Wine Spinning Cone Column Application Bulletin 1-01-1306

he Spinning Cone Column (SCC) is an effi cient and versatile Twine-making tool that has been commercially and successfully applied in wineries for over 10 years. Over this period a number of specifi c wine-making applications have been developed, giving the winemaker unprecedented control over both fl avour and alcohol levels in the fi nal product. In addition the same technology can be used to recover fl avour from grape juice, desulphite single strength grape juice, remove unwanted fl avours and to recover useful fl avours and alcohol from waste streams.

Key benefi ts of the Spinning Cone Column technology are: • Adjustment of alcohol content in SCC 10,000 in a Californian Wine Facility. full-strength wines without fl avour loss or damage (in fact, fl avour impact is of volatile compounds such as aroma low temperature from a portion of the increased!). and alcohol from a thin-fi lm liquid batch of wine to be treated. Most of system. The SCC can process thick, the alcohol is then removed from the • Production of low or reduced viscous slurries containing high levels defl avoured wine in a second stage. alcohol wines while retaining varietal of suspended solids just as readily as it This alcohol will typically be recovered wine fl avours. can clear liquids without damaging the as a clean spirit at 50 to 60% ABV that, • High quality spirit is produced as recovered fl avour or the treated product. if desired, can be rectifi ed to a higher a by-product of alcohol removal or strength. other processes. Further details regarding the operating principle of the SCC may be found at The removal of alcohol typically results Energy effi cient desulphiting of • www.fl avourtech.com in an overall reduction of fi nal strength grape juice to less than 10ppm total between 1 and 2% ABV when the SO . 2 treated wine is blended with the • Recovery of fl avour and alcohol Alcohol Adjustment – Full untreated wine from the same batch. directly from solids-containing Strength Wines All of the fl avour is then returned to streams such as marc or yeast slurry. the wine thus producing a fi nished The Spinning Cone Column is widely product with all the original fl avour, • Versatility and fl exibility in the wine used to increase the ratio of fl avour but at a slightly lower alcohol content. making process. to alcohol in wines that without Adjustments from 15 to 16% ABV Spinning Cone Columns have been such adjustment are considered to down to 13 to 14% ABV produce wines installed in wineries around the world be excessively “hot”- a condition with more perceived fruity and light increasing profi tability by adding value associated with alcohol levels that are characters and the moderation of the throughout the wine making process. too high. The wine is processed in two stages; the fi rst stage involves the “heat” associated with high alcohol recovery of all of the volatile fl avour at content. The Spinning Cone Column 1 Wine storage The SCC is a uniquely 2 SCC - flavour strip effi cient counter-current 1 liquid-gas contacting 2 3 SCC - alcohol strip device, i.e. a distillation or stripping column, that 3 4 Blend tank belongs to the same Wine (15.5% alcohol) family of mass transfer devices as packed, plate Wine less flavour (15.0% alcohol) and bubble-cap columns. Wine at 3.0% alcohol The SCC is unique in its 4 use of gentle mechanical Wine flavour forces to enhance inter- Spirit (62.8% alcohol) phase contact. This allows Wine (13.7% alcohol) the rapid, effi cient and cost-effective separation Alcohol reduction using the SCC in a two pass process Alcohol Adjustment - Reduced at ambient temperature compared to to process streams containing high Alcohol Wine the alternative of refrigeration. levels of suspended solids enables the recovery of such volatiles by processing For a variety of reasons, markets for The potential disadvantage of storing a slurry of skins directly through the several categories of reduced alcohol sulphited juice is that before further SCC. wines ranging from 1% to 10% ABV are use the sulphur must be removed. expanding. Underpinning this growth is Conventional stripping columns such as Further, the SCC can be used to recover the ability to produce products which packed, plate or bubble cap columns high strength alcohol and fl avour retain all of the desired fl avour of the original full strength wine. 1 Juice storage By varying the conditions used in the 2 SCC two-stage process described above, it is possible to produce wines across 1 3 Neutralising vessel a complete fi nal alcohol range that 2 retain all of the volatile fl avour. Careful 4 Fermentation tank selection of the starting wine and the SCC operating conditions by the wine High SO2 juice 3 maker combine to ensure that a high quality of fi nished