Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Nanoltration of glucose solution containing salts: Effects of membrane

characteristics, organic component and salts on retention
A.W. Mohammad a,*, R. Kadir Basha a, C.P. Leo b
a
b

Department of Chemical and Process, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
School of Engineering, Sunway Campus, Monash University, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 46150 Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 28 July 2009
Received in revised form 30 October 2009
Accepted 15 November 2009
Available online 16 December 2009
Keywords:
Nanoltration
Glucose
Salts

a b s t r a c t
The understanding on nanoltration especially the rejection of uncharged solutes, charged solutes and
mixture of solutes is crucial for its application in food industry. This is because process streams in food
industry usually contain organic components without charge and salts. In this work, DK and CK membranes were utilized for the separation of multi-component feeds containing glucose, NaCl and multivalent salts (MgCl2 or Na2SO4). Glucose rejection is slightly affected by salt concentration which may due to
pore swelling of CK membranes at high concentration of NaCl. Meanwhile, rejection of NaCl is reduced by
the increment of glucose and NaCl concentration which causes concentration polarization. The addition
of multivalent salts even induces negative rejection of NaCl in DK membranes. However, both membranes show high rejection of multivalent salts with or without the presence of glucose. The rejection
behavior follows the pattern expected from the structural and electrical properties of the membranes.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Between ultraltration and reverse osmosis (RO), pore size of
nanoltration (NF) membranes is typically 1 nm which corresponds to molecular weight cut off (MWCO) of 300500 Da
(Rautenbach and Grschl, 1990). NF membranes in contact with
aqueous solution are also slightly charged due to dissociation of
surface functional groups or adsorption of charge solute (Tay
et al., 2002). Similar to RO membranes, NF membranes are efcient
in the separation of inorganic salts and small organic molecules.
The characteristics of NF membranes are lower rejection of monovalent ions, higher rejection of divalent ions and higher ux compared to RO membranes (Diawara, 2008). Due to this reason, NF
membranes are now widely applied in food and beverage processing such as demineralization of dairy products, concentration of
fruit juice and treatment of wastewater in food industry (Barrantes
and Morr, 1997; Braeken et al., 2004; Ferrarini et al., 2001; Rice
et al., 2005).
In order to optimize the application of NF, it is crucial to understand the rejection of uncharged solutes, charged solutes and mixtures of solutes. This is because process streams in food industry
usually contain organic components without charge, NaCl, multivalent salts and etc. Size exclusion is the major mechanism of NF
in the rejection of uncharged solutes. For charged solutes, the
rejection mechanism is mainly inuenced by size exclusion and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 3 68216102.
E-mail address: wahabm@vlsi.eng.ukm.my (A.W. Mohammad).
0260-8774/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2009.11.010

electrostatic interactions between charged membrane and charged

species (Bowen et al., 1997). However, NF membranes which are
available in the market perform differently due to diversity in characteristics such as pore size and membrane charge. These characteristics have been proven in controlling main rejection
mechanisms, size exclusion and charge exclusion. A lot of efforts
have been devoted to identify appropriate membranes for food
industry especially in the separation of saccharides from salts. Vellenga and Tragardh (1998) reported that NF membrane DS5 possesses characteristics which are suitable for the separation of
sucrose from salty solution. They concluded that the rejection of
sucrose is not affected by NaCl concentration. However, rejection
of NaCl reduces when concentration of NaCl and sucrose increase.
Wang et al. (2002a) also studied the separation saccharides from
NaCl solution using NF membrane from Dow Chemical. In their
study, it is concluded that NaCl concentration affects the rejection
of glucose while the rejection of NaCl is unaffected by the concentration of glucose. The contradictory results were then explained
by Bargeman et al. (2005). Bargeman et al. (2005) described that
increasing concentration of charged solutes may result in higher
surface charge in membrane pores, hence pore swelling. Since sucrose is larger in size, it may be less affected by pore swelling compared to glucose. On the other hand, Bouchoux et al. (2005)
explained that the reduction of glucose rejection is possibly because glucose is less hydrated in the presence of salt. In their work,
it is also observed that sodium lactate has a stronger effect on glucose rejection compared to NaCl. The great hydration of lactate ion
is expected to explain their observation. Similar explanation was

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A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

