Effect of the operating conditions on a nanofiltration process to separate low-molecular-weight phenolic compounds from the sugars present in olive mill wastewaters

•NF270 allowed the separation of tyrosol and sugars from olive mill wastewaters.•Tyrosol rejection was less than 25 % and it was recovered in the permeate.•Sucrose was highly rejected by the membrane, as COD rejection was above 78 %.•Kedem-Spiegler model accurately fitted the experimental data. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Process safety and environmental protection 2021-04, Vol.148, p.428-436
Main Authors: Sánchez-Arévalo, Carmen M., Jimeno-Jiménez, Álvaro, Carbonell-Alcaina, Carlos, Vincent-Vela, María Cinta, Álvarez-Blanco, Silvia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical oxygen demand
Cosmetics
Cross flow
Filtration
Flow velocity
Food industries wastewaters
Food processing industry wastes
Membrane processes
Membranes
Molecular weight
Nanofiltration
Nanolfiltration
Nanotechnology
Olive mill wastewater
Pharmacology
Phenolic compounds
Phenols
Purity
Separation
Sucrose
Sugar
Tyrosol
Wastewater
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Summary:•NF270 allowed the separation of tyrosol and sugars from olive mill wastewaters.•Tyrosol rejection was less than 25 % and it was recovered in the permeate.•Sucrose was highly rejected by the membrane, as COD rejection was above 78 %.•Kedem-Spiegler model accurately fitted the experimental data. The efficiency of nanofiltration to purify the tyrosol present in the olive mill wastewaters (OMWWs) has been studied. The similar molecular weight of tyrosol and the sucrose existing in this kind of by-products restricts the discrimination between both molecules through a membrane process, but the interest of phenolic compounds to be applied in cosmetics and pharmacology greatly motivates its recovery at the highest purity possible. Thus, two different simulated OMWWs composed of tyrosol and mixtures of tyrosol and sucrose, respectively, were nanofiltered using the NF270 membrane. Three transmembrane pressures (TMPs) and three cross-flow velocities were tested. The optimum results were obtained at 0.5 m⋅s−1 and 15 bar. The rejections of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) were above 78 %, whereas phenolic compounds were barely retained. This indicates that the sugar was accurately separated from tyrosol, which was recovered in the permeate stream at a high purity.
ISSN:0957-5820
1744-3598
DOI:10.1016/j.psep.2020.10.002