Fruit juices, as rich sources of vitamins, antioxidants, and bioactive compounds, play an
essential role in maintaining a healthy diet. Among them, apple juice is one of the most
popular and widely consumed beverages. The clarified form of apple juice is highly
demanded in the beverage industry due to its attractive appearance, better storage
stability, and improved taste. In this study, a low-cost ceramic membrane was fabricated
and applied for the microfiltration (MF) of apple juice. The membranes were prepared
from mineral-based raw materials including kaolin, quartz, and natural zeolite at different
composition ratios. The zeolite content was kept constant at 10% and 20%, and after
sintering, the membranes were evaluated in terms of pore size, porosity, and permeate
flux. The structural characteristics of the fabricated membranes were analyzed using
SEM, TGA, and XRD, and the fouling mechanism was studied using Hermia’s model.
After the sintering process, it was observed that membranes containing 20% zeolite
exhibited relatively low porosity (6–23.2%), therefore, further experiments were focused
on membranes with 10% zeolite. SEM images revealed that the addition of zeolite to the
mullite matrix led to the formation of floc-like deposits on the pore walls, reducing
overall porosity. By introducing quartz as the third component, the SEM results showed
an increase in total porosity but with a less uniform pore distribution. The permeate flux
of apple juice was measured at a transmembrane pressure of 2 bar, yielding values
between 25 and 280 L/m²·h, with membrane sample No. 5 showing the best
performance. The membrane fouling mechanisms were modeled according to Hermia’s
model based on experimental data. Except for sample No. 1, which followed the cake
layer formation model, the remaining samples exhibited high conformity (R² ≈ 0.99)
with the intermediate pore blocking model.
Overall, the results indicate that the fabricated membranes, due to their cost-effective r