JP3397148B2 - Liquid substance continuous processing method, continuous processing apparatus and liquid food and drink treated by them - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to continuous treatment of enzymes such as liquid foods and liquid chemicals using supercritical or subcritical fluids, inactivation treatment of spores, sterilization treatment, or deodorization treatment of liquid foods. The present invention relates to a continuous processing method and a continuous processing apparatus to be performed, and a liquid food and drink obtained by processing by the method or apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various kinds of liquid foods containing enzymes, of which sake, beer and fruit juice are typical. Looking at the production process of sake, the first step of obtaining fresh sake by squeezing and filtering after completion of fermentation, the second step of heat-sterilizing and storing fresh sake, the raw sake obtained is blended to determine the quality of sake and alcohol. It has a third step of adjusting the amount of the liquor to meet the standard, and a fourth step of sterilizing the adjusted liquor by heating again and filling the bottle or paper pack. As described above, sake is inactivated and sterilized by being subjected to the heat treatment twice, which prevents the quality of sake in circulation from being deteriorated. However, such heat treatment also causes a significant reduction in the fresh flavor of sake. Therefore, sake that has not been heat-treated is also preferred in order to enjoy the fresh taste and aroma, and the sake is distributed at a low temperature to maintain its quality. However, there is a problem that the quality of unbaked sake that has not been subjected to such heat treatment is likely to deteriorate due to the action of enzymes such as α-amylase and protease, and that the cost for cold temperature distribution increases.

Further, in order to maintain the stability of cloudy juice such as orange juice, it is necessary to inactivate pectinesterase (PE), but since PE is a heat-stable enzyme, it is inactivated by heating. To perform the heat treatment under high temperature conditions (8
8 to 99 ° C or 120 ° C) is required. However, there is a problem in that the flavor of fruit juice is impaired when heat treatment is performed under such high temperature conditions.

To solve such a problem, the present inventors have
A new technique has already been proposed in which the enzyme is inactivated by contacting the enzyme-containing liquid food with carbon dioxide in a supercritical state (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-170965). In this technology, the enzyme-containing liquid food is stored in the treatment tank, and the inside of the treatment tank is kept at a predetermined temperature and pressure condition in a sealed state, and a supercritical fluid of carbon dioxide is finely divided in the treatment tank through a filter. Size (average diameter 100μm
By supplying as follows), the supercritical fluid is easily dissolved in the liquid food. According to this method, the enzyme can be efficiently deactivated, and since only carbon dioxide comes into contact with the food, there is an advantage that the safety is high. Further, according to this method, sterilization treatment of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts and molds can be performed at the same time.

Furthermore, the inventors of the present application have proposed a continuous processing apparatus for performing such deactivation / sterilization treatment more efficiently and without deterioration of quality (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-2060).
44). With this continuous processing device, a predetermined pressure,
Continuously feed carbon dioxide in a supercritical state through a mesh-shaped filter arranged at the bottom of the treatment tank while continuously feeding the liquid food to the bottom of the treatment tank maintained at a predetermined temperature,
A liquid outlet is provided in the upper part of the processing tank near the liquid level to collect the product. In the processing tank, the liquid food and the microbubble-shaped supercritical fluid come into contact with each other while flowing in parallel in the ascending direction, whereby the enzyme can be efficiently deactivated. Further, a supercritical fluid discharge port is provided in the upper part of the treatment tank, and the supercritical fluid is taken out and returned to the carbon dioxide supply source for reuse. According to this apparatus, liquid foods can be continuously processed, and therefore, it is useful for introduction into a beverage / food factory where a large amount of processing is required.

[0006]

According to the above-mentioned continuous processing apparatus, it is possible to continuously carry out processing such as deactivation and sterilization of enzymes with high efficiency. However, when trying to put this continuous processing device into practical use, there is a problem particularly in terms of cost. That is, in the above continuous processing apparatus, it is necessary to maintain the processing tank at 31.1 ° C. or higher in order to maintain the supercritical state of carbon dioxide, but the solubility of carbon dioxide in liquid food becomes lower as the temperature becomes higher. However, it is inefficient in terms of dissolution. For this reason, in order to obtain a sufficient deactivating and sterilizing effect, it is necessary to maintain a state in which the liquid food and the supercritical fluid are co-flowing for a predetermined time (from several minutes to several tens of minutes), and the treatment tank is large. It is necessary to gain time by increasing the capacity. Further, in order to maintain the temperature of the processing tank at the above temperature, it is necessary to attach a warmer. Furthermore, if the temperature of the liquid food supplied to the processing tank is low, the reaction inside the processing tank becomes slower, so a warmer is also required to heat the liquid food to the processing tank appropriately. is there. As described above, the continuous processing apparatus requires large-scale equipment, resulting in high cost and large area occupied by the equipment.

