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

[0042]The carbonation of water-based beverages with CO2 gas typically results in the formation of an amount of carbonic acid (H2CO3). It is believed that the increased disinfecting potency of the inventive carbonated anolyte may, to some extent, result from the formation of an amount of carbonic acid in the carbonated aqueous anolyte solution.

[0043]In yet another aspect, there is provided a method comprising treating beverage production and packaging equipment with ECAW or aqueous diluted ECAW at ambient temperatures to neutralize the residual odor and taste of flavorant ingredients that conventionally require both protracted exposure to high temperature caustic detergent solutions and extended water rinse cycles.

[0044]In another aspect, there is provided an ECAW solution, and a method comprising the application of the ECAW solution, for the improved removal and elimination of alcohol-containing residues from beverage production systems, containers, and packaging system infrastructure.

[0045]In another aspect, there is provided a method of using ECAW as

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

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