Membrane-based separation scheme for processing sweeteners from stevia leaves

In existing processes, extraction and refining of glycoside based sweeteners from stevia leaves involves many process steps including extraction by organic solvents. The purpose of the present study was to develop a process of extraction and refining of sweeteners with reduced number of unit operations and minimization and/or elimination of chemical usage including organic solvents. It was found that water was very effective for extracting glycosides at Selected pH and temperatures. It was also shown that a multi-stage membrane process was successfully able to concentrate the glycoside sweeteners. Based on the preliminary results; it appears that bitter-tasting components were washed out from the sweetener concentrate in the nanofiltration process. This work also has demonstrated that a membrane-based separation process for refining glycoside-based sweeteners could be viable and needs to be investigated further. Canadian Crown Copyright (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.