Concentration and temperature polarization effects during osmotic membrane distillation

Pineapple juice is one of the popular fruit juice due to its pleasant aroma and flavor. Concentration of clarified pineapple juice was carried out by osmotic membrane distillation in a plate and frame membrane module. Concentration and temperature polarization effects are found to have significant role on flux reduction during osmotic membrane distillation process. The contribution of these polarization effects on reduction of the driving force (in turn the flux) at various process conditions such as osmotic agent concentration (2-10 mol/kg (1 molality = 1 mol/kg)), flow rate (25-100 ml/min) of feed and osmotic agent are studied. Concentration polarization has more significant effect on flux reduction when compared to temperature polarization. The experimental fluxes were in good agreement with theoretical fluxes when calculated by considering both concentration and temperature polarization effects. The pineapple juice was concentrated up to a total soluble solids content of 62 degrees Brix at ambient temperature. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.