Biotech System Vies for Place in Juice Industry
HAYWARD, CA, May 31, 1998 - Sepragen Corporation (OTC BB: SPGNU, SPGNA, SPGNW) announced today that
it had granted a temporary license to Tropicana Products, Inc., for the evaluation of its
technology, equipment, and patent-pending process to remove the bitterness and acidity
from grapefruit juice.
The process, called SepraDebitt™, utilizes Radial Flow
Chromatography (RFC) to remove the compounds responsible for citrus juice bitterness to
very low levels. According to the company, the process also has significantly higher
capacity per cycle and several times the throughput of the nearest commercial process.
Since its founding in 1985, Sepragen has
been developing and manufacturing liquid chromatography systems primarily for the
biopharmaceutical industry. Recently, it has applied its expertise in large-scale
separation to develop faster, more efficient separation for processes in the beverage,
dairy, food, brewing, and environmental industries.
Chromatography is a chemical separations technology that results in
higher purity separation than filtration. Chromatography is performed in tubular columns
containing chemically coated porous beads. A liquid mixture containing the target
molecules is pumped through the separations media to a collection channel at the bottom of
the column. As the mixture flows through the column, only the target molecules bind to the
surface of the separations media. Because the binding is chemical, not based on size, the
separation process is exact and the resulting purity of the end product is high.
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There are two types of liquid chromatography - axial
and radial flow. In axial flow a liquid mixture is pumped vertically
through the tubular column. This method is adequate where small amounts of
liquid are involved but presents problems in scale-up. In Radial Flow
Chromatography the flow of liquid is laterally from a sleeve surrounding a
permeable column to a hollow cylinder at the center. (See picture left.)
Flow rates through the column are substantially higher, allowing
economical processing of large volumes of material.
According to Vinit Saxena, founder,
president, and CEO of Sepragen and RFC developer, "Larger cross-sectional areas make
the flow path shorter, resulting in higher flow rates and more overall productivity." |
Orange processing in both California and Florida results in
unsqueezed juice that is too bitter to use. Additionally, oranges grown in California go
through a period of months when they are too bitter to be processed into juice. If
processors could use all of the juice in the orange, not just that obtained in the first
squeeze, improvement in economics would be considerable.
According to Saxena, "Orange processing today is inefficient
and a meaningful portion of the juice is simply too bitter to use. By increasing yields,
improving quality, and quite possibly increasing consumption of its products, we believe
Sepragen's SepraDebitt™ process can add significant value to citrus juice growers and
processors." .
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The statements in this release that relate to future events
or performance, statements about growth, future regulatory clearances, levels of sales and
market size and future manufacturing capacity and efficiencies are forward-looking
statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with
uncertainties related to the development of markets for and commercial acceptance of the
company's products and services, the availability of components, competitors' product
introductions and other risks identified in the company's SEC filings. Actual results may
differ from those described in these forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date hereof.
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