Liquid clarification
The present invention relates to liquid clarification. More closely, the invention relates to beverage clarification, such as reduction of colloidal (not microbial) haze-causing substances in beer or related beverages such as wine, juices, flavorings etc. The method of the invention uses a hydrophilic surface for adsorption of haze-forming substances by hydrogen bonding interaction properties between the surface and the haze-forming substances.
1. A method for haze-clarification of a liquid, comprising removal of polyphenols from said liquid by contacting said liquid with a separation matrix molecularly interacting with polyphenols by hydrogen bonding wherein the separation matrix comprises diethylene glycol based-ligands.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the separation matrix comprises a polymeric support, wherein at least the surface of the support is substantially hydrophilic.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polymeric support is a crosslinked carbohydrate support.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polymeric support is a synthetic support in which the surfaces exhibit hydroxyl groups.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polymeric support comprises polycarbonyl, polyhydroxy, polyether or polyacid.
6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the support is surface-modified with hydrogen bonding groups.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the hydrogen bonding groups comprise lone-pair electrons and are based on polymers or other ligands containing hydroxyl groups, ether groups, carboxyl groups, carbonyl groups, and/or amine groups.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the hydrogen bonding groups are ethylene glycol based ligands.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ether-ligands are in mixture with other ligands or media.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the hydrogen bonding groups comprise ethylene glycol or Tris.
11. The method of claim 6 wherein the hydrogen bonding groups comprise part of a responsive polymer or silicone based polymer.
12. The method of claim 2 , wherein the support is porous.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the separation matrix comprises beads, a membrane or a filter.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the separation matrix has hydrogen bonding and filtration capacity.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein said liquid is a beverage selected from beer, wine, juice or flavourings.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the liquid is beer and the separation matrix comprises agarose-based chromatography beads.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the liquid is beer.