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SEMINAR REPORT ON
“Application of membrane technology in food processing”
SUBMITTED BY Roll No.

Mr. Malvade Rutik Vijay 21

Mr. Shirsath Sagar Nanasaheb 20
Mr. Dive Milind Suresh 19

Under Guidance Of
Prof. R.L.Nibe

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

BE Chemical 2020-21
 INDEX

Sr.no. content Page no.

1 ABSTRACT 1
2 INTRODUCTION 2
3 MEMBRANE CLASSIFICATION AND GENERATION 3
INTEGRATION OF MEMBRANE SEPERATION IN
4 FOOD INDUSTRY
4-7

APPLICATION OF MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY IN

5 FOOD INDUSTRY
8 - 13

6 NEW APPLICATION OF MEMBRANE PROCESS 14

7 CONCLUSION 15
8 REFERENCES 16
 ABSTRACT
The use of membrane technology as a handling and separation method in
food industry is gaining wide application. Membrane separations can be used
either as substitutes to conventional techniques especially in dairy, sugar, fruits
juice processing, and beverage industries. Membrane separations are considered
green technologies. In many cases, membrane processes are more advantageous
than traditional technologies. For example, using cold pasteurization and
sterilization with suitable membranes instead of high temperature treatment for
the removal of microorganisms is more economical in terms of energy
consumption, quality of products, minimize loss of nutritional value. Using
membrane filtration to remove microorganisms for shelf-life extension of foods
instead of using additives and preservatives also create a green image for the
processed foods as well as for the processing procedure.
Concentration by membrane filtration instead of thermal evaporation does
not employ severe heating and that it preserves the natural taste of food products
and the nutritional value of heat-sensitive components. The recovery of valuable
components in diluted effluents and waste water treatment applications are
among the most useful and currently active aspects of membrane technology. In
sugar processing factories membrane clarification and concentration reduce the
energy losses in evaporation and chemical usage in purification section by
conventional methods. Pressure-driven membrane processes, namely MF, UF,
NF and RO facilitate separation of components with a large range of particle
sizes.
It is for this reason that they find wide range of applications in food processing
industry.
Keywords: Electro dialysis, Membrane Separation, Membrane filtrations, Milk,
Reverse osmosis, Raw

1
 INTRODUCTION
French cleric, J. Abbe Nollet in 1748 discovered the phenomenon of
osmosis. The research and development on membrane science and technology in
China started from ion exchange membranes in 1958 [1] Exploring research on
reverse osmosis (RO) was set about in 1965. A national joint research project on
sea water desalination began in 1967. This played an important role in training
research team and laid a good foundation for the progress of membrane science
and technology. A magnificent period for membrane research and development
started at the beginning of the seventies. The membranes and related modules for
electro dialysis (ED), RO, ultra-filtration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) had
mostly been developed in this period.

Vapor permeation, membrane distillation, membrane extraction,

membrane reactor, membrane phase separation, membrane electrode, affinity
membrane, control release, etc. are the new processes available. Most of them
now are still in their research and development stages. In recent years many
studies have been performed in the field of membrane reactors (MRs) since one
or more reaction products can be separated from reaction system, so the reaction
rate and conversion rate can be raised significantly. MR is mainly tested in
industrial chemistry and biochemistry, such as improvement and production of
penicillin, fermentation and hydrogenation or dehydrogenation, etc. MR has its
promising future.