Further, the temperature of the treatment tank is considerably lower than that of the enzyme deactivation treatment by heating, but is higher than normal temperature, and it is not possible to leave the liquid food under the temperature condition for the above predetermined time. There is a risk of quality deterioration. Specifically, for example, citrus fruit juice immediately after squeezing contains an enzyme with high activity, and there is a possibility that the enzyme may act in the treatment tank before the enzyme is deactivated to impair the quality of the fruit juice.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and its main purpose is to make it possible to downsize the processing tank and minimize the installation of a warmer. The object of the present invention is to provide a continuous treatment method for a liquid substance, a continuous treatment device, and a liquid food or drink treated by them.

[0009]

The continuous processing apparatus disclosed in the prior application has a process tank for dissolving carbon dioxide in a liquid food and a process for maintaining carbon dioxide in a supercritical state. It was done at the same time within. On the other hand, the continuous processing method and continuous processing apparatus according to the present invention made to solve the above-mentioned problems are characterized in that the above-mentioned two processes are performed separately in terms of time and space. .

That is, the continuous processing method according to the present invention is
A continuous treatment method for continuously treating a liquid raw material such as a liquid food by using a supercritical or subcritical fluid, comprising: a) continuously supplying liquid carbon dioxide obtained by microfoaming into the liquid raw material continuously supplied. Of the liquid carbon dioxide into the supercritical or subcritical state by maintaining the liquid raw material in which the liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved at a predetermined temperature and a predetermined pressure condition. It is characterized by having a heating / pressurizing step to bring it to a critical state and c) a depressurizing step of rapidly depressurizing the liquid raw material that has passed through the heating / pressurizing step to remove carbon dioxide and recover the product. I am trying.

A continuous processing apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for embodying the above continuous processing method, which is a continuous processing apparatus for continuously processing a liquid raw material such as liquid food by using a supercritical or subcritical fluid. In a), a) a raw material supply channel for continuously supplying a liquid raw material, b) a carbon dioxide supply channel for continuously supplying liquefied carbon dioxide, and c) a liquid raw material sent from the raw material supply channel. Dissolving means for dissolving liquid carbon dioxide in the liquid raw material by releasing microscopic bubbles of liquid carbon dioxide sent from the carbon dioxide supply channel to the liquid flow, and d) liquid raw material in which liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved Is taken out from the dissolving means, and is heated to a supercritical or subcritical state by maintaining carbon dioxide under a predetermined temperature and a predetermined pressure condition.
It is characterized by comprising a pressurizing means and e) a depressurizing means for rapidly depressurizing the liquid raw material that has passed through the heating / pressurizing means to remove carbon dioxide and recover the product.

Further, in the method for producing a liquid substance according to the present invention, a) liquid carbon dioxide which has been finely foamed is continuously released into the liquid raw material continuously supplied, and liquid carbon dioxide is added into the liquid raw material. A dissolving step of dissolving carbon, b) a heating / pressurizing step of bringing carbon dioxide into a supercritical or subcritical state by maintaining a liquid raw material in which liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved at a predetermined temperature and under a predetermined pressure condition, c) The liquid raw material that has passed through the heating / pressurizing step is rapidly depressurized to remove carbon dioxide and to recover the product.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the continuous processing method and continuous processing apparatus according to the present invention, liquid raw materials such as liquid foods and liquid chemicals are continuously supplied to the melting means through the raw material supply passage, while being cooled and liquefied. Carbon dioxide (liquid carbon dioxide) is continuously supplied to the dissolution means through a carbon dioxide supply channel. The outlet of the carbon dioxide supply channel is provided with, for example, a mesh-shaped filter having a fine pore size, and when passing through this filter, the liquid carbon dioxide becomes fine bubbles and dissolves in the liquid raw material. Of course, the contact efficiency between the carbon dioxide and the liquid raw material may be increased by another method such as a high speed mixer or an ultrasonic generator. As is well known, the solubility of liquid carbon dioxide in a liquid is higher as the ambient temperature is lower.
Therefore, it is preferable to cool the dissolving means, but it is possible to dissolve a sufficient amount of liquid carbon dioxide into the liquid raw material in a short time even at room temperature. Especially in the winter, the melting temperature is high because the ambient temperature is low.

