Beverage manufacture, processing, packaging and dispensing using electrochemically activated water

Abstract

A system using electrochemically-activated water (ECAW) for manufacturing, processing, packaging, and dispensing beverages including: (a) using ECAW to neutralize incompatible residues when transitioning from the production of one beverage to another; (b) using ECAW to rehabilitate and disinfect granular activated charcoal beds used in the feed water purification system; (c) producing a carbonated ECAW product and using the carbonated ECAW for system cleaning or disinfecting; (d) using ECAW solutions in the beverage facility clean-in-place system to achieve improved microbial control while greatly reducing water usage and reducing or eliminating the use of chemical detergents and disinfectants; (e) further reducing biofilm growth in the processing system, and purifying ingredient water without the use of chlorine, by adding an ECAW anolyte to the water ingredient feed stream; and / or (f) washing the beverage product bottles or other packages with one or more ECAW solutions prior to packaging.

Description

[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 026,960 filed on Feb. 7, 2008 and incorporates said provisional application by reference into this document as if fully set out at this point.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to the use of, and to products produced by the use of, electrochemically activated (ECA) water during the production, processing, packaging (e.g., bottling, canning, etc.), and / or dispensing of water, fruit juice, carbonated soft drinks, sports drinks, fermented beverages, brewed beverages, and other beverages.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONBeverage Processing and Packaging[0003]It is well established within beverage production and packaging facilities that highly sanitary conditions, and effective protocols therefor, must be maintained in order to satisfy internal quality assurance requirements and meet batch release specifications.[0004]With progressively more diverse beverage types being developed, manu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018]The present invention satisfies the needs and alleviates the problems discussed above. The benefits of the invention include, but are not limited to: microbial decontamination; reducing or eliminating the need for harmful cleaning and disinfection chemicals; biocide potentiation; elimination of pesticide contaminants; and odor and flavor residue neutralization, in the processed, packaged and / or dispensed product, the processing infrastructure, and the packaging containers.

Problems solved by technology

Given that most beverage manufacturing and packaging equipment is part of a permanent installation (i.e., the individual system components cannot conveniently be removed and separately treated), the cleaning and disinfection thereof requires the introduction and circulation of dedicated agents throughout the entire system, rather than allowing specific individual interventions which would necessitate that the equipment be disassembled and manually cleaned and disinfected.

Optimal removal of these robust flavors or alcoholic residues remains a primary limitation to the quick cleaning and turn-around of the filling line and contributes to the large amount of water typically consumed during line and filler head cleaning when switching between incompatible and non-benign products.

However, these measures, whilst being largely effective for cleaning and sanitation, remain substantially deficient in terms of (a) the loss of productivity resulting from the current inability in the industry to quickly switch the processing line from one product to another and (b) the high energy, potable water, and labor demands of the prior procedures.

Unfortunately, any filtration technology, whether membrane based and / or GAC in type, will continuously trap the agents or elements that are being filtered.

These filtrates progressively accumulate to the point that the selective separation efficiency of the system is compromised.

The maintenance and rejuvenation of these fouled filtration systems has thus heretofore required either (a) costly and largely non-environmentally friendly intermittent replacement of the core filtration components or (b) physical (heat) and / or chemical interventions to rehabilitate and restore the systems to functional efficiency

Product residues serve as a medium for further microbial growth and, thus, biofilm development, and have an adverse impact upon dispensed product quality, health, and safety.

So, for example, at pH 3 or below, HOCl tends to convert to Cl2, which increases toxicity levels.

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