2
Membrane separation classification
Membrane separation processes are classified in to two: physical processes
and chemical processes. Chemical processes are: hemodialysis, liquid
membranes, active transport, supported membranes and facilitated transport. The
physical membrane separation processes are: pressure driven process
(microfiltration MF, ultra-filtration UF, Nano filtration NF, reverse osmosis RO,
gas separation ), diffusional process ( pervaporation, perstraction, dialysis,
membrane extraction, membrane absorption), heat process( membrane
distillation, vacuum membrane distillation ) and electric processes ( electro
dialysis, electrostatic pseudo liquid membrane).The key membrane technologies
in the food industry are the pressure-driven membrane processes such as
microfiltration (MF), ultra-filtration (UF), Nano filtration (NF), and reverse
osmosis (RO).Four membrane processes in their ascending pore diameter are
Reverse osmosis (RO), Nano filtration (NF), Ultra filtration (UF) and
Microfiltration (MF) is mainly used in food processing. UF systems as well as
UF membranes have the maximum share (35%) in global membranes market
followed by the share of MF systems and membranes (33%) and NF/RO systems
and membranes (30%). Membrane contactors (MC), Electro dialysis (ED) and
Pervaporation (PV) are the other membrane processes but contribute only for 2%
share in total membranes market [2].

MEMBRANE GENERATIONS
Membrane materials can be classified in four generations [3]. First
generation: Cellulose acetate derived membranes, which were developed to
desalinate seawater. They were susceptible to microorganisms and disinfectants
as well as sensitive to pH (3-8) and (maximum 500C) temperature.[4] Second
generation: Developed from synthetic polymers like Polysulfone or polyolefin
derivatives), these are better than first generation as having better resistant
towards hydrolysis, pH and temperatures, but have lower resistance to
mechanical compacting [5]. Third generation: Mineral membranes consisting
ceramic material based on zirconium or alumina oxide are usually deposited on a
graphite surface. These membranes have great mechanical strength, are
chemically inert and can be operated on high pressures, wide pH range (0-14) and
temperatures greater than 4000C. The main demerit of these membranes is their
cost (expensive than other membrane materials), but the same is compensated by
their long operational life [6]. Fourth generation: Hybrid process i.e. combination
of conventional Electro dialysis and different pore sizes membranes
(E.D.+MF/UF/NF) [1].
3
INTEGRATION OF MEMBRANE SEPERATION IN FOOD
PROCESSING
The main features of membrane separations adopted by the food industry
are:
In the preparation of traditional food products, they contribute to
simplification of flow sheets (replacement of two or more steps) and to the
improvement of process performance (clarification, etc.) and food quality (low
temperature operation, etc.).
Often, they participate in innovative processes and=or products. In effect,
in the last decade food requirements have evolved with the triple key words:
Nutrition Dietetics Health. This evolution makes it necessary to design novel
foods and intermediate food products by manufacturing fractions and co-fractions
from initial products, which must comply with the requirements of the consumer:
Safety Novelty Diversity Quality. In many cases totally novel food products
(cheeses, etc.) have been manufactured using membrane separation.
With respect to the environment, membrane separations are regarded as
clean processes: a substitute for the use of polluting materials (diatomaceous earth
in clarification of wine, beer, fruit juices, etc.); usually co-fractions can be given
added value (fractionation of protein containing fluids, etc.); very well adapted to
the treatment of effluents (evaporation condensates, ultrafiltrates, nano filtrates,
osmosates, technical fluids like brines and cleaning-in-place solutions), and
wastewater's.
Compared to competitive concentration (thermal processes) and separation
operations (decantation, filtration, centrifugation, chromatography, etc.)
membrane processes are attractive to industry, wherever they can be used, since
they are easy to implement, have great flexibility (module systems), are compact
(more or less depending on the type of module: spiral-wound, hollowfiber, plate-
and-frame, tubular), good automation. Membrane processes give the food
industry three advantages: food safety, competitiveness, environmental
friendliness.
BEVERAGES
According to Cheryan1, Decloux & Prothon3, and Girard and Fukumoto4
membrane operations are most often combined with each other (successive
filtrations with different molecular weight cut-off membranes) or with other types
of separation (pre-treatment by enzyme, depectinization or flocculation;
concentration by evaporation; ion exchange for demineralization, de-
acidification, discoloring, etc.) in the fruit, vegetable and sugar juices field.
4
Fruit and Vegetables Juices
In the field of fruit juices, the major application of membranes concerns
the clarification by MF or UF. The apple juice industry has taken advantage of
the potential of membranes due to the requirement of limpidity and a large
production that justifies long-term investment. The few known industrial plants
run with average permeation flux around 100lhÿ1 mÿ2 with optimal operating
parameters: previous depectinization (enzyme); 50C; transmembrane pressure,
DPˆ 0.5±5 bar and cross-flow velocity: 3±7msÿ1 depending on the type and
characteristics of the membrane. Cider is more complex to treat compared to
apple juice, since it contains yeasts and fermentation products (alcohol, CO2).
For citrus (orange, lemon, grapefruit, tangerine) and pulpy fruits, membrane
filtration allows pulp (retentate) and serum (permeate) to be separated. They are
treated on separate lines (de-acidification, concentration, pasteurization, etc.)
before their eventual final mixing. Industrial UF for the clarification of orange
juice is limited by fouling5). On the other hand, industrial UF of lemon juice6
meets an increasing need of limpid concentrated juices for use either as acidulous
or bitter or astringent agent in beverages, sauces or domestic cleaners.
Novel processes also combine membranes from MF to RO to allow the
production of fruit juice concentrates in which the organoleptic quality after
dilution is close to fresh fruit drink. The fresh note process allows dry solid (DS)
concentrations over 60gDS 100gÿ1 to be obtained using an UF step
(pulp=filtrate) and RO with high retention in the first 2 stages and low retention
in the last 2 stages7. MF and RO or osmotic evaporation combined with previous
enzymatic treatment of raw material, can produce either clarified concentrates
from turbid juices or pulps (lime, lemon) or stable pulps concentrates, with a high
sugar content (65%) and suspended solids (30%) from fruit pulps (mango)8±10.
This technology which differs from the classical concentration process allows the
manufacture of stable clarified concentrates of pulps, difficult to prepare any
other way. Moreover, the technological characteristics of these products, which
provide the starting material for the industry manufacturing fruit juices and
beverages and other sectors of the food industry, are attractive: products dilutable
with stable or no turbidity, pastry products with high dry matter in pulp, sugar,
organic acids, colouring agents, aromas. These membrane operations help with
the creation of novel products and keep organoleptic properties of intermediate
products reasonably good for export or of final products for domestic
consumption in developing countries. MF and UF or RO are reported for the
clarification or concentration of exotic (pineapple, kiwi, etc.), pulpal (apricot,
peach, pear) and red (strawberry, blackcurrant, raspberry, cherry) fruits. The
concentration of tomato pulp of high organoleptic quality by UF11 and by RO

