Clarification of jamun juice by centrifugation and microfiltration: Analysis of quality parameters, operating conditions, and resistance

Jamun is a subtropical minor fruit having many medicinal values. It has a distinguish flavor and color. The fruit pulp was depectinized with enzyme at low temperature and the obtained juice was used for clarification process. A comparison between physicochemical properties and operating parameters were performed between centrifuged and microfiltered clarified juice. Several operating conditions (speed and time) for centrifugation and pressure and membrane pore size for microfiltration (MF) had been chosen. Juice obtained from MF with a pressure of 137.89 kPa and membrane pore size of 0.45 µm has the best result in terms of clarity, turbidity, color, and protein concentration. Permeate flux declination was observed after a certain time period (130 min) due to macromolecules and fiber particles present in the initial juice. Fouling of the membrane was due to cake layer resistance (65%), which gave the maximum contribution to the total resistance, but a good percentage of restoration of membrane was observed after CIP treatment. The study will be helpful for scaling up the clarification process in industrial level. Syzygium cumini, known as jambul, jambolan, jamblang, or jamun, is a tropical tree in the flowering plant family of Myrtaceae. A fresh food contains all the nutrients needed for good health, but because it may not always be possible to obtain fresh food, preservation becomes necessary. Clarification is necessary for making homogeneous juice. An attempt has been taken to clarify the jamun juice with microfiltration with different membrane as well as pressure. The data have been compared with traditional clarification process, that is, centrifugation. This article describes the optimization parameter for clarification process as well as the membrane resistance. The results will be helpful to clarify the juice in industrial level and for further research to clarify any other pulpy juice.