiber mass comprises at least 50% by weight of fiber mass from organic products selected from the group consisting of sugar beets, citrus fruit, carrots, grapes, tomatoes, chicory, potatoes, pineapple, apples and cranberries.

5. The product of claim 3 wherein at least 80% of the organic mass is derived from fruit and root cell mass.

12. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose product of claim 3.

16. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose product of claim 3.

6. The product of claim I wherein the organic fiber mass comprises at least 50% by weight of fiber mass from organic products selected from the group consisting of sugar beets, citrus fruit and grapes.

18. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose fiber product of claim 6.

9. A highly refined cellulose product comprising microfibers derived from organic fiber plant mass comprising at least 30% by weight of all fiber mass as parenchymal fiber mass, the highly refined cellulose product displaying a viscosity at a 1% by weight concentration in water at 1 revolution per minute of at least 20,000 centipoise at 20°

C.

10. The product of claim 9 wherein the organic fiber mass comprises at least 50% by weight of fiber mass from organic products selected from the group consisting of sugar beets, citrus fruit, carrots, grapes, tomatoes, chicory, potatoes, pineapple, apples and cranberries and wherein at least 80% of the organic mass is derived from fruit and root cell mass.

13. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose product of claim 9.

14. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose product of claim 10.

19. The food product of claim 13 comprising at least about one percent by weight of the HRC fiber.

20. The food product of claim 13 comprising at least about two percent by weight of the highly refined cellulose fiber.

21. A method for refining cellulosic material from comprising:

soaking raw material from organic fiber plant mass comprising at least 50% by weight of all fiber mass as parenchymal fiber mass in an aqueous solution with less than 1% NaOH;

draining the raw material and allowing the raw material to sit for sufficient time to enable cells in the raw material to open cells and expand the raw material, the soaking producing soaked raw materials; and

refining the soaked raw material to produce refined material; and

drying the soaked raw material.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein soaking is for longer than 5 hours.

23. The process of claim 22 wherein drying is performed at least in part by fluid bed drying.

24. The process of claim 22 wherein drying is performed at least in part by flash drying.

25. The process of claim 22 wherein drying is performed at least in part by a combination of flash drying and fluid bed drying.

26. The process of claim 21 wherein the relative weight of water to solids from the raw product at the end of the drying is less than 10% water/solids.

27. The process of claim 22 wherein fluid bed drying is performed by adding a first stream of organic fiber plant mass and a second stream of organic fiber plant mass into the drier, the first stream having a moisture content that is at least 10% less than the moisture content of the second stream or organic fiber plant mass.

28. A method of claim 22 wherein the water is extracted with an organic solvent prior to drying.

29. The process of claim 27 wherein the second stream or organic fiber plant mass has at least 25% water to solids content.

30. The process of claim 27 wherein the process is a batch process.

32. The process of claim 27 wherein the process is a continuous process.

33. The process of claim 28 wherein the process is a batch process.

34. The process of claim 28 wherein the process is a continuous process.

35. The method of claim 22 further comprising chopping and washing the cellulose mass prior to soaking.

36. The method of claim 22 further comprising draining and washing the soaked raw material in wash water to produce washed material;

bleaching the washed material to produce a bleached material; and

washing and filtering the bleached material to produce a filtered material.

37. The method of claim 35 where bleaching is performed with a peroxide.

39. A method of claim 22 using backmixing or evaporating to bring the organic fiber plant mass to a solids/water ratio that will fluidize in air in a fluid bed air dryer.

40. A method of claim 36 that uses a fluid bed dryer or flash dryer to dry the expanded fiber product.

41. The process of claim 22 wherein the dried raw material provides more than 10 g water/gram fiber mass.

42. The process of claim 22 wherein the dried raw material provides more than 30 g water/gram fiber mass.

43. The process of claim 22 wherein the dried raw material provides more than 50 g water/gram fiber mass.

45. The process of claim 43 wherein the highly refined cellulose product is rehydrated to a level of less than 30 g H₂0/g fiber mass.

48. The process of claim 43 wherein rehydrating includes the use of a high shear mixer to rapidly disperse organic fiber plant mass materials in a solution.

