GEA debuts dealcoholization tech
GEA unveiled a new sustainability option for the membrane system for beer dealcoholization at Drinktec.
The GEA AromaPlus PRO reduces the water consumption for diafiltration during dealcoholization by up to 100%. And as an added bonus, the alcoholic base produced as a by-product of the filtration process can be used for manufacturing other beverages in the brewery, such as Hard Seltzer.
GEA AromaPlus uses a filtration technology with special polymer membranes to separate alcohol and water from the other ingredients by means of reverse osmosis; these ingredients are crucial for the aroma, color and turbidity of the final product. Adding the new PRO technology to the water-saving CO2 blow-out function and the selective membrane which is already implemented in the AromaPlus unit design, GEA succeeds in saving more than two third up to 100% of the fresh water used for diafiltration.
“Our latest AromaPlus generation combines the trend towards 0.0% beer with the goal of reducing water in production,” explained Ralf Scheibner, filtration expert at GEA. “In fact, a membrane process requires a lot of water to flush out the alcohol. That is an issue for breweries with a limited deoxygenized water availability. Our new PRO solution is an important step for them towards fresh water neutrality in production processes.”
Also launching at drinktec was the new GEA IceCon Compact series for producing liquid food concentrates. The standardized compact plants ensure gentle concentration of liquids into syrup while preserving flavor and ingredients: mainly used for fruit extracts, juices, dairy drinks, alcoholic products or cold-brew coffee.
And GEA also introduced its intelligent software solution GEA Smart Filtration for membrane filtration plants, which monitors the plant status remotely via an app.