Although beer is restrictive to bacterial growth due to its low pH, ethanol concentration, and low oxygen content, the presence of certain beer spoilage bacteria including Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Pectinatus, and Megasphaera can generate off-flavors, turbidity and acidity. Such quality deficiencies render the product unacceptable and often result in high economic losses and negative brand image. Throughout the production process, undesirable microbial contamination must be prevented to achieve the required final beer quality. Such contamination may originate from ingredients (including yeast), air and water utilities coming into contact with the product, and the environment.

Spring water is a valuable natural resource, which requires good purification treatment before appearing on grocery store shelves as high purity, visually pleasing bottled product. Filtration is a key process step required to achieve consistently high product quality. The costs associated with filtration may be substantial, depending on source water quality. Disposable filters are a technically sound solution but their use may become economically unsustainable in the face of difficult or variable quality source water.

Salting by immersion in brine is used for many varieties of cheese worldwide. During repeated immersions fat, curd particles and microorganisms from the cheese plus the accumulation of proteins and other components builds up a nutrient-rich environment for the salt resistant microorganisms. Reused brine may then become a reservoir of unwanted microorganisms, such as gas- or pigmentproducing bacteria, yeast and mold, or salt resistant pathogens, cross-contaminating the cheese and impacting their quality. Good control of the brine and the brining operation is essential to ensure consistent daily production. Additionally, brine disposal is coming under increasing focus. High disposal costs or volume limitations in specific areas are driving the demand for greater brine reuse, to generate operating cost savings and minimize the plant environmental footprint.

Filtration of spirits can be a challenging task. It is essential to remove contaminants that may cause turbidity while retaining the quality enhancing components in the product. Filter sheets are the traditional method for achieving this delicate balance. Sheets are comprised of a unique matrix of materials that provide an excellent combination of adsorption and depth filtration, making them an ideal solution for turbidity reduction and haze removal in spirits. Filter sheets are available in multiple grades to cover a wide range of applications from filtration of cordials to chill haze reduction in brown spirits to particle removal in white spirits. Additionally many plate and frame filter units have the flexibility to add or remove sheets to suit the batch size, flow rate or the specific product to be filtered.

Producers of bulk food and feed ingredients such as amino acids, organic acids, and vitamins use fermentation as the basis of their production. Today’s modern industrial biotechnology processes use carefully selected and purified microbial cell cultures to produce an ever-increasing variety of ingredients and increase productivity. During fermentation, the microorganisms multiply in industrial bioreactors, utilizing a carbohydrate source for energy. The course of microbial growth progresses under well-controlled conditions of aeration, agitation rate, temperature, pH and other parameters. Fermentation can last from a few hours to several days. The metabolic end products produced by the microorganisms are the basis for many ingredients used today.

Filtration is a key operation in modern cider production to deliver visually bright and shelf stable product. Traditionally, cider clarification has been performed with diatomaceous earth or sheet based filtration technologies. However, with more favorable economics, easier operation and lower waste volumes, crossflow filtration systems like Pall’s Oenoflow XL system have become more widely adopted over the past decade.

Ready to drink tea, fruit juices and drinks, carbonated soft drinks, and other beverages are subject to spoilage due to the presence of heatresistant, acidophilic bacterial spores (TAB). The thermoacidophilic spores may originate either from exposure to agricultural raw materials such as in fruit juice production, or from contamination in the beverage ingredients, such as sweeteners, juice and tea concentrates, or flavors, essences, and colors from natural extracts.