Purification of fructooligosaccharides in an activated charcoal fixed bed column

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are mixtures of oligosaccharides containing mono and disaccharides, therefore, the separation of these sugars results in purer products for human consumption and can be added to various food products (drinks, cookies and yogurt). The aim of this work was the purification of fructooligosaccharides from a mixture of sugars, obtained by enzymatic synthesis, containing fructooligosaccharides, glucose, fructose and sucrose using activated charcoal fixed bed column. Temperature and ethanol concentration effects were analyzed using a 2² central composite design. Good separation conditions were obtained through central composite design. The best separation coefficient between fructooligosaccharides and glucose (ES(fructoolig/gluc)) was 3.99 ± 0.07 and between fructose and fructooligosaccharides (ES(fructoolig/fruct)) was 2.89 ± 0.36 using ethanol 15% (v/v) as eluent, at 50°C. The final FOS purification degree and recovery were about 80% and 97.8%, respectively. The activated charcoal fixed bed columns were shown to be a good alternative for sugar separation, especially for rich mixtures of fructooligosaccharides.