Carbon Dioxide Solubility in Sugar and Water–Ethanol Solutions for Applications to Sparkling Drinks

Abstract

From the industrial angle, the global perception of a sparkling drink is largely conditioned by its level of dissolved CO₂ ruled by the so-called Henry’s equilibrium in sealed bottles or cans. In this critical review, the main empirical or semiempirical models developed in the past decades aimed at determining the solubility of CO₂ in aqueous mixtures of compositions relevant to the sparkling drinks industry are compiled, from simple sparkling waters and soft drinks to more complex sparkling alcoholic beverages, such as beers or sparkling wines. The focus was therefore on the combined action of temperature, sugar, and ethanol on the solubility of CO₂ in solution. Depending on the formulation of their products, Research & Development engineers in the sparkling beverage industry in the broad sense thus have a summary document that allows them to anticipate and predict certain important elements, such as (1) the CO₂ pressure and dissolved CO₂ reached in their packaged beverages, (2) the shelf life of their packaged beverage, (3) the critical concentration of dissolved CO₂ below which a beverage no longer produces bubbles in tasting glasses, as well as (4) the total number of bubbles likely to form in a glass.