Spinning Cone Column

Leaders in cutting edge beverage technology

Developed in Australia, the Spinning Cone Column (SCC) is the fastest, most efficient and cost-effective method in the world for the capture and preservation of volatile flavor components from all kinds of liquid or slurry substances, at high speeds and at low temperatures.

The SCC is a vertical stainless steel cylinder in which an inert stripping gas removes, under vacuum, a vapor stream of volatile compounds from liquids or slurries. The largest model (SCC 10,000) is roughly one meter in diameter and five meters in height, while the smallest (SCC 1,000) is one-third of a meter in diameter and two meters high.

Anatomy of the SCC

Two Series of Inverted Cones

Internally the SCC contains two series of inverted cones. Attached to the inside wall of the column is a series of fixed cones. Attached to the rotating shaft is another series of cones, parallel to the fixed cones in such a way that they alternate vertically: one fixed, one rotating.

Thin Turbulent Films

Product is fed into the top of the column (the red stream). Pulled by gravity, it flows down the upper surface of the first fixed cone and drops onto the first rotating cone where, by centrifugal force, the liquid is spun into a thin, turbulent film and forced upward, out and off the rim of the spinning cone, dropping onto the next stationary cone below. In this fashion, the product works its way from cone to cone to the bottom of the column.

Re-injection / Very Low Temperatures

Thanks to an ingenious adaptation of the SCC's normal system, ConeTech does not use external steam as the stripping agent (as is the case with products other than wine). Instead, because of a process called “re-injection”, ConeTech is able to convert a very small amount of the stripped wine exiting from the base of the column back into a form of low temperature vapor created when it “flashes off” in the high vacuum environment in the column.

Very Low Residence Time

This vapor flows upward (the blue stream), passing across the surface of the thin film of liquid, collecting volatile compounds as it rises. Fins on the underside of the rotating cones induce a high degree of turbulence into the rising vapor stream. This, with the turbulent, thin film of liquid and the long vapor and liquid path lengths, leads to the highly efficient transfer of volatiles from the liquid to the vapor stream, in a residence time of only a few seconds and absolutely without thermal damage to the product.

Vapor System

The vapor flows out of the top of the column and passes through a condensing system which captures the volatiles in a concentrated liquid form. The remaining liquid or slurry is pumped out of the bottom of the column.