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Membrane Technology in Food Processing
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Membrane Technology in Food Processing

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 28420

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carmela Conidi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council, ITM-CNR, Via P. Bucci, 17/C University of Calabria, I-87036 Rende, CS, Italy
Interests: integrated membrane systems for the clarification and concentration of fruit juices; extraction, purification, concentration of bioactive molecules from agro-food products and by-products through membrane operations; study and optimization of membrane systems for applications in the food, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries
Dr. Alfredo Cassano

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, 87036 Rende, Italy
Interests: membranes and integrated membrane operations in agro-food production; pressure-driven membrane operations; membrane distillation and osmotic distillation; membrane fouling; food processing; food science and technology; bioactive compounds; phenolic compounds; proteins; peptides; agri-food by-products valorization; circular economy
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The application of membrane technology in the food and beverage industries increased dramatically in the 1980s. Today, the food industry represents the second biggest worldwide industrial market for membranes after water and wastewater treatment, with a market volume of 800–850 million euro/year. Increase in demand for food and beverages, the high product purity requirements of numerous companies, and availability of diverse fields of application for the membrane technology drive the market.

Pressure-driven membrane processes, such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO) are today well-established operations in a wide range of food and beverage processing on an industrial scale. These processes offer significant advantages in terms of selective fractionation of food products, volume reduction, and product recovery at mild conditions when compared with conventional techniques or as novel technologies for processing new ingredients and foods.

Other membrane processes, such as pervaporation (PV), electrodialysis (ED), membrane bioreactors (MBRs), membrane emulsification (ME), forward osmosis (FO), membrane distillation (MD), and osmotic distillation (OD), are promising technologies for a wide range of food applications, including aroma recovery, dealcoholization, dehydration, deacidification, concentration, and biotransformation. In addition, the combination of different membrane unit operations in integrated membrane systems offers new interesting perspectives in terms of competitiveness, improvement of food quality, process or product novelty, and environmental friendliness.

This Special Issue of Foods welcomes works related to the topic of membrane technology in food processing. Original contributions including theoretical and experimental insights as well as reviews on recent advances on membrane operations and integrated membrane systems in various fields of the food production (i.e., fruit juice and beverage, milk, wine, beer, vegetable oil, etc.) are greatly welcome.

Dr. Carmela Conidi
Dr. Alfredo Cassano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Microfiltration
  • Ultrafiltration
  • Nanofiltration
  • Reverse osmosis
  • Forward osmosis
  • Electrodialysis
  • Membrane distillation
  • Osmotic distillation
  • Membrane bioreactors
  • Pervaporation
  • Fruit juices
  • Milk and whey
  • Wine and beer
  • Vegetable oil
  • Clarification
  • Concentration
  • Membrane fouling
  • Integrated membrane systems

