Microfiltration of mosambi juice using low cost ceramic membrane Original Research Article

This work reports on microfiltration (MF) studies of mosambi juice using low cost ceramic membrane prepared from locally available inorganic precursors. Characterization of the prepared membrane was done by SEM analysis, porosity determination and pure water permeation experiments. The average pore diameter, total porosity and hydraulic resistance of the membrane were evaluated as 0.285 μm, 23.6% and 9.26 × 1011 m2/m3, respectively. Dead-end MF experiments were performed for both centrifuged mosambi juice (CJ) and enzyme treated centrifuged mosambi juice (ETCJ). It was observed that after MF, important properties like TSS, pH, acidity and density of both CJ and ETCJ were almost unaffected. However, significant improvement in juice colour, clarity and AIS was observed. It was also observed that the clarified juice can be stored in refrigerated condition for more than 30 days without significant change in juice quality. Different membrane pore blocking models were used to analyze the observed permeate flux decline.