Improved microfiltration of Opuntia cactus cladode juice by enzymatic treatment

In this study, the cactus cladode juice was clarified by microfiltration (MF) process using the polyethersulfone (PES) membrane after being treated with Pectinex Ultra SP‐L, Viscozyme‐L, and their mixture at the ratio of 1:1 (wt/wt). The result showed that microfiltration led to no change in soluble solid and total phenolic content while increased the clarity of the juice. The membrane performance had strong correlation with the soluble polysaccharide content and viscosity of juice. Among the three studied enzyme systems, Viscozyme‐L reduced the soluble polysaccharide content, which led to lower viscosity and resulted in better membrane performance. The fouling resistance results showed that the cake layer was the dominant resistance to membrane fouling during filtration. The negligible irreversible resistance suggested that the membrane could fully recover its initial flux after cleaning. The fouling index revealed that fouling played an important role in the initial stage and lessened afterward. Practical applications Cactus cladode juice has health benefit of high antioxidant capacity. Membrane‐based microfiltration is considered as potential alternatives for the thermal processing, clarifying, and removing microorganism in juice using ambient temperature which preserves its physicochemical sensory characteristics. The integration of enzymatic treatment with microfiltration facilitates membrane processing and post‐cleaning, increasing membrane performance, and reducing membrane resistance and fouling.