Frequently Used Membrane Processing Techniques for Food Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

Membrane technology is a separation (filtration) process that can be used in different fields such as chemical, petrochemical, mineral, biotechnology, pharmacology, paper, food and water treatment. The usage area of membrane technology in the food industry accounts for between 20 and 30% of the total membrane production worldwide. Membrane technology has many features such as high selectivity, low energy consumption, modularity and easy scale-up and no phase change for food products. The main applications of membrane technology in the food industry are food microorganism removal; purification or water concentration; concentration or separation-purification of proteins, polypeptides, fats, sugars; oil treatment; and wastewater treatment. Reverse osmosis (RO), forward osmosis (FO), microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), electrodialysis (ED), membrane distillation (MD), pervaporation (PV) , and membrane bioreactor (MBR) are the main membrane technologies that are used in the food industry. These methods can be applied singly or by combination. The development of new membrane materials, new membrane configurations and membrane module design are becoming increasingly important in the food industry. In this chapter, the basic membrane techniques, their potential applications in a large number of fields and products towards the food industry, the main advantages and disadvantages of these methods, mechanism of membrane processes, the effects of process parameters on the quality characteristics of food, application of membrane technology in food industry are discussed.