PRODUCTION OF FOOD GRADE CARBON DIOXIDE – HOW DID IT FAIL IN NOVEMBER 2009?

Amiram Groweiss, AG Consultants, Caesarea, Israel (amiramg@zahav.net.il)

It is well known to the public that gassed soft drinks contain food-grade carbon dioxide (CO₂). Needless to mention the importance of a QC system to follow the production process and to ensure the quality of this consituent. In November 2009, however, the QC completely failed as tonnes of contaminated CO₂, containing excessive amount of benzene, a carcinogenic compound, and having sharp bad smell due to sulfur-containing compound(s), were supplied to the market. This tremendous failure had expensive consequences, that inflated a 60,000 Israeli Shekels (IS) worth of material into a damage of 24,500,000 IS, that was covered by the insurance company. Finally this incident led to a civil suit, which was solved only in 2023 by a verdict that was issued by Beer Sheva District Court.

This presentation will try to clear what happened during that CO₂ production, what did the investigation find, how the quality control laboratory has failed to detect the problem, and how the law suit was ended.

 

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Short Biography of Presenting Author

Amiram Groweiss:

M.Sc (1978) and Ph.D. (1983) in Organic Chemistry, Tel Aviv University. Post-Doc: University of California, San Diego (1983-1985).

1985-2006 - TAMI (IMI) Institute for R&D, Haifa-Bay (researcher and head of analytical laboratories).

2006-2012 - Bazan group, chief chemist, 

2012-Present - Chief Chemist, Ashdod Oil Refinery.

2006-Present - consultant in chemistry, with expertise in NMR, fuels and gases, analytical chemistry.

Taught courses in Faculty of Engineering at Ben Gurion University (2012-2021) and Weizmann Institution (2018).

Advisor to the Ministry of Energy.