Deacidification of grape musts by Schizosaccharomyces entrapped in alginate beads: a continuous-fluidized-bed process

Abstract

One possible biological method for wine deacidification is elimination of malic acid from grape musts by Schizosaccharomyces yeasts prior to alcoholic fermentation. In this work we propose a new continuous process with yeasts included in double-layer alginate beads. The beads were retained in a fluidized-bed column reactor. In order to avoid CO2 retention, a stirred flask was added to the classical experimental set-up. The feasibility of the process has been demonstrated and its performance has been evaluated: 1.5–2.4 g 1−1 h−1 of malic acid consumed for 60% of beads in the column.