Clarificação de vinho branco por microfiltração utilizando diferentes membranas cerâmicas e compósitas

Abstract

The tangential microfiltration applied to the clarification of white wine has become an important alternative to conventional filtration processes in the wine industry, for example, the filtration diatomaceous earth, land transfer and centrifugation. The use of ceramic membranes has awakened interest for this purpose. In this work, different and tubular composite ceramic membranes, mono and multi-channel, of different sizes of pore, were evaluated for their morphology and hydraulic permeability tests and white wine, in order to verify the influence of the structure of these in white wine flow permeated as well, evaluate the presence of suspended solids in the waste wine due to its process of clarification. The membranes were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy by field emission (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), porosimetria by mercury intrusion tests, permeability and protein retention. The average pore size presented by membranes ranged from 0.0056 to 5.0 µm. Composite membranes showed great protein retention, 99%, for solutes with molecular weight up to 45 kDa. α-alumina membranes treated thermally to 1450ºC and composite membranes of α-alumina/polyamide 66 showed, on average, 99.9% reduction of wine’s turbidity, being possible to reduce from 720 NTU to average 0.30 NTU, with possibility of tartaric stabilization in seven days and permeate fluxes that ranged from 60.8 to 8.8 L. m-2h-1, respectively, the 1.0 bar pressure. On the other hand, mullite and titania membranes have not shown effectiveness for clarification, the wine permeated by the membrane of mullite presented turbidity of 20 NTU and increase the rate of total polyphenols (IPT). Composite membranes have enabled the reduction of 37% in the value of IPT of the white wine. The low turbidity value obtained in wine permeated by composite and alumina membranes, strong perspective of use demonstrates of these membranes in the clarification of white wine.