FT Technologies

Comparison of SCC and RO

A comparison of SCC technology and Reverse Osmosis for alcohol reduction of wine is shown below:

 

  Reverse Osmosis Spinning Cone Column

Volume of wine to be processed

10 - 20% of total wine volume (function of initial wine concentration, target wine concentration and alcohol removed in dealcoholisation step)

 

10 - 20% of total wine volume
Stage at which wine may be treated

Wine should be heat, cold and pectin stabilised and have been polish filtered to less than 50 NTU.

 

Possible to process wine with high level of suspended solids - clarity and stabilisation is not important.
Alcohol removal technique

Separation based on MW.

 

Separation is based on relative volatility.
Number of passes

Multiple discrete alcohol removal passes if operated batchwise (usually operated continuously with long periods of recirculation).

 

One pass for flavour stripping (flavour subsequently reincorporated) and one pass for dealcoholisation.
Alcohol removal per pass

Alcohol content reduced by 0.7% to 1.5% abv per pass (ie. at least 8 discrete passes required to reduce alcohol from 15% to 3%)

 

Alcohol content may be reduced from 15% to <1% abv in one pass.
Residence time

Possibly many hours.

 

10 - 20 seconds per pass

Time to process 10,000L (15% abv reduced to 3% abv)

 

Function of size of membrane system. 1.25 hours for Flavour Strip and 5 hours for Alcohol Strip (using model SCC 10,000)
Flavour considerations

None - some flavour compounds readily pass through RO membranes.

Possible flavour adsorption (both volatile and non-volatile compounds onto membrane material).

 

Flavour strip to recover volatile compounds for subsequent reincorporation. Flavour stored as high strength ethanol stream (ie. very stable).
Strength of Alcohol removed

<10% abv (must either be sent to drain or further processed to recover EtOH from water).

 

>50% abv (ie. can be used immediately for brandy production, alco-pops etc.)
Hold up volume

High - dilution of product on startup and loss of product on shutdown.

 

Low.
Water removed

Yes - large volume of water removed. Water loss must be made up (possibly through treatment of RO permeate to recover water).

 

Negligble volume of water removed.
Water consumption during processing

High water usage if pervaporation used to treat RO permeate.

Treated water required.

 

Negligible - seal water use only (recirculation of seal water possible).

No special requirements for type of water.

Water and Chemical consumption during CIP

Very high requirements of chemical to clean and recharge membranes.

Treated water required.

 

Water used for initial rinse (before chemical CIP) and for final rinse (after chemical CIP). About 650 L of NaOH at 2% required for CIP.
High cost consumables

Yes - membrane cartridges.

 

None.

 

 


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