Simulation and flavor compound analysis of dealcoholized beer via one-step vacuum distillation

Abstract

The coupled operation of vacuum distillation process to produce alcohol free beer at laboratory scale and Aspen HYSYS simulation software was studied to define the chemical changes during the dealcoholization process in the aroma profiles of 2 different lager beers.

At the lab-scale process, 2 different parameters were chosen to dealcoholize beer samples, 102 mbar at 50 °C and 200 mbar at 67 °C. Samples taken at different steps of the process were analyzed by HS-SPME–GC–MS focusing on the concentration of 7 flavor compounds, 5 alcohols and 2 esters. For simulation process, the EoS parameters of the Wilson-2 property package were adjusted to the experimental data and one more pressure was tested (60 mbar).

Simulation methods represent a viable alternative to predict results of the volatile compound composition of a final dealcoholized beer.