product, previously SO2 free juice unattainable, can be achieved. SO2 rich condensate 4 Neutral discharge Flavour Management of Grape Juice Just as volatile wine fl avour can be Desulphiting Process using SCC recovered using the SCC at any desired point once the fermentation has started, have traditionally been used to remove directly from tank bottoms at the end of it is also possible to recover aroma from the sulphur. However, the heat damage fermentation and fi ning processes. Such grape juice prior to fermentation. that occurs to the juice due to the a feed stream contains a high content residence time profi le in such devices of settled yeast, however the ability of The recovery of grape juice aroma may is highly detrimental to juice quality and the SCC to process high suspended be considered for a number of reasons. usually imparts burnt or cooked notes to solids feed streams makes it possible It may be desirable for juice aroma to be the juice. to recover the alcohol from this yeast by added to the fermenting wine towards processing it directly through the SCC. Use of the SCC for desulphiting the end of the fermentation or after This approach eliminates alcohol losses avoids this problem as the extremely fermentation is completed in order to associated with wet yeast and also short residence time within the SCC produce a wine with a particular aroma reduces the effl uent problem associated minimises thermal degradation. Further, profi le. with spent yeast. the cleanability of the SCC also prevents Alternatively, if the production of the undesirable characters being transferred very best concentrated varietal grape to the juice as a result of inadequate juice is desired then it is imperative that Models cleaning as is common in some Two basic models of SCC are available; the characteristic aroma of the starting conventional desulphiting systems. juice be recovered effi ciently and at the SCC 1,000 and SCC 10,000. high concentration, while avoiding The SCC can also be used to recover Nominal capacities for typical winery damaging rectifi cation processes. As aroma from the grape juice prior to applications are given in the table one example, the SCC is used by a sulphiting. This aroma can be stored below. If capacities greater than that number of juice processors to produce separately, under optimum conditions, obtainable on the largest single column very high quality Muscat concentrate and added back to the juice after (SCC 10,000) are required then plants whereby the Muscat aroma is recovered desulphiting. are constructed with parallel columns from the juice, without damage, prior to sharing feed, discharge, condensing concentration of the juice. The aroma and control systems, resulting in higher that is recovered in a single pass of the Recovery of Alcohol or Flavour capacity plants such as the SCC juice through the SCC is returned to from Waste 10,000-2 (included in the table below). the concentrate to produce a fi nished Throughout the winemaking process a Maximum capacities will depend on the concentrate with fresh Muscat fl avour of number of waste streams are produced specifi c operating conditions required to exceptional quality. that can contain useful volatile fl avours achieve the desired result. and/or alcohol. The recovery of Model Nominal Feed Nominal Feed such fl avours or alcohol offers Capacity Capacity Desulphiting Grape Juice opportunites for use either within Flavour Recovery Alcohol Removal If fermentation or evaporation capacity the winery or by another party. For Mode (L/hr) Mode (L/hr is limited for a particular winery or juice example the valuable fl avours of processor such that juice must be certain grape varieties, including SCC 1,000 800 200 stored for a period of time, considerable Muscat, are lost within the SCC 10,000 8,000 2,000 economic savings can be gained by discarded skins after pressing. storage of sulphited single strength juice The unique ability of the SCC SCC 10,000-2 16,000 4,000

Flavourtech is an Australian based company The information in this bulletin is the property of specialising in innovative process technology, Flavourtech Pty. Ltd. ACN 003 812 226 and must not be flavourtech particularly thin fi lm distillation and concentration reproduced without written permission. Processing Excellence systems. Technologies include: Centritherm® is a registered trademark of FT Industrial Pty • Centritherm® Evaporator Ltd or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and in other countries. • Spinning Cone Column The Flavourtech “F” symbol is a registered trademark of Contact details are continually updated on Vamhire Pty Ltd or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and in other • Integrated Extraction System our website. Please visit: www.fl avourtech.com countries. • Rotating Disc Column