Nomenclature
Ak
ci
Ci,f
Ci,p
Ci,w
Di,p
Di,1
F
G
ji
Jv
Jw
K
k
K1
Ki,c
Ki,d
LP

x
Pem

effective porosity of the membrane

concentration in membrane, mol m3
bulk feed concentration at the feed side, mol sm3
permeation concentration, mol m3
concentration at membrane surface, mol m3
hindered diffusivity, m2 s1
bulk diffusivity, m2 s1
Faraday constant, C mol1
the hydrodynamic lag coefcient
ion ux (based on membrane area), mol m2 s1
volume ux (based on membrane area), m s1
pure water ux (based on membrane area), m s1
mass transfer coefcient, m s1
mass transfer coefcient by Eq. (13)
the hydrodynamic enhanced drag coefcient
hindrance factor for convection
hindrance factor for diffusion
water permeability, m s1 Pa1
stirring speed, s1
Peclet number

given by Cuartas et al. (2007) in the separation of lactose from mineral salts. It is suggested that rejection of charged solutes such as
sulphates, chlorides, magnesium, sodium and potassium increases
with hydration ratio. However, not much changes of lactose rejection were observed in their study.
From literatures, it can be observed that contradicting results
were generated due to difference of solute selection, solute concentration, membrane materials or membrane MWCO. Besides
that, there is a relatively lean literature on the separation of ternary
mixtures containing glucose, monovalent salt and divalent salt
using NF membranes. Thus, it is intended here to study effects of
solute concentration in the separation of glucose, NaCl and multivalent salts (MgCl2 or Na2SO4) with comparison of membrane
characteristics. Two different membranes, polyamide composite
membranes (DK) and cellulose acetate membranes (CK) with
slightly dissimilar MWCO are utilized in this study. Separation performance of these membranes is rst examined using separation
test with neutral solute or charged solute. Besides that, membrane
interaction between glucose and salt are studied before investigating effects of multivalent salt in the separation of ternary mixtures.

2. Materials and methods

Two types of NF membranes, DK and CK which were obtained
from Osmonics USA were utilized in this study. DK membrane is
polyamide membrane with 98% rejection of MgSO4 (Osmonic). It
is commonly used to separate saccharides, demineralize polysaccharides, purify dextrose, eliminate heavy metals and concentrate
dyes. Meanwhile, CK membrane is cellulose acetate membrane
with 92% rejection of Na2SO4 (Osmonic). CK membrane is generally
used for softening of water. Scanning electron microscope (SEM)
studies was rst carried out using LEO 1450 VP (UK) in order to
understand structure morphology of these membranes. Membranes were frozen in liquid nitrogen, fractured and coated with
gold before characterization. Subsequently, membrane permeability was determined using a dead-end stirred cell (Model SEPA ST)
from Osmonic, USA. Volume of the stirred cell is 300 ml while the
effective membrane surface area is 15.2 cm2. A magnetic stirrer
was used to homogenize the feed solution and reduce concentration polarization. The feed of the stirred cell was pressurized using
nitrogen gas from a gas cylinder. Permeate was collected after

applied pressure drop, kN m2

effective pore radius, m
radius of stirrer, m
stokes radius of ions and solutes, m
gas constant, J mol1 K1
limiting rejection of solute
real rejection
absolute temperature, K
kinematic viscosity, m2 s1
solute velocity, m s1
distance normal to membrane, m
effective membrane to thickness, m
effective membrane charge, mol m3
valence of ion
steric partition term
ratio of ionic or solute radius/pore radius
viscosity of solution, Pa s
ratio of effective charge density to bulk concentration
electric potential in axial direction inside membrane, V

DP
rp
rr
rs
R
Rlim
Rreal
T

t
V
x
Dx
Xd
zi

U
k

l
/

reaching steady state. New membranes were soaked in ultrapure

water for 24 h prior experiments. All separation experiments were
conducted at room temperature, 25 C. Prior to experiments, membranes were compacted at 15 bar for 3 h. Pure water uxes were
measured using ultra pure water to determine the permeability
of DK and CK membranes. Permeability of membranes (LP) was calculated using the equation below:

