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Membrane Filtration for Bright Beer, an Alternative to Kieselguhr

MBAA TQ vol. 37, Number 2, 2000, Pages 273-276 VIEW ARTICLE

By Stephen C. J. van Hoof, T. Noordman, O. Berghuis, M. Mol, C. Peet and L. Broens NORIT Membrane Technology, The Netherlands. Heineken Technical Services, The Netherlands. This paper was originally presented at the MBAA 112th Anniversary Convention, Keystone, Colorado, 1999.

Abstract
A new membrane filtration process has been developed in a joint research project by Norit Membrane Technology and Heineken Technical Services. The process is based upon Cross flow microfil-tration, which in the past has been tried and tested many times, but has never been able to become a technically and economically feasi-ble alternative to conventional kieselguhr filtration. This was mainly due to high fouling rates of the membranes, short run times and inad-equate cleaning procedures. The proposed technology however, overcomes all the above men-tioned barriers to successful commercial implementation of mem-brane filtration as an alternative to kieselguhr in breweries. The key to the feasibility of this new technology is a newly developed clean-ing strategy and the excellent properties of the applied X-Flow mem-branes. The process has been technically evaluated on a semi full-scale plant, with a capacity of 100 hL/h. Run lengths of 8 to 10 hours have been achieved consistently. An economic evaluation is due to be con-cluded shortly. Preliminary results show that this technology will be able to replace kieselguhr filtration in breweries from a technical as well as an economical point of view.
Keywords: microfiltration, beer, kieselguhr, membrane  

Sintesis
Un nuevo proceso de filtraci�n se ha desarrollado en un proyecto de investigaci�n conjunto de la Tecnolog�a de Membrana Norit y los Servicios T�cnicos Heineken. El proceso se basa en la micro fil-traci�n de flujo cruzado, el que en el pasado ha sido tratado y proba-do muchas veces, pero nunca se ha convertido en una alternativa t�cnica y econ�micamente posible al m�todo de filtraci�n kieselgur convencional. Esto se debi� principalmente al gran �ndice de fallas de las membranas, a los tiempos de corrida cortos y a los proced-imientos de limpieza inadecuados. Sin embargo, la tecnolog�a propuesta, vence todas las barreras mencionadas anteriormente para la exitosa implementaci�n comer-cial de la filtraci�n de membrana como una alternativa al m�todo kieselgur en las cervecer�as. La clave de la posibilidad de esta nueva tecnolog�a es una nueva estrategia de limpieza desarrollada y a las excelentes propiedades de las membranas de flujo-X aplicadas. El proceso ha sido evaluado tecnol�gicamente en una planta de tama�o semi normal, con una capacidad de 100 hL/h. Corridas de 8 a 10 horas han sido alcanzadas consistentemente. Una evaluaci�n econ�mica est� por concluirse pronto. Los resultados preliminares demostraron que esta tecnolog�a ser� capaz de substituir la filtraci�n kieselgur en las cervecer�as desde un punto de vista t�cnico as� como econ�mico.

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