TOBACCO SEPARATION PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING TOBACCO-DERIVED MATERIALS, AND ASSOCIATED EXTRACTION SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. A process for extracting a plant-derived component from a plant material, the process comprising:
- homogenizing the plant material in the presence of an extraction solvent to form a combination of a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component such that the plant liquid component is provided with a pH in a defined range;
withdrawing the plant liquid component from the plant pulp component; and
separating the liquid plant component into a solids fraction and a soluble fraction, wherein at least about 40% by weight of the solids fraction on a dry weight basis is a plant-derived starch component.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A process of extracting at least one target component from a plant material is provided. The process includes homogenizing a plant material in the presence of an extraction solvent to reduce the plant material to a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component. Each of the components may be further processed to extract specific components therefrom. Specifically, the plant liquid component can be processed to extract a plant-derived starch material, plant-derived proteins, plant-derived sugars, plant-derived sugars, and the like. The plant pulp material can be processed to extract pectin and cellulose. An associated system is also provided.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A process for extracting a plant-derived component from a plant material, the process comprising:
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homogenizing the plant material in the presence of an extraction solvent to form a combination of a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component such that the plant liquid component is provided with a pH in a defined range; withdrawing the plant liquid component from the plant pulp component; and separating the liquid plant component into a solids fraction and a soluble fraction, wherein at least about 40% by weight of the solids fraction on a dry weight basis is a plant-derived starch component. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A process for extracting a plant-derived component from a plant material, the process comprising:
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homogenizing the plant material in the presence of an extraction solvent to form a combination of a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component, wherein the extraction solvent comprises one or more salts of phosphoric acid and one or more antioxidants; withdrawing the plant liquid component from the plant pulp component; separating the liquid plant component into a solids fraction and a soluble fraction; and further processing one or more of the plant pulp component, the solids fraction, and the soluble fraction to isolate the plant-derived component. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A system for deriving starch from a plant material, the system comprising:
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a homogenizing apparatus configured to break down the plant material so as to form a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component, the homogenizing apparatus further being configured to receive an extraction solvent such that the solvent contacts the plant material during the breaking down thereof; a centrifuge apparatus configured to separate the plant liquid component into a starch-containing solids fraction and a soluble fraction; a drying apparatus configured to dry the starch-containing solids fraction to form a starch-containing solids component having a moisture content of less than about 10% by weight; and a milling apparatus configured to mill the starch-containing solids component to form particulate starch having an average particle size of about 1 μ
m to about 1 mm.
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Specification