Shelf life extension of sugarcane juice by cross flow hollow fibre ultrafiltration

Abstract

Pre-treated sugarcane juice was ultrafiltered using polysulphone based hollow fiber to enhance its shelf life. The membrane of molecular weight cut off 30 kDa was selected based on productivity, quality and microbial safety of the product. Optimum condition was found as 104 kPa transmembrane pressure and 30 l/h cross flow rate (Reynolds number 249) based on flux yield and desirable juice quality. Membranes were characterized in terms of surface morphology and surface chemistry to interpret the nature of deposited layer on the membrane. The flux decline and sucrose concentration in the permeate were simulated using a first principle based transport model. Ultrafiltration yielded a clarified sugarcane juice with 98% recovery of sucrose, 80% recovery of polyphenol, 3 fold reduction in oxidative enzyme and 6 log reduction in bacterial count ensuring extended juice storability. The clarified juice was found to be stable up to 9 weeks at 4 °C.