For example, the dissolving means includes a dissolving tank, the inlet of the raw material supply passage and the inlet of the carbon dioxide supply passage are provided at the bottom of the dissolving tank, and the liquid outlet is near the liquid surface above the dissolving tank. It can be configured to be provided. According to this, the liquid raw material introduced from the bottom of the dissolution tank flows upward in the dissolution tank, and the liquid carbon dioxide in the form of foam also flows in the same direction. Therefore, the contact area is extremely wide, and liquid carbon dioxide is efficiently dissolved in the liquid raw material.

The liquid raw material in which the liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved in the dissolving means is sent to the heating / pressurizing means in the next stage. Warming·
The pressurizing means is maintained at the temperature and pressure conditions necessary to bring carbon dioxide into a supercritical or subcritical state. As such conditions, the temperature is 30 to 80 ° C., preferably 30 to 50
C, pressure 40-400 atm, preferably 100-3
It is good to set it to 00 atm. Under these conditions,
Liquid carbon dioxide dissolved in the liquid raw material rapidly changes to a supercritical or subcritical state. The residence time of the liquid raw material in the heating tank is about 1 minute at most. Therefore, the deterioration of the quality of the liquid raw material can be suppressed to a minimum, even though the temperature is higher than the normal temperature.

Next, when the pressure is rapidly reduced by the decompression means, carbon dioxide which has permeated into the protein which is the active substance of the enzyme is rapidly expanded, the protein is destroyed and the enzyme is deactivated. In addition, various microorganisms are sterilized. Since the carbon dioxide dissolved in the liquid raw material is vaporized and volatilized from the liquid raw material, the liquid raw material can be recovered as a product after the treatment. In such a depressurizing step, the speed of depressurization is important, and as such a condition, the depressurizing speed is set so that the gas passes through the orifice of the pressure control valve included in the depressurizing means in 20 milliseconds or less, preferably 10 milliseconds or less. Should be set.

Typical liquid materials to which the present invention is applied are fermented / brewed liquid foods such as sake, beer, wine, soy sauce, various fruit juices, and soft drinks. The fruit juices are usually obtained from apples, grapes, various citrus fruits, etc., but may be juices obtained from tomatoes and other vegetables. The liquid raw material does not have to be a food, but may be a liquid medicine such as various infusions, blood products, and nutritional supplement liquids.

[0018]

As described above, according to the method and apparatus for continuously treating a liquid substance according to the present invention, the step of dissolving liquid carbon dioxide in the liquid raw material and the carbon dioxide in a supercritical or subcritical state are performed. Since the heating / pressurizing process to be transferred to is separated, each process can be executed very efficiently, and the overall processing time can be greatly shortened compared to the conventional continuous processing equipment. You can Along with this, a large processing tank is not required and a heater for liquid raw material is not required, so that the apparatus can be downsized. Also, heating
Since the temperature setting in the pressurizing step can be optimized, it is possible to obtain higher effects of enzyme deactivation and sterilization than ever before. Furthermore, since the liquid raw material is maintained in a heated state for a short period of time, the flavor of the product is less likely to be impaired.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the continuous processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a continuous enzyme deactivation processing apparatus according to this example.

The liquid raw material is stored in the raw material tank 1, and the bottom portion of the raw material tank 1 and the bottom portion of the dissolution tank 11 are connected by a raw material supply passage 3. A pump 2 is arranged in the middle of the flow path 3 for feeding liquid while pressurizing. By appropriately setting the operating conditions of the pump 2, the liquid raw material is melted at a desired flow rate in the dissolution tank 11 Can be continuously fed to.

On the other hand, the liquid carbon dioxide cylinder 4 and the dissolution tank 1
A carbon dioxide supply flow path 10 including a valve 5, a line filter 7, a cooler 8, and a pump 9 is connected between the bottom and one bottom. The cooler 8 is for cooling and liquefying carbon dioxide supplied through the recycle passage 30 described later when carbon dioxide is vaporized in the middle of the piping, and the carbon dioxide was maintained in a liquid state. As it is, it is pressurized by the pump 9 and supplied to the dissolution tank 11.