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 1055 KiB  
Article
Effect of Pre-Heating Prior to Low Temperature 0.1 µm-Microfiltration of Milk on Casein–Whey Protein Fractionation
by Simon Schiffer, Bello Teslim Adekunle, Andreas Matyssek, Martin Hartinger and Ulrich Kulozik
Foods 2021, 10(5), 1090; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10051090 - 14 May 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2279
Abstract
During skim milk microfiltration (nominal pore size of 0.1 µm) at 10 °C, the whey protein purity in the permeate is reduced by an enhanced serum casein permeation, primarily of β-casein. To decrease casein permeation, the possibility of a pre-heating step under pasteurization [...] Read more.
During skim milk microfiltration (nominal pore size of 0.1 µm) at 10 °C, the whey protein purity in the permeate is reduced by an enhanced serum casein permeation, primarily of β-casein. To decrease casein permeation, the possibility of a pre-heating step under pasteurization conditions before the filtration step was investigated, so as to shift the equilibrium from soluble serum casein monomers to impermeable micellar casein. Immediately after the pre-heating step, low temperature microfiltration at 10 °C was conducted before the casein monomers could diffuse into the serum. The hypothesis was that the dissociation of β-casein into the serum as a result of a decreasing temperature takes more time than the duration of the microfiltration process. It was found that pre-heating reduced the β-casein permeation during microfiltration without significantly affecting the flux and whey protein permeation, compared with a microfiltration at 10 °C without the pre-heating step. Furthermore, the addition of calcium (5 and 10 mM) not only reduced the casein permeation and thus increased the permeate purity, defined as a high whey protein-to-casein (g L−1/g L−1) ratio, but also decreased the filtration performance, possibly due to the structural alteration of the deposited casein micelle layer, rendering the deposit more compact and more retentive. Therefore, the possible combination of the addition of calcium and pre-heating prior to microfiltration was also investigated in order to evidence the potential increase of whey protein (WP) purity in the permeate in the case of Ca2+ addition prior to microfiltration. This study shows that pre-heating very close to low temperature microfiltration results in an increased purity of the whey protein fraction obtained in the permeate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technology in Food Processing)
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14 pages, 1201 KiB  
Article
Comparative Assessment of Tubular Ceramic, Spiral Wound, and Hollow Fiber Membrane Microfiltration Module Systems for Milk Protein Fractionation
by Roland Schopf, Florian Schmidt, Johanna Linner and Ulrich Kulozik
Foods 2021, 10(4), 692; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10040692 - 24 Mar 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3622
Abstract
The fractionation efficiency of hollow fiber membranes (HFM) for milk protein fractionation was compared to ceramic tubular membranes (CTM) and spiral wound membranes (SWM). HFM combine the features of high membrane packing density of SWM and the more defined flow conditions and better [...] Read more.
The fractionation efficiency of hollow fiber membranes (HFM) for milk protein fractionation was compared to ceramic tubular membranes (CTM) and spiral wound membranes (SWM). HFM combine the features of high membrane packing density of SWM and the more defined flow conditions and better control of membrane fouling in the open flow channel cross-sections of CTM. The aim was to comparatively analyze the effect of variations in local pressure and flow conditions while using single industrially sized standard modules with similar dimensions and module footprints (module diameter and length). The comparative assessment with varied transmembrane pressure was first applied for a constant feed volume flow rate of 20 m3 h−1 and, secondly, with the same axial pressure drop along the modules of 1.3 bar m−1, similar to commonly applied crossflow velocity and wall shear stress conditions at the industrial level. Flux, transmission factor of proteins (whey proteins and serum caseins), and specific protein mass flow per area membrane and per volume of module installed were determined as the evaluation criteria. The casein-to-whey protein ratios were calculated as a measure for protein fractionation effect. Results obtained show that HFM, which so far are under-represented as standard module types in industrial dairy applications, appear to be a competitive alternative to SWM and CTM for milk protein fractionation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technology in Food Processing)
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15 pages, 1315 KiB  
Article
Influence of Processing Temperature on Membrane Performance and Characteristics of Process Streams Generated during Ultrafiltration of Skim Milk
by Ritika Puri, Upendra Singh and James A. O’Mahony
Foods 2020, 9(11), 1721; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9111721 - 23 Nov 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4158
Abstract
The effects of processing temperature on filtration performance and characteristics of retentates and permeates produced during ultrafiltration (UF) of skim milk at 5, 20, and 50 °C were investigated. The results indicate that despite higher flux at 50 °C, UF under these conditions [...] Read more.
The effects of processing temperature on filtration performance and characteristics of retentates and permeates produced during ultrafiltration (UF) of skim milk at 5, 20, and 50 °C were investigated. The results indicate that despite higher flux at 50 °C, UF under these conditions resulted in greater fouling and rapid flux decline in comparison with 5 and 20 °C. The average casein micelle diameter was higher in retentate produced at 5 and 20 °C. The retentate analysed at 5 °C displayed higher viscosity and shear thinning behaviour as compared to retentate analysed at 20 and 50 °C. Greater permeation of calcium and phosphorus was observed at 5 and 20 °C in comparison with 50 °C, which was attributed to the inverse relationship between temperature and solubility of colloidal calcium phosphate. Permeation of α-lactalbumin was observed at all processing temperatures, with permeation of β-lactoglobulin also evident during UF at 50 °C. All UF retentates were shown to have plasmin activity, while lower activity was measured in retentate produced at 5 °C. The findings revealed that UF processing temperature influences the physicochemical, rheological, and biochemical properties of, and thereby govern the resulting quality and functionality of, retentate- and permeate-based dairy ingredients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technology in Food Processing)
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17 pages, 1968 KiB  
Article
