Recovery of strawberry aroma compounds by pervaporation

The main objective of this study was to determine the effects of feed temperature (30, 40, 50 °C), concentration (50, 100, 150 ppm), composition (different strawberry model solutions) and permeate pressure (4, 8 mbar) on recovery of strawberry aroma compounds by pervaporation. Pervaporation was performed using a hydrophobic membrane, PERVAP 1070 (PDMS). As the feed temperature increased or downstream pressure decreased, the mass flux and selectivity increased in pervaporation of methyl butyrate (MTB) aqueous solution. Increase in feed concentration led to higher organic fluxes but lower selectivity in binary aqueous solutions of both MTB and ethyl butyrate (ETB).PERVAP 1070 showed higher selectivity towards MTB than ETB and MTB flux was affected negatively by the presence of ETB in the feed solution. The presence of other aroma compounds adversely affected the selectivities of MTB and ETB.