Fruit juice deacidification , debittering , stabilization

Consumer are requesting today both quality and consistency of their beverage with less bitter, less acidic, and better clarity and shelf life stability of fruit juices. Ion exchange and adsorbant resins are providing a panel of economical solutions to answer to the beverage market needs.

The layout will depend on the juice and targets, using Strong Acid Cation in H+ form to remove K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and nitrogenous compounds, Weak Base and Strong Base Anion resins (WBA and SBA) to remove the free acidity. The removal of the color and HMF compounds can be performed on activated carbon or macroporous adsorbent resin, more easy to handle and to regenerate on-site.

Other well known applications are the debiterring of orange juice, using an adsorbent to remove the limonin and naringin at a flow rate of 4-5 BV/h, and deacidification on a Weak Base Anion resin at 5 BV/h. The WBA is preferred due to its high capacity and physical stability to the swelling. Its regeneration is using NaOH, followed by a dilute citric acid to buffer the pH

Haze formation occurs in presence of polyphenols with proteins, andsynthetic adsorbent can remove these proteins to improve the stability of apple juice after packaging. Adsorbent can also provide an alternative solution to the activated carbon for the patuline removal from apple juice.