Abstract:

The study was conducted to remove impurities from inulin extract, which was extracted of Jerusalem artichoke Tubers using hot water, by the carbonation reaction between lime and carbon dioxide. The effects of amount of added lime, amount of introduced CO2 and temperature on protein reduction efficiency and Ca2+ concentraction in the inulin extract solution were investigated by single-factor method. Based on canonical analysis, the optimal conditions for maximizing protein reduction efficiency were determined as follows: adding lime to pH 13.4, introducing CO2 to pH 6.8, and reaction temperature 80 ℃. The optimized process resulted in over 81.6% protein reduction and only 3.4% inulin loss (especially, over 90% fructose was contained), indicating notable efficiency to remove reduced sugars with lower loss of inulin.

Key words: Jerusalem artichoke, carbonation, refining, inulin, reduced sugar