Program Book - Master Brewers Association of the Americas

P-147
An innovative regenerable filtration aid—The future of
diatomaceous earth-free filtration
UWE SCHNELL (1), Jürg Zuber (2)
(1) BASF Corporation, Florham Park, NJ; (2) FILTROX AG, St.
Gallen, Switzerland
Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a natural filtration aid used during
the beer filtration process for decades. The current consumption
of DE worldwide by the brewing industry is more than 180,000
tons. Disposal costs for used DE are an increasing part of total
filtration costs, and so brewers are commonly interested in finding
more economical methods. Crosspure® is a synthetic polymer
for optimal filtration and stabilization in general. It is intended
to use as a regenerable replacement of DE which is additionally
capable to removing tannoids, flavanoids and other haze forming
polyphenols from beer. Just like PVPP, Crosspure® can be
regenerated in a combined regeneration and filtration system—a
closed system comprising a dosing vessel, filter unit and CIP system.
The whole process was developed on a candle filter from FILTROX
AG. The losses arising from continuous dosage and the resulting
regeneration process are below 1.0%. In contrast to powder-free
filtration technology, which implicates a fundamental Capex,
Crosspure® can be used in existing, slightly modified DE filter
lines. In general, this new filtration aid has significant benefits in
comparison with existing conventional products, primarily because
it is regenerable, easy to use, synergistically balanced and last but
not least environment friendly.
Uwe Schnell studied at the University of Applied Sciences
Geisenheim, Germany, majoring in beverage technology and
viniculture. He completed his studies in December 2006 at the
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Netherlands,
with a MBA in strategic management. He worked for eight years
in management and director positions in the beverage industry in
Germany, Hungary, and India and had key account responsibilities
for companies such as PepsiCo, Danone, Nestle, Glaxo SmithKline,
and large German customers. His work experience ranges from the
production process to product development and sales and marketing.
He joined BASF Corporation in April 2007 as manager, new business
development, nutrition ingredients.
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P-148
Precoat filtration with regenerable filter aid
JUERG ZUBER (1), Helmut Meffert (2)
(1) FILTROX AG, St. Gallen, Switzerland; (2) BASF AG,
Ludwigshafen, Germany
Precoat filtration still is the state-of-the-art filtration technology
for beer, with thousands of filter lines in operation around the
world. Despite discussions about health risks and disposal costs,
DE (diatomaceous earth) is the state-of-the-art filter aid for precoat
filtration. For at least 15 years experts in the brewing industry have
been looking for filter aids, which could replace DE, so far without
success. Over the last years BASF has developed a new, regenerable
filter aid called Crosspure, which was thoroughly tested on an
industrial scale FILTROX candle filter. For the first time there is now
a technically and commercially attractive alternative to DE available,
which can be used to replace DE.
Juerg Zuber completed his studies at the Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. with a M.S. degree in
process engineering in 1977. He then joined Buhler AG, where he
worked for more than 20 years in a variety of R&D and management
positions for the food industry. In 2000 he joined FILTROX AG and
is currently CTO and responsible for the North American market.