3,755,494 United States Patent Office Patented Aug. 28, 1973 1. 2 3,755,494 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION PROCESS FOR CLARIFYING GUMS Stephen J. Chinnock, Pearl River, and Paul A. Kirk The process of clarifying natural gums and bases patrick, New Rochelle, N.Y., assignors to General formed therefrom according to the concept of this inven Foods Corporation, White Plains, N.Y. tion essentially entail heating a suspension of said gums No Drawing. Fited Apr. 2, 1971, Ser. No. 130,834 in glycerol to effect surfacing of the viscous gum and Int. C. C08c3/00, 17/00 precipitation of solid impurities in the glycerol. The pre U.S. C. 260-816 5 Claims ferred heat exchange medium is glycerol, however, any liquid or combination of liquids having a greater density ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE than the gums, and in which the gums are very slightly O soluble, are within the contemplation of the inventive Natural gums and natural gum bases are purified or concept; providing only that the heat exchange medium clarified by heating a suspension of said gums in glycerol does not materially detract from the organoleptic qual to effect separation of the gum into an upper layer and ities of the ultimate gum composition. The heating step settling precipitous matter into the lower layer of glycerol, is conducted on admixtures having about 2 parts by whereupon the heated admixture is centrifuged to re 5 weight of the glycerol to about 1 part by weight of the move the glycerol and precipitated impurities concur gum. Significantly, neither the amount of gum nor the rently from the clarified gums. quantity of said glycerol are critical to effect the needed separation. Generally, the range of temperature which BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION the gum-glycerol admixture will be subjected to is from 20 about 200 F. to 300 F. Usually the gum begins to melt Field of the invention at around 250 F. and after the melting is completed, the This invention relates to the production of clarified or admixture is centrifuged at the aforementioned temper purified gums and gum bases thereof designed for use as atures, either in batch form or in a double discharge cen an edible chewing gum composition. Commercial chew trifuge to permit continuous clarification. ing gums have traditionally contained admixtures of nat 25 The invention will now be described by reference to the ural latex gums derived from the sap of trees. These specific examples. gums include among others chicle, jelutong, gutta kay, Example I gutta hang kang, sorva and lechi caspi. These latex gums Approximately 1 part by weight of sorva gum was being of vegetable origin contain various impurities which 30 added to about 2 parts by weight of glycerol, and the deleteriously affect the physical characteristics, taste or admixture was heated to 300 F. At about 250 F. the gum storage qualities of the chewing gum in which they are began to melt and formed a liquid layer on top of the used, glycerol, while the heavier solid impurities separated from The art recognized practices for removing the various the gum and settled on the bottom of the heating vessel. impurities obtained in these gums generally entail heat 35 Moreover, there was no burning or scorching of the gum. ing the gums per se until sufficient fluidity or viscosity Next, the layered admixture was fed into a double is achieved and centrifuging the hot viscous gums to re discharge heated (300F.) centrifuge (Sharples High move precipitous matter therefrom. The volume of gum Temperature Super Centrifuge) bowl which was spun at clarified according to the prior art process is extremely between about 4,000 to 27,000 revolutions per minute. limited; moreover, the process also unduly burdens the 40 The centrifugal speed was gradually reduced and was equipment employed because of the high temperatures allowed to cool while spinning. Upon stoppage the gum involved and the difficulty of cleaning scorched gummy (light phase) formed the innermost ring; the glycerol the matter from the equipment after processing. intermediate ring; and the gritty or precipitous material SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION formed the outer ring on the wall of the bowl. 45 If desired the heated, layered gum-glycerol admixture It has now been discovered that a novel means for may be placed in a colloid mill to develop a stable emul clarifying gum bases is available. Thus, by heating an sion of the admixture prior to subjecting it to centrifuga admixture of glycerol and a natural gum at elevated tion. temperatures, the gum arises to the surface and permits It is to be noted that the centrifugation speeds are not precipitous or gritty matter to settle, thereby enabling 50 critical, and that any speeds which will effect clarification rapid clarification of the gum upon centrifuging the ad of the admixture by centrifugation will suffice. mixture at elevated temperatures. The quality, clarity and texture of gums produced according to this process Example II provides a mouth-feel which is an improvement over gums produced according to prior art means known until this 55 Same as Example I, except that sorva gum was heated time. to comparable temperatures and similarly centrifuged to The principal object of the invention is to clarify nat remove the precipitous matter. The quality of the gum ural gums and natural gum bases by utilizing a heat ex product was inferior due to some burning or scorching change medium such as glycerol in which the gum is during heating; moreover, removal of the precipitous 60 matter upon cooling occasioned more product or gum substantially insoluble. loss than in Example I because of adherence of the gun Another object of the invention is to increase the rate to the solid or precipitous matter. as well as the volume of natural gum which may be processed in a given unit of time. Example III A yet further object is to lower the processing tem peratures required for clarification of natural gums and 65 Same as Example I, except that a natural gum base 1 thereby avoid scorching of the gums and volatilization was heated in glycerol at 225 F. and centrifugally sep of materials which constitute a desirable taste fraction of arated with comparable results. the gum. Percent by weight Other objects and advantages of the invention will be 70 Natural gum admixture as above (8% of which is chicle) -51 come apparent in the description and examples herein Non-glycerol plasticizer ------32 Calcium carbonate ------12 after-appearing. Microerystalline wax admixture ------. 5 3,755,494 3 4. Because the flowability of this glycerol-gum admixture and form a first layer of clarified gum or gum base is swifter than the natural gum base alone, the rate of and a second layer of glycerol containing the pre product or gum base separation utilizing continuous cen cipitous matter; and trifugal separation is 2% to 3 times that obtained upon (e) separating said first layer from said second layer. separating this gum base per se according to Example II. 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the step of prepar ing the admixture includes developing a stable emulsion Example IV of the gum or gum base and the glycerol. Same as Example I, except that a mixture of wholly 3. The process of claim wherein the admixture is natural gums as disclosed above was employed with com continuously fed to the centrifuge and the first and second parable results. layers are continuously separated and withdrawn from Although the invention has been described by reference O the centrifuge. to various specific examples, it will be understood that 4. The process of claim 1 wherein the gum is sorva. the inventive concept is not limited thereto, and that 5. The process of claim wherein the gum is a mixture many applications of the inventive concept, to include of natural gums. clarifying synthetic-natural gum admixtures and synthetic References Cited gums alone, are contemplated. Thus the scope of the in 5 vention is defined in the appended claims below. UNITED STATES PATENTS What is claimed is: 824,116 6/1906 Heber ------260-816 1. A process for clarifying a latex gum of vegetable 931,120 8/1909 Hunicke ------260-816 origin or a gum base thereof comprising: 1,978,869 10/1934 Smith et al. ------260-816 (a) preparing an admixture of the gum or gum base 20 1,262,246 4/1918 Peiler ------260-816 in glycerol; (b) heating the admixture to a temperature sufficient JOSEPH L. SCHOFER, Primary Examiner to melt the gum or gum base; W. F. HAMROCK, Assistant Examiner (c) feeding the admixture into a centrifuge; 25 (d) centrifuging the admixture to remove the glycerol U.S. C. X.R. and precipitous matter from the gum or gum base 260-819; 99-135