Manifestations of Fouling of Heterogeneous Membranes by Components of Wine Materials in the Process of Their Tartrate Stabilization by Electrodialysis

Tartrate stabilization of wine materials by electrodialysis makes it possible to speed up and automate this process and reduce the loss of valuable components. Widespread implementation of electrodialysis in industrial wine production is hampered by fouling of ion-exchange membranes with wine components and by the very limited range of membranes currently used. This study is devoted to a comparative analysis of properties of relatively inexpensive heterogeneous ion-exchange membranes MA-41, MK-40, AMH-PES, and CMH-PES before and after their use in tartrate stabilization of wine materials by electrodialysis. It is shown that the mechanisms of fouling and its effect on transport characteristics, as well as on the development of electroconvection and generation of H+ and OH– ions, are largely determined by counterions that are transferred through cation-exchange (transition metal cations) and anion-exchange (carboxylic acid anions) membranes. Membranes MA-41 and MK-40 demonstrate higher resistance to fouling during operation of an electrodialysis device for less than 15 h.