Magnetic separation technique on binary mixtures of sorbitol and sucrose Original Research Article

We separated binary mixtures of sucrose (disaccharide) and sorbitol (monosaccharide) by the effect of magneto-Archimedes levitation as a first step in proposing a new separation technique in food processing. In this technique, the mixtures are levitated at a specific position in a superconducting magnet, and the separation is realized by controlling the magnitude of magnetic force. Owing to the differences in their magnetic susceptibility, the levitating position of the components in the mixtures is uniquely identifiable. The aggregates of sorbitol were levitated upwards and those of sucrose were levitated downward. As the magnitude of the magnetic force was reduced, the sucrose and then the sorbitol fell in that order, and therefore they could be collected separately. The mechanism of this effect is attributed to the 8.2% difference in the volumetric magnetic susceptibilities of sucrose and sorbitol and the compressed oxygen gas. In the separation process, the falling particulates were distributed in an hourglass shape. This phenomenon was induced by the horizontal component of the magnetic force. The curvilinear surface was in good agreement with a numerical simulation.