Koch Membrane Systems (KMS), a global leader in membrane separations technologies, announces the launch of two modular crossflow microfiltration systems for the clarification of wine. The KMS Wine-COR M and Wine-COR P crossflow microfiltration systems offer an expandable modular solution for all production scales, from several thousand to millions of cases per year. Both systems utilize KMS proprietary WINEFILTER membranes, which are designed to achieve optimal wine clarity while maintaining color, taste and aroma. All WINEFILTER membranes and Wine-COR systems are manufactured in the USA by KMS.

The Wine-COR M crossflow microfiltration system was designed with mobility and easy capacity expansion in mind, perfectly suited for the small to medium-sized winery. This system is fully automated with Allen Bradley PLC/HMI and is constructed from components readily available in the United States for easy service and maintenance.

“The Wine-COR M system is affordable and easily expandable from 3 to 12 cartridges. This system operates with minimal wine losses and dilution, making it ideal for extra small lots,” explains Nicholas Barretto, North American Wine Sales Manager for KMS. Barretto invites interested winemakers to see the new Wine-COR M-6 system displayed at KMS’s booth at the 2019 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium.

The Wine-COR P crossflow microfiltration system was designed for larger wineries focused on maximizing throughput. These deluxe systems come fully equipped and are available up to 48 cartridges. Similar to the Wine-COR M system, 12-cartridge expansion modules are available to manage expanding production.

“We recently installed a Wine-COR P-36 system at Delicato,” says Barretto. “It handles difficult reds very well, and it has incredibly low wine losses with a 95-99% recovery rate, making it perfect for small to medium lots.”

In addition to these Wine-COR M and P system offerings, KMS offers KMS ASSIST Service and Maintenance Programs. These services can be customized to match your specific service needs.
“Unsurpassed customer support is the cornerstone of our offering,” says Barretto. “Our customer-first focus allows us to create the ideal solution for any winery separation needs.”

KMS is exhibiting at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in booth 1210 at the Sacramento Convention Center on January 30-31, 2019. Barretto invites winemakers to view the new Wine-COR M-6 system at Unified to learn more and talk about setting up a trial with one of their mobile units at your winery.

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Koch Membrane Systems, Inc. (KMS), a global leader in membrane separations technologies, announces the launch of the Lees-COR family of tubular crossflow systems for the recovery of high-quality juice and wine from lees.  Lees accounts for up to 15% of a winery’s production capacity, so maximizing product recovery from these streams represents a significant opportunity to improve sustainability and the bottom line.  KMS Lees-COR systems are available for a wide range of production rates up to 400 gallons per hour, offering treatment solutions suitable for all production scales.

Lees-COR crossflow microfiltration systems were designed with performance, operational simplicity, and durability in mind. These systems utilize robust 1-inch tubular membranes, and besides circulation pumping, contain no moving or fragile parts. The 1-inch diameter tubes are capable of concentrating lees up to 85% solids without fear of plugging or catastrophic failure from over-concentration. While traditional ceramic membranes and disks can be susceptible to thermal shock, plugging and breakage, KMS tubular membranes can also tolerate fluctuations in temperature offering reduced CIP time, extended runtimes and increased productivity.

Because Lees-COR systems utilize a crossflow membrane, they produce excellent quality wine and juice with brilliant clarity . A membrane-based treatment solution such as Lees-COR allows for elimination of diatomaceous earth rotary vacuum drum filters which represent a potential respiratory hazard for workers and degrade recovered juice and wine value due to oxidation. Typical product clarity is less than 1 NTU with exceptional flavor, aroma, color, and mouthfeel. In the case of wine lees, the product can be blended directly with the traditionally crossflow-filtered wine without additional treatment.

“I’m excited about KMS Lees-COR because it filters lees without exposing the wine or juice to oxygen,” Nick Barretto, North American Wine Sales Manager for KMS, points out. “This results in significantly improved quality compared to traditional pad filtration or diatomaceous earth filtration systems.”

