Electromembrane approach to substantially improve the ecoefficiency of deacidified cranberry juice production : physicochemical properties, life cycle assessment and ecoefficiency score

With the expected increase of the food industry activities in response to population growth, this sector must control its impacts on the environment by finding more sustainable technologies. Here, two methods for producing deacidified cranberry juice, electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM) and salt precipitation, were assessed. The aim of this work was to compare the physicochemical characteristics of cranberry juices deacidified using both methods and to quantify and compare their environmental impacts and ecoefficiency scores. The physicochemical analyses showed that both deacidified juices did not have the same composition, since the relevant compounds in cranberry juice were preserved by deacidification with EDBM. The life cycle assessment (LCA) results demonstrated that EDBM, with and without reuse of the recovery solution, was slightly less damaging than salt precipitation for all the four damage categories. Furthermore, EDBM was up to 20.6% more ecoefficient than salt precipitation for the overall value calculation.