Complete Fractionation With Reverse Osmosis in Food Processing

Abstract

A method for producing fruit or vegetable paste, fruit or vegetable juice concentrate, and similar food products by using Complete Fractionation with Reverse Osmosis.

1 . A method of processing raw fruit/vegetable juice to form a food product, comprising:
 a) Separating a raw fruit/vegetable-juice stream into a decanted fruit/vegetable juice and a decanting concentrate, using centrifugal separation (decantation centrifugation);   b) Processing the decanted fruit/vegetable juice, by means of membrane separation, thereby producing an ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice and an ultrafiltration concentrate, said ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice having been clarified;   c) Processing the ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice, by means of electrodialysis, thereby producing a deacidified demineralized fruit/vegetable juice and an electrodialysis concentrate, said deacidified demineralized fruit/vegetable juice having been deacidified and demineralized;   d) Removing a first portion of water from the deacidified demineralized fruit/vegetable juice by means of reverse osmosis, thereby producing a reverse osmosis concentrate;   e) Mixing the reverse osmosis concentrate and the electrodialysis concentrate, thereby forming an evaporation feed;   f) Processing the evaporation feed to remove a second portion of water from the evaporation feed, thereby forming an evaporation concentrate;   g) Pre-mixing the evaporation concentrate and the decanting concentrate, thereby forming a first pre-mixture;   h) Processing the first pre-mixture through a size-reduction unit operation, thereby forming a first mixture having a reduced particle size; and   i) Lastly, mixing the first mixture and the ultrafiltration concentrate, thereby producing a fruit/vegetable paste product.   
   
   
       2 . A method of processing raw fruit/vegetable juice to form a food product, comprising:
 a) Separating a raw fruit/vegetable-juice stream into a decanted fruit/vegetable juice and a decanting concentrate, using centrifugal separation (decantation centrifugation);   b) Processing the decanted fruit/vegetable juice, by means of membrane separation, thereby producing an ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice and an ultrafiltration concentrate, said ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice having been clarified;   c) Processing the ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice, by means of electrodialysis, thereby producing a deacidified demineralized fruit/vegetable juice and an electrodialysis concentrate, said deacidified demineralized fruit/vegetable juice having been deacidified and demineralized;   d) Removing the water from the deacidified demineralized fruit/vegetable juice by means of reverse osmosis, thereby producing a reverse osmosis concentrate;   e) Pre-mixing the electrodialysis concentrate and the decanting concentrate, thereby forming a second pre-mixture;   f) Processing the second pre-mixture through a size-reduction unit operation, thereby forming a second mixture having a reduced particle size; and   g) Lastly, mixing the second mixture, the ultrafiltration concentrate, and the reverse osmosis concentrate, thereby producing a fruit/vegetable juice concentrate product.   
   
   
       3 . A method of processing raw fruit/vegetable juice to form a food product, comprising:
 a) Mechanical centrifugation to remove the insoluble fiber compounds from the raw fruit/vegetable juice, in association with membrane separation to remove the colloidal pectic substances from the decanted fruit/vegetable juice, for the main purpose of eliminating the potential of membrane fouling in reverse osmosis;   b) Deacidification electrodialysis to remove the organic acids from the ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice, in association with demineralization electrodialysis to remove the mineral salts from the deacidified fruit/vegetable juice, for the main purpose of minimizing the osmotic pressure in reverse osmosis;   c) Reverse osmosis to remove minimum 84% to 91% of the total amount of water needed to be removed to make the desired fruit/vegetable paste product; and   d) Reverse osmosis to remove 100% of the total amount of water needed to be removed to make the desired fruit/vegetable juice concentrate product.   
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3  for processing raw fruit/vegetable juice to form a food product, comprising: a complete fractionation of the raw fruit/vegetable juice, applied (a) to enhance the water-removing capabilities in manufacturing of fruit/vegetable paste products and fruit/vegetable juice concentrate products, and (b) to minimize heat- and shear-induced destruction of valuable food components like insoluble fiber compounds and colloidal pectic substances. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the decanting concentrate, which contains the insoluble fiber compounds, and the ultrafiltration concentrate, which contains the colloidal pectic substances, are initially removed from the raw fruit/vegetable juice, and later are reintroduced into the final product, after the required amount of water has been extracted by reverse osmosis and evaporation. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electrodialysis concentrate, which contains the organic acids and the mineral salts, is initially mixed with the reverse osmosis concentrate, and next is sent to thermal evaporation as evaporation feed. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the decanting concentrate, which contains the insoluble fiber compounds, the ultrafiltration concentrate, which contains the colloidal pectic substances, and the electrodialysis concentrate, which contains the organic acids and the mineral salts, are initially removed from the raw fruit/vegetable juice, and later are reintroduced into the final product, after the required amount of water has been extracted by reverse osmosis. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the step of membrane separation is done in three stages, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and nanofiltration. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the carrier fluid for the organic-acids concentrate is a small portion of ultrafiltered fruit/vegetable juice, and the carrier fluid for the minerals concentrate is a small portion of deacidified fruit/vegetable juice. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 3 , whereby the organic-acids concentrate, the minerals concentrate, and the corresponding carrier fluid are combined into the electrodialysis concentrate. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , according to which the evaporation concentrate or the electrodialysis concentrate is mixed with the decanting concentrate to facilitate the flowability of the decanting concentrate, respectively, the particle-size reduction of the insoluble fiber compounds present in the decanting concentrate. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , according to which a unit operation of particle size reduction is primarily employed to control the viscosity attributes of the final product, fruit/vegetable paste product. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 2 , according to which a unit operation of particle size reduction is primarily employed to control the viscosity attributes of the final product, fruit/vegetable juice concentrate product.