5
(4.5 to 9% DS) are the major industrial membrane processes applied to vegetable
juices. Other vegetables (cucumber, carrot, mushroom, celery, etc.) are clarified
and concentrated by UF and RO12 and even demineralized by NF (NO73, NO72,
etc.) which stabilizes the concentrate of red beetroot, amongst others13.
Sugar Juices
Numerous beverages are formulated by incorporating liquid sugar or
glucose syrups. Clarification of these ingredients by MF or UF is an industrial
reality with very rapid development where ceramic membranes give higher
filtration flux14. The advantages of membrane operations over traditional
purification are: better removal of macromolecules, microorganisms, and
compounds that participate in fouling evaporator tubes and improved quality of
final product. Combination of membrane filtration and other types of separation
(pre-treatment by flocculation, chromatography, discolouration or
demineralization with ion exchange membranes or NF) are expected to yield large
modifications of flow sheets. Liquid sugar or glucose syrup used for the
manufacture of sweetened beverages requires high standards: turbidity <5 IU15,
colour <45 ICUMSA, ash <0.05% DS. Three steps, clarification, discolouration
and demineralization are included in the flow sheet. Clarification by MF (200±20
nm) has optimal performance (DS flux) at 30g DS 100gÿ1 and is competitive
compared to traditional filtration with additives for starch hydrolysate, but the
cost is too high for remelted sucrose.
Cane Sugar Mill
The first industrial ultrafiltration plant for clarified cane juice was started
in 199416. The process conditions 940m2 membrane area 300thÿ1 of juice at
16gDS 100gÿ1 and 98C temperature. The final volume reduction ratio (VRR) is
10 and the retentate is recycled to the clarification plant. This extra UF step allows
the manufacture of less coloured sugar and improves the sugar extraction yield
by treating clear molasses with chromatography.
Cane Sugar Refinery
At a cane sugar refinery, a discoloration step is compulsory. The use of
anionic resins (chloride) is one of the techniques used, but it yields polluting
eluates (coloured brine). The effluent is composed of over 90% of the salt not
consumed after regenerating the resin. Three industrial plants are operating using
NF of these eluates17 to separate colourings and salts. Using VRR salt and water
consumption can be reduced by 50 to 80% and the volume of effluents is reduced
by 3 to 10. The combination microfiltration-flocculation is applied in one

