Hydrogen Sulfide Formation in Canned Wines under Long–Term and Accelerated Conditions

Background and goals Wines in aluminum beverage cans (“canned wines”) are a rapidly growing packaging segment due to several factors, including convenience and sustainability advantages. However, canned wines have higher concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S; “rotten egg”) than wines in glass packaging. It was hypothesized that wine composition and liner selection affect H₂S formation in canned wines.

Methods and key findings Commercial wines (n=10) were stored in either glass or aluminum beverage cans with one of three liners for up to 32 weeks. Wines stored in glass showed negligible H₂S production after 32 weeks. Wines stored in acrylic lined cans produced up to 1307 μg/L H₂S (median = 162 μg/L) within 8 weeks. Wines stored in BPA epoxy cans produced less H₂S (maximum = 51.8 μg/L median = 11.8 μg/L after 32 weeks), with comparable performance observed for BPA non-intent (BPA-NI) epoxy liners. H₂S formation was well-correlated with visible damage to the interior liners, but poorly correlated with dissolved aluminum. H₂S from accelerated aging of wines with lined aluminum coupons (50 ºC, up to 14 d, anoxic conditions) correlated with H₂S produced during long-term aging, but not with H₂S produced by unlined aluminum coupons. Molecular SO2 was best correlated with increased H₂S production in epoxy lined cans during long-term aging of commercial wines, and similar results were observed under accelerated conditions with coupons in a model-wine factorial experiment.

Conclusions and significance Maintaining low molecular SO2 (less than ~0.4 mg/L) and using epoxy liners (BPA or BPA-NI) appear critical for ensuring low H₂S during long-term can storage up to 8 months. The accelerated aging approach described in this work may be applicable to other corrosive beverages.