Efficacy of sonication–microfiltration hybrid process for the production of clarified bitter gourd extracts

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, the efficacy of hybrid ultrasound‐assisted extraction (UAE) and microfiltration (MF) process toward effective processing of bitter gourd extract has been addressed. The extracts obtained from the UAE process have been used as the feed for a microfiltration process using low‐cost ceramic membranes of variant morphologies (i.e., 1 [CM1], 0.75 [CM2], and 0.45 μm [CM3] membranes). Three different pressure differentials (103.4, 137.9, and 172.4 kPa) were considered to evaluate upon the optimality of applied pressure. Flux decline profiles, flux decay coefficients (FDC), and fouling characteristics of the ceramic membranes were considered to gain useful insights with respect to the pertinent morphological changes. Based on the investigations carried out, the hybrid process is inferred to considerably reduce membrane fouling (lower FDC). The membrane fouling was analyzed to be due to cake filtration followed by intermediate pore blocking. The nutrient characteristics indicated considerable protein rejection and retention of 46.47%, very low color (0.049 A), and high clarity (98.17%) for the optimal process conditions of 137.9 kPa applied pressure and CM2 membrane. The hybrid UAE–MF process proved to be a good alternative to the conventional processes and can be inferred to be at par with other nonthermal juice processing technologies.Practical applicationsContemporary lifestyle and habitat necessitate upon the production and utilization of nutritionally rich vegetable aqueous extracts with better shelf life and lower processing costs. The reported findings of this article can potentially influence the conventional thoughts associated to the deployment of low‐cost food processing technologies for the mentioned horticultural extract product system. Given that the article indicates cost‐effective production of bitter gourd juice extract with anticipated shelf life, the mentioned product can be considered as a low‐cost food supplement toward the yield of healthy and natural food products.