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The high acidity of passion fruit limits its addition in food preparation and gives poor aroma and flavour products. The reduction of the acidity of the fruit juice can avoid this problem. Various methods such as calcium precipitation, ion-exchange resins and electrodialysis (ED) with homopolar and bipolar membranes (BMs) were investigated to deacidify yellow passion fruit juice. The pH of the juice was increased from 2.9 to 4.0. Calcium hydroxide and ED with BM are the most suitable processes in terms of physicochemical and sensorial analyses.

Among the various processes investigated, lime precipitation and ED with BM seem to be the most suitable processes in terms of physicochemical and sensorial analyses. During the ED on BM treatment, there was (1) no change in the cation concentration, (2) partial elimination of citrate and other anions without change in their relative proportions, (3) slight colour variation and (4) good flavour. Therefore, ED on BM could be a promising alternative to the conventional calcium precipitation process for the deacidification of passion fruit juice without reagent additions. Moreover, the added value of the citric acid simultaneously produced during the deacidification could improve the cost of this technique.