LP

JW
DP

Furthermore, membranes were structurally characterized by

tting DonnanSteric-Pore Model (DSPM) to rejection data (Ali
et al., 2005). For uncharged solutes, the hydrodynamic model for
transport of solute across the membrane considers only the diffusive and convective ows. The solute ux can thus, be expressed as,

ji Di;p

dci
K i;c ci V
dx

The hindered nature of diffusion and convection of the ions inside

the membrane are accounted for by the terms Ki,d and Ki,c, which
are related to the hydrodynamic coefcients, K1 the enhanced
drag, and G the lag coefcient of a spherical solute moving inside
a cylindrical pore of innite length. Bowen et al. (1997) suggested
the use of the following equations,

K i;d K 1 k; 0

where K 1 k; 0 1:0  2:30k 1:154k2

0:224k3

K i;c 2  UGk; 0 where Gk; 0 1:0 0:054k  0:988k2

0:441k3

In order to obtain an expression for rejection of the solute, Eq. (2) is

integrated across the membrane with the solute concentrations in
the membrane at the upper (x = 0) and lower (x = Dx) surfaces expressed in terms of the external concentrations (Ci,m and Ci,p) using
the equilibrium partition coefcient, U.

ci;x0 ci;xDx

C i;w
C i;p


2
rs
1
rp

Eq. (2) can be integrated and combined with Eq. (5) to give the following expression for calculated real rejection,

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A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

Rreal 1 

K i;c U
1  expPem 1  UK i;c 

k k -0:567
 2 0:567 
r
0
k 0:23 r

where the Peclet number, Pem, is dened as

Pem

K i;c V Dx
K i;d Di;1 Ak

Robs 1 

Thus, (1UKi,c) represents a parameter for comparing the limiting rejections of solutes of various sizes. The HagenPoiseuille
equation relates the water ux to the applied pressure as well as
rp and Dx/Ak.

Jw

r 2p DP
8lDx=Ak

The membrane parameters rp and Dx/Ak can be determined by tting the solute rejection data as a function of ux to Eq. (6). Three
types of neutral solutes were used in this characterization, glucose,
sucrose and rafnose. The concentration of these neutral solutes in
permeate was determined using colorimetric method report by Dubois et al. (1996).
After structural characterization of membranes, the effective
charge density of the membranes, Xd, was determined by tting
the extended NernstPlanck model to rejection data of NaCl. For
charged solutes such as salts, the extended NernstPlanck equation
forms the basis for the description of the transport of ions/solutes
inside the membranes. The equation can be written as,

ji Di;p

dci zi ci Di;p dw
K i;c ci V

F
dx
dx
RT

t
Di;p

Di;1
rr

13

The observed rejection of component i is dened as follow:

In the limiting case of the Pem ? 1, the asymptotic rejection values

will go to

Rlim 1  UK i;c

12
0:33

C i;p
C i;f

14

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Membrane characterization
Membranes can be classied according to their structure morphology as membrane morphology determines separation mechanism and performance. Besides that, resistance for mass transfer is
affected by membrane thickness. Reduction of membrane thickness usually improves permeability of solvents. Due to these reasons, it is important to examine membranes morphology using
SEM. Fig. 1 shows SEM pictures of DK membrane and it is observed
that DK membrane possesses asymmetric structure. It is also observed that DK membrane comprises two layers of different polymeric materials. The bottom layer is porous support which reduces

10

where ji is the ux of ion i and the terms on the right hand side represent transport due to diffusion, electric eld gradient and convection, respectively. Further details for solution of this equation for
transport through NF membranes can be found elsewhere (Bowen
et al., 1997). In this study, concentration of NaCl in permeate was
measured using atomic adsorption spectrometer.
For understanding the separation behaviors of CK and DK membranes, there were three types of retention experiments: (a) separation of glucose or NaCl, (b) separation of glucose and NaCl and (c)
separation of glucose, NaCl and multivalent salts (MgCl2 or
Na2SO4). For retention experiments of single component and binary mixture, feed concentrations of glucose and salts ranged from
0.2 g/L to 10 gl/L and 0.001 to 0.1 M, respectively. For retention
experiments of ternary mixtures, concentration of glucose is 1 g/
L while concentration of NaCl and multivalent is 0.01 M. Retention
experiments were conducted at stirring speed of 400 rpm and
pressure in the range of 312 bar. After collecting permeate samples, concentration of glucose in permeate was determined using
colorimetric method and spectrophotometer. On the other hand,
concentration of positively charged ions was measured using
atomic adsorption spectrometer and concentration of negatively
charged ions was measured using ion chromatography.
The concentration polarization equation (Bowen et al., 1997) is
employed to determine real rejection of solutes. The relationship
between observed rejection (Robs) and real rejection (Rreal) could
be represented in linear form as follows:

In





1  Robs
1  Rreal
J
In
v
Robs
Rreal
k

where

11
Fig. 1. SEM pictures showing (a) top surface and (b) cross sectional view of DK
membrane.

A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

513

Fig. 3. Pure water permeate ux of CK and DK membranes.

