Bin 97 Trailer
Bucher Vaslin Filter
Clarification of wine has undergone a revolution during the past couple of decades, and membrane technology has led that revolution. The technology of the systems and membranes have significantly improved due to the specificity of what and how grape components are removed from the liquid delivered to the winery. For some wineries, it starts with the juice, but more often it starts with the wine.
Bucher Vaslin has a wide range of crossflow filter systems for the diverse needs of a winery production system. Their smaller sized systems—comprising the FX 2 to FX 10 models—have from 2 to 10 filter modules that provide a filtrate flux of up to 10 hL per hour per module. The next range of systems includes the FX 100 to FX 300. These systems take the FX 10 system and package them into multiple modules connected to one control system, providing systems up to 100 m2 of membrane area. The same production should be expected from each module as on the smaller system.
For complex operations, one might want to consider the Flavy FX Tandem. In this system the winery can have multiple modules configured for different wine types or conditions. For example, a wine with heavier solid content can be processed on one module with a relatively high flow rate until the retentate portion is concentrated to low solids level. At that point the wine can be transferred to a high solids module, and the low solids module can move to the next wine, all controlled by one central process system. In this type of system, each wine can be managed as a whole, recovering the maximum volume of wine to be combined into one lot.
Bucher Vaslin offers a unique design that combines the FX series crossflow filter with its rotary drum juice lees filter. This arrangement allows a winery to recover more clarified juice to add to a primary fermentation, all without needing to use diatomaceous earth for clarification. These systems have juice throughput from 80 hL to 400 hL of juice in a 20-hour day.
For larger size wineries that generate a large amount of valuable tank bottoms, there is the Flavy Lees Star system. These large-bore crossflow filters have two size ranges. The lower concentration to 15% solids can produce 400-1,600 liters per hour in four different sized models. If you need higher a concentration factor, the next model will concentrate to 45% solids. These four models can produce 160-1,000 liters per hour.
Bucher Vaslin also produces two reverse osmosis (RO) systems specifically designed for juice concentration. Their units will remove 200-1,200 liters per hour of water from juices with 10% to 11% potential alcohol in a system running at about 70 bar. The second system is specifically designed to remove volatile phenolic compounds. Their systems have removed up to 69% of volatile compounds from some wines, all below the threshold of organoleptic detection.
(Info excerpted from Wines and Vines)