Competitive Advantage for Australian NoLo

It’s no secret that NoLo (no and low alcohol) beverages have rapidly increased in popularity. The global trend towards non-alcoholic beverages has exceeded most producers’ expectations – especially, over the last 18 months.

To capitalise on market growth, several new NoLo brands entered the Australian market, while many established brands introduced new NoLo options. We saw this as an opportunity to contribute to sector growth by assisting Australian NoLo brands to competitively enter the global market.

Recently, we identified a way to improve our Alcohol Reduction and Removal service offering. To reduce/remove alcohol more efficiently, we decided to install a Spinning Cone Column (SCC) at our head office site in Nuriootpa, SA. Our SCC can reduce the ABV of alcoholic beverages to <0.05%, in a rapid, efficient and gentler manner. Following a six-week commissioning process our SCC is now fully operational.

While our SCC will primarily benefit the wine industry, in future, we hope to provide flavour recovery services to additional sectors too.

How does it work?

The SCC belongs to the same family of mass transfer/distillation devices as packed, plate and bubble-cap columns. Unlike these columns, our SCC uses gentle mechanical forces within the column to enhance the liquid-gas interphase contact. In grape-derived products such as juice and wine this translates to the recovery of flavour compounds and alcohol.

Under vacuum, the SCC operates at mild temperatures; typically around 28°C for flavour capture and between 42-44°C for alcohol removal. Short residence times of approximately 30 seconds means the product has a low contact time.

Our new Spinning Cone Column and dealcoholisation technology, is designed to benefit Australian NoLo brands. You can learn more by visiting the link below.