Clarification of red wine by cross microflow filtration

Applicability of Cross Microflow Filtration (CMF, made in Germany) for red wine clarification was studied through monitoring efficiency curve of filtration, detecting the effects of different cleaning methods on recovery efficiency of filtration membrane and comparing the quality of red wine before and after the filtration. The results showed that CMF could keep its filtration flux at a high level for a long time not only for cold stabilized wine but also for fined wine. For keeping high filtration capability, the initial pressure should keep below 50 L/(h·m²) for fined wine and 66.6 L/(h·m²) for cold stabilized wine. The filtration capacity of used CMF could be recovered by cleaning with 2% NaOH (55～60℃) for 20 minutes. Furthermore, the application of CMF improved the wine stability and quality, and showed no obvious influence on its physical and chemical characteristics except a slight decrease on the content of reducing sugar and SO₂. By sensory evaluation, CMF was found better than kieselguhr filtration on wine quality, such as aroma. The experimental results proved that CMF was a fit approach to red wine clarification.