Challenges in Fruit Juice Concentration through Forward Osmosis

Forward Osmosis (FO) exploits the osmotic pressure gradient as a driving force for the
concentration of feed solution. It constitutes a dense hydrophilic semi-permeable membrane that
keeps apart feed and draw solutions having different osmotic pressures. Water transfers from the
feed side (high osmotic pressure) to the draw solution side (low osmotic pressure) until the
osmotic pressure difference approaches zero [1]. The main advantages of FO over thermal and
conventional membrane processing techniques include low hydraulic pressure, ambient operating
pressure and temperature, low fouling tendency, higher concentration values and easy scale-up.
Despite the economic feasibility of thermal evaporation technique for fruit juice concentration, it
has proven disadvantages when applied to fruit juices. Even under vacuum, operating
temperatures are high enough to cause color degradation, loss of nutritional characteristics, loss
of aroma compounds and change in taste of the juice concentrate [2-4]. As compared to the
thermal concentration techniques, FO process maintains a suitable level of physicochemical and
sensory properties in fruit juice without compromising on its quality [5]. The purpose of the
present paper is to highlight the main challenges associated with the concentration of fruit juices
through FO process. Selection of an appropriate and effective draw solution is essential for the
practical operation of an FO process. The draw solution must be non-toxic, inexpensive and
should have a higher osmotic pressure and easy recovery. The major concern in FO process is
the dilutive Internal Concentration Polarization (ICP) which is the reduction of draw solute
concentration within the support layer of the membrane due to convective flow of water through
the membrane’s active layer. FO membrane for fruit juice concentration must have an optimum
support layer thickness to mitigate ICP problem [1]. Another major problem affecting the FO
processes is the reverse flux of solute across the membrane. The FO membrane for fruit juice
concentration must be designed in a way to allow easy solvent passage across the membrane,
whilst resisting most of the solute molecules. Otherwise, issues such as membrane fouling [6, 7],
reduced concentration gradient between the feed and draw solutions and the contamination of
fruit juice may occur [36].

Key Words: Forward Osmosis, Draw Solution, Internal Concentration Polarization

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