Reverse osmosis in food processing

Although reverse osmosis (RO) is recognized as a leading technology in desalination processes, it is also a well-established application in food processing due to its several advantages over conventional methodologies such as preservation of thermal sensitive compounds, low energy consumption and low investment costs. This chapter focuses on the main applications of RO in food processing, including concentration of fruit and vegetable juices, pre-concentration of milk and whey, improvement of must quality and wine dealcoholization. The contribution of RO to the recovery of biologically active compounds from agro-food wastewaters, according to the new industrial ecology and biorefinery concepts, is also presented and discussed. In these fields the combination of RO with other membrane filtration systems well contributes to redesign the traditional processing of food and beverages within the logic of the process intensification strategy, with remarkable benefits in terms of product quality, plant compactness, environmental impact and energetic aspects. These aspects are addressed and discussed in detail according to the latest literature inputs.