Deoxygenation of liquids

A method of significantly reducing the dissolved oxygen content of water and preparing a flavored beverage therefrom, which method comprises

• causing said water to flow as a stream through a confined region at velocity of between about 10 ft./sec. and 20 ft./sec. and at a pressure of at least about 2 atmospheres,
• monitoring the dissolved oxygen content of said incoming water stream,
• injecting nitrogen into said stream as bubbles having an average size of not greater than about 5 mm.,
• adjusting the amount of nitrogen being injected as a result of changes in the D.O. level being monitored to strip enough oxygen from the water to reduce its dissolved oxygen content to below about 2 ppm.,
• maintaining said stream in laminar flow downstream of the location where injection occurs for between about 0.1 second and about 3 seconds,
• then discharging said stream into a larger water-containing region at a location below the liquid surface therewithin and lowering the fluid velocity and pressure in said larger region to remove nitrogen and the oxygen which the nitrogen strips from said water,
• allowing said pressure in said larger region to gradually build up to a pressure of at least 3 atm. and periodically dropping it to about 2 atm.,
• withdrawing the deoxygenated water from said larger region through throttling valve means and delivering it to a mixing zone, and
• mixing flavoring with said deoxygenated liquid in said mixing zone to prepare a flavored beverage.