Membrane filtration systems : Microfiltration (MF), Ultrafiltration (UF), Nanofiltration (NF), Electro-dialysis (ED), Bi-polar (BP), and Vapor permeation (VP) in Japanese brewing industry are reviewed. Some of them have been successfully applied to the brewing industry for developing value-added new products, reducing production cost and have been researched as alternative processes to traditional ones. MF with non-heat bacteria elminating process for Japanese rice wine and draft beer , NF for

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... ecolored soy sauce and ED for low salt soy sauce have been indispensable porocesses and the consumption of those brewing products has been steadily increasing these 30 years. In refining raw soy sauce and soy sauce lees, plate & frame modules of MF & UF have been successfully used in place of diatomaceous earth filtration. They are compared each other with the energy consumption. The ratio of permeate volume (P) and total energy consumption (E) : P/E is proposed to selecting the best filtration module for recovery of soy sauce from the lees. ED/BP membrane system has been experimentally investigated for desalting soy sauce. VP with activated carbon adsorbent has been under development for recovery and concentration of alcohol vapor which is aerated and exhausted from the fermented soy sauce moromi-mash. These membrane systems related to the advanced soy sauce manufacturing are summarized schematically. Key words : food industry/fermentation/brewing/rice wine/beer/soy sauce/microfiltration/ ultrafiltration/nanofiltration/electro-dialysis and bi-polar/vapor permeation membrane/removal of particulate matter and microorganisms/diatomaceous earth filtration/energy consumption/desalting/decolor/activated carbon absorbent/recovery and concentration of alcohol vapor