Production of aspartame| Case study by STÜBBE

Case study at a glance

Production of aspartame for making natural and artificial sweeteners
Sensitive applications for food and pharmaceutical product ingredients
STÜBBE's extensive expertise in plastics is also used in the food sector
Use of the STÜBBE X-CLASS heavy-duty standardized pump for chemicals

Our customer / the industry

STÜBBE standardized pump made of plastic for chemicals convinces HYET Sweet in France

HYET Sweet, based in the coastal town of Gravelines in northern France, is a leading international trading company for high intensity sweeteners: natural and artificial sweeteners that are mainly used in food, beverages, dairy products and pharmaceuticals. The chemical section of the installation addressed in this case study produces aspartame, which is only approved for certain foods. Its uses range from sweets through diet products to drinks and low-calorie foods. Due to its strong sweetening power, which is around 200 times greater than that of sugar, products only contain small quantities of this substance.

TO THE CHALLENGE

The challenge

French manufacturer HYET Sweet requires an extremely stable pump for conveying artificial sweeteners.

Aspartame is mainly derived from two naturally occurring amino acids that are chemically combined. Although its components - aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol - occur naturally in food, they have to be produced using a complex synthesizing process in order to obtain the white, high-purity crystal powder aspartame at the end of the production process.

The purification of aspartame takes place over several reaction steps and is divided into three stages using a special crystallization process and separation technology. Between the first and second stage, a circulation pump supplies a falling film evaporator to reduce the water content in the product as much as possible. After a defined period of time, the aspartame, which has been concentrated by a factor of 2.6, is passed on to the next process stage. As the pump is used at the beginning of the process chain, a long service life is all the more important for continuous 24/7 operation. Production downtimes or disruptions lead to high economic costs.

The STÜBBE solution

A heavy-duty pump from the STÜBBE X-CLASS family, type NXHE 125-80-200, with customized double-acting mechanical seal.

The pump from a third-party manufacturer was replaced with the robust heavy-duty pump from the STÜBBE X-CLASS with a customized double-acting mechanical seal. The heart of the production process was equipped with a type NXHE 125-80-200 pump, ensuring the required peak volume of 65 m3/h at a delivery head of 16 m.

The pump circulates a liquid consisting of aspartame with a solids content of 270 g/l and methanol at a temperature of 60 °C. The substance tends to stick to the mechanical seal on the product side, so that the mechanical seal must be flushed. However, as it is essential that no sealing water can get into the pumped substance, the double-acting mechanical seal type UV3 developed by STÜBBE itself and tailored to the new STÜBBE X-CLASS pump is used. This high-end variant is a high-pressure-resistant, robust spring-loaded seal in "REA" design. In contrast to universal double seals, the mechanical seal type UV3 has no narrow gaps or dead spaces and is therefore ideally suited for use with adhesive or highly solids-laden substances.

TO THE RESULT

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The result

The STÜBBE X-CLASS pump ensures increased production reliability even in complex cross-industry applications (from the chemical to the food industry).

HYET Sweet is not just convinced by the safety and reliability of STÜBBE's new X-CLASS pump, but also by the customer service and professional consultation for such complex applications. "We are highly satisfied with our choice of pump supplier and look forward to working with them again,” the customer concludes.

Products of this case study

More about

STÜBBE X-Class centrifugal pump NX

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Standardized pump for chemicals for the production of aspartame