Beer as a worldwide beverage has become an integral part of people’s lives. Because of its special nutritional value, all sorts of necessary amino acids plus other nutrients, beer is the most common alcoholic drink to be produced and sold. As it is an alcoholic beverage, however, drinking too much beer will be harmful to the liver and other organs. People who drive, have diabetes, or have been hospitalised, are amongst the many categories of people who should not drink beer. Therefore, a new brewing technology to produce low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beer is urgently needed. People want this new technology to replace the traditional brewing method of alcoholic beer.
 
There are normally two main ways to remove the alcohol from beer: one is the fermentation-limited method, and the other is the dealcoholisation method. The fermentation-limited method restricts the amount of alcohol by changing the fermentation cultures or the brewing conditions. As this method alters the original brewing conditions, the non-alcoholic beer produced is very different from ordinary beer, making it less popular for consumers. Unlike the first method, the dealcoholisation method doesn't change the brewing process. It only requires the addition of some unit operations for the separation of homogeneous systems during the brewing process to remove the alcohol.
 
The common dealcoholisation method is divided into two types: distillation and dialysis. Currently, it is more common in China to remove alcohol with distillation which demands a high-level of investment in equipment and generates an inevitable cooking aftertaste when producing non-alcoholic beer. Using expensive foreign patented technology is another disadvantage of distillation, as it is for dialysis, for the cost is relatively high, resulting in unpopularity among beer companies.
 
Guochu Technology (Xiamen) Ltd., based on years of experience in membrane separation, applies state-of-the-art membrane technology in beer dealcoholisation. With this advanced membrane technology, ethanol can be effectively removed from beer, leaving the brewing process otherwise intact, assuring the production of high quality non-alcoholic or low-alcoholic beer.
 
A membrane is a selective barrier between two sides. Technically, a membrane is a polymer material that can selectively separate the feed liquid through pressure difference. The whole isolation process is called membrane separation. It differs from traditional filters in that the membrane can function within the molecular range, and this process is a physical process, without the need for phase changes and additives. The thickness of the membrane is generally micron-sized. According to the pore size, the membrane can be categorized into microfiltration membrane, ultrafiltration membrane, nanofiltration membrane and reverse osmosis membrane. In the cross-flow membrane process, the separation and retention performance of various membranes is distinguished by the pore size and molecular weight cut-off of the membrane. The following figure roughly illustrates four different membrane separation processes: (turn arrows indicate that the substance cannot pass through the membrane and is retained):

 

The main process of membrane technology in beer dealcoholisation:

 

The economic benefit analysis of membrane technology applied in beer dealcoholisation:
 
Nowadays, the distillation dealcoholisation method is widely employed in China. This technique mainly uses reduced pressure to make the alcohol reach boiling point (around 45°C), so the alcohol can evaporate. As the temperature gets higher, the special flavour in the beer will disappear with the evaporated alcohol, ending up with a large change in taste. Thus, the substances which give the flavour must be retained.
 
When using membrane to remove alcohol, the dealcoholised beer can not only meet the alcohol content requirements of non-alcoholic beer, but also have effective temperature control during production. In this way, the problem of a negative effect on flavour caused by excessive temperature can be solved. With the support of membrane technology, there will be less change in the flavour of beer and most of the original flavour can be preserved. Accordingly, there would be no additional reprocessing of the beer flavour, since most of the original beer aroma and taste are preserved.
 
New membrane technology from Guochu Technology Ltd. can be utilized in beer concentration as well.
 
 
The main process of membrane technology in beer concentration:


 
Through membrane technology, the beer can be effectively concentrated, and the concentration ratio can be 5 to 10 times higher. At the same time, the flavour of the beer is retained in the concentrated liquid, and the taste of the beer is mostly preserved. The concentrated beer, rich in flavour and full of aroma, can be used as a new type of beer. Companies can also use concentrated beer technology to reduce transportation and storage costs, because the volume of concentrated beer is only one-fifth to one-tenth of that of ordinary beer.
 
Advantages of Membrane Technology:
 
1) Operation at room temperature, little loss of flavour
2) No phase change, no chemical addition
3) Good selectivity, ability to effectively remove ethanol
4) Simple process, easy and convenient operation
5) Small footprint of the system, friendly working environment
 
The new membrane technology of Guochu Technology Ltd. is suitable in various applications, not just in production of non-alcoholic beer, but also low-alcohol beer, concentrated beer, low alcohol/non-alcoholic Huangjiu, concentrated Huangjiu (dealcoholisation and concentration of Huangjiu), low alcohol/non-alcoholic rice wine, concentrated rice wine (dealcoholisation and concentration of rice wine), and concentrated sake (dealcoholisation and concentration of sake).
Guochu Technology (Xiamen) Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise with membrane separation technology at its core, dedicated to the promotion of new separation technology. With valuable experience in the application of special membranes in the pharmaceutical, chemical, food, beverage, petroleum, petrochemical, nuclear energy and other industries, Guochu Technology has the ability to research and develop membrane products and types of equipment according to the needs of its customers.