Development of a new method for the quantification of sulfites in wine

UMR PAM is a research unit made up of 3 teams: PMB (Microbiological and Biological Processes), AFIM (Food, Ferment, Interaction, Microbiota, Environment), and PCAV (Physico-Chemistry of Food and Wine). The PCAV team gathers specialists in physical chemistry and chemistry applied to food and wine. It has expertise in four main areas related to food and wine matrices: valorization of new bio-resources and by-products; formulation of new products; chemical and physical stability of products; and evaluation of product quality and performance. The PCAV team has an analytical platform for studying food products, wine, and packaging.

This internship is part of the SUMO project (Fast sulfite monitoring
for input reduction), funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), and conducted ideally during the first semester 2027. The internship will take place within the PCAV (Physico-Chimie des Aliments et du Vin) at UMR PAM (Procédés Alimentaires et Microbiologiques).

The SUMO project aims to develop fluorescent materials capable of capturing sulfites in wine for their rapid detection. Sulfites are widely used in winemaking due to their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. However, the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) requires to be labelled “contains sulfites” when their concentration exceeds 10 mg/L.
Current methods used for sulfite quantification are generally time-consuming and tedious. They also present limitations in terms of accuracy when measuring low concentrations, particularly around the regulatory threshold. In this context, the development of a rapid, easy-to-use, and sufficiently sensitive analytical method to quantify sulfite concentrations below 10 mg/L represents an important challenge.

The main objective of the internship will be to transfer a sulfite detection method initially developed in a model matrix to a real wine matrix. This work will involve assessing the analytical performance of the method in the real matrix. Depending on the results obtained, optimization of the fluorescent material may also be considered in order to further improve the analytical performance of the method, particularly its sensitivity.

Finally, the performance of the developed method will be compared with that of the reference method currently used for sulfite quantification in wine, the Frantz-Paul method, in order to assess its potential for analytical applications in the wine industry.

The ideal candidate is a second-year Master’s student or a final-year engineering student with a solid background in analytical chemistry. An interest in materials chemistry would be an advantage. The following skills and qualities are expected: motivation, work as part of a team, curiosity, good organizational skills.