Industry sector: food industry
Company activity: beverage production
Company type: SME
Company creation period: 19th century
Contact person(s): Quality Manager
Company context
The company manufactures and sells still or sparkling water and refreshing beverages (sodas, lemonades, iced teas, etc.) made from spring water. To prepare them, it uses filters in series, especially for the production of tea-flavored drinks. These beverages are produced by adding a blend of flavors and sugars to spring water. They then undergo two-stage filtration: a pre-filtration step and a final filtration step, with respective ratings of 1 µm and 0.65 µm.
The first stage, with an absolute efficiency of 99.98%, provides coarse yet nearly complete filtration. The second stage, with the same efficiency (99.98%), serves as a safety filtration step.
Learn more about filter efficiency
Filtration challenge
The client was facing the following issue: the replacement frequency of the final filters was higher than that of the pre-filters. The final safety filters, based on fluorinated membrane media technology, are inherently more fragile and more expensive than those used for pre-filtration.
The client therefore wanted to implement a sustainable and more cost-effective alternative solution for the filtration of its tea-based beverages.
Pemflow filtration solution
We advised the client to replace the existing prefiltration cartridges with a system developed by our exclusive partner, in order to protect the downstream filters.
These filter cartridges consist of a polypropylene cage combined with a glass microfiber media. The use of thermal bonding to join the components eliminates the need for potentially extractable adhesives and ensures robust, stable filter cartridges, even under demanding conditions (up to 80 °C).
The materials used are FDA-approved and comply with the food-contact requirements of the European Regulation (EC) 1935/2004. These filtration cartridges are compatible with most sterilization methods (steam, autoclave, hot water, and chemical agents).
Expert advice
These filtration cartridges can be used more broadly in most beverage production lines during clarification, stabilization, and microbial load reduction steps. They are also employed in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, as well as in fine chemicals.
These filtration cartridges are available in four grades, compatible with all standard end-cap configurations on the market.
For the first filtration stage of the tea-based beverages, we selected a protection grade of 1.0 to 0.6 µm. This configuration, with a broader filtration spectrum (1.0–0.6 µm) compared with the client’s previous system, provides better protection for the final filtration membrane rated at 0.65 µm.
We recommended that the client perform an in-situ test to assess the relevance of this filtration solution. Trials carried out with five successive filter cartridges demonstrated the durability of the system.
These filtration cartridges enabled the processing of tea beverages in quantities 18 to 27% higher (depending on the recipes) than those treated with the previous system.
This increased longevity is explained by the fact that this new cascade filtration combination ensures better particle distribution between the two successive stages and protects the downstream membrane from particles larger than 0.6 µm. The client estimates that this improvement should provide a substantial productivity gain.
To learn more about prefiltration in the food industry, read our article How to properly size filters in the beverage industry.
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