3.2. Aroma Compounds Retention
The individual aroma compounds identified in the conventional and ecological Cabernet Sauvignon red wines and the reverse osmosis retentates are presented in
Table 1 and
Table 2. All 45 aroma compounds were divided into six groups (acids, alcohols, carbonyl compounds, terpenes, esters and volatile phenols) for a better display. For each compound, the main odour description was listed. For each group of aroma compounds, the total sum was calculated.
The initial conventional wine contained 984.1 μg/L and the initial ecological wine contained 1634.4 μg/L of total acids. Among the six identified acids (acetic, octanoic, decanoic, lauric, myristic and palmitic acids), in both initial wines, acetic acid had the highest concentration (394.1 μg/L in the conventional and 1043.0 μg/L in the ecological wine). However, after the reverse osmosis process, acetic acid was not detected in any wine retentates, except at 5.5 MPa, with cooling (103.7 μg/L in the conventional and 99.4 μg/L in the ecological wine retentates). The rest of the acids were detected in all samples, but their concentrations depended on the applied processing parameters during the RO process. A loss of all acids occurred after the RO treatment of the conventional and ecological red wines, compared to the initial wines. The highest retention of the total acids was observed at 5.5 MPa in the cooling regime (48.6% in the conventional and 25.6% in the ecological wine retentates), and the retention decreased if a lower pressure was applied. The cooling regime resulted in a slightly higher retention of acids than the regime without cooling at the same transmembrane pressure. A high loss of total acids is a result of the acetic acid removal during reverse osmosis. The retention of the rest of the individual acids was higher, especially the retention of lauric acid (100.0% in conventional and 96.7% in ecological wine retentates at 5.5 MPa, with cooling). It can be observed that the initial wine composition influenced the retention of the individual compounds. A slightly higher retention of octanoic, lauric, myristic and palmitic acids was observed in the conventional wine retentates, compared to the ecological ones, where a slightly higher retention of decanoic acid was measured.
The highest total concentration among all six groups of the aroma compounds was measured for volatile alcohols (13.21 mg/L in the initial conventional and 38.25 mg/L in the initial ecological wines) due to a high concentration of isoamyl alcohol and 2-phenylethanol in both wines. The concentration of isoamyl alcohol and 2-phenylethanol were 7.15 and 4.42 mg/L in the initial conventional and 31.79 and 4.93 mg/L in the initial ecological wines, respectively. Other identified alcohols were 2,3-butanediol, 1-hexanol, methionol, benzyl alcohol, 1-octanol and dodecanol. Their concentrations were lower than 1 mg/L in both initial wines. Following the reverse osmosis process, a loss of volatile alcohols occurred in both wine retentates. A higher transmembrane pressure and cooling regime were more favourable for alcohols’ retention, and the highest total concentration of the alcohols among the retentates was measured at 5.5 MPa, with cooling (7.26 mg/L in the conventional and 10.55 mg/L in the ecological wine retentates). It can be observed that a higher retention of alcohols was obtained during the reverse osmosis treatment of the conventional wine, 54.9% at 5.5 MPa, with cooling, compared to the retention in the ecological wine retentates (27.6%) at same operating conditions. Although the retention of most alcohols was higher if a higher pressure (especially 5.5 MPa) and cooling were applied, there are some exceptions. The highest retention of methionol was observed at 2.5 MPa, with cooling (68.8% in the conventional and 100.0% in the ecological wine retentates). As the pressure increased, the retention decreased. Further, in both wine retentates obtained at the regime without cooling, methionol was not detected. The concentration of 1-octanol in the ecological wine retentates decreased after the reverse osmosis process, compared to the initial ecological wine, but different operating conditions did not have a significant influence on its retention. Moreover, the retention of 1-octanol in the conventional wine retentates increased with the pressure and decreased with the temperature increment. In the conventional wine retentates obtained without cooling, the pressure increase did not have a significant influence on the retention of 2,3-butanediol, except for 2.5 MPa, which resulted in a total loss of this alcohol. A high retention (100.0%) was observed for dodecanol at 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling in the conventional and at 5.5 MPa, with cooling in the ecological wine retentates.
The total concentrations of the carbonyl compounds and terpenes in the conventional and ecological wine retentates decreased after the reverse osmosis process, compared to the corresponding initial wine. The initial concentration of the carbonyl compounds and terpenes were 81.3 and 194.4 μg/L in the conventional and 89.4 and 210.9 μg/L in the ecological wines, respectively. The retention of the total carbonyl compounds and terpenes followed the above-mentioned trend: a higher pressure and retentate cooling resulted in a higher retention, comparing to the opposite parameters. The highest retention of the carbonyl compounds (66.9% in the conventional and 79.9% in the ecological wine retentates) and terpenes (46.4% in the conventional and 43.6% in the ecological wine retentates) was obtained at 5.5 MPa, with cooling. However, the processing parameters did not influence each aroma compound equally. When cooling was applied, the pressure increase did not have a significant influence on the retention of 4-propylbenzaldehyde in the conventional and ecological wine retentates and lily aldehyde in the conventional wine retentates. The lowest retention of β-citronellol was obtained at 2.5 MPa, with and without cooling (32.0% in the conventional and 42.4% in the ecological wine retentates). A higher working pressure resulted in a higher retention of β-citronellol, but there was no significant difference among the concentrations obtained at 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with and without cooling, in the conventional wine retentates, or 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with and without cooling, in the ecological wine retentates.