The melting tank 11 is composed of a pressure resistant container,
An inlet 12 is provided at the outlet of the raw material supply passage 3 at the bottom thereof, and a mesh-shaped filter 13 having micropores is provided at the outlet of the carbon dioxide supply passage 10. In order to efficiently dissolve the liquid carbon dioxide in the liquid raw material, it is preferable to discharge the liquid carbon dioxide as fine particles as possible. Therefore, the mesh of the filter 13 is preferably 100 μm or less, more preferably 20 μm or less. A drain 14 for drainage that can be opened and closed by a valve is also connected to the bottom of the dissolution tank 11, while a liquid outlet 18 is provided in the vicinity of the upper liquid surface in the dissolution tank 11. That is, the liquid raw material introduced from the inlet 12 flows upward in the dissolution tank 11 and is taken out from the liquid outlet 18 when reaching the vicinity of the liquid surface.

A liquid level sensor 16 is installed in the dissolving tank 11, and an output signal of the liquid level sensor 16 is fed back to the pump 2 to control its operation, whereby the liquid level in the dissolving tank 11 is controlled. I try to keep it almost constant. Instead of using the liquid level sensor 16, the inside of the dissolution tank 11 may be provided by another method such as providing a control means for making the amount of liquid taken out from the liquid outlet 18 equal to the amount of liquid supplied from the inlet 12. The liquid level may be maintained constant. By maintaining the liquid level at a constant level in this way, the time during which the liquid raw material passes through the dissolution tank 11 can be maintained at a constant level, so that the carbon dioxide can be dissolved stably and evenly as described below. Be seen.

A carbon dioxide discharge port 17 is provided in the lid portion that closes the upper end surface of the dissolution tank 11. Although liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved in the liquid raw material in the dissolution tank 11 as described later, some liquid carbon dioxide may change to a subcritical or supercritical state depending on conditions. In that case, since the density of the subcritical or supercritical fluid is smaller than the liquid density, the carbon dioxide in the subcritical or supercritical state can be taken out from the carbon dioxide outlet 17 located at a position higher than the liquid surface.

The liquid outlet 18 has a spiral heating pipe 20.
Are connected. The warming pipe 20 is held in a warming tank (or a heat insulating metal block or the like) equipped with a warming device 19, and the temperature of the warming pipe 20 can be monitored by a temperature sensor 21. By feeding back the temperature monitored by the temperature sensor 21 to the warmer 19, the temperature of the heating pipe 20 can be maintained substantially constant.

On the other hand, the pressure in the dissolution tank 11 is measured by the pressure sensor 1.
5 monitored. Melting tank 11 and heating pipe 20
Is sandwiched between the pumps 2 and 9 and the pressure control valves 22 and 28. Therefore, a predetermined amount is determined by the feed rate of the liquid raw material and the liquid carbon dioxide by the pumps 2 and 9 and the opening degree of the pressure control valves 22 and 28. It can be adjusted to the pressure value.

At the outlet of the heating pipe 20, a product recovery flow path 23 having a pressure control valve 22 for achieving rapid depressurization is connected, and its end is connected to a depressurization tank 24. . In the decompression tank 24, the carbon dioxide dissolved in the product (processed liquid raw material) is vaporized and taken out, and the gaseous carbon dioxide can be returned to the recycle channel 30 via the valve 25.
The product accumulated in the decompression tank 24 is transferred to the product tank 26. Since the heat of vaporization is removed when carbon dioxide is vaporized in the decompression tank 24, the liquid raw material warmed in the heating pipe 20 is cooled in the decompression tank 24 to obtain a product at normal temperature or low temperature.

At the carbon dioxide outlet 17, the pressure control valve 2
A carbon dioxide recovery flow path 27 connected to the recycle tank 29 via 8 is connected. The supercritical or subcritical fluid sent to the carbon dioxide recovery channel 27 is decompressed by the pressure control valve 28 into gaseous carbon dioxide, which is recovered in the recycle tank 29. The recycle tank 29 is connected with the recycle flow passage 30 connected to the carbon dioxide supply flow passage 10 via the check valve 31 and the valve 6, and functions as a carbon dioxide supply source in place of the liquid carbon dioxide cylinder 4. It has become. That is, the recycling channel 30
It is only necessary to supply from the liquid carbon dioxide tank 4 an amount that is insufficient in the amount of carbon dioxide that is reused via the tank 1, and the amount of liquid carbon dioxide supplied from the tank 4 can be saved.

