UNDERSTANDING ULTRAFILTRATION PERFORMANCE WITH MOSAMBI JUICE IN AN UNSTIRRED BATCH CELL

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ultrafiltration (UF) of sucrose and pectin solutions, their mixtures and enzymatically treated mosambi (Citrus sinensis [L.] Osbeck) juice has been performed on a batch unstirred membrane cell. Thin film composite polyamide membrane of molecular weight cut‐off 50,000 was used. The sucrose solution's permeate flux declined marginally, but for the pectin solution, it decreased rapidly over time. The sucrose–pectin mixture exhibits a flux decline similar to that of the pectin solution. The gel‐type pectin layer over the membrane's surface governs the flux decline of the sucrose–pectin mixture. The nature of the flux decline and the values of the permeated total soluble solids of enzymatically treated mosambi juice show similar behavior as compared with that of the UF of the sucrose–pectin mixture. The permeate of the enzyme‐treated mosambi juice contains almost all the soluble solids and acids (in terms of citric acid) with a remarkable improvement in juice clarity.