Black Tea Processing

It has been said that making good tea is an art. Black tea processing is the first step to perfecting the art form. Green-colored tea leaves are plucked, withered, cut, rolled, fermented, dried, sorted, cleansed, blended and packed, before that perfect brew is achieved. Enzymes can play a significant role.

Specialty Enzymes and Biochemicals’ pectinase blend, Extractase, improves flavor and color, while its Bioclean TC blend cleanses and prevents bacterial growth in manufacturing areas. 

The inherent enzymes in the tealeaf take part in a sequence of biochemical changes that start immediately after plucking, continuing right through withering and fermentation until the tea enters the dryer. The physical maceration of the green leaf is done on a rolling table or in CTC machines. There is however a limit to which the physical disruption of the cell walls is possible.

Extractase helps prevent further disruption by acting at the molecular level to get a better mixing of the intercellular components. Extractase is to be applied during the physical maceration of leaves. Extractase gives the tea a better bloom, more brisk liquor, and brighter infusions, as well as a blacker appearance.

The best teas are made in the cleanest factories. Bioclean TC has a blend of natural enzymes that gives manufacturing areas a 100 percent safe-detergent and alkali-free cleansing. Bioclean TC is dissolved in water and sprayed in areas that come in contact with leaf material, such as on rolling tables, CTC rollers, conveyor belts and CFMs. The blend helps degrade biological material, which is then easily dislodged in cold water washing.

 Bioclean TC prevents bacterial growth by not providing any food to sustain the bacteria. And because it is 100 percent natural, the blend doesn’t impart any off-flavor or off-taste to the tea.

 Coffee, being the most widely traded commodity in the international markets, is an agricultural crop of significant economic importance. While improvements in various aspects of coffee processing have taken place in recent years, coffee planters have not yet found an effective solution to reduce the odor and volume of effluent water.

 Specialty Enzymes, a leading solution provider to the human healthcare, animal nutrition, and natural product processing industries, offers SPEEDOX. When added to the wash water or effluent stream in the coffee production process, SPEEDOX rapidly reduces organic loads in the waste water that cause environmental pollution.  

High levels of BOD and COD and suspended and dissolved solids in the waste water from coffee plants creates numerous pollution problems. A large volume of this waste water is released from the pulp hose due to wet processing in coffee production. The mucilage and other ingredients of pulp form a thick mass that further decays and gives off a foul smell. The foul smell on plantations causes problems for the workers and spoils the environment.

 While environmental pollution has worried coffee planters for years, increased processing capacities on plantations has made the problem more complex in recent times.

SPEEDOX can reduce the pollution causing entities in coffee plantation waste water.

SPEEDOX is a 100% natural, high quality and eco-friendly product. It improves the clarity of water so the water can be used for irrigation. SPEEDOX also eliminates the foul odor near the effluent treatment tanks.

 Specialty Enzymes believes now is the time to work together to make our environment pollution free. Our knowledge and expertise in the use of SPEEDOX can help coffee planters reduce pollution in an economical way.

View the Coffee and Tea Product Range.

Leather

Over the last few years, Specialty Enzymes and Biochemicals’ enzyme blends have proved to be more efficient, safe and environmentally friendly than the traditional chemical methods used in leather manufacturing. Specialty Enzymes has an enzyme blend for every stage of leather processing. 

Specialty Enzymes’ SEBsoak product, used during the soaking process, removes unwanted parts of hides and skins, provides an uniform soaking effect, speeds up the soaking process and better re-hydrates hides previously soaked in brine.  

Hides and skins received from the meat and dairy industry are composed of around 30 percent protein, 10 percent fat and 60 percent water. The hides are covered in blood, hair and dirt, so cleansing them well is an essential first step. SEBsoak helps cleanse the hides more effectively than chemicals. The lipase in SEBsoak breaks down the fat into free fatty acids and glycerol. And the proteases in this blend act on the proteins present on the epidermal layer of the skin.

For the next step, dehairing, Specialty Enzymes has developed SEBlime. SEBlime is a blend that loosens hair from the corium layer of the skin, making hair removal easy. This method is faster, safer and more convenient than the method using sulphide. SEBlime offers ecofriendly, biodegradable, sulfide-free liming. It has optimum swell regulating properties, which result in excellent grain smoothness.   

Once the hides have been cleansed and dehaired, they are delimed. Deliming is removing lime and water from the fibers of the grain layer of the hide. 

The next major phase in the process is acid bating. Another Specialty Enzymes blend, SEBbate Acid, is instrumental in this phase. This blend further cleans and removes remnants of hair and makes the hide soft and supple. SEBbate Acid improves the hide’s pliability and makes the grain smoother and more uniform for fabrication and dyeing.

SEBbate Alkali is a Specialty Enzymes blend used in the hide tanning and basification phase of leather processing. In this stage, the hide is treated so that it becomes stable leather. It is critical to make the hide stable in terms of microbial attacks and heat. SEBbate Alkali helps stabilize the hide by ensuring the removal of all non-leather forming proteious matter.

Another advantage of using enzymes in leather processing is that they help reduce environmental pollution. The traditional chemical methods produce effluents that cause serious pollution problems. Enzymes don’t produce those effluents.

Specialty Enzymes and Biochemicals has a comprehensive range of enzyme products for use in leather manufacturing that are safer, more effective and more efficient than traditional chemical methods.

View the Leather Product Range.

Paper & Pulp

Chlorine compounds are the main bleaching agents in the kraft process – the leading chemical pulping method – and paper manufacturers are under increasing pressure to reduce the amount of chlorinated bleaching agents used in paper manufacturing. Enzyme treatment of kraft pulps can reduce the requirement for chemical bleaching.

In the kraft process, wood chips are treated with abrasive chemicals until the lignin is dissolved. The resulting kraft pulp is darkly colored due to the existence of dissolved lignin and must undergo extensive bleaching before being suitable for paper manufacture.

Treating kraft pulps with enzymes removes the hemicelluloses bound to the surface of fibers. This process, known as “bleach boosting,” makes it easier to remove bound lignin components and thereby reduces the requirement for chlorine bleaching.

Specialty Enzymes’ SEBrite-BB is custom made for bleach boosting in paper/wood pulping applications. It reduces pulp bleaching chemical consumption and effectively boosts the performance of kraft pulp bleaching systems.

View the Paper and Pulp Product Range.

View the Adhesives Product Range.