Prediction of the Limiting Flux and Its Correlation with the Reynolds Number during the Microfiltration of Skim Milk Using an Improved Model
by Carolina Astudillo-Castro, Andrés Cordova, Vinka Oyanedel-Craver, Carmen Soto-Maldonado, Pedro Valencia, Paola Henriquez and Rafael Jimenez-Flores
Foods 2020, 9(11), 1621; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9111621 - 6 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2766
Abstract
Limiting flux (JL) determination is a critical issue for membrane processing. This work presents a modified exponential model for JL calculation, based on a previously published version. Our research focused on skim milk microfiltrations. The processing variables studied were the [...] Read more.
Limiting flux (JL) determination is a critical issue for membrane processing. This work presents a modified exponential model for JL calculation, based on a previously published version. Our research focused on skim milk microfiltrations. The processing variables studied were the crossflow velocity (CFV), membrane hydraulic diameter (dh), temperature, and concentration factor, totaling 62 experimental runs. Results showed that, by adding a new parameter called minimum transmembrane pressure, the modified model not only improved the fit of the experimental data compared to the former version (R2 > 97.00%), but also revealed the existence of a minimum transmembrane pressure required to obtain flux (J). This result is observed as a small shift to the right on J versus transmembrane pressure curves, and this shift increases with the flow velocity. This fact was reported in other investigations, but so far has gone uninvestigated. The JL predicted values were correlated with the Reynolds number (Re) for each dh tested. Results showed that for a same Re; JL increased as dh decreased; in a wide range of Re within the turbulent regime. Finally, from dimensionless correlations; a unique expression JL = f (Re, dh) was obtained; predicting satisfactorily JL (R2 = 84.11%) for the whole set of experiments Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technology in Food Processing)
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18 pages, 1133 KiB  
Article
Transmembrane Pressure and Recovery of Serum Proteins during Microfiltration of Skimmed Milk Subjected to Different Storage and Treatment Conditions
by Manon Granger-Delacroix, Nadine Leconte, Fabienne Garnier-Lambrouin, Françoise Le Goff, Marieke Van Audenhaege and Geneviève Gésan-Guiziou
Foods 2020, 9(4), 390; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9040390 - 27 Mar 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2735
Abstract
Milk pre-processing steps-storage at 4 °C (with durations of 48, 72 or 96 h) and methods for microbiological stabilization of milk (1.4 μm microfiltration, thermization, thermization + bactofugation, pasteurization) are performed industrially before 0.1 µm-microfiltration (MF) of skimmed milk to ensure the microbiological [...] Read more.
Milk pre-processing steps-storage at 4 °C (with durations of 48, 72 or 96 h) and methods for microbiological stabilization of milk (1.4 μm microfiltration, thermization, thermization + bactofugation, pasteurization) are performed industrially before 0.1 µm-microfiltration (MF) of skimmed milk to ensure the microbiological quality of final fractions. The objective of this study was to better understand the influence of these pre-processing steps and their cumulative effects on MF performances (i.e., transmembrane pressure, and transmission and recovery of serum proteins (SP) in the permeate). Results showed that heat treatment of skimmed milk decreased ceramic MF performances, especially after a long 4 °C storage duration (96 h) of raw milk: when milk was heat treated by pasteurization after 96 h of storage at 4 °C, the transmembrane pressure increased by 25% over a MF run of 330 min with a permeation flux of 75 L·h−1·m−2 and a volume reduction ratio of 3.0. After 48 h of storage at 4 °C, all other operating conditions being similar, the transmembrane pressure increased by only 6%. When milk was 1.4 µm microfiltered, the transmembrane pressure also increased by only 6%, regardless of the duration of 4 °C storage. The choice of microbiological stabilization method also influenced SP transmission and recovery: the higher the initial heat treatment of milk, the lower the transmission of SP and the lower their recovery in permeate. Moreover, the decline of SP transmission was all the higher that 4 °C storage of raw milk was long. These results were explained by MF membrane fouling, which depends on the load of microorganisms in the skimmed milks to be microfiltered as well as the rate of SP denaturation and/or aggregation resulting from pre-processing steps. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technology in Food Processing)
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12 pages, 416 KiB  
Article
Antioxidant, Biochemical, and In-Life Effects of Punica granatum L. Natural Juice vs. Clarified Juice by Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membrane
by Valeria Maria Morittu, Vincenzo Mastellone, Rosa Tundis, Monica Rosa Loizzo, Raffaella Tudisco, Alberto Figoli, Alfredo Cassano, Nadia Musco, Domenico Britti, Federico Infascelli and Pietro Lombardi
Foods 2020, 9(2), 242; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9020242 - 24 Feb 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3868
Abstract
A clarification method was proposed to ameliorate the technological quality of fruit juices by preserving bioactive compounds. This study evaluated the in vitro antioxidant and hypoglycemic activities and the in vivo effects of Punica granatum L. natural (NJ) and clarified (CJ) juice by [...] Read more.
A clarification method was proposed to ameliorate the technological quality of fruit juices by preserving bioactive compounds. This study evaluated the in vitro antioxidant and hypoglycemic activities and the in vivo effects of Punica granatum L. natural (NJ) and clarified (CJ) juice by polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane. CJ was more active as an antioxidant and as a α-glucosidase inhibitor than NJ. Mice were orally gavaged with water (Control), NJ, and CJ for 28 days. NJ group showed significant decrease of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate amino transferase, and creatine-phosphokinase. CJ administration was associated with urea, creatine-phosphokinase, and triglycerides values significantly lower with respect to the control. Oxidative status was ameliorated with CJ administration, showing a reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs) reduction of 32% and a biological antioxidant potential (BAP) boosting of 23% compared to the control, whereas NJ did not show a similar effect. Results confirmed the beneficial properties of pomegranate juice, showing that membrane clarification may enhance such effects in terms of antioxidant activity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technology in Food Processing)
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Review

