Integrated membrane process for producing high quality red dragon fruit juice concentrate

The key objective of this research is to evaluate a cost-effective and sustainable process for the production of high quality red dragon fruit juice concentrate through the development of an integrated membrane system as alternative to conventional processing methods. Specifically, the experimental activities include the extraction of the juice and its preliminary clarification by microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF) processes. Osmotic distillation (OD) and vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) will be assessed for their potential in producing high quality concentrated fractions with a minimum content of total soluble solids (TSS) of 50 °Brix.