KMS prides itself on superior customer service for its entire portfolio of technologies and systems.   To complement the Lees-COR system offerings, KMS offers KMS ASSIST® Service and Maintenance Programs which can be tailored to the specific needs of the winery. 

For more than half a century, KMS has been engineering advanced membrane filtration solutions for a variety of industries and applications across the world. With all membranes manufactured in the United States, KMS provides a best-in-class solution to improve operating efficiencies, lower costs, and increase quality and quantity of product.

To learn more and request a quote, visit: https://www.kochmembrane.com/en-US/.

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The ROMICON® system is designed to add maximum value in vinegar processing applications. Learn more about the technology: https://lnkd.in/dCk7zCxS

Our SUPER-COR® UF system helps hundreds of fruit juice producers around the world achieve high-quality juice at lower operating costs. This apple juice producer in Macedonia benefits from adding SUPER-COR UF technology to their processing line through its fully automated, simplified operation. Discover our SUPER-COR product and system: https://www.kochseparation.com/technologies/membrane-filtration/super-cor-and-super-g-modules/

As a complete solution provider, we work to improve the efficiency and yield of your wine production. We offer our Wine-COR^™ crossflow filtration systems to clarify wine, and Lees-COR^™ systems to recover more wine from lees and increase production yield. Our RO and NF technologies are used for alcohol and acidity reduction in wines. 

Ideal for:

• Red Wine
• White Wine
• Wine Lees

Find more information here.

Project Spotlight: Rolando Cantine Sas 

Kovalus Separation Solutions has had another successful collaboration with long-time partner Rolando Cantine Sas, a renowned Italian producer of clarified grape must and a trusted supplier to some of the world’s most recognized wine and sparkling wine producers. 

To support their expansion under Italy’s Industria 5.0 energy savings program, our team delivered a custom-engineered Kovalus hollow fiber WINEFILTER + ceramic membrane filtration system that offers: 

• Reduced energy consumption  
• Consistent flow rates for improved efficiency  
• Preservation of color, aroma, taste  
• A fully automated, dual-stage design with integrated ceramic polishing

With a capacity of up to 300,000 L/day and an additional 10,000 L/day recovered via ceramic filtration, the new system boosts yield while honoring product quality – a key advantage in competitive markets. 

This is more than a system. It’s a solution tailored for performance, sustainability, and long-term partnership.  

Piloting is a critical step in process development & optimization, helping us prove concepts and create cost-effective systems tailored to each customer's production needs. Check out the test results of our High-Pressure RO Pilot System concentrating herbal extracts before evaporation for nutraceutical applications! 

For more information: https://www.kovalus.com/technologies/membrane-filtration/

Acquisition positions KSS as comprehensive solutions provider to serve dairy, food and beverage industries with cutting edge technology and services

Wilmington, Mass. – Koch Separation Solutions (KSS), a global leader in separation technology, today announced the acquisition of RELCO, a top provider of cutting-edge process technologies for the dairy and food industry. The acquisition allows KSS to better serve customers and leverage the synergistic capabilities of its various complementary technologies in the dairy, food, and beverage markets.

“The acquisition of RELCO marks an important step in KSS’s transformation to become an integrated solutions provider, delivering superior value to existing and new customers,” said Manny Singh, President of KSS. “We believe that separation challenges in the dairy, food, and other industries are complex and rarely solved with one technology. The acquisition of RELCO adds complementary evaporation and drying technologies to the existing membrane and ion exchange offering of KSS.  This combined product offering, along with deep applications knowledge, will ensure a seamlessly integrated solution while delivering maximum value to our customers.”

KSS has a long history in providing innovative membrane products to the food and dairy industry, having pioneered the development of the sanitary spiral wound membranes commonly used today. KSS seeks to drive technological innovation to meet market needs through the vertical integration of KSS’ advanced membrane filtration and ion exchange capabilities with RELCO’s proven evaporation, spray-drying and crystallization processes.

