Reducing alcohol content of completely or partly fermented drinks - by extn. with compressed carbon di:oxide and expansion

摘要

The alcohol content of beer, wine, sparkling wine etc. is reduced by charging this drink into a reaction vessel and simultaneously introducing CO2 under pressure, as solvent for the alcohol. Working pressure is 5-250 (pref. 80-150) bar at -10 to +35 (pref. 0-20) degrees C. The alcohol-enriched CO2 is drawn off, expanded and passed into an expansion vessel. Alcohol and alcohol-free CO2 are drawn off from the expansion vessel. The alcohol-depleted drink is removed from the reaction vessel. An apparatus is also claimed. The process can be carried out continuously. Drink quality is unimpaired. The treatment can be carried out before completing fermentation, whereby prodn. time is reduced. The EtOH collected as by-prod. can be used as a fuel or solvent.