The Influence of Thermosonication Process on the Tomato Juice Clarification by Filtration Method

In this study, the clarification process was performed using a labratory pilot unit equipped with a flat-frame module. Based on the partivle size distribution of tomato juice, three strainless steel filters with mesh sizes of 10, 30, 300μm were used at transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 1bar, at a temperature of 30˚C, and axial flow velocity of 1500 in term of Reynolds number. In order to improvement of some physico-chemical properties of tomato, a row tomato juice was subjected to thermosonication process with amplitude of 75μm at 60˚C for 15minutes interval. Results revealed that thermosonication caused the particle size distribution reduction and hence had the possitive effect on the permeate flux. On the other hand, the permeate color changed to red in filters with 30 and 300 μm mesh sizes while the turbidity of the permeate increased in all three filters with this pretreatment.