Julius Montz GmbH (Montz) launched Montz Food Processing, which will offer advanced technology and technical expertise to breweries and other beverage producers so they can reach near zero percent (0%) alcohol content in beer, wine, and cider.
“Our superior technology effectively removes alcohol in beverages like beer and wine, and reflects an important step in Montz’s growth within this key industry,” said Christoph Ender, Managing Director of Julius Montz. “For more than 30 years, we have worked with our customers to design and supply equipment for their dealcoholizing needs and our experience in this market will help breweries produce a more valuable product.
“In addition, Montz is the technology leader in alcohol processing with more than 20 years’ experience of designing and constructing complete production plants for bioethanol, drinking and industrial alcohol. We’re excited to build on this success and use our extensive capabilities and knowledge to continue development of new technology, as well as support breweries with full management of their alcohol production.”
With the traditional beer market stagnating, breweries are increasingly seeking new markets and consumers. Alcohol-free beers have attracted increasing consumer demand in recent years due to health and lifestyle changes, which has opened new avenues of business and profitability for breweries. A 2019 Global Market Insights study estimates the global alcohol-free beer market will grow more than 7% a year from $13.5 billion to $25 billion between 2017 and 2024. As demand has grown, however, brewers have struggled to reach their full production potential due to technological limitations.
Currently, brewers mainly use either distillation or membrane technologies for their alcohol-free beverage production needs – and typically rely on different suppliers for their equipment and technical support.
Alcohol-free beverages contain less than 0.5% alcohol by law, and Montz’s solutions can guarantee below 0.02% alcohol level through technology that removes alcohol at low temperature levels and lightly treats beer and wine during processing.
As part of these solutions offerings, Montz is further improving its column designs to achieve lower pressure drops, increased energy efficiency, and improved maintenance (cleaning) of internals, among other operational benefits.