Treatment of Food Industry Foods and Wastes by Membrane Filtration

Abstract

Membrane separation processes are based on the ability of semipermeable membranes of the appropriate physical and chemical nature to discriminate between molecules primarily on the basis of size and to a certain extent, on shape and chemical composition. A membrane's role is to act as a selective barrier, enriching certain components in a feedstream, and depleting the others. One of the chief attractions of membrane technology is the low energy requirement compared to other food processing technologies. Since membrane processes are nonthermal and do not involve a change of phases, they are energy-efficient and do not change the nature of the foods during their process operation. This chapter presents the membrane process theory and case histories of various production applications in the food industry. Operational problems and recommended engineering solutions for membrane process optimization are presented and discussed.