Protein Stabilization in White Wine by Using a Flow-Through Fixed-Bed Adsorption Column: Analysis of Adsorption Isotherms and Breakthrough Curves

Proteins create challenges in wine stability, especially in white and rosé wines, during storage and transport due to their tendency to form a haze resulting from denaturation. In the wine industry, protein removal is primarily achieved by treatment with bentonite, which dates back decades. However, the utilization of bentonite presents certain disadvantages, such as wine loss. Utilizing nonswelling ion-exchange resins in flow-through packed-bed operations as an alternative method can reduce the process time and minimize wine loss. This study investigates the adsorption characteristics by determining adsorption isotherms and breakthrough curves in a bench-scale flow-through process under varying flow rates (1.5–3.0 mL/min), resin amounts (1–4 mL), and initial protein concentrations (0.5–1.5 mg/mL). While adsorption capacities at the breakthrough point remain constant across different slurry volumes, changes in the flow rate create differences in resin use efficiency. With wines of lower protein concentrations, the column can be used efficiently, which results in more volume treated prior to breakthrough. A mathematical model was suggested to predict the experimental breakthrough points and provide a path to estimating the large-scale performance parameters.