Purdue University Licenses Afforadable Xylitol Method to Dynamic

15/03/06 Purdue Research Foundation has licensed a technology to Kirkland, Washington based Dynamic Food Ingredients Corp. that makes it more affordable for manufacturers to produce Xylitol, a natural sweetener with many health benefits.

A Purdue University research team led by James N. BeMiller, professor emeritus in Purdue's Department of Food Science and then director of Purdue's Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, discovered in 2004 that electrolytic technology could be used to replace the current Xylitol production process, which is expensive and requires harsh chemicals. The result is a process that requires air, hydrogen and electricity but only has baking soda as a substantial byproduct.

DFI Corp. attained an exclusive worldwide license for this proprietary technology from Purdue Research Foundation and has invested significantly in the optimization of the technology. DFI Corp. is in the process of patenting several related technical advances. BeMiller acts as the company's technology adviser.

Used in foods since the 1960s, Xylitol is a white crystalline substance that looks and tastes like sugar and is found as an ingredient in anticavity chewing gum and dental hygiene products. Xylitol is best known for its ability to fight cavities. It also has been shown to produce an increase in calcium absorption and bone strength, to be safe for consumption by diabetics and to have half the calories of sugar. Classified as a sugar alcohol, Xylitol is found in a variety of fruits and vegetables, and is naturally produced in the human body.

"Electrolytic technology is novel in the food industry," said DFI Corp. Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Stapley, Ph.D., a Purdue alumnus who served as a graduate student on Professor BeMiller's team. "It's a clean technology that efficiently and quantitatively converts starch into Xylitol without the use of rare materials and with few waste byproducts."

Stapley said the technology lowers the current expense of manufacturing Xylitol by a disruptive amount and, as conversion efficiencies are high, DFI Corp.'s manufacturing technology can accommodate production rates far exceeding that of previous processes.

"In today's health conscious world, substitutes for sugar are in high demand," said Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and COO of the Purdue Research Foundation. "It's important that this sweetener be made more readily available at a price that will allow it to be used in all existing food product lines."

Unlike many artificial sweeteners, Xylitol can be used in applications that require high temperature, such as baking and pasteurization. This, coupled with sweetness that is the same as table sugar, teaspoon for teaspoon, results in the easy replacement of table sugar with Xylitol in most food applications.