New Degassing Membrane Technology for the Beverage Industry Developed by Guochu Technology

In the process of beverage production, the oxygen in the production water will accelerate product deterioration and shorten product shelf life. For the beverage manufacturing industry, controlling carbon dioxide and nitrogen is critical, as the concentration of these gases can affect the product's taste, mouth feel and appearance.

Oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and other gases in the intercellular space (air chamber) of fruit juice and vegetable juice will enter into the juice and vegetable juice in the form of hydrolysis or be adsorbed on the surface of sarcocarp and colloid, and contact with the air at the same time, so that the finished beverage contains a large amount of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide. Oxygen will destroy the vitamins in the juice and oxidize other components, resulting in changes in the finished beverage's aroma and color and lowering the quality. Therefore, in order to ensure product quality, degassing is an indispensable process in beverage processing.

At present, degassing methods of food and beverage mainly include the vacuum process, nitrogen exchange process, enzymatic degassing process, and antioxidant process. Among these, the enzymatic and antioxidant methods are not suitable for industrial applications because of their high cost. The nitrogen exchange process needs to prepare a set of nitrogen configurations, which is also not commonly used. The most commonly used vacuum degassing method has many restrictions, its degassing degree is affected by the vacuum degree in the tank and the temperature of the feed liquid, etc. The degassing time is limited by the dispersion degree and viscosity of the juice in the tank.

The application of membrane is to take advantage of the differences in physical and chemical properties of the components in a mixture to achieve substance migration under the driving force to achieve separation. Membrane separation technology is widely used in water treatment, industrial separation, wastewater treatment, the food fermentation industry, etc. It has the characteristics of a simple process, compact structure, and energy saving, while avoiding the influence of heat and oxygen on food, which is a separation process of high purity and high efficiency.

The degassing membrane adopts the method of vacuumizing, and the gas moves to the low-pressure side driven by the pressure difference. By vacuumizing, the pressure on the permeation side is reduced, and gases on the permeation side are continuously taken away, thus reducing the concentration on the permeation side of the membrane and accelerating the gas removal. Secondly, the degassing membrane adopts the hollow fiber membrane structure to increase the contact area with the beverage and further improve the degassing efficiency.

In the production process, the application of degassing membrane for nitridation, carbonation and deoxidation process can reduce microbial reproduction, prevent product deterioration and prolong product shelf life.

In addition, the degassing membrane can quickly infuse gas into water, beer and wine with precision and predictability, ensuring accurate expected concentration, thus saving time and simplifying the production process. The food and beverage industry can adjust the concentration of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and alcohol to achieve the product's desired taste, mouth feel, and bubbles.

Since the establishment of Guochu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd, we have taken membrane separation technology as our core and are committed to the promotion of new separation technology. We have provided comprehensive filtration and purification solutions to biopharmaceutical, food and beverage, fermentation, agricultural products deep processing, plant extraction, petroleum and petrochemical, environmental protection water treatment, gas separation, chemical industry, and other industries to meet the highly differentiated needs of different customers.

Guochu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. will also continue to explore new applications of the new degassing membrane technology in the fields of food, dairy, beverage, microelectronics, metallurgy, chemical industry, machinery, and environment to provide more users with professional gas separation solutions.