A review of thermodynamic and kinetic studies relevant to gas hydrate-based fruit juice concentration

Although the proof of concept has been demonstrated, significant progress is necessary to achieve the industrial -level validation and commercialisation of gas hydrate-based fruit juice concentration. This emerging and innovative separation technology is reviewed in this article through thermodynamic and kinetic studies reported in the literature. It emerges that hydrate-based juice concentration has two outstanding features: it preserves more bioactive compounds and consumes less energy. As a result, it is a technology that is likely to contribute to sustainability and position itself as an alternative to current juice concentration processes. This review briefly introduces three established industrial juice concentration processes and provides a background on gas hydrates before focusing on both experimental and modelling studies related to hydrate-based fruit concentration. It appears that carbon dioxide is the hydrate former of choice in juice concentration while the number of inves-tigated juice systems is still low. For this reason, more research is required to confirm the sustainability of this novel process. Other areas of concern for future scientific investigations are also outlined.

Automated summary

This article reviews the emerging and innovative gas hydrate-based fruit juice concentration technology, highlighting its advantages of preserving bioactive compounds and conserving energy. Carbon dioxide is found to be the preferred hydrate former for juice concentration. However, further research is needed to confirm the sustainability of this novel process.