Fig. 2. Sem pictures showing (a) top surface and (b) cross sectional view of CK
membrane.

resistance of transport while the top layer is dense skin which

determines membrane selectivity. In addition, the surface of top
layer shows globular structure which is caused by polymers formation. CK membrane can be categorized as asymmetric membranes
as well. From Fig. 2, it is observed that CK membrane is highly porous at the bottom but the top section is considerably dense. Unlike
DK membrane, there is no obvious formation of separating layer in
CK membrane. The surface of CK membrane is typically rough, similar as common cellulose acetate membranes.
Pure water ux of CK and DK membranes as a function of the
applied pressure is shown in Fig. 3. The graph is linear following
HagenPoiseuille equation. From Fig. 3, it is calculated that water
permeability of CK membrane is 6.74  1012 m s1 Pa1 and
water permeability of DK membranes is 8.49  1012 m s1 Pa1.
In literature, Bentez et al. (2009) reported that permeability of
CK membranes is 7.78  1012 m s1 Pa1 while Bargeman et al.
(2005) reported that permeability of DK membranes is in the range
of 1.32.2  1011 m s1 Pa1. It is obvious that water permeability
of membranes measured in this study is lower than the results reported by other researchers. This is possibly because that pre-compaction pressure is lower in this work and measurements were
conducted using different module compared to literatures. As three
membrane samples were tested for each experiment, it can be also
observed that permeability of individual membranes is similar to
each other. Thus, it can be concluded that porous structure of DK
and CK membranes is considerably consistent.
Fitting DSPM model into rejection data of uncharged solutes allows structural characterization of membrane in two important

parameters, which are the effective pore radius (rp) and the ratio
of effective thickness to porosity (Dx/Ak). Fig. 4 shows the real
rejection of the three uncharged solutes (glucose, sucrose, and rafnose) for DK and CK membranes. It can be seen that the rejection
approached limiting rejection as the ux increased. Based on the
asymptotic limiting rejection, the effective pore radius, rp, of both
membranes can be estimated using Eqs. (5), (8) and values of rs
and Ki,c. The HagenPouiseuille Eq. (9) can then be used to estimate
the effective ratio of membrane thickness over porosity, Dx/Ak. As
summarized in Table 1, the average pore radius for DK membrane
is estimated at 0.566 nm 0.096 while the average pore radius for
CK membrane is determined to be 0.567 nm 0.105. The average
values of Dx/Ak for DK and CK membrane are 5.40  106 m and
7.62  106 m, respectively. As the ratio of effective thickness to
porosity for DK membrane is lower compared to CK membrane,
it is expected to explain high permeability of DK membrane as described previously. Both membranes have very similar pore radius
and the higher permeability of DK membrane may due to the lower
Dx/Ak which means that DK membrane either has thinner effective
layer or slightly higher porosity compared to CK membrane.
Studies have showed that DSPM model well predict the rejection of single salt solution in nanoltration (Bowen et al., 2002;
Schaep et al., 1999). Thus, DSPM model can be also used to determine the electrical characteristic of membranes by tting experimental results of NaCl rejection. As shown in Fig. 5, DSPM model
ts well to the rejection data of DK and CK membranes at three
concentrations of NaCl. The effective charge density, Xd, of the
membranes increases as a function of NaCl concentration. Similar
ndings have been reported in literatures using different types of
membranes (Schaep et. al., 1999, 2001). Fig. 6 shows the plot of
Xd as a function of NaCl concentrations for DK and CK membranes.
It is observed that CK membrane possesses higher effective charge
density compared to DK membrane and it may result in higher salt
rejection for CK membrane. This phenomenon will be corroborated
further in our subsequent studies explained below.
3.2. Separation of single solute
The variation of glucose rejection for CK and DK membranes in
glucose separation tests is shown in Fig. 7. In general, both membranes reject glucose well (>90%) at high pressure and high concentration of glucose. It is also observed that rejection of glucose
for DK membrane is slightly higher than rejection of glucose using
CK membrane as expected on the basis of pore radius determined
in the earlier section. In addition, real rejection of glucose for both

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A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

Fig. 4. Real rejection for glucose, sucrose and rafnose as function of permeate ux for (a) CK Membrane and (b) DK Membrane. The line shows tting with the Donnan
Steric-Pore model.

