What is the Spinning Cone Column?
The Spinning Cone Column is a uniquely efficient liquid-gas contacting column. It is often referred to as a distillation or stripping column and belongs to the same family of mass-transfer devices as packed, plate and bubble-cap columns.
The Spinning Cone Column is widely used as an aroma recovery or flavour management device. Typical applications include:
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Aroma recovery during soluble coffee production.
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Flavour extraction from coffee and tea.
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Aroma recovery during production of fruit and vegetable purees and juices.
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Dealcoholisation and alcohol management in wine, beer and sake.
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Citrus oils production and terpene fractionation.
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Deodourisation of cream and flavour management of dairy products.
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Essential oil extraction from botanicals, herbs and spices.
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What are the benefits of the SCC?
Ability to control profile of flavour extracted: Several operating parameters may be used to control the type and relative proportion of groups of volatile compounds in the aroma extracted from the feed material. Now, aroma profiles may be tailored for new product development or to comply with the nuances of regional taste differences.
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Ability to process slurries or viscous purees: The SCC is capable of handling feed streams with high viscosity or relatively high levels of suspended solids without compromising performance. The presence of solid material increases the concentration of volatile compounds recovered.
Short residence time: The residence time of the material passing through the SCC is typically less than 20 seconds. This, combined with low operating temperatures, avoids thermal degradation of either the flavour recovered or the material processed. |
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The SCC can process highly viscous purees or slurries. |
High mass-transfer efficiency: When compared to other columns of the same equipment group, the SCC is approximately 4 to 5 times more efficient in terms of flavour yield.
Variable operating temperature: Typically, the Spinning Cone Column can operate between 30 - 120°C.
Negligible pressure drop: Fins on the underside of the spinning cones minimise the pressure drop in the vapour phase. This means that the column essentially operates isothermally.
Flexible: The SCC can operate at a range of feed capacities with no loss of performance.
Cleanability: The Spinning Cone Column operates under hygienic conditions and has a CIP (cleaned-in-place) function which may be controlled manually or, as an option, automatically.