Department of Beverage Research

The department was established in 2018 after merging the Professorships Analysis & Technology of Plant-Based Foods - Focus on Beverages, Chemistry, Processing Technology and Wine Chemistry. Currently Prof. Dr. Ralf Schweiggert is the head of the department, which combines beverage technology with the associated analytics.

All professors and scientists of the institute are involved in education in the fields of chemistry, wine chemistry, beverage chemistry, beverage technology, process technology and beverage analytics in different study programs. In addition to this university education, apprentices from Geisenheim's technical college, who are astudying fruit juice technology, come to us for their practical instruction. 

The department's main research activities include process technology and the physio-chemical characterization of alcohol-free and alcoholic beverages combined with the corresponding development of analytical methods. Subjects are product quality, technological impact of beverage substances, and molecular nutrition.

The lab equipment consists of UV/VIS spectroscopy, lab sequencers, Fourier-transform-infrared-spectroscopy (FTIR), total reflection x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (TRXF), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), ICP-MS, chromatographic systems as well as mass spectroscopy (GCMS, LCMS) and NMR.

At the University's beverage center we produce fruit and vegetable juices, nectars, ciders, fruit wines, beers and spirits for research and education purposes using industry-oriented equipment. The latest beverage processing technology is developed or tested here.