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25 pages, 2634 KiB  
Review
Perspective of Membrane Technology in Pomegranate Juice Processing: A Review
by Carmela Conidi, Enrico Drioli and Alfredo Cassano
Foods 2020, 9(7), 889; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9070889 - 7 Jul 2020
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 6194
Abstract
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) juice is well recognized for its high content of phytochemicals with proven health-promoting effects. Conventional processing techniques including clarification with fining agents, pasteurization and thermal concentration have significant influences on bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of the juice. [...] Read more.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) juice is well recognized for its high content of phytochemicals with proven health-promoting effects. Conventional processing techniques including clarification with fining agents, pasteurization and thermal concentration have significant influences on bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of the juice. The growing consumers demand for high-quality pomegranate juice as well as the industrial interest for the production of functional foods, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics from its bioactive compounds have promoted the interest for minimal processing technologies. In this context, membrane-based operations represent an innovative approach to improve the overall quality of pomegranate juice production. This review focuses on the recent advances and developments related to the application of membrane technology in pomegranate juice processing. Conventional pressure-driven membrane operations and innovative membrane operations, such as osmotic distillation and pervaporation, are discussed in relation to their potential in juice clarification, fractionation, concentration and aroma recovery. Their implementation in integrated systems offer new opportunities to improve the healthiness and quality of the juice as well as to recover, purify and concentrate bioactive compounds for the formulation of functional ingredients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technology in Food Processing)
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