Sulphur dioxide sensor for wine quality control

BarrelWise is focusing on the barrel wine aging process which is labor intensive and is logistically challenging for large wineries with thousands of barrels. Due to wine evaporation through the permeable oak barrels, the aging wine needs to be topped to displace ullage and sulphated to protect the wine from oxidation and microbial spoilage. In addition, sulphur levels in the barrels have to be tracked to ensure sufficient protection to the wine, and guarantee that legislated sulphur levels are not surpassed.
BarrelWise has developed a patented solution that allows all barrel management to be performed without exposing the barrel to surrounding air, through a custom bung. The focus of this Mitacs internship is the development of an SO2 sensor, which will allow the wine-maker to track the sulphur levels in the wine aging process for each barrel. In addition, this sensor will allow for precise sulphur addition on a barrel-by-barrel basis, with the ultimate goal of minimizing excess sulphur addition to aging wine.

Faculty Supervisor:

Steven Rogak;Vivien Measday

Student:

Miayan Yeremi

Partner:

BarrelWise

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of British Columbia