Rio Tinto | Minerals and Metals for the world

Our Macho Minerals
It might be in your beer or your bathroom, in your car or your cranberry juice - you're never far from minerals which are punching well above their weight, says Graham Ellicott.

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going!" said Joseph Kennedy, famously. Well, we might say: "When the going gets tough, minerals get going". But how tough are the jobs that minerals are called upon to undertake in our everyday lives?

One of the great joys is that cool refreshing drink of beer or fruit juice at the end of a hot summer's day. Before imbibing many of us look at the product on offer in order to savour the moment of anticipation before quenching our thirst. In my case I am always impressed by the clarity and consistency of colour of the product on offer, be it India Pale Ale from Burton or cranberry juice from New England.

The clarity and colour consistency of drinks can be a tough problem to solve. Mineral filter aids, such as those based on diatomaceous earth or perlite, are often used clarify beers and juices. Diatomaceous earth or perlite are suitable minerals for filtration purposes, as they are inert and will not taint the resulting beer or juice. The removal of the impurities that cause cloudiness and inconsistent colour is achieved by their entrapment in the voids that are formed as a result of the "locking" together of the irregularly shaped fine perlite or diatomaceous earth particles to form a filter medium.



Our Macho Minerals It might be in your beer or your bathroom, in your car or your cranberry juice - you're never far from minerals which are punching well above their weight, says Graham Ellicott. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going!" said Joseph Kennedy, famously. Well, we might say: "When the going gets tough, minerals get going". But how tough are the jobs that minerals are called upon to undertake in our everyday lives? One of the great joys is that cool refreshing drink of beer or fruit juice at the end of a hot summer's day. Before imbibing many of us look at the product on offer in order to savour the moment of anticipation before quenching our thirst. In my case I am always impressed by the clarity and consistency of colour of the product on offer, be it India Pale Ale from Burton or cranberry juice from New England. The clarity and colour consistency of drinks can be a tough problem to solve. Mineral filter aids, such as those based on diatomaceous earth or perlite, are often used clarify beers and juices. Diatomaceous earth or perlite are suitable minerals for filtration purposes, as they are inert and will not taint the resulting beer or juice. The removal of the impurities that cause cloudiness and inconsistent colour is achieved by their entrapment in the voids that are formed as a result of the "locking" together of the irregularly shaped fine perlite or diatomaceous earth particles to form a filter medium.
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer