Effect of various pretreatment methods on permeate flux and quality during ultrafiltration of mosambi juice

Ultrafiltration (UF) of mosambi juice was carried out for the production of high quality juice. Different pretreatment methods were studied to select an appropriate process for clarification with high permeate flux and low membrane fouling. The various pretreatment methods attempted were centrifugation, fining by gelatin, fining by bentonite, fining by bentonite followed by gelatin, enzymatic treatment, enzymatic treatment followed by centrifugation and enzymatic treatment followed by fining by bentonite. Maximum permeate flux was observed with enzymatic treatment followed by adsorption using bentonite. The resulting juice after filtration had more than 93% clarity without deterioration of important quality index in fruit juice e.g. pH, citric acid and total soluble solid. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.