Concentration and temperature polarization effects during osmotic membrane distillation

Pineapple juice is one of the popular fruit juice due to its pleasant aroma and flavor. Concentration of
clarified pineapple juicewas carried out by osmotic membrane distillation in a plate and frame membrane
module. Concentration and temperature polarization effects are found to have significant role on flux
reduction during osmotic membrane distillation process. The contribution of these polarization effects
on reduction of the driving force (in turn the flux) at various process conditions such as osmotic agent
concentration (2–10 mol/kg (1 molality = 1 mol/kg)), flowrate (25–100 ml/min) of feed and osmotic agent
are studied. Concentration polarization has more significant effect on flux reduction when compared to
temperature polarization. The experimental fluxes were in good agreement with theoretical fluxes when
calculated by considering both concentration and temperature polarization effects. The pineapple juice
was concentrated up to a total soluble solids content of 62◦Brix at ambient temperature.