Next, the enzyme deactivation treatment in the above apparatus will be described. The liquid raw material is continuously introduced into the dissolution tank 11 through the introduction port 12. When the liquid carbon dioxide sent through the carbon dioxide supply channel 10 passes through the filter 13, it becomes fine bubbles corresponding to the pore diameter of the filter 13 and is discharged into the liquid raw material. That is, the liquid of the fine bubbles introduced through the filter 13 and the liquid raw material immediately after the introduction are in immediate contact with each other, and the liquid carbon dioxide is efficiently dissolved in the liquid raw material. It is preferable to cool the melting tank 11 because such melting is promoted as the temperature is lower.
Sufficiently high solubility can be obtained even if the temperature around 1 is kept at room temperature.

The liquid raw material in which liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved is
It rises in the dissolution tank 11 and reaches the liquid outlet 18. In order to obtain a sufficient enzyme deactivating effect, it is preferable to make the solubility of carbon dioxide in the liquid raw material as high as possible.

The liquid raw material taken out from the liquid take-out port 18 is introduced into the heating pipe 20. At this time, liquid carbon dioxide that cannot be completely dissolved in the liquid raw material (that is, mixed carbon dioxide) is also introduced into the heating pipe 20, but there is no problem. The heating pipe 20 is heated by the heater 19 to 30
The temperature is maintained at about 40 ° C. Further, the pressure in the heating pipe 20 (same for the melting tank 11) is 100 to 300a.
It is maintained at tm. Under such temperature and pressure conditions, liquid carbon dioxide changes into a supercritical fluid in a short time. The liquid raw material passes through the spiral heating pipe 20 in about one minute. When the liquid carbon dioxide dissolved in the liquid raw material is changed into a supercritical fluid, a part of the protein which is an active substance of the enzyme contained in the liquid raw material is destroyed and a part of the microorganism is killed. However, at this point, the effect is partly limited.

Subsequently, when this liquid raw material reaches the decompression tank 24 through the pressure control valve 22, the pressure drops sharply, so that the supercritical state is released, and carbon dioxide is vaporized all at once and the volume expands rapidly. To do. At that time, the protein of the above enzyme is destroyed to kill the microorganism. As a result, the enzyme is deactivated, the spores are deactivated, and the microorganisms are sterilized, and the processed product is collected in the product tank 26. as a result,
The product stored in the product tank 26 has an extremely low ratio of active enzymes, and the number of unwanted microorganisms is zero. Also,
As described above, the temperature of the product is low when it is collected. Further, since heat is not applied even when carbon dioxide is vaporized in the decompression tank 24, the aroma component contained in the liquid raw material hardly volatilizes and the flavor is not impaired.

Next, the enzyme inactivating effect obtained by the experiment using the apparatus of the above-mentioned embodiment will be explained. Table 1 shows the results of examining the ratio of the active enzyme remaining in the liquid raw material treated by the continuous treatment apparatus of this example, and as a comparison object, the continuous treatment using the conventional subcritical / supercritical fluid. Device (device described in the above-mentioned JP-A-9-206044)
2 shows the result of the heat treatment by Comparative Example 1 (Comparative Example 1) and the result of the heat treatment method generally used at present (Comparative Example 2).

[Table 1] Here, the supply amount of the liquid raw material is 20 kg / h, the supply amount of carbon dioxide is 1.6 kg / h, and in this embodiment, the temperature is 5
A heating / pressurizing process at 0 ° C. and a pressure of 250 atm is performed for 1 minute. On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1, the heating / pressurizing step at a temperature of 40 ° C. and a pressure of 250 atm is performed for 15 minutes, and in Comparative Example 2, the heating step at 85 ° C. is performed for 1 minute.

