Deacidification of clarified passion fruit juice using different configurations of electrodialysis

The deacidification of clarified passion fruit juice (P edulis v flavicarpa) was investigated using the electrodialysis process (ED). Different stack configurations like conventional electrodialysis (ED2C), three compartments electrodialysis (ED3C) and electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM3C, EDBM2C) were tested. The conventional electrodialysis did not allow the deacidification of the clarified juice, whilst with the other configurations the pH of juice was increased from 2.9 (initial value) to 4.0 (target level). The ED performances were evaluated as a function of the nature of the anion exchange membrane (AEM), flow rate and current density. The physico‐chemical and sensorial properties of the deacidified juices were similar : the titrable acidity was reduced from 4.3 to 1.14% w/w, the dry soluble extract varied from 13.2 to 11% w/w, the anion concentration was significantly decreased (60% of organic and 85% of inorganic anions were eliminated), the cation concentration remained inchanged, except for the sodium concentration that increased by using ED3C and EDBM3C configurations. The aroma of the passion fruit juice was preserved after treatment whatever the ED configuration used. The EDBM2C configuration deserves a special attention because the consumption of chemicals is totally eliminated and a valuable solution of citric acid with 89% of purity can be produced. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry