Beverage processors and manufacturers face a lot of challenges in the area of water treatment for soft drinks. Sources of water, treatment residuals and disinfection processes can affect the quality and taste of the final product. Industry standards and government regulations can affect water treatment technology options. As the regulations become tighter, beverage manufacturers should find ways to meet new standards.
The production of soft drinks starts with clean, pure water. Regular soft drinks contain 90% water whilst diet soft drinks may contain about 99% water. Drinking water includes traces of various ions that alter the test. Bottlers often use filters and other equipment to remove impurities and standardise water used in making soft drinks. This is the reason why soft drinks taste the same irrespective of the location they are being manufactured.
In most beverage manufacturing, feed water is gotten from the municipality. Municipal water is usually treated according to the regulations. Safety and health in manufacturing and final products are crucial for soft drink and beverage manufacturers. Beverage manufacturing companies should protect their consumers and employees. As with other types of foods, soft drink ingredients are regulated.
Bottled water is regulated as a packed food product. This means that it should meet the applicable food packaging laws and regulations. The regulatory bodies are responsible for sampling, inspecting, approving and analysing sources of water.
Chlorine levels in these applications are low and this means that the resolution, accuracy and response time are important, especially from the water company providing the services.
Soft drinks and beverage water treatment
Water treatment systems combine reverse osmosis, media filtration and ultra-filtration. The typical system components include reverse osmosis, sediment and carbon absorption filters, pre-treated and RO and a final filtration unit.
Carbon filtration
Carbon filtration uses carbon towers which are used for the removal of odours, off-tastes, chlorine, low molecular weight organics, chloramines, and so on through the process of adsorption. The typical designs include manual controls for the sanitisation capability of steam. Adsorption involves dissolved materials, water vapour or small particles adhering to the surface of a solid
RO systems
Reverse osmosis systems are used for the rejection of divalent and monovalent ions, bacteria, viruses, and pyrogens.
Storage tanks
Storage tanks should be made of a material that is opaque in colour. The tank has a hydrophobic vent filter that controls airborne bacteria from entering the tank.
The final filtration process
The filtration process is done to remove things smaller than 0.05 microns and is recommended for endotoxin and bacteria control.
Application Overview
Water used for drinking water bottling and the beverage industry has to go through water treatment for soft drinks. takes several filtration and chemical steps before entering the bottling and filling process. Also added during one of the initial steps to ensure that the water remains safe and clean.