Asymmetric Al2O3 and PES/Al2O3 hollow fiber membranes for green tea extract clarification

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves are particularly rich in polyphenols. Here we propose the clarification of green tea extract by an innovative process consisting of a two-stage filtration through asymmetric alumina (Al2O3) hollow fibers, which we specially designed for this application by the phase inversion technique. The fibers presented outer sponge like-layers, mainly responsible for the membrane selectivity (turbidity of green tea extract was reduced by 90%) and mechanical strength (135 MPa), and an inner finger-like layer that reduced the resistance to flux permeation (water permeability of 2.56 x 10(-9) m(3) s(-1) m(-2) Pa-1). In order to increase the membrane retention coefficient, we deposited a polyethersulfone (PES) coating layer on the fiber outer surface. This polymeric layer further reduced the green tea extract turbidity by 97.8% in the permeate. As a consequence, no team cream formed even after 30 days of refrigerated storage. Thus, the membranes that we conceived enabled to obtain a product with superior clarity and stability. Additionally, a mathematical description of flux decay during the filtration processes showed that cake formation and internal pore blockage models better described flux decay through Al2O3 and PES/Al2O3 hollow fibers, respectively.