6
industrial plant18 and yields a discolouration rate and permeation flux which are
satisfactory from an economical point of view.
Manufacture of Glucose Syrups from Wheat Starch: Operating an Industrial UF
Plant
The industrial plant in operation since 1992, produces glucose syrups which can
be used as food ingredients for biscuits, soft drinks, ice creams, candies, jams,
fruit preserves and as carbon sources for fermentations19. Ultrafiltration’s
(300kDa weight cut-off ceramic membranes) are used to eliminate the suspended
solids and the proteins from wheat hydrolysates at the flow-rate of 50m73h. The
dextrose equivalent of the filtered sugar is not affected. The continuous three-
stage filtration unit of 570m2 membrane area is composed of six identical lines:
five are in production while the sixth is in cleaning20. The retentate at VRR ˆ 20
of the manufacturing lines, is diafiltered in a 57m2 membrane unit in order to
reduce the loss in sugar down to less than 0.5%. The average flux at 70C is
100lhÿ1 mÿ2.

7
APPLICATION OF MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY IN FOOD INDUSTRY

The application of membrane technology in food industry is growing

gradually in both international and domestic market since 1960s. Advanced
characteristics such as high separation precision, better selectivity, operation at
room temperature, no high temperature or chemical damage, high automation,
easy operation, economic energy, reduced cost, comprehensive utilization of
resource and reduced pollution are the main advantages of the membrane
technology in this field of application.
MF, UF, RO and NF are today frequently used in the food industry. The
main applications include: removal of microorganism from food, purification or
concentration of water, fruit juice, vegetable juice, whey, vinegar, soy, wine and
beer; concentration or separation-purification of proteins, polypeptides, fats,
sugars, mucus, starch, scour and lysozyme; purification of oil, discoloration of oil
and wastewater treatment.
1. REMOVAL OF BACTERIA AND SPORES FROM MILK
The removal of bacteria and spores from milk to extend its shelf-life by MF is
an alternative way to ultra-pasteurization. In this approach, the organoleptic and
chemical properties of the milk are unaltered. The first commercial system of this
so- called Bactocatch was developed by Alfa Laval [7] and marketed by Tetra
Pak under the name Tetra Al cross_ Bactocatch. In this process, the raw milk is
separated into skim milk and cream. The resulting skim milk is micro filtered
using ceramic membranes with a pore size of 1.4 µm at constant Trans membrane
pressure (TMP). Thus, the retentate contains nearly all the bacteria and spores,
while the bacterial concentration in permeate is less than 0.5 % of the original
value in milk. The retentate is then mixed with a standardized quantity of cream.
Subsequently, this mix is subjected to a conventional high heat treatment at 130
°C for 4 s and reintroduced into the permeate, and the mixture is then pasteurized.
Since less than 10 % of the milk is heat treated at the high temperature, the
sensory quality of the milk is significantly improved. MF for the removal of
bacteria and spores can be further applied in the production of other dairy
products. In the production of cheese, the use of low bacterial milk improves also
the keeping quality of cheese due to the removal of spores, thus eliminating the
need of additives (e.g., nitrate). While in the production of whey protein
concentrates (WPC) and isolates (WPI), this MF concept is used to remove
bacteria and spores giving a high-quality product. It is shown in figure 1.

