Membrane separation of anthocyanins and sugars in extracts of chokeberry pomace

Chokeberries (genus Aronia) are known to be one of the richest sources of anthocyanins among fruits and berries (Kähkönen et al. 2001). In juice production, a large amount of the anthocyanins remains in the pomace, which is typically discarded as waste. This makes chokeberry pomace a valuable source of anthocyanins, that can be extracted and purified to be used in food and pharmaceutical applications (Borowska and Brzóska, 2016). However, other water-soluble compounds such as sugars and phenolic acids are also extracted along anthocyanins, and need to be removed from the solution to achieve an anthocyanin product of higher purity.
In the present work, extracts from chokeberry pomace have been subjected to ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis with the aim of removing sugars and increasing the concentration of anthocyanins.