Display Title

Maintaining purchased CO2 beverage gas purity levels to the published ISBT quality guideline limits via multilayer adsorption technology

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is used in the brewing industry for carbonation, conveying, packaging, and dispensation. In very large breweries, CO₂ can be recovered from the fermentation process; however, the majority of breweries are too small for this process to be cost-effective. Therefore, CO₂ must be purchased from an external source. The purchased CO₂ is delivered complete with quality certification demonstrating that it meets appropriate specifications. However, the possibility of a quality incident exists from the addition of the beverage gas into the final product. Process contamination can have a serious detrimental impact upon both the flavor and appearance of the beverage (foam head). In recent years, the importance of carbon dioxide quality and its effects on products has been under close scrutiny. Bodies such as the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT) now publish strict quality guidelines for the CO₂ used in the beverage industry. Limits are set for moisture, oxygen, carbon monoxide, ammonia, nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, non-volatile residue, non-volatile organic residue, total volatile hydrocarbons, acetaldehyde, aromatic hydrocarbon, total sulfur content, and sulfur dioxide among others. In order to address these quality concerns, final multilayer adsorption filtration has been developed to safeguard against introduction of CO₂ impurities/contaminants and to maintain the quality of the beverage gas as the supplier intended. Multilayer purifiers are capable of removing these contaminants to extremely low levels, in order to meet stringent ISBT limits for all impurities specified. For example, if there was an aromatic hydrocarbon incident, the multilayer adsorbent technology would have to reduce the contamination to less than 20 ppb vol/vol so the CO₂ can still be used within the brewery for its intended purpose. It is well known that contamination can occur in the process after purchasing good-quality CO₂; therefore, the whole brewing industry (from large to small) would benefit from final multilayer filtration technology to guarantee full CO₂ quality.

David McMillan is a senior engineering manager for Parker domnick hunter and lives in Newcastle, England. He has worked for more than 20 years in the gas filtration field. In his current role he leads a team of research and development professionals who provide technical solutions in the gas filtration arena. He is a qualified mechanical engineer with numerous professional qualifications, including a BCAS diploma in compressed gas management and is a qualified six sigma black belt through the University of Newcastle.

VIEW PRESENTATION