As is clear from Table 1, there are two methods using subcritical / supercritical fluids, that is, this embodiment and comparative example 1.
Both have a higher deactivation effect than the heat treatment method of Comparative Example 2. Moreover, there is no significant difference in deactivating effect between the former two methods. That is, in the treatment method of this embodiment, the heating / pressurizing step can be performed in a short time of 1 minute.
It is possible to obtain an enzyme deactivating effect equivalent to that of the treatment method of Comparative Example 1 which requires a long heating / pressurizing step of 5 minutes.

At the same time as the above experiment, the number of remaining spores of spore-bearing microorganisms was also examined. As a result, Bacillus subtilis (scientific name: Bacillus s
It was confirmed that the number of residual spores of eight kinds of bacteria belonging to the genus Bacillus including ubtilis) was zero. That is, the treatment method of the present embodiment can completely sterilize the microorganisms.

The above embodiment is merely an example, and it is clear that appropriate changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the configuration of the above-described embodiment, the liquid in the dissolution tank 11 is also subjected to high pressure, but since high pressure is necessary to turn carbon dioxide into a supercritical fluid, it flows in the heating pipe 20. It is only necessary to apply pressure to the liquid. Therefore, for example, a pump for liquid supply pressurization may be installed between the dissolution tank 11 and the heating pipe 20.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a continuous enzyme deactivation processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Raw material tank 2, 9 ... Pump 3 ... Raw material supply flow path 4 ... Liquid carbon dioxide cylinder 10 ... Carbon dioxide supply flow path 11 ... Melting tank 12 ... Inlet port 13 ... Filter 15 ... Pressure sensor 16 ... Liquid level sensor 18 ... Liquid outlet 19 ... Warmer 20 ... Heating pipe 21 ... Temperature sensor 22, 28 ... Pressure control valve 23 ... Product recovery flow path 24 ... Decompression tank 26 ... Product tank

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-9-206044 (JP, A) JP-A-7-170965 (JP, A) JP-A-10-84924 (JP, A) JP-A-4- 222583 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A23L 3/3418 A23L 2/42 B01J 3/00 B01J 19/00 C12H 1/12

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A continuous treatment method for continuously treating a liquid raw material such as a liquid food by using a supercritical or subcritical fluid, wherein a) microbubbles are formed in the continuously supplied liquid raw material. Carbon dioxide by continuously releasing liquid carbon dioxide to dissolve the liquid carbon dioxide in the liquid raw material, and b) maintaining the liquid raw material in which the liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved under a predetermined temperature and a predetermined pressure condition. A heating / pressurizing step for making the supercritical or subcritical state, and c) a depressurizing step for rapidly depressurizing the liquid raw material passing through the heating / pressurizing step to remove carbon dioxide and recover the product, A method for continuously treating a liquid substance, comprising: 2. A continuous processing apparatus for continuously processing a liquid raw material such as a liquid food using a supercritical or subcritical fluid, wherein a) a raw material supply channel for continuously supplying the liquid raw material, and b) liquefaction. Carbon dioxide supply channel for continuously supplying the carbon dioxide, and c) the liquid carbon dioxide sent from the carbon dioxide supply channel is made into fine bubbles against the liquid flow of the liquid raw material sent from the raw material supply channel. Carbon dioxide by releasing the liquid raw material in which the liquid carbon dioxide is dissolved from the dissolving means and maintaining it at a predetermined temperature and a predetermined pressure condition. To heat the supercritical or subcritical state
Continuous treatment of a liquid substance, characterized by comprising: a pressurizing means, and e) a depressurizing means for rapidly depressurizing the liquid raw material that has passed through the heating / pressurizing means to remove carbon dioxide and recover the product. apparatus. 3. A dissolution step in which liquid carbon dioxide which has been made into fine bubbles is continuously discharged into a liquid material which is continuously supplied to dissolve the liquid carbon dioxide in the liquid material, and b) a liquid. Passed the heating / pressurizing step of bringing the carbon dioxide into a supercritical or subcritical state by maintaining the liquid raw material in which the carbon dioxide is dissolved at a predetermined temperature and under a predetermined pressure condition, and c) the heating / pressurizing step. A method for producing a liquid substance, comprising: a depressurizing step of rapidly depressurizing a liquid raw material to remove carbon dioxide and recovering a product. 4. The method for producing a liquid substance according to claim 3, wherein the product is a liquid food or drink. 5. The method for producing a liquid substance according to claim 3, wherein the product is a liquid chemical.