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EP-4741483-A1 - METHOD OF TREATING LEES, LEESY OR CLOUDY LIQUIDS FROM WINEMAKING PROCESSES FOR THE EXTRACTION OF WINE AND AROMAS, AND PLANT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS METHOD

EP4741483A1EP 4741483 A1EP4741483 A1EP 4741483A1EP-4741483-A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for treating lees, leesy or cloudy liquids from wine-making processes for the extraction of wine and aromas, characterised in that it comprises a transit phase of a leesy fluid mass (M), comprising lees or lees-like liquids or cloudy liquids, inside at least one ultrasonic conduit (21), with said ultrasonic conduit (21), said ultrasonic conduit (21) being connected to ultrasonic generating means (20) so as to transmit the ultrasonic waves generated by said ultrasonic generating means to said fluidous lees mass (M), said ultrasonic generating means (20) being arranged outside said at least one ultrasonic conduit (21).

Inventors

  • MARTINI, BRUNO

Assignees

  • Ecotecne S.r.l.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251111

Claims (11)

  1. Method of treating lees, leesy or turbid liquids from winemaking processes for the extraction of wine and aromas, characterised in that it comprises a transit phase of a leesy fluid mass (M), comprising lees or leesy liquids or cloudy liquids, inside at least one ultrasonic duct (21), with passage of said ultrasonic duct (21), said ultrasonic duct (21) being connected to ultrasonic generating means (20) in such a way as to transmit the ultrasounds generated by said ultrasonic generating means to said leesy fluid mass (M), said ultrasonic generating means (20) being arranged outside said at least one ultrasonic duct (21).
  2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises the following operating stages: a) loading into a tank (11) a leesy fluid mass (M) comprising lees, or leesy liquids, or cloudy liquids originating from winemaking processes, b) withdrawing said leesy fluid mass (M) from a collection bottom (14) of said tank (11) and pumping said leesy fluid mass (M) into said ultrasonic duct (21) so that said leesy fluid mass (M) continuously passes through said ultrasonic duct (21) from the inlet (21a) of said ultrasonic duct (21) to the outlet (21b) of said ultrasonic duct (21), c) subjecting said leesy fluid mass (M) to ultrasounds determined by ultrasonic generator means (20) operating at frequencies between 18 kHz and 30 kHz, with powers between 5 Watts/litre and 2000 Watts/litre; d) filtering said leesy fluid mass (M), exiting from said ultrasonic duct (21), separating a clear liquid (L) from a filtered leesy fluid mass (MF), e) returning said filtered leesy fluid mass (MF), to the upper part (11a) of said tank (11), f) repeating the phases from b) to e), defining an extraction cycle, until all the fecal fluid mass (M), with the filtered leesy fluid mass (MF), is subjected to ultrasound inside said ultrasonic duct (21) for a total period of time between 30 seconds and 30 minutes.
  3. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said ultrasonic generating means (20) and the ultrasonic duct (21) are configured and connected in such a way that the temperature of the leesy fluid mass (M) at the inlet (21a) of said ultrasonic duct (21) is substantially equal to the temperature of said leesy fluid mass (M) at the outlet (21b) of said ultrasonic duct (21), or said ultrasonic generator means (20) and the ultrasonic duct (21) are configured and connected in such a way that a temperature difference of the leesy fluid mass (M) between the outlet (21b) of said ultrasonic duct (21) and the inlet (21a) of said ultrasonic duct (21) is between 1°C and 45°C.
  4. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ultrasonic generating means (20) and the ultrasonic duct (21) are configured and connected in such a way that the temperature difference of the leesy fluid mass (M) between the outlet (21b) of said ultrasonic duct (21) and the inlet (21a) of said ultrasonic duct (21) is approximately 0.3°C for a single passage in the ultrasonic duct (21).
  5. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the temperature difference of the leesy fluid mass (M) between the beginning and the end of a treatment received with the said method, is less than or equal to 1°C.
  6. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims characterized in that said ultrasound generating means (20) comprise a plurality of ultrasonic transducers of the piezoelectric type, or of the magnetostrictive type.
  7. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims characterized in that it comprises a phase of topping up the leesy fluid mass (M) in the tank (11).
  8. Plant (10) for the treatment of lees, leesy or cloudy liquids from winemaking processes for the extraction of wine and aromas, which is characterised by the fact that it comprises: - a tank (11) for containing a leesy fluid mass (M), said tank (11) comprising in turn: - a lid (12), having a loading mouth (13), - a collection bottom (14), having a discharge mouth (15); - a recirculation line (16) for the transit of said leesy fluid mass (M), said recirculation line (16) extending between said discharge mouth (15) and said loading mouth (13), said recirculation line (16) comprising: - at least one ultrasonic conduit (21) having an inlet mouth (21a) and an outlet mouth (21b), configured and positioned so as to be internally traversed by said fleesy fluid mass (M), - ultrasonic generating means (20) connected to said at least one ultrasonic conduit (21), said ultrasonic generating means (20) being configured so as to transmit ultrasound to said leesy fluid mass (M) which passes through said at least one ultrasonic conduit (21); - filtering means (32) configured to be passed through by said leesy fluid mass (M) and to extract a clear liquid (L) from said leesy fluid mass (M), - pumping means (17) configured to withdraw said leesy fluid mass (M) from said discharge mouth (15), to induce said leesy fluid mass (M) to pass through said at least one ultrasonic conduit (21), to induce said leesy fluid mass (M) to pass through said filtering means (32), and to move said leesy fluid mass (M), exiting from said filtering means (32), towards said loading mouth (13).
  9. Plant according to claim 8, characterized in that said ultrasonic generating means (20) are connected to said at least one ultrasonic duct (21) so as to allow the transmission to said leesy fluid mass (M) of vibrations such as to determine the generation of ultrasonic cavitation in said leesy fluid mass (M).
  10. Plant according to one or more of claims 8 and 9, characterized in that said ultrasonic generating means (20) comprise at least one support and transmission body (27) configured to support a plurality of ultrasonic vibration generators (28) for the vibration of said at least one ultrasonic duct (21), each portion (21c) of said at least one ultrasonic duct (21), which is fixed to a corresponding support and transmission body (27), being surrounded by at least two ultrasonic vibration generators (26).
  11. Plant according to one or more of claims 8 to 10, characterised in that said filtration means (32) comprise a tangential filter, preferably a tangential membrane filter.