The acquisition of RELCO expands KSS’ scope of capabilities, allowing for a meaningful partnership with customers through greater choice and flexibility in selecting separation technologies best suited for their unique operations. The addition of RELCO’s proven thermal technology enhances KSS’ overall solutions offering to better serve dairy as well as food and beverage customers in fruit-juice, biotechnology, starch and sugar, nutraceutical, and both plant- and animal-based protein applications.

“I founded this company almost four decades ago offering only sanitary welding services and came to realize the greater need for custom designed and engineered systems in the dairy market,” says Loren Corle, Founder and Owner of RELCO. “Since then, I have proudly watched RELCO grow and evolve its technologies to ensure that we are always the first call when customers are faced with a challenge. I am thrilled that KSS shares that same mentality and desire to work collaboratively with their customers to develop strong, long-lasting relationships.”

Mark Litchfield, President of RELCO, adds “To be acquired by a company as successful and respected as KSS is a vindication of our vision, the dedication of our teams, and the relationships we have developed. This acquisition will allow us to offer integrated and innovative membrane filtration and ion exchange systems with our solutions targeting value addition, energy efficiency, and waste minimization. KSS offers ideal growth conditions for an innovative and quality-focused company like RELCO and we are excited to be a part of this expansion.”

For more information on this acquisition and KSS’s separations offerings, please contact getinfo@kochsep.com.

About Koch Separation Solutions

Koch Separation Solutions (KSS) is transforming the landscape of separations by leveraging synergistic technology such as membrane filtration and ion exchange. With over half a century worth of experience, KSS offers solutions for the most demanding applications across food and beverage, life science, and general industrial markets. KSS aims to create more value to their customers around the world by offering complete solutions to recover high-value product, eliminate waste, reduce footprint, increase productivity, and lower costs. KSS is a Koch Engineered Solutions company. More information is available at www.kochseparation.com.

About RELCO

RELCO was established in 1982 and has evolved to become a well-established engineering and manufacturing company providing cutting-edge processing technology to the dairy industry. RELCO’s cheese systems, evaporators, drying systems, powder handling systems, and after-market solutions are designed and engineered with efficiency, durability, and reliability in mind. With over 500 cheese & dairy plants served across the world, RELCO delivers superior industry expertise and excellent project management capabilities to foster long-lasting relationships with small and large cheese and dairy producers alike. For more information, visit www.relco.net.

Sun Capital Partners Affiliate Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire Koch Separation Solutions from Koch Engineered Solutions  

BOCA RATON, FL – August 14, 2023— Sun Capital Partners, Inc. (“Sun Capital”), a leading private investment firm focused on defensible businesses in growing markets with tangible performance improvement opportunities, today announced its affiliate has reached a definitive agreement with various subsidiaries of Koch Engineered Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc., to acquire Koch Separation Solutions (“KSS” or “the Company”). The acquisition by an affiliate of Sun Capital will pave the way for KSS to strengthen its market presence and improve its economies of scale. 

Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, KSS has more than 700 employees and decades of experience providing separation technologies. The Company offers membrane filtration, ion exchange, evaporators, dryers, and proprietary cheesemaking technologies to the industrial, food, beverage, dairy, and other markets. Once the transaction is completed, KSS will operate as a standalone business that includes all its current operations and will continue under the existing management team. The Company’s vision is to transform the global landscape of separations and become a preferred partner to its customers by driving value creation and sustainability across the food and beverage, dairy, life science, and industrial markets. 

“Sun Capital and KSS share a common vision of innovation and continuous improvement to best serve our customers,” said Manny Singh, President of KSS, who will continue to lead the management team. “KSS has an established history in the separations space, with over half a century’s worth of experience providing innovative solutions to customers worldwide. We are excited about this opportunity as it positions KSS to build upon longstanding relationships while growing our capabilities as a complete solutions provider. We remain committed to delivering the same level of service that our customers expect when working with us.” 

