Concentration of aroma compounds by pervaporation process using polyvinyl chloride membrane

Abstract

The organoleptic properties of beverage products have an important role in consumption and commercial success. Nowadays aroma recovery with high efficiency is an important process. Hydrophobic pervaporation is an alternative process for the recovery of aroma compounds in the food industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of operation temperature, feed concentration, and driving force on the recovery of different aroma compounds such as propyl acetate, pentyl acetate, and octyl acetate by pervaporation. Pervaporation was operated using a Polyvinyl Chloride hydrophobic membrane. As the process temperature and the feed concentration increased, the flux increased, but separation factor values of binary aqueous solutions of the aroma components propyl acetate, pentyl acetate, and octyl acetate decreased. Polyvinyl Chloride possessed a higher separation factor value for propyl acetate than octyl acetate and pentyl acetate. This situation was also confirmed with swelling tests and solubility parameters. Low-swelling degree results in a high separation factor. The highest separation success was observed for propyl acetate. The flux and separation factor of propyl acetate were obtained as 1.57 kg m(-2 )h(-1) and 158, respectively. It has been found that the pervaporation is an efficient process for aroma recovery from water and that the polyvinyl chloride membrane exhibits good separation performance from the removal of propyl acetate, pentyl acetate, and octyl acetate from the water.