Beverage industry

Beverage production with the best water - good taste and microbiological purity.

In the beverage industry, the production of soft drinks, lemonades or juices depends on excellent, consistent water quality and product water standards so that the end product reliably has the same flavour everywhere and at all times, as well as an appropriate minimum shelf life depending on the purpose. Properties such as taste, colour, turbidity and biological purity are essential criteria here.

In addition to product water, water is also used at other points in beverage production, such as process water, boiler feed water, cooling water or CIP water. Depending on the type of raw water, the chemical composition of the water and the product requirements, different optimised water treatment processes are used.

Water is by far the most important ingredient in the beverage industry

Always think about water treatment first - it is the predominant quantity of the product as well as the carrier of taste, colour and smell. The right water treatment technology ensures the following:

Operational reliability in the water supply - several days of production downtime cost more than a heavy investment in a good system
Longevity of the system with a well thought-out design with less wear and tear
Monitoring through automated measurement and control as well as designed process visualisation
Low consumption costs thanks to a customised design and the possible implementation of water recovery such as concentrate recovery

Flexible water treatment plant for use with river water and well water

On the request of a beverage company producing soft drinks and bottled water, CHRIWA built a water treatment plant for river and well water in Colombia in 2012. Due to a high level of turbidity, a high TSS content and an iron content, the demands placed upon the water treatment plant were very high.

Large-scale brackish water desalination plant in Peru for a renowned beverage manufacturer

Chriwa realised the largest water treatment plant in the Lima region of Peru for a renowned beverage manufacturer. The plant produces internationally and nationally renowned soft drinks and supplies the entire north of Peru.

Activated carbon filtration adsorbs particles and can eliminate ozone, chlorine and remove taste, odours and discolouration
The extremely fine pores of ultrafiltration filter the smallest particles such as bacteria and viruses from the water. In combination with reverse osmosis, it is a good preliminary stage to avoid overloading the subsequent membranes. Due to higher standards and poorer quality raw water, reverse osmosis is becoming increasingly important in industry. The filtered water has the highest possible purity and even the remaining concentrate can be reprocessed.
The product water is often disinfected at the end of the process using UV radiation. Depending on the product and process, other disinfection methods such as ozonisation may also be worthwhile.

The right water for the beverage

Each product has a different requirement for the optimum water due to the ingredients that are added in the subsequent process. There must be no unwanted reactions due to dissolved salts or the neutralisation of desired fruit acids. This makes customer specifications and water analysis particularly important steps in the water treatment production process. The frequently used reverse osmosis process is so popular here because its molecule-sized membranes can even separate salts from the water.

Beverage water

In the beverage industry, strict regulations monitor the purity and safety of foodstuffs for human consumption. Depending on the quality of the raw water, various processes are used to significantly increase product quality.

Technologies

The wide range of Chriwa water treatment technologies enables the customised and reliable treatment of different raw water qualities to produce product water that is optimally matched to the respective process.