KSS has been a leading manufacturer of membrane filtration since its inception, primarily serving industrial markets with water and wastewater treatment. Over the next several decades, the business evolved into new markets, offering innovative solutions to the most demanding in-process separation challenges. Through the acquisitions of ion exchange equipment provider – Eco-Tec – and thermal separation technology provider – RELCO – the business has transformed into the complete, integrated solutions provider that customers around the world rely on today. 

“We are very excited to enter into this agreement and look forward to working with the KSS team to support the business as a strong standalone enterprise,” said Jeremy Stone, Senior Managing Director, Sun Capital. “Sun Capital has a long history of successfully partnering with outstanding management teams in industrial businesses across multiple sectors. We’re confident that we can apply that experience and our deep, in-house operational resources to help management execute its business plan, accelerate growth, and further the Company’s ability to help customers increase productivity while meeting sustainability goals.” 

“Koch is proud to have founded and grown KSS into an industry leader in the separation solutions space,” said Dave Dotson, President of Koch Engineered Solutions. “Through our recent work with the Sun Capital team, it became apparent that there is an aligned vision with KSS that will take the company to its next level of success.” 

The acquisition of KSS by Sun Capital is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals. 

About Koch Separation Solutions  

Koch Separation Solutions (KSS) is transforming the landscape of separations by leveraging synergistic technology such as membrane filtration, ion exchange, evaporation, drying, and more. With over half a century’s worth of experience, KSS offers solutions for the most demanding applications across food and beverage, life science, and general industrial markets. KSS aims to create more value for their customers worldwide by offering complete solutions to recover high-value products, eliminate waste, reduce footprint, increase productivity, and lower costs.  

About Sun Capital Partners  

Sun Capital Partners, Inc. is a global private equity firm focused on partnering with outstanding management teams to accelerate value creation. Since 1995, Sun Capital has invested in more than 500 companies worldwide with revenues in excess of $50 billion across a broad range of industries and transaction structures. The Firm has built a reputation as a trusted partner, recognized for its operational experience. Sun Capital focuses on defensible businesses in growing markets with tangible performance improvement opportunities in the Business Services, Consumer, Healthcare, Industrial, and Technology sectors. The firm has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles and New York, and an affiliate with offices in London. 

Our membrane filtration technology allows winemakers from around the world to create the highest quality, best tasting wine. Learn more about our complete wine and lees filtration offering: https://loom.ly/OCGkhKM 

The 2022 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium is just around the corner! Come meet our team in Sacramento, CA and see how KSS can drive down costs and achieve sustainable processing in your winemaking operation. Register before January 18th for pre-registration rates: https://lnkd.in/dmv663C

A wine processing facility in Hungary employs KSS' WINEFILTER™ and LEESFILTER™ membrane technology to achieve maximum value from their operation. These membranes process a variety of wines and produce a high-quality, clear, and stable final product at an increased yield. 

Learn more about our wine solutions: https://www.kochseparation.com/markets/beverage/

KSS helps winemakers achieve high-quality, clarified, and stabilized wine with our line of crossflow membrane products and systems. Our technology is optimized for reliable and efficient operation while maintaining the unique character of each wine. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dPHyRzfA

Collaborative Innovation with Koch Separation Solutions

In the competitive wine business, innovation can be the key to survival and growth. When COVID-19 shut down tasting rooms, wineries adapted by moving online for virtual tastings and e-commerce, thus opening new revenue streams.

Innovation in winemaking is just as essential. As winemakers deepen their expertise with each harvest, they increasingly follow their intuition, adapting the process to create the fine wines of their imagination. Often, the changes they make are minor tweaks. But sometimes, a winemaker imagines a wine that needs a unique technology and expertise to produce.

That’s when they turn to experts like Koch Separation Solutions (KSS). With over 50 years in separation solutions, KSS broadened its membrane expertise into ion exchange, evaporation and drying. These complementary technologies work together to deliver cutting-edge solutions for the wine and beverage industries.

