soft drinks | Page 7

preferred by some manufacturers. The product
of the action of sulphuric acid on marble is calcium sulphate, which is insolu-
ble in water. Large quantities of the resulting sludge were difcult to dispose of,
particularly when the UK municipal authorities introduced controls in the 1890s.
Problems of efuent emissions are not new. The liquication of CO
2by means
of high pressure was reported by Michael Faraday in 1823 and the rst practical
manufacturing equipment was patented by Dr Henryk Beins in Holland in 1877.
The commercial manufacture and use of liquid CO
2for the carbonation of drinks
began in Germany and in the USA in the 1880s. The production of solid CO
2was
discovered by Thilorier in 1835, and a patent for the production and use of solid
CO
2was granted to Dr Samuel Elworthy in 1897. The handling and transportation
of solid blocks of CO
2was much easier than for heavy metal cylinders containing
liquid CO
2. Though use of liquid or solid CO2increased in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth century, it was not until the 1950s that transportation of liquid CO
2
by low pressure bulk road tankers became commonplace.
Production of carbonated drinks was traditionally carried out by means of adding
concentrated syrup to the bottle and then topping up with carbonated water. A con-
siderable improvement in speed was achieved in 1937, when the Mojonnier Brothers
Corporation of Chicago introduced a continuous blending/cooling/carbonating sys-
tem. Such continuous systems have gradually replaced the syrup dosing systems,
though some of the latter remained in operation into the 1980s.
1.3.2 Sweeteners
One of the major drivers of growth in carbonates has been the development of
sweeteners and consequent improvement in the quality of low calorie soft drinks,
particularly in the USA and UK. Saccharin was invented in about 1874 and very
rapidly became popular as a sweetener for soft drinks, usually blended into sugar to
reduce cost. Figure 1.1 shows an advertisement for saccharin, which was published
in 1890, by which time it was already widely used. A modern supplier may have
difculty substantiating all of the claims made for it. However, it proved to be a pop-
ular sweetener in the UK, particularly when sugar was in very short supply during
the First World War. A blend of sugar and saccharin (50 : 50 by sweetness) became
the standard sweetener system for common soft drinks, for example, lemonade.

Steen: “chap01” — 2006/4/27 — 18:30 — page6—#6
6CARBONATED SOFT DRINKS
Figure 1.1Advertisement for saccharin, 1890.

Steen: “chap01” — 2006/4/27 — 18:30 — page7—#7
INTRODUCTION7
Low calorie soft drinks (containing <10 kcal/100 ml) began to gain popularity
in the 1960s and a blend of 1 part saccharin to 10 parts cyclamate produced a good
tasting low calorie sweetener system. However, the use of sodium cyclamate came
to an abrupt end in 1969 when it was banned in the USA and UK (from 1 January
1970) due to evidence suggesting that it caused bladder cancer. Cyclamate was
not banned elsewhere and it remained a very popular sweetener until recent severe
restrictions in the EU. The original work was later discredited but it resulted in
saccharin being the only permitted sweetener in the UK and this severely limited
the growth of low calorie drinks because of the unpleasantly bitter aftertaste of
saccharin when used as a sole sweetener. The growth resumed again in the mid-
1980s following the approval of aspartame and acesulfame K in the UK in 1983.
This growth in popularity of low calorie (or ‘light’) drinks has been a massive driver
of volume growth in the USA and UK, but to a lesser extent in mainland Europe.
In the UK, in 1981, only approximately 4% (84 million litres) of the 2040 million
litres of carbonates produced was low calorie. By 2003, low calorie represented
32% of the carbonates market of 6500 million litres (see Table 1.1) and a further
25% was reduced sugar (usually for reasons of cost).
1.3.3 Flavours and colours
As previously mentioned the original carbonates were articial imitations of
naturally occurring mineral waters. Manufacturers blended mineral salts in the
same proportions as found in the natural spring waters and added carbonated
water. A large range of such waters was available during the early 1800s. Early
attempts at producing avoured products were limited by a lack of stable avour-
ings and spoilage problems. The avouring materials used consisted mainly of
herbal/botanical extracts, for example, ginger, nettle, nutmeg, horehound, lemon
oil, vanilla etc., but the technology for manufacture of soluble stable avouring
extracts developed rapidly during the middle of the century with the establishment
around this time of many speciality avour companies (such as W.J. Bush and
Stevenson & Howell in London). An early recipe for lemonade consisted of citric
acid, essential oil of lemons and sugar syrup, the mixture being topped up with
water and impregnated with carbon dioxide – instantly recognisable as the forerun-
ner of today’s lemonades. In 1858, Mr Erasmus Bond patented ‘an improved aerated
Table 1.1Growth of low calorie carbonates.
Year Low calorie
carbonates
(million litres)Total
carbonates
(million litres)Percentage
1980 84 2040 4
1990 941 4129 23
2003 2099 6560 32

Steen: “chap01” — 2006/4/27 — 18:30 — page8—#8
8CARBONATED SOFT DRINKS
liquid, known as Quinine Tonic Water’ and, following the development of a clear
soluble ginger extract, ginger ale