Among the six mentioned groups of aroma compounds, esters were the biggest group, containing 19 compounds. The total concentration of esters in the initial conventional wine was 4.08 mg/L and in the initial ecological wine was 4.12 mg/L. Diethyl succinate had the highest concentration (around 70% of the total concentration of esters in both initial wines). The rest of the esters had concentrations lower than 500 μg/L, and the highest among them was measured for ethyl octanoate (346.7 μg/L in the initial conventional and 367.8 μg/L in the initial ecological wines). The total concentrations of esters in the RO retentates were lower than the total concentration of esters in the corresponding initial wine, and the retention depended on the applied processing parameters. A higher pressure and cooling regime were more favourable for the retention of the total esters than a lower pressure and an absence of cooling. The highest retention of the total esters was obtained at 5.5 MPa, with cooling, in the conventional (76.7%) and ecological (82.8%) wine retentates. It can be observed that the retention of most individual esters followed the same trend regarding the applied pressure and temperature regime. For example, the retention of phenethyl acetate, ethyl laurate and diisobutyl phthalate at 5.5 MPa, with cooling, was 100.0% in the conventional wine retentates. The lowest retention of most esters was obtained at 2.5 MPa, without cooling, (ethyl hexanoate was not detected in both wine retentates obtained at these conditions) in both wine retentates. The regime without cooling resulted in a slightly lower retention of the individual esters, compared to the cooling regime at the same pressures. However, the applied pressure and temperature regime did not affect all esters equally. Ethyl oleate and ethyl stearate were not detected in any RO retentate, regardless of the wine type, pressure or temperature regime. Ethyl linoleate was only detected at 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling, in both wine retentates. The retention of ethyl myristate and methyl palmitate in both wine retentates was higher at lower pressures, especially at 2.5 MPa, with cooling, compared to the higher transmembrane pressure. The regime without cooling resulted in a slightly lower retention of the mentioned compounds than the cooling regime at the same pressures. The same trend was observed for ethyl 4-hydroxybutanoate in the conventional wine retentates, where the lowest retention was measured at 5.5 MPa, with and without cooling.
Regarding the influence of the different initial wine compositions on the retention of the aroma compounds, it can be observed that a slightly higher retention of the total acids, alcohols and terpenes were obtained in the conventional wine retentates than in the ecological ones. Moreover, a slightly higher retention of the carbonyl compounds and esters was observed in the ecological wine retentates than in the conventional ones. It can be also observed that the retention of the individual aroma compounds differed between the conventional and ecological wines. For example, the operating conditions did not have a significant influence on the retention of 1-octanol in the ecological wine retentates, but in conventional ones, a pressure increase and retentate cooling increased the retention of this compound. The retention of phenethyl acetate, ethyl laurate and diisobutyl phthalate was 100.0% in the conventional wine retentates obtained at 5.5 MPa, with cooling, while in the ecological wine retentates at these operating conditions, a loss of these compounds occurred. In the ecological wine retentates, the retention of ethyl 4-hydroxybutanoate was higher at a regime, with cooling, and a higher pressure, but in the conventional wine retentates, lower pressures were more favourable for the retention of the mentioned compound.
The group of volatile phenols included 4-ethylphenol, 4-ethylguaiacol and 2,4-Di-T-butylphenol. The retention of the total volatile phenols was higher if cooling and higher pressures were applied. The highest retention of the total volatile phenols was measured at 4.5 MPa, with cooling, in the conventional wine retentates (58.1%) and at 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling, in the ecological wine retentates (64.6%). The concentration of 2,4-Di-T-butylphenol in the initial conventional wine was 579.9 μg/L and in the initial ecological wine, it was 542.0 μg/L. The retention of 2,4-Di-T-butylphenol after the reverse osmosis process, depended on the applied processing parameters, but the highest one was measured at 4.5 MPa, with cooling, in the conventional wine retentates (77.8%), and at 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling, in the ecological wine retentates (91.9%). Moreover, the retention of 4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol was lower than 20.3 and 9.23% in the conventional wine retentates, or 11.9 and 7.9% in the ecological wine retentates, respectively, that was achieved at 5.5 MPa, with cooling.
