Abstract
In this study, a laser node with power 1 W and wavelength 532 nm was used to reduce the membrane fouling and evaluate its effect on the efficiency of membrane clarification of pomegranate juice. The results showed that the permeate flux increased in the presence of the laser due to the decrease in total resistance. Also, application of the laser in the pressurized process of 0.5 bar and the flow rate of 10 mL s(-1) had the best performance on the permeate flux. In addition, the laser alignment is an important parameter that gives the most efficiency in case of the vertical angle and the large surface exposure. This was confirmed by images obtained by scanning electron microscope. Evaluation of physicochemical properties of the pomegranate juice showed that they changed after membrane clarification; however, the rate of changes in the most parameters (except pH, total soluble solids content and color parameters) in two processes with and without the laser was same.