Description

Technical field The present invention relates to a method for treating lees and turbid liquids from wine-making processes for the extraction of wine and aromas, and to a plant for implementing this method. Background According to EEC Regulation No. 337/7, lees are defined as 'the residue that forms after fermentation at the bottom of containers containing wine during storage or after authorised treatments, such as the residue resulting from the filtration or centrifugation of this product'. Although the composition of lees varies, they consist mainly of microorganisms, especially yeasts, and, to a lesser extent, tartaric salts and organic residues. Wine lees are insoluble residues (fragments of skin, seeds, yeasts, colouring substances, ferments, impurities, microorganisms) that remain suspended and then settle at the bottom of barrels or other containers after alcoholic fermentation. There are two main types of lees: coarse lees are deposits resulting from alcoholic fermentation and contain many impurities (plant residues, microorganisms, tartaric salts); coarse lees, or cloudy wines, contain between 10 and 15 grams of lees per litre;fine lees are residues that settle after the first racking of the wine (red wines) and clarification lees for white wines; fine lees contain approximately 1 to 3 grams of lees per litre. Coarse lees, or total lees, are those that settle with, and immediately after, alcoholic fermentation, characterised by the presence of a considerable amount of impurities (fragments of skin, tartaric salts, plant residues and various microorganisms), while fine lees are those that, as mentioned, settle after the first racking (and therefore after the separation of coarse lees) and are composed almost exclusively of yeasts at the end of their life cycle. In recent years, lees have been increasingly used to promote the wine maturation process. The refinement of wine on lees is a technique that, if not performed correctly, can give the wine an unpleasant taste and promote the development of microorganisms. Nowadays, there is a growing need in the wine industry for a method to take advantage of the less valued by-products of winemaking, such as lees, in order to extract substances from these by-products that can be reintroduced into the winemaking process with a view to significantly improving the final product. Summary of the invention The technical problem posed and solved by the present invention is therefore to develop a method for treating lees and leesy or turbid liquids from winemaking processes for the extraction of wine and aromas, as well as a plant for implementing this method. In particular, an important purpose of the invention is to develop a method for treating lees and leesy or turbid liquids that can improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the wine production chain through the recovery of the main by-products of winemaking, in favour of the recovery and extraction for subsequent use of substances that can be used in other subsequent independent winemaking processes. Another purpose of the present invention is to develop an energy-sustainable treatment method that can be implemented with a plant with low energy consumption. Another important purpose of the invention is to develop a rapid method and thus to develop a highly efficient production plant. This task and these objectives are achieved by a method for treating lees and leesy or turbid liquids from wine-making processes for the extraction of wine and aromas, according to claim 1, as well as by a plant for implementing this method according to claim 7. Preferred features of the present invention are the subject of the respective dependent claims. Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the electric motor structure according to the invention, supported by the drawings provided for illustrative and non-limitative purposes in the attached tables and listed below. Brief description of the figures Reference will be made to the figures in the attached drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a system according to the present invention for implementing a method of treating lees, also according to the invention;Figure 2 shows a side sectional view of a detail of the plant according to the invention;Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the detail in Figure 2;Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a variant of the detail in Figure 2;Figure 5 shows a front view of another detail of the plant according to the invention. The thicknesses and curvatures shown in the above figures are purely illustrative, are generally magnified and are not necessarily shown to scale. Detailed description of preferred embodiments Various embodiments and variants of the invention will be described below with reference to the figures above. Similar components are denoted in the various figures with the same reference number. In the deta