The aroma profile of the analysed wines and the RO retentates represents a large and complex dataset, and in order to increase the interpretability with minimized data loss, the principal component analysis (PCA) was made (
Figure 4). For that purpose, all aroma compounds were divided according to their main odour, into eight groups: fatty, green, floral, citrus, fruity, smoky, faint odour and others (vinegar aroma of acetic acid, caramellic aroma of ethyl 4-hydroxybutanoate, sulphurous aroma of methionol and honey aroma of ethyl pentadecanoate). For each sample, the total concentration sum of the individual group was calculated.
Principal component 1 (PC1) accounted for 88.68% and principal component 2 (PC2) accounted for 6.54% of the total variance. PC1 separated the samples according to the applied processing parameters. The reverse osmosis retentates of the conventional and ecological wines obtained at 2.5 MPa, with cooling, 2.5 and 3.5 MPa, without cooling, are on the negative side of PC1, while the rest of the retentates are on the positive side of PC1. PC2 separated the ecological (positive side) and conventional (negative side) wines. It can be observed that, even though in both wines, there have been identified the same type of aroma compounds, their different concentrations resulted in two significantly different aroma profiles for the conventional and ecological wines. Following the reverse osmosis process, the aroma profile of both wines changed and all wine retentates were clustered in the middle of the PCA biplot, between both initial wines. The differences among the aroma profiles of the retentates occurred, due to the pressure and temperature changes. Both wine retentates obtained at 2.5 MPa, without cooling, are clustered at the far end of the negative sides, and the ones obtained at 5.5 MPa, with cooling, are located at the far end of the positive sides of PC1 and PC2. The rest of the retentates are clustered between them.
3.3. Chemical Composition of the Initial Wines and the Reverse Osmosis Retentates
In the initial conventional and ecological Cabernet Sauvignon red wines and their reverse osmosis retentates, the following parameters were determined: ethanol, glycerol, density, free and total SO
2, reducing sugars and CO
2. The results are presented in
Table 3 and
Table 4.
The ethanol content in the initial conventional wine was 13.74 vol.%, and in the initial ecological wine, it was 13.53 vol.%. Following the reverse osmosis process, in both wine retentates, the ethanol content decreased by more than 50%, compared to the corresponding initial wine, with the lowest retention at 2.5 MPa, without cooling (37.3% in the conventional and 38.3% of the initial concentration in the ecological wine retentates). The pressure increase and the retentate cooling resulted in a slightly higher retention of ethanol. The higher pressure and cooling regime were also more favourable for the glycerol retention than the opposite operating conditions. The highest retention of glycerol was observed in the conventional wine retentates obtained at 5.5 MPa, with cooling (90.7% of initial the concentration of 9.7 g/L), and in the ecological wine retentates at 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling (88.2% of initial concentration of 9.3 g/L). The density in both initial wines was 0.9946 g/L and it slightly increased after the reverse osmosis treatment of the red wines (from 1.0033 to 1.0042 g/L in the conventional and from 1.0026 to 1.0037 g/L in the ecological wine retentates). The lower pressures at both temperature regimes resulted in the highest increment of density among the retentates. Free SO2 did not significantly change after the RO process of the conventional wine at 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 MPa, with cooling, and after the RO process of the ecological wine at 2.5 MPa, with cooling, and it was 12.80 mg/L in all of the mentioned samples. At higher pressures, a slight decrease occurred, compared to the initial value of SO2, especially when cooling was not applied, with no significant difference among the pressures of 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 MPa. Moreover, the total SO2 retention was slightly higher when higher pressures and cooling were applied in both wine retentates. In both initial wines, the total SO2 was 43.52 mg/L. In the conventional wine retentates obtained at 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling, and 5.5 MPa, without cooling, the retention of the total SO2 was 100.0%, and in the ecological wine retentates obtained at 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling, the total SO2 concentrations were slightly higher than in the initial ecological wine. In the rest of the retentates, a slight decrease was observed.
The concentration of the reducing sugars in both wines was 4.1 g/L, and it did not significantly change after the RO treatment of the ecological wine. However, a slight decrease (19–27%) of the reducing sugars in the conventional wine retentates was observed, compared to the initial conventional wine, with no significant difference among the pressure and temperature regimes. The different operating conditions did not have the same influence on the CO2 retention in the conventional and ecological wine retentates. In the ecological wine retentates, the pressure and temperature increases resulted in a lower retention of CO2, while in the conventional wine retentates, these processing parameters resulted in a higher retention of CO2. Nevertheless, the initial concentrations of CO2 in the conventional (232.61 g/L) and ecological (444.64 g/L) wines decreased after the RO process for 5.6–38.5% and 62.9–67.3%, respectively, depending on the applied pressure and temperature regime.
