Clarifying matters

Reiner Gaub, Pall Food & Beverage, explains why new filtration and separation systems are addressing the evolving needs of the brewing industry in Europe.

FS. How have you seen demand for your solutions for the food and beverage industry change over the past five years? What do you think has driven these trends in the market?

RG. Pall has more than 2500 DE Filter systems operating worldwide and is the biggest supplier for beverage clarification, with a special focus on beer and wine. Over the past 10 years, there has been a trend in the wine industry to replace kieselguhr –a heat resistant diatomaceous earth – with other alternatives, a move that has been largely driven by the desire to achieve better economics through lower operating costs. Today, more than 2000 cross flow systems are operating in wine clarification, 1100 of them from Pall (Oenoflow).

Development of a replacement for kieselguhr in the brewing market has been ongoing since 1995. The key driver in terms of overall operation and investment cost has been better economics, as being much more flexible in production and lower in cost will move membrane based filtration of beer from a trend to the industry standard.

Better economics come from continuous operation and minimisation of extract losses and water consumption. There is also the added benefit of having minimal operator involvement, which leads to greater flexibility and availability of the plant.

FS. Can you outline why filtration and separation are so important in the brewing process?

RG. Filtration and separation are the final important steps in the value chain of the brewing process and ensure a product that is clear, microbiologically stable and unchanged in taste and character.

Membrane-based filtration is characterised by a clear cut-off point, which is defined by the pore size of the membrane. This cut-off, in combination with an integrity test, gives a safety level for the process and filtered product, which is not achievable with powder-based technologies.

The combination of centrifuge, hollow fibre crossflow technology (PROFi) for clarification and stabilisation followed by cartridge membrane systems (CFS) for beer sterile filtration, results in an absolutely reliable technology with lower costs compared to DE and pasteurisation.

FS. How have your solutions developed to adapt to changes in the requirements of brewers?

RG. We are well aware of the requirements of breweries both large and small to look for alternatives to Kieselguhr filtration. In order to fulfil these requirements we started back in 1992, together with the industry, to focus on this new field of beer filtration.

In 1995, Pall installed its first industrial scale unit, which we used together with a brewery to better understand the process – not only the true requirements of the industry but also the impact of various beer types, raw materials and process conditions. Our experience of this first step has now been translated into solutions for small-, medium- and large-scale breweries, which are today operating Pall PROFi Systems successfully.

The trend within the brewing industry to go global, with the associated greater demands on international branding, global marketing, cost-effective manufacture and need to maintain high quality, fits the PROFi profile perfectly.

FS. What ongoing research are you involved in to enhance your existing solutions further or to develop and bring new solutions to the European market?

RG. Each year, Pall spends in excess of US$60 million on research and development and is proud of the many patented solutions that serve the production processes of our customers in different industries today.

A considerable amount of this is invested in new developments in beer filtration systems. Beside the internal focus and the research with our highly qualified team, we also work closely with the brewing industry, so we can focus our new products and technologies to meet the industries requirements.

In addition, we partner with legal institutions and industry associations to ensure that the Pall solutions of today fulfil the regulatory requirements of tomorrow. This important criteria is key for the industry’s investment security.

FS. What do you believe distinguishes your offerings from any other company in this field and what strategies or aims do you work to, to ensure you maintain that competitive edge?

RG. Pall was the first company to run an industrial scale system for DE free filtration, long before other companies looked at this type of application. Our success has led us to be the first company to sell a large system to a six million hl brewery, based on minimum operator involvement.

Pall’s aim is to always be one step ahead of the other filter suppliers; we are often copied, but rarely matched. We believe that our close relationships with the industry and tradition in filtration, combined with a brewing team of more than 50 Brew Masters and a strong focus on R&D gives Pall the competitive edge in beer filtration.