The synergy between membrane and ion exchange technology addresses tasks such as juice debittering and pulp removal, suspended solids and organics, tartrate stabilization, and resin treatments of white grape must for sparkling base wines. Similarly, for winemakers seeking to tap into the rising consumer interest in no and low alcohol alternatives, KSS solutions combine RO membranes and evaporation technologies to reduce wine’s alcohol content to as low as 0.2% ABV.

“When a client has a complex winery problem or an idea for a wine that isn’t yet in the market,” says Phil Sorrentino, Product Manager - Food, Beverage, Life Science, “we have an array of technology and the knowledge to help them craft a solution.”

This kind of partnership on next-generation problems and challenges happens so often at KSS that the company developed a collaborative innovation process guide. They employ this process across a broad range of industries, but the basic principles remain the same. Success comes from combining KSS technology experts with the winery’s first-hand experience with the problem or idea. In their experience, this collaborative approach means getting it done much faster.

The time from ideation to the pilot study might take a month, followed by another month for scale-up. The whole system could be up and running in six months. KSS has a process engineering team that does application development and a facility at their headquarters for comprehensive testing. When the product can’t be shipped, they can dispatch the pilot equipment to the winery for on-site testing.

For those wondering, “Is it possible to do this with my grape juice?”— it just might be. Collaborating with the KSS experts in an innovation process to develop a custom solution can make the possible a reality.

To learn more, visit the Koch Separation Solutions website or contact them directly at nicholas.barretto@kochsep.com.

Delicato Family Wines has relied on KSS membrane technology to provide high-quality wine filtration for three years. Ready to expand their operation, they called on KSS to supply a modular Wine-COR™ P-36 system. The KSS & RELCO teams successfully completed fabrication of this expansion system at our shop in Wilmar, MN where the unit is now ready to be shipped and begin processing.

Koch Separation Solutions (KSS) offers a complete solution for all your winemaking needs. Our advanced crossflow membrane products and systems are ideal for clarifying a variety of red, white, and rosé wines while increasing yields and reducing energy requirements and operating costs. Explore the complete KSS wine solutions.

Wine-COR System

Our Wine-COR™ crossflow microfiltration systems are modular and easily expanded to meet increasing processing demands. Based on our WINEFILTER™ membrane cartridge, these hollow fiber systems gently filter wine to remove sediments and particles and produce a clear product with the desired taste, color, and aroma intact. Our systems are accommodating of both small and large operations, with our Wine-COR M system handling up to 60 gallons per minute (gpm) and our Wine-COR P system being customizable for larger wine processors. With the Wine-COR system solution, you will benefit from a compact, mobile, and scalable design that achieves high yields at over 95% without the need for diatomaceous earth. The brilliant KSS design reduces total cost of ownership with low energy consumption and sustained filtration runs.

Wine-COR™ M-12 System

Wine-COR™ P-36 SystemLees-COR System

For greater product yield, KSS developed the Lees-COR™ system to treat post fermentation lees and maximize the amount of wine throughput. Based on our trusted SUPER-G™ tubular membrane, this system is robust and tolerant of streams with high solids. Operating within a compact footprint, the Lees-COR offers simple automated operation and eliminates the need for diatomaceous earth.

Lees-COR™ System

To learn more about KSS wine filtration solutions, visit www.kochseparation.com.

Contact:
Nick Barretto
Regional Sales Manager
Nicholas.barretto@kochsep.com
(707) 291-7847

Collaboration promotes operational efficiency, sustainability in water and wastewater treatment

 Wilmington, Mass. – Koch Separation Solutions (KSS), a global leader in membrane filtration and ion exchange technology, today announced it continues to build its relationship with ADM, the world’s premier agricultural origination and processing company. Central to ADM’s philosophy and operations is its commitment to sustainability, and KSS has earned the confidence of ADM to become a preferred vendor of water, wastewater, and in-process separations applications based on premium services and reliable products. This mutually beneficial relationship will help ADM meet and exceed sustainability and business objectives by improving its processes, conserve water, and protect the environment.

