An innovative California winery that puts wine into kegs for aging and distribution instead of traditional oak wine barrels. The client distributes the kegs all over the country to be used at restaurants and festivals with a tap system. In the process of keg filling they use a combination of nitrogen and carbon dioxide to clean and pressurize the keg.
After the initial filling, the wine spends time in the kegs for aging before it gets shipped and depending on where the shipment is going, the kegs could spend a substantial amount of time between the initial filling at the winery and consumption by the end user. This time frame brought up a major concern for gas quality. If the gas contained any contaminants or particles above a sterile micron level, the product inside the keg could go bad before it reached the end user. The second major concern for the client was the cost of a filter that would ensure the gas mixture was sterile and would not affect the end product. The winery was small and this was a new venture for them, so there was not a substantial budget for this project and the filtration of the gas blend.
The Engineers at Micropure reviewed the specific application and needs of the client. Micropure presented them with a proposal for a sterile gas filter that was sized specifically for their application. The sterile gas filter was designed and sized based off the pressure and flow rate of the gas line. Because of the major budgetary limitations of the client, Micropure looked at multiple options to fit the customer’s need of great filtration at low installation prices.
Micropure recommended the use of its PSF-0604 “Mini” Filter. The Mini filter has a few differences from the standard PSF filter model. The Mini housing is only certified up to 145 psi. The mini housing also only has one condensate drain port in the housing base instead of two in the standard model. The last difference is the mini model comes with tri-clamp closure instead of the standard DIN 11851 union closure nut. On the inside, the mini uses the same segmented element design and filtration media.
These features make the mini model a cost effective unit for small installations and startups. The segmented element is the same for both the standard and mini unit, but the housing on the mini filter is less expensive. This allows Micropure to offer its great sterile filtration ability at low costs for individuals that do not need some of the features of the standard model.
The client was able to get exactly what they needed for their application. The high quality Micropure filtration media sterilizes their gas supply and ensures they will never have to deal with product loss because of the gas mixture quality. The client was also able to stay under budget because of the low cost mini filter housing option.
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