Further, in all analysed samples, the total and volatile acidity, pH, malic, lactic, citric, sorbic and tartaric acid were determined and the results are presented in
Table 5 and
Table 6.
The results showed that the total acidity in the initial conventional wine was 4.9 g/L and in the initial ecological wine, it was 5.1 g/L. These values slightly decreased after the RO treatment of both red wines, and the highest values among the retentates were measured at 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 MPa, with cooling, and 5.5 MPa, without cooling. The volatile acidity in both wines decreased from 0.9 g/L in the initial wines to 0.4–0.5 g/L in the RO retentates with no significant difference between them regarding the applied operating conditions. The same trend was observed for malic acid in both wines, whose concentration of 0.8 g/L in the initial conventional and 0.6 g/L in the initial ecological wines decreased to 0.3 ± 0.1 g/L in the conventional wine retentates and 0.2 ± 0.1 g/L in the ecological wine retentates. This trend was also observed for citric acid. The pressure and temperature regimes did not have a significant influence on the retention of lactic acid in conventional wine retentates, but in ecological wine retentates, the highest retention was observed at 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 MPa, with cooling, and 4.5 and 5.5, without cooling. The concentration of tartaric acid in both wines was 0.7 g/L and it did not change after the RO process. A significant loss of sorbic acid was observed after the RO treatment of both wines. The concentration of sorbic acid in the initial conventional wine was 132.0 mg/L and it decreased for 53.0–85.6%, depending on the applied processing parameters. The highest retention of sorbic acid among the conventional wine retentates was achieved at 5.5 MPa, with cooling, and the lowest one at 2.5 MPa, without cooling. The concentration of sorbic acid in the initial ecological wine was 47.0 mg/L, and after the RO process, it was detected only in the retentates obtained at 5.5 MPa, with cooling (9.0 mg/L), and 5.5 MPa, without cooling (6.0 mg/L). The pH of the initial conventional and ecological wines were 3.92 and 3.75, respectively, and it slightly decreased after the RO process, with the highest values measured at 4.5 MPa, with cooling, and 5.5 MPa, without cooling (3.78 in the conventional and 3.68 in ecological wine retentates).
3.4. Elements Retention
In the initial conventional and ecological Cabernet Sauvignon and their reverse osmosis retentates obtained at 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with and without cooling, the following elements were determined: potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc, bromine, rubidium, strontium and lead. The obtained results are presented in
Table 7 and
Table 8.
The highest concentrations among 10 identified elements in the initial conventional and ecological wines were measured for potassium and calcium (597.7 and 55.7 mg/L in the initial conventional and 748.7 and 50.7 mg/L in the initial ecological wine, respectively). The rest of the elements had concentrations lower than 2 mg/L. The results showed that the concentrations of elements decreased after the reverse osmosis treatment of both wines. The exceptions were bromine in both wine retentates and potassium in the conventional wine retentates, for which the concentrations increased after the RO process, compared to the corresponding initial wine. The applied processing parameters influenced the retention of each element differently.
In the ecological wine retentates, the highest retention was mostly achieved at higher pressures (4.5 and 5.5 MPa), with cooling. However, there are a few exceptions. The highest retention of zinc among the ecological wine retentates was observed only at 5.5 MPa, with cooling (46.3%), and there was no significant difference among the rest of the retentates. Further, the highest retention of calcium, manganese, copper and strontium was obtained at 3.5., 4.5 and 5.5 MPa, with cooling (around 96%, 38%, 15% and 67%, respectively). The regime, without cooling, resulted in a slightly lower retention of the elements in the ecological wine retentates, and the pressure increase had a lower influence, compared to the cooling regime. However, the highest retention of bromine was obtained at 4.5, 5.5 MPa, with cooling, and at all pressures without cooling, with no significant difference among the values (the concentrations were around three times higher than the initial concentration).
In the conventional wine retentates, the higher pressures at both temperature regimes were favourable for the retention of potassium, manganese and iron. The pressure of 5.5 MPa, with the cooling regime. resulted in the highest retention of strontium and lead (89.5 and 75.3%, respectively). The highest increase in the initial bromine concentration (21.8 μg/L; increased almost three times) was obtained at 4.5 and 5.5. MPa, without cooling. The pressure increase in cooling regime did not have a significant influence on the retention of bromine. Pressure had also no significant influence on the rubidium retention at both temperature regimes, but the cooling regime resulted in a slightly higher retention than the regime, without cooling. Moreover, the pressure increment at both temperature regimes resulted in a lower retention of zinc, meaning that the highest retention of zinc was obtained at 2.5 MPa, with and without cooling (around 55%). The different transmembrane pressure and temperature regime did not have a significant influence on the retention of calcium and copper, whose concentrations decreased by about 21% and 85%, respectively, compared to the initial concentration in conventional wine.