Enhanced water flux in fruit juice concentration: Coupled operation of osmotic evaporation and membrane distillation

The coupled operation of osmotic evaporation (OE) and membrane distillation (MD) for concentration of fruit juices was studied. Both membrane processes were applied in a way where both solutions in the membrane contactor were thermostated separately at different temperatures: the osmotic solution was the cold side, while the aqueous solution to be concentrated was the warm side (heated). The experiments have proven that the driving forces were added, which resulted in enhanced water flux during the operation, thus the coupled process is more effective.