Extraction of inulin from chicory

Chicory, belonging to the Asteraceae family, is a perennial herbaceous plant. Root fleshy, short and thick. The stem is upright, angular, hollow, and branched. Leaves alternate, long lanceolate, inflorescence in the shape of a head, corolla tongue shaped, color blue.

Chicory is a medicinal and edible plant. Its leaves can be used to make lettuce, and its roots contain inulin and aromatic substances. It can be used to make substitute coffee and promote the activity of the human digestive organs. The aboveground parts and roots of plants can be used for medicinal purposes. The traditional Chinese medicine names are chicory and chicory root, which have the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, diuresis and reducing swelling, and strengthening the stomach.

The extract of chicory, inulin, is a dietary fiber that can be used as a fat substitute or as a sugar free sweetener. Adding inulin can transform food towards low sugar, low-fat, and high dietary fiber, while also preserving the original flavor of the food as much as possible.

The use of membrane technology to extract inulin not only simplifies the process, shortens production time, and reduces energy consumption, but also enables fully automated pipeline operation without adding any preservatives, which is fast, safe, and efficient. During the process, the discharge of pollutants and wastewater is reduced, and the amount of resin used in subsequent processes is reduced, resulting in improved product quality, increased yield, and reduced production costs. It has great technical and economic advantages.

The use of continuous, membrane decolorization, and membrane concentration systems enables precise filtration, separation, and decolorization of the extract of chicory (or chrysanthemum) to be completed in a short time before entering the resin adsorption process. At the same time, all extracts are transported in closed stainless steel pipelines without adding any flocculants or preservatives, which can also meet the production requirements of food additives, reduce resin usage, reduce wastewater discharge (wastewater can also be treated and reused through membrane technology), improve product yield, and reduce production costs.