Descrição
Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) have gained large commercial interest due to its beneficial
properties in the human health as prebiotics. FOS are produced industrially by fermentative
processes. However, the result of such fermentations is a complex mixture containing salts and
approximately 50% (w/w) of low molecular weight sugars that have to be eliminated. Among
other techniques that have been studied, the adsorption onto activated carbon is still the most
suitable one since activated carbon is cheap, has a large surface area and pore volume
conducting to a good sorption capacity. Furthermore, this sorbent can be regenerated during
desorption with ethanol. Based on the above discussion, in this work the adsorption and
desorption characteristics of FOS on activated carbon, using a gradient of ethanol, were
optimized. Initially, the activated carbon was loaded with fermentative broth. To remove the non
adsorbed sugars, a washing step with pure water was included. Afterwards, the retained sugars
were recovered by elution with a gradient of ethanol increased sequentially with specific volumes
from 1 to 50% (v/v). Fractions collected at different time points were evaporated and
subsequently freeze‐dried. This process was found to be very efficient in the demineralization of
broth, and it was possible to recover 80% of the initial FOS loaded on the column with 89% of
purity. Some of the fractions were found to contain 97% of pure FOS in total sugars. In summary,
purification of FOS using an activated charcoal column is a very efficient process yielding high
levels of purity from a fermentative broth.
; Dominguez, Ana 
