Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Energy Demand of Craft Mezcal in Mexico

Separation techniques for manufacturing fruit spirits: From traditional distillation to advanced pervaporation process

Separation process is one of the key processes in the production of fruit spirits, including the traditional distillation method and the new pervaporation membrane method. The separation process significantly determines the constituents and proportions of compounds in the fruit spirit, which has a significant impact on the spirit quality and consumer acceptance. Therefore, it is important and complex to reveal the changing rules of chemical substances and the principles behind them during the separation process of fruit spirits. This review summarized the traditional separation methods commonly used in fruit spirits, covering the types, principles, and corresponding equipment of distillation methods, focused on the enrichment or removal of aroma compounds and harmful factors in fruit spirits by distillation methods, and tried to explain the mechanism behind it. It also proposed a new separation technology for the production of fruit spirits, pervaporation membrane technology, summarized its working principle, operation, working parameters, and application in the production of fruit spirits, and outlined the impact of the separation method on the production of fruit spirits based on existing research, focusing on the separation of flavor compounds, sensory qualities, and hazard factors in fruit spirits, along with a preliminary comparison with distillation. Finally, according to the current researches of the separation methods and the development requirement of the separation process of fruit spirits, the prospect of corresponding research is put forward, in order to propose new ideas and development directions for the research in this field.

Mezcal Production in Mexico: Between Tradition and Commercial Exploitation

Mezcal is a traditional iconic Mexican distilled beverage obtained from varied species of agaves. Regardless of the area of production, the process always consists of five stages: harvesting the agaves, cooking, crushing, fermentation, and distillation. It is produced in a large area of Mexican territory, a large part of which is protected by the Denomination of Origin mezcal (DOM). Over time, the word mezcal has evolved from a generic name to a more specific term used to describe the agave-distilled beverages produced in the territory protected by the DOM under the Mexican official standard NOM-070-SCFI-2016 which defined Mezcal as a “Mexican distilled alcoholic beverage, 100% from maguey or agave, obtained by distillation of fermented juices with spontaneous or cultivated microorganisms, extracted from mature heads of maguey or cooked agaves, harvested in the territory covered by the DOM.” In the last 10 years, official production has increased, from <1 million liters in 2011 to almost 8 million liters. This substantial increase in production puts a lot of pressure on resources, in particular raw material, as part of the production is obtained from wild agave. On the other hand, it exposes tradition at risk by increasing production by modernizing production processes and sacrificing the artisanal aspect of this production. We consider appropriate to address the issue of sustainability in this context of great tradition and growing market demand. The article presents the relevant aspects of mezcal production, highlighting some particularities specific to certain production areas, it also addresses the problem of the official standard. A broad discussion is presented on the sustainability of artisanal processes, and the main points to be taken care of in this framework. Additionally, some elements considered as fundamental in the perspective of the design of a sustainable artisanal distillery are described. In summary, this article aims to review the current state of mezcal production, how sustainability may be addressed in a very artisanal process and what are the challenges of the production chain to satisfy an increase in demand without sacrificing the tradition and culture related to this iconic Mexican beverage.

Life Cycle Analysis of Sotol Production in Mexico

Sotol is a Mexican distilled spirit produced in Northern Mexico. The estimated annual production of sotol is at around 5,200 hl per year. This industry grows at an average rate of 5% per year. The Mexican Sotol Council and the Sotol Certificate Council are regulatory bodies dedicated to monitoring that sotol producers comply with the Official Mexican Standard NOM-159-SCFI-2004. Currently, those regulatory bodies try to improve the sotol production process and good practice guidelines to contribute to cleaner production. This paper reports a case study of artisanal sotol production in Chihuahua State in Mexico. Life cycle assessment (LCA) technique was used to compute the environmental impact of sotol and its performance to identify system hotspots and propose improvement interventions. SimaPro software, v.9.1®, is used for the LCA, applying CML-IA baseline V3.05/EU25 method to evaluate and select environmental impact categories. The system boundary included the stages of harvest, cooking, milling, fermentation, distillation, bottling, and packaging. The findings indicate that each of the stages required for sotol beverage processing significantly affects the marine ecosystem. The milling and bottling stages have the highest environmental impact. A 750-ml bottle of artisan sotol causes 5.92 kg CO2 eq, based on empirical data. Sotol makers should focus on reducing energy consumption caused by input transportation and equipment for milling.