8
 Figure 1 Bacteria removal from milk by MF

2. Milk Protein Standardization, Concentration and Fractionation

The protein content of milk is subjected to natural variations during the
year. Standardization of milk by UF offers the possibility of increasing or
decreasing the protein content in milk without the need of adding milk powders,
casein and whey protein concentrates. Skim milk and 1%milk with increased
protein content have an improved appearance (whiter milk) and higher viscosity.
The sensory quality of increased protein milk is therefore more similar to that of
higher fat milks resulting in an improved consumer appeal. Another application
of UF is the standardization of protein and total solids in milk for use in fermented
dairy products, such as cream cheeses, yoghurt and cottage cheeses. The resulting
dairy products have superior quality and sensory characteristics compared to
those produced from milk concentrated by conventional methods. Concentration
of milk, which conventionally is done by evaporation techniques, can also be
achieved by RO. The concentrated milk has its greatest potential in ice-cream
manufacturing, since all the solids are retained in the concentrate and 70% of the
water is removed. MF and/or UF are used in the production of milk protein
concentrates (MPC), which are products containing 50–58 % of protein. These
products are used as food additives and it is therefore extremely important to
maintain the functionality of the proteins. By using UF membranes in
combination with
MF and/or dia filtration (DF) with the corrected adjustments of pH, temperature
and filtration conditions, it is possible to produce the desirable MPC for a specific
food application. The most promising MF application in the dairy industry is the
fractionation of milk protein. The Separation of micellar casein from the whey
proteins can be achieved by ceramic membranes with a pore size of 0.2µm at a

9
constant TMP. The resulting retentate has a high concentration of native calcium
phosphor caseinate that can be used for cheese making. Native casein has an
excellent rennet-coagulation ability that will make calcium phosphor caseinate an
exceptional enrichment for cheese-milk. The permeate can be further processed
by UF to produce high-quality WPC. These protein concentrates can be further
separated into lactoferrin, β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin via ion-exchange
chromatography. Both β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin have great potential
markets. β-lactoglobulin can be used as a gelling agent and α-lactalbumin, which
is very rich in tryptophan, can be used in the production of peptides with
physiological properties. Another application can be the production of infant
milk. The fractionation of milk proteins using membrane technology enables the
recovery of value-added protein ingredients. Further, the casein and whey
proteins are separated without the need of heat or enzymes. The potential
applications of membrane separation in milk processing are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Applications of membrane technology in milk processing

10
3. Application of Membrane in Vegetable Oil Processing
Traditional oil refining methods have several demerits like nutrient loss,
needs higher amount of energy, water and chemicals; greater losses of neutral oil
as well as the generation of more effluent. Vegetable oil refining employing
membranes has been not only reported as an easier/simpler process but also the
same offers different advantages like better nutrient retention, reduced demand
of energy and added chemicals, milder process parameters and cleaner
production. Several researchers have been used membrane processes for the
recovery of solvents from the micelle, degumming, bleaching, deacidification as
well as hydrolysis of fats and oils [3].
4. Application of Membrane Technology in Gluten Production
MF, UF and RO technology can all be applied in gluten production. The
clarification technique after decomposition can be realized by MF to replace
diatomite. The permeate can be concentrated by UF, while RO system is used in
reclaim of waste and water recycle. Beijing Food Institute concentrates Xanthan
Gum by UF removing most part of protein components and pigments [8].

Application Membrane processes

Concentration of whole and skim milk RO
Partly de mineralized WPC (baby food, special WPC
NF/UF
products)
Production of whey protein concentrates and isolates UF
Concentration of chicken blood plasma MF/UF
Filtration of extra-virgin olive oil MF/UF
Dry degumming of vegetable oil UF/NF

Table 1: Applications of MF, UF, NF, and RO dairy and oil industries

11
5. Application of Membrane in Fruit Juices Processing
The general production flow in the fruit juice industry starts with grinding
or crushing of the fruits into an optimal and uniform size of particles and then
pressing out the fruit mash. The traditional fining process consists of long
retention time in tanks followed by kieselguhr filtration and requires large
amounts of enzymes, gelatin and other chemicals. After clarification/fining, the
fruit juice is concentrated to reduce costs for transportation and storage. The
common approach to concentrate fruit juice is by using an evaporator combined
with an aroma-recovery unit concentrating the apple juice from originally 11–12
0Brix to over 70 0Brix. The concentrated fruit juice can then be optionally
pasteurized before transportation. The general fruit juice production process
including membrane processes is shown below in figure 3.