Table 1
Pore radius and effective thickness over porosity for DK and CK membranes.
Effective thickness over porosity, (Dx/Ak) (106) (m)

Solutes

Solute radius, rs (nm)

Pore radius, rp (nm)

CK Membrane

DK Membrane

CK Membrane

DK Membrane

Glucose
Sucrose
Rafnose

0.365
0.471
0.584

0.487
0.542
0.673

0.487
0.538
0.673

5.26
7.12
10.50

3.92
4.79
7.49

Average

0.567

0.566

7.62

5.40

Fig. 5. Rejection of NaCl as a function of permeate ux for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane. The lines show tting with the Donnansteric-pore model.

membranes is quite independent on glucose concentration at high

pressure. The observation is analogous to results reported by Bouchoux et al. (2005), Wang et al. (2002a), Vellenga and Tragardh
(1998), which explained that only steric effects are responsible
for the rejection.
The inuence of NaCl concentration on real rejection of NaCl for
CK and DK membranes is shown in Fig. 8. Salt concentration and
pressure affect NaCl retention signicantly. From the obtained results, it can be observed that NaCl retention decreases with
increasing concentration of NaCl. The rejection of NaCl is actually
inuenced by steric effects and electrostatic interactions between
membrane and charged solutes (Na+and Cl). At low concentration
of salt, electrostatic repulsion is responsible for high retention of
salt. However, electrostatic interaction reduces with increasing salt
concentration as explained in Donnan theory (Donnan, 1995). It is

also shown that rejection of NaCl increases with increasing pressure but the effect of pressure on NaCl rejection is not signicant
at low concentration of salt. This is possibly because transport
mechanism at low pressure is mainly contributed by diffusion
(Wang et. al., 2002b). Comparing the performance of CK membrane
and DK membrane, CK membrane performs better at high concentration of salt as expected. The possible explanation for such results is that CK membrane possesses higher effective charge
density and repulses charged solute better.
3.3. Separation of binary mixture
For investigation of electrolyte/glucose separation, ltration
tests were conducted using mixtures of NaCl and glucose with
increasing concentration of either NaCl or glucose. Concentration

A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

Fig. 6. Effective charge density of the membranes as function of bulk concentration.

of NaCl was prepared at 0.001 M, 0.01 M and 0.1 M while concentration of glucose was xed at 1 gL1 to study the effects of NaCl
concentration on NaCl/glucose separation. In order to study the effects of glucose concentration on NaCl/glucose separation, concentration of glucose was varied at 0.2 gL1, 1 gL1 and 10 gL1 but salt

515

concentration was maintained at 0.01 M. Fig. 9 shows real rejection of NaCl as a function of pressure for CK and DK membrane
in NaCl/glucose separation test. Results show that the rejection
of NaCl decreases with increasing salt concentration in mixture.
The observed results may be caused by the existence of large
amount of salt which weaken the electrostatic interactions between membrane and salts, thus allowing passage of NaCl (Timmer
et. al., 1998).
By increasing salt concentration in the mixture of NaCl and glucose, no obvious changes of glucose rejection was observed for DK
membrane as shown in Fig. 10. On the other hand, Fig. 10a shows
that glucose rejection reduces signicantly at high concentration of
NaCl in mixtures (0.1 M) in CK membrane. Bouchoux et al. (2005)
and Bargeman et al. (2005) described that the rejection of glucose
may be impaired by pore swelling. Pore swelling could be resulted
when high concentration of counter ions is induced in the electrical
double-layer at the pore surface. In this study, severe pore swelling
is expected in CK membrane and it is possibly because that CK
membrane possesses high effective charge density. However, there
is only a slight increment in pore size for DK membrane at 0.1 M of
NaCl as reported by Bargeman et al. (2005). Low effective charge
density is likely preferable for the avoidance of pore swelling. In
this study, changes of glucose rejection for DK membrane are not
severe as expected and it is recommended to use membrane with

Fig. 7. Real rejection of glucose for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in neutral solute separation tests.

