Separation of aromatics compounds during the clarification of lemon juice by cross-flow filtration

Abstract Tangential flow filtration was tested for clarifying lemon juice for the food industry. Membranes with three different pore sizes were assayed: 100,000 Da (polysulfone), 0.20 μm (polypropylene), and 0.45 μm (polyvinylidene difluoride). Volatiles were extracted using a distillation technique and quantified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The concentration of aroma compounds finally found in the clarified lemon juice (CLJ) increased with the membrane pore size and more apolar compounds were found in the CLJ obtained by using more hydrophobic membranes. The low concentration of terpene hydrocarbons of the lemon juices clarified using membranes of 100,000 Da and 0.45 μm made them ideal as acidulant agents in fruit preservation. On the other hand, the CLJ obtained using a membrane of 0.2 μm of pore size, with high recuperation percentages for terpene hydrocarbons (e.g. limonene) and aldehydes (neral and geranial), made this juice ideal for applications in which a lemon flavor is needed. One of the main results of this work lies in the fact that certain compounds reduce their concentration in a large percentage during the cross-flow filtration. This reduction is associated with its presence in the juice cloud and pulp whose are concentrated in the retentate. The elimination of these compounds is transcendental to use lemon juice as an acidifier because they are responsible for aromatic degradation in processed food, as, for example, canned peach halves in syrup. Therefore, the use of cross-flow filtration in the clarification allows the use of lemon juice as acidulant in food with very sensitive flavors to degradation during processing and storage.