Monosodium Glutamate is an ingredient added to many of our favourite foods and snacks. You can find it in cheese, pasta, seasoning salt, salad dressings, fast food, Chinese cuisine, sauces, mayonnaise, condiments, frozen meals, and the list goes on. It’s a flavouring agent that people often notice after eating. However, the health fact is that everyone should try to reduce their intake of monosodium glutamate. It is recommended to always check the labels of the food products you buy; you should be especially careful when the label lists monosodium glutamate. Apart from health and dietary facts, have you considered the significance of activated carbon in relation to monosodium glutamate?
What is Monosodium Glutamate, and why remove it?
Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known by the name “Ajinomoto,” is basically a flavour booster. It is a component made from a substance naturally found in foods like tomatoes and cheese. It is a flavour-adding agent used to make food tastier and appealing. In restaurants, team members are approved to add this flavoring agent based on specific measurements to the food. Even though it enhances the taste of food, some people choose to avoid it for several reasons, which are discussed below:
Health worries: Some people experience allergies and symptoms like flushing or headaches after eating food containing MSG, which leads them to believe it is not good for their health. However, the side effects and reactions are dependent factors as they differ from person to person.
The clean eating trend: While health was not appreciated as much in earlier times, people nowadays give due consideration to both their physical and mental health. Therefore, a recent trend is that people prefer good food made with simple, natural ingredients. Sometimes, seeing MSG on a label can make a product seem processed. Because of this, some brands use “No MSG” as their USP.
Brand Image: For many companies, especially in the consumer goods sector, using a “No MSG” label is a strategy to make their products appear healthier and more natural to attract modern customers.
How is activated carbon a new way for an inspired cleanup crew?
Activated carbon is like a sponge with an unbelievable number of pores. In fact, a tiny spoonful of this black powder has a greater surface area than an entire football field. This vast hidden landscape is what makes it so powerful. It works because of its pore-like structure. As a liquid or sauce flows past, unwanted molecules like MSG are attracted to the carbon surface. They stick to it, effectively trapped in all those nooks and crannies. This process is called adsorption. Adsorption is simply the physical trapping of molecules on a surface. It is a physical process that doesn’t use harsh chemicals, offering a remarkably clean and simple way to purify a liquid by removing impurities and leaving behind a cleaner product.
How is activated carbon used in removing MSG from liquid streams?
Imagine trying to remove salt you’ve already stirred into a pot of soup. You can’t just scoop it out; it has vanished, completely dissolved. Removing MSG from a liquid stream presents the same frustrating puzzle. Because it dissolves on a molecular level, ordinary filters are useless as the MSG slips right through. While high-tech solutions exist, like special resins that act like magnets for MSG, they can be complex and costly to manage. This leaves many producers looking for a simpler, more practical tool for the job, making activated carbon the appealing and effective hero in this scenario.
How is the application of activated carbon for MSG production?
Through filling and adsorption towers, the industry mainly uses specialized activated carbon for MSG to continuously decolorize the mother liquor. This works because activated carbon adsorbs impurities quickly and facilitates coagulation filtration, which ultimately improves the final quality of the MSG.
As a fermentation-based product, MSG may retain unwanted mixed molecules that should be eliminated. Activated carbon provides an effective remedy for this problem.
In the manufacturing of MSG, activated carbon is primarily used to adsorb contaminants, eliminate pigments, aid in liquid filtration, and promote product crystallization. However, its use is not limited to the purification of MSG; activated carbon is also used to remove MSG from other liquefied products.
How does activated carbon target and remove MSG from a liquid?
Think of activated carbon not just as a sponge that performs adsorption, but as a clever combination of size traps and magnetic attraction.
Activated carbon has a specific pore size. Imagine the carbon is a labyrinth of tunnels. MSG molecules have a specific, mid-range size. Activated carbon can be engineered to have a perfect mix of tunnel sizes, creating countless “doorways” that are just the right dimensions for an MSG molecule to get stuck.
Electrostatic interaction. MSG is a charged molecule (an ion). The surface of certain activated carbons can be tuned to have an opposite charge. This creates a subtle “magnetic” pull that attracts the MSG molecules, encouraging them to leave the liquid stream and latch firmly onto the carbon’s surface. This double mechanism of the right-sized trap plus the magnetic pull makes adsorption very effective.
Conclusion
Activated form of Southern Carbon is a top-notch quality product for business implementation and is the leading activated carbon in Korea. There are certain considerations before implementation, including factors such as carbon selection, pilot testing, and system design. We have a team of experts to guide you with recommendations that are best suited for your business needs and specifications. We are not only the best activated carbon manufacturers in Korea but also in India, the USA, and Japan.