Purification and contamination control in the beverage and food industries
The beverage and food industry is constantly evolving, even in terms of the supply of raw materials and used filtration materials. Thus, it is necessary to devise more sustainable and efficient methods that can be developed in full collaboration between the client and the supplier.
BEA Technologies SpA has been a company that deals with filtration and purification of liquids and compressed gases acting exactly towards this direction, to ensure high-purity fluids to its customers for over sixty years. Since day one BEA Technologies has increasingly specialized in the production of filtration elements for critical applications.
Thus, reaching a high level of excellence with the BEAPURE line of– “animal-free” filters.
“Animal-free” and HALAL certified filter elements
The products of the “BEAPURE” line are entirely free from animal-derived derivatives. Furthermore, thanks to the use of polymer products, polypropylene, polyester, and Nylon 66, these products are specifically selected and elaborated even for the pharmaceutical use.
These products are also available with HALAL certification to ensure the exportation of beverages where this requirement is requested.
For the future, the company’s President Roberto Bea has planned a significative investment to double the cleanroom production area.
BEA Technologies’s goal is to assert itself as a selected supplier of filters and high performing filter elements at a European and global level. A goal partly achieved already, considering the fact that BEA Technologies SpA has developed an international distribution network in Europe, America and Asia.
Filtration for beverage production
It is really important today to use best filtration systems to stabilize the beverages’ microbiology, in order to maintain the main characteristics and properties unchanged and at the same time to ensure the removal of suspensions, colloidal particles and all other unwanted microganisms, to guarantee improved bottle preservation.
Thanks to the combination of different layers and final membranes, it can eliminate all microorganisms that may contaminate the product during the production process, especially bacteria that might be in the make-up water or water used for cleaning equipment.
Preserving the composition of beverages during production and storage requires the use of special filtration technologies that prevent changes in the composition and ensure the preservation of substances and all their characteristics.
In comparison with hot stabilization (pasteurization), cold biological stabilization achieved through membrane filtration is capable to ensure the elimination of bacteria without the addition of chemical substances, while fully preserving the most valued organoleptic characteristics of the product. This crucial operation must be performed prior to bottling.
Some processes require that beverages are previously subjected to clarification: decanting, spontaneous sedimentation, centrifugation, filtration with filter aids. After that we move on to a treatment implemented to achieve visual clarity, which consists in retaining all those small particles that can cause residual turbidity.
Excellent results, in this procedure, have been achieved by using filtrating elements called “TOPLIFE and POLEX”. Tubular filters with high storage capacity, and constant particle retention.
Polishing is a procedure that, in addition to beverages, is also applied to sugar syrups commonly used in the preparation of soft drinks, both carbonated and non-carbonated. In this case, a two-stage filtration process is implemented. The first stage consists of filter elements made of S.S.
316 stainless steel mesh, with a filtration with a filtration rating from 50 to 100 microns to capture large undissolved sugar particles.
The second stage utilizes filter elements from the “TOPLIFE, POLIVERSE, or POLEX”, series with a filtration rating of 10 or 20 microns to capture fine particles. At this point, the sugar solution is ready to be added to water.
After polishing, which eliminates any particulate contamination, the drinks are ready for “cold stabilization”, in which a reduction of the residual bacterial concentration is achieved.
This process is carried out through two stages: in the first, the product is sent on a pre-filter containing the filtering elements “NOVATRAK”, made of polypropylene nanofibers, with a filtration rating of 0.5 – 1 micron; in the second stage, the pre-filtered drink, enters the housings with the PES membrane filter elements “BIOKLARIS – BCM”, which are installed before the filling machine for bottling.
In this moment of great attention to health, BEA Technologies, being a company operating in this sector, is able to provide not only products for polishing, and clarification of wine and beverages, but also for procedures for cleaning and sterilization of membrane filter elements.
Each clarification and filtration system must be designed to be adapted to the production plant and product specifications.
BEA Technologies has designed and manufactured “tailor made” filtration systems for many various type of food plants.
Some examples are:
• A “MAGNEX”, which for the exclusive configuration of the filter material offers up to 9.5 sqm of useful surface area, suggested when the amount of contaminant to be retained is high;
• B the filter element “NOVATRAK” made of Nanofiber repeatedly regenerable and able to replace filter-aids;
• C the filter element “POLYVERSE”, ideal for the filtration of sugar syrups added to soft drinks, which can be regenerated several times in reverse flow to increase production yield, reducing the cost/ litre;
• D the filter element “POLYVER” for high quality beverages, where all typical flavours must be preserved,
All these filters have been carefully designed to solve the problems relative to the specific application and give the best result in performance.
BEA Technologies offers to the interested companies its laboratory composed by specialized technicians and its experience to evaluate, case by case, a concrete proposal of BEA Technologies.
Among the prerogatives to which Roberto Bea is not willing to give up, there is no doubt that there is the one of paying attention to ecological issues. This is why he focuses heavily on the creation of innovative filtration systems, able to minimize energy consumption, as well as the waste resulting from industrial production.
In this context, the use of automatic, self-cleaning, and regenerable filtration systems is implemented. This allows BEA Technologies SpA to minimize any form of environmental impact by reducing the disposal of exhausted filtering elements in accordance with the requirements of sustainability required from food companies.
MAGNEXFLO filtration systems in operation at beverage manufacturers
BEA Technologies offers a new series of automatic filtration systems called “MAGNEXFLO” that provide high performance for a complete range of flow rates and applications.
These types are automatic filtration systems equipped with large filtering surfaces, which are highly effective for both solid particle separation and bioburden reduction.
This filtration system enables the repeated regeneration of installed filter elements, allowing them to be fully reused rather than being destined for disposal.