“KSS’s industry-leading solutions are developed and constantly improved to ensure our customers’ operations, like those of ADM, are profitable and sustainable. In our long relationship with ADM, we have worked closely together to tackle important projects that are essential for society, and we’re excited to grow this relationship,” said Manny Singh, President of KSS. “Our increased collaboration with ADM will allow for greater synergy between our teams as we complement each other’s capabilities and search for greater ways to innovate that will benefit everyone.”

KSS has been working with ADM on a variety of applications, many of which aim to successfully meet tighter discharge limits and/or recover water affecting their production plants. Designs of these applications, which were developed in collaboration with ADM’s Utilities Center of Excellence and KSS Process Engineering, have proven successful when piloted at ADM sites using a variety of membrane configurations. Most recently, ADM’s joint venture Stratas facility purchased a KONSOLIDATOR 544 FEG PLUS tubular Ultrafiltration system from KSS to treat oily wastewater prior to discharge. The system will operate under modified batch mode to retain oil for potential rendering and water for discharge and/or recovery. Additional projects are underway using the PULSION MBR membrane modules to treat wastewater from ADM’s production facilities and purify water for a variety of plant processes.

“For ADM, being a good steward of our culture and of our environment is part of who we are, and increasing sustainability through our operations is one of our top priorities,” said Mark Carroll, water/wastewater engineer of ADM. “Through the use of innovative technologies, we can achieve our sustainability goals while creating value for our customers. Our relationship with KSS is a testament to this, and our continuing collaboration with them will serve to enhance our work in the industries we serve.”

As a leader in key industries worldwide, ADM and its numerous businesses are leveraging greater innovation for their customers while promoting increased sustainability in operations, such as through reducing energy intensity and conserving natural resources. ADM is a company with deep roots in agriculture and understands the importance of responsible stewardship of land, water, and air – all of which are critical to its business and the people it serves.

About Koch Separation Solutions

Koch Separation Solutions (KSS) is transforming the landscape of separations by leveraging synergistic technology such as membrane filtration and ion exchange. With over half a century worth of experience, KSS offers solutions for the most demanding applications across food and beverage, life science, and general industrial markets. KSS aims to create more value to their customers around the world by offering complete solutions to recover high-value product, eliminate waste, reduce footprint, increase productivity, and lower costs. KSS is a Koch Engineered Solutions company. More information is available at www.kochseparation.com. 

About ADM

At ADM, we unlock the power of nature to provide access to nutrition worldwide. With industry-advancing innovations, a complete portfolio of ingredients and solutions to meet any taste, and a commitment to sustainability, we give customers an edge in solving the nutritional challenges of today and tomorrow. We’re a global leader in human and animal nutrition and the world’s premier agricultural origination and processing company. Our breadth, depth, insights, facilities and logistical expertise give us unparalleled capabilities to meet needs for food, beverages, health and wellness, and more. From the seed of the idea to the outcome of the solution, we enrich the quality of life the world over. Learn more at www.adm.com.

The Lees-COR System demonstrates the most efficient design on the market for lees treatment. This system, comprised of SUPER-G tubular membranes, is designed to treat juice and post fermentation lees to maximize product yield. It can process between 5 and 40 gpm (1 and 10 cubic meters/hr). These durable and robust tubular membranes achieve high solids concentrations unmatched in the wine and beverage industries.

Wine-COR systems are designed for wine clarification of small to large volumes. These systems are available as small-scale manual units, as well as fully automated systems, increasing wine yield up to 99%. With compact and mobile design options, they are ideal for small boutique wineries to large industrial plants. The Wine-COR systems use KMS microfiltration WINEFILTER cartridges, which are optimized to maintain color, taste, aroma and alcohol content of red, white and rosé wines. The Wine-COR systems offer a modular design to easily expand the system treatment capacity as throughput requirements increase.

Montz Food Processing leveraged KSS' experience in membrane filtration for the beverage industry to produce advanced technology that significantly reduces alcohol content in beverage products. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/d3xTNvC