Abstract
In this study, the feasibility of the application of nanofiltration to recover excess benzoic acid from cranberry juice was investigated. Different kinds of commercial nanofiltration membranes were screened for their ability to separate benzoic acid from cranberry juice. There were 7 kinds of membranes, including HC50, NFT50, G5, Desal-DK, DRA4510, UTC60 and NTR7250, which showed significantly lower rejection of benzoic acid than that of other components in cranberry juice, such as sugars, other organic acids (citric acid, malic acid and quinic acid) and anthocyanins, with a difference of over 40 %. The effect of pH on nanofiltration was also investigated; the separation was very effective at pH 4.5. The rejection of benzoic acid was negative (lower than −40 %) and significantly different from the rejection of other components. It is promising to recover benzoic acid from cranberry juice by nanofiltration.