Fig. 8. Real rejection of NaCl for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in NaCl separation tests.

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A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

Fig. 9. Real rejection of NaCl for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in NaCl/glucose separation tests.

Fig. 10. Real rejection of glucose for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in NaCl/glucose separation tests.

lower effective charge density for effectively rejecting glucose at

high concentration of salt.
As concentration of glucose increases, it is shown in Fig. 11 that
the rejection of NaCl is slightly reduced. In their study, Vellenga
and Tragardh (1998) concluded that back diffusion of charged ions

in the concentration polarization layer is hindered resulting in a

retention decrement. Rejection of glucose for DK membrane does
not show any signicant changes as shown in Fig. 12b even concentration of glucose is increased to10 gL1. Unlike DK membrane,
CK membrane shows diminution of glucose retention and it may

Fig. 11. Real rejection of NaCl for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in NaCl/glucose separation tests.

A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

517

Fig. 12. Real rejection of glucose for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in NaCl/glucose separation tests.

caused by pore swelling resulted from the existence of NaCl as discussed previously.
3.4. Separation of ternary mixtures
In order to study effects of multivalent ions on the separation of
NaCl and glucose, MgCl2 and Na2SO4 with concentration of 0.01 M
were separately added into the mixture of NaCl (0.01 M) and glucose (1 gL1). Separation of NaCl from MgCl2 and Na2SO4 was also
studied for supporting this study. Rejection of ions was determined
by analyzing amount of cations in the mixture of NaCl/MgCl2 and
anions in the mixture of NaCl/Na2SO4 because rejection of ions follows electroneutrality theory (Schaep et al., 2001).
Firstly, effects of MgCl2 on the separation of NaCl and glucose
were studied. Fig. 13 shows the real rejection of ions and glucose
using CK and DK membrane. From graphs, it is observed that rejection of MgCl2 is higher than 90% with or without glucose presence
in the electrolytes mixture. Meanwhile, effects of Na2SO4 on the
separation of NaCl/Na2SO4 and glucose/NaCl/Na2SO4 mixtures can
be observed from Fig. 14. It is shown that high rejection of Na2SO4
is achieved in both separation tests using CK and DK membranes.
Real rejection of multivalent salts is unaffected by the existence
of glucose. It is possibly because the interaction between membrane charge and multivalent salts overcomes the hindrance of
concentration polarization. However, real rejection of NaCl greatly
decreases with the addition of either MgCl2 or Na2SO4 into feed

solution at low pressure. Rejection of NaCl even achieves negative

value for DK membrane. The observation can be explained by the
Donnan effects where co-ions have drawn across the membrane
to neutralize the charge imbalance in the permeate sides (Mandale
and Jones, 2008). Such phenomenon has been observed in a system
containing multiple ions as reported by Bowen and Mohammad
(1998). For the purpose of salt removal as in dialtration, negative
rejection will greatly reduce processing time. As glucose rejection
mainly inuenced by steric effects, the addition of multivalent salts
does not affect glucose rejection as in monovalent salt retention.
Thus depending on the purpose of separation, DK membrane will
be more effective for the purpose of dialtration of salt.
4. Conclusion
In general, it can be concluded that DK membranes show greater potential to be applied in food industry for concentrating or dialtrating sweet solution compared to CK membranes. Although CK
membranes show high retention of salt, DK membranes exhibit
higher permeability and better retention of glucose. More importantly, retention of glucose is less affected by salt concentration.
In conclusion, this study shows that it is important to consider
structural and electrical properties of NF membranes in food processing application. Membranes with tight pore size should be selected in order to avoid retention changes due to pore swelling or
changes of hydration size. Choosing membranes with lower charge

Fig. 13. Real rejection of components for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in MgCl2/NaCl/glucose separation tests.

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A.W. Mohammad et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 97 (2010) 510518

Fig. 14. Real rejection of components for (a) CK membrane and (b) DK membrane in Na2SO4/NaCl/glucose separation tests.

density will also help in salt removal in the presence of divalent

salts.
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