Figure 3 Membrane processes in fruit juice production

12
Clarification of Press Water Using UF/NF
Another encouraging route to improve the quality of diffusion juice is to
apply membrane filtration for clarification of press water. Press water is a very
dilute stream containing about 3-4% of total sugar entering the factory. It is
recycled back to a diffusion stage after pulp presses. Membrane filtration can be
applied for both press water sterilization and suspended solids removal.

Figure 4 Schematic of press water treatment with RO/NF

13
New Applications of Membrane Processes
The development of new applications of the established membrane
processes MF, UF, NF and RO will be driven by economic and environmental
targets. An additional driver for membrane processes is the high growth rate of
the market for functional foods, a segment in which membranes has a high
potential. In Table 2 some of the most recent research trends on membrane
applications for MF, UF, NF and RO in the food industry are summarized.

Application Membrane
process
Dairy Concentration of whole and skim milk RO
Partly demineralized WPC (baby food, special WPC NF
products)
Production of whey protein concentrates and isolates UF
Defatting of whey for high protein WPC MF
Standardization of the protein content in cheese milk MF
Sugar industries Concentration of thin juice RO
Purification of raw juice UF
Fruit juices Clarification of pulpy tropical fruit juices MF
Concentration of tomato juice MF and RO
Other Concentration of chicken blood plasma MF/UF
applications Dry degumming of vegetable oil UF/NF

Table 2: New applications of MF, UF, NF and RO in the food industry [4, 21, 28-29].

14
 CONCLUSION
Application of membrane technology in food processing industries are
green technology to prevent pollution, minimizing the usage of chemicals and
reduction of waste generation load, which is both better for environment and
human health.
Membrane separation processes can be used as alternatives to conventional
processing methods, in a way that the former assists more economical, save
energy consumption, better quality products, minimize the losses of nutrition
value during processing. Membrane separation processes increases the shelf life
of processed food products by better reduction of microorganisms. In dairy, sugar,
fruits juice processing, and beverage industries membrane separation and
concentration is better methods and promising technology system for future.

15
 REFERENCES
Journal papers
1) Gao Congjie, A survey of the development of membrane science and technology in
China, State of Research and Applications of Membrane Operations for a Sustainable
Growth, 1st Workshop Italy China, Cetraro, Italy, July 2002, 4- 9.
2) Lipinzki, F. Cross-Flow Membrane Applications in the Food Industry. Membrane
Technology 2010, 3: 1-27.
3) Coutinho, C.D.M, Chiu, M.C., Basso, R. C., Ribeiro, A.P. B., Gonçalves, L.A.G., and
Viotto, L. A. State of art of the application of membrane technology to vegetable oils:
A review, Food Research International 2009, 42: 536–550.
Book
4) Cheryan, M. Ultrafiltration and microfiltration handbook. Chicago: Technomic
Publ.1998.
Porter, M. C. Handbook of industrial membrane technology. New Jersey: Noyes
Publications, 1990.
Journal papers
5) Cuperus, F. P. and Nijhuis, H. Applications of membrane technology to food
processing.Trends Food Science Techology, 7: 277–282, 1993.
6) Hansen R Better market milk, better cheese milk, and better low heat milk powder with
Bactochatch treated milk. North Eur Food Dairy Journal 1988, 54:39–41.
7) Wang Wei, Application of Membrane Technology in Food Industry, Sino-Italian
Workshop on the Application of Membrane Technology in Food Processing Industry,
Weihai, China, July 2005.

16