Use of kieselguhr for beer filtration has been widespread for over 100 years in breweries, and experience has been gained in its handling. Disposal of spent guhr is subject to waste regulations. This field report describes dewatering of spent kieselguhr using an automatic filter press supplied by Larox and the advantages associated with same.
This paper introduces a new technical development with centrifuges that Flottweg GmbH has made for beer recovery from fermentation yeast. The machine is called a Sedicanter® and was developed to process "soft2 products such as yeast, bacteria, protein precipitates, etc, where traditional decanters and other centrifuges have had trouble achieving satisfactory separation.
FNE Forschungsinstitut für Nichteisen-Metalle GmbH has developed a thermal treatment process for kieselguhr and tested it together with Freiberger Brauhaus AG. The process itself is characterised by low running costs and complete utilisation of the recovered kieselguhr. The suitability of recycled kieselguhr for commercial operations has been proven in two extensive test series.
At consumption rates of an average of 150 g of kieselguhr/hl of unfiltered beer, about 72,000 tonnes of brewery kieselguhr slurry arise in Germany every year. Disposal of this costs money. As a rule, disposal is through utilisation in agriculture as a soil aggregate and a plant nutrient. A regenerated kiesel-guhr is produced which can be used again in beer filtration.
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