49. The process of claim 43 wherein rehydrating includes soaking the dry materials in a solution with or without gentle agitation.

47. The process of claim 31 wherein the amount of rehydration performed adjusts the functionalities of the product within a target range of at least one property selected from the group consisting of water holding capacity, oil holding capacity, and viscosity.

50. A method for refining cellulosic material from comprising:

soaking raw material from organic fiber plant mass in an aqueous solution;

draining the raw material and allowing the raw material to sit for sufficient time to enable cells in the raw material to open cells and expand the raw material, the soaking producing soaked raw materials;

exercising shear of at least 10,000 sec−

1 on the soaked raw material to produce refined material; and

drying the soaked raw material by a process comprising at least one of fluid bed drying and flash drying.

57. A method of drying an expanded cellulose product comprising:

providing a first mass of expanded cellulose fiber product having a first moisture content as a weight of water per weight of fiber solids;

providing a second mass of expanded cellulose fiber product having a second moisture content as a weight of water per weight of fiber solids, the second moisture content being at least 20% less than said first moisture content;

combining said first mass of expanded cellulose fiber product and said second mass of expanded cellulose product to form a combined mass;

drying said combined mass in a drying environment to form a dried combined mass.

58. The method of claim 57 wherein said dried combined mass is dried to a moisture content of less than 20 H₂0/g fiber mass.

59. The method of claim 57 wherein the drying environment is selected from the group consisting of flash driers fluid bed driers and combinations thereof.

60. The method of claim 58 wherein the drying environment is selected from the group consisting of flash driers, fluid bed driers and combinations thereof.

61. A method of rehydrating any expanded cellulosic product that involves the use of a high shear mixer.

1. A highly refined cellulose product comprising microfibers derived from organic fiber plant mass comprising at least 30% by weight of all fiber mass as parenchymal fiber mass, the highly refined cellulose product having a water retention capacity of at least about 20 g H₂O/g dry highly refined cellulose product.

4. The product of claim 1 wherein at least 80% of the organic mass is derived from fruit and root cell mass.

11. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose product of claim 1.

17. A food product or food additive comprising at least 0.05 percent by weight solids in the food product or food additive of the highly refined cellulose product of claim 4.

38. A method of drying an expanded fiber material according to claim 1 using room temperature or higher air temperatures that dries the expanded fiber product and maintains its functionalities of at least two properties of surface area, water holding capacity and viscosity.

44. A process of rehydrating the highly refined cellulose product of claim 1 wherein the highly refined cellulose product is rehydrated to a level of less than 60 g H₂0/g fiber mass.

46. The process of claim 38 wherein the highly refined cellulose product is rehydrated to a level of less than 20 g H₂0/g fiber mass.

51. A bakery product to which at least 1% by weight of the product of claim 1 is present in the bakery product.

52. A method of enhancing the stability of a bakery product comprising adding at least 1% by weight of the product of claim 1 to the bakery product.

53. A method of enhancing the stability of a bakery product comprising adding from 1% to 10% by weight of the product of claim 1 to the bakery product prior to baking and then baking the bakery product.

54. A method of increasing the storage stability of a flour-based bakery product comprising adding from 1% to 10% by weight of the product of claim 1 to the bakery product prior to baking and then baking the bakery product.

55. A method of thickening edible products comprising adding from 0.1% to 10% by weight of the product of claim 1 to the edible product.

56. A method of thickening edible products comprising adding from 0.1% to 10% by weight of the product of claim 1 derived from beet pulp to the edible product.

62. A method of making an expanded fiber mass material friable so that it can be dried in a convective style dryer, the process comprising providing a first mass of moist fiber material having a first moisture content and providing a second mass of moist fiber material having a second moisture content that is at least 10% less then the moisture content of the first mass of moist fiber material as measured in g H₂O/g fiber solids;

combining the first mass and the second mass to form a combined mass;

providing the combined mass within a drying environment; and

drying the combined mass to improve thr drying rate of the first mass of moist fiber.

63. The method of claim 62 wherein the second mass of moist fiber has less than 20% H2O compared to the weight of fiber solids in the second mass of moist fiber.

62-1. The method of claim 61 wherein a mixer mixes the first mass of moist fiber with the second mass of moist fiber.