Résumé
AIM : Mango is a worldwide consumed and appreciated tropical fruit. However, the mango sector in many producing countries suffers from important post-harvest losses due to the seasonal production of this fruit which is often consumed fresh. While there are already several ways to process mangoes to extend their shelf life, such as dry mango or puree, no study has yet addressed the processing of overripe mangoes. Even if overripe mangoes are no longer etable, they remain rich in compounds of nutritional and organoleptic interest such as sugar, polyphenols, carotenoids, aromas, etc., which could be extracted. METHODS : In a context of sustainability, microfiltration could be a promising technique to extract bioactive compounds from mango overripe pulp. However, given the rheological and physical properties of mango pulp, the microfiltration of such product is rarely studied and demonstrating the feasibility of this approach remains a big challenge. In this context, this work aimed to investigate through a specific microfiltration approach the feasibility to extract bioactive compounds with nutritional and organoleptic properties from overripe mangoes. The experimental strategy focused on the optimization of the performance of microfiltration process by a twin approach coupling mango pulp pre-treatment and hydrodynamic conditions. Overripe mangoes were selected based on their firmness by textural measurements, then grinded and conditioned for microfiltration. Different pre-treatments (classic and innovative) were tested as well as two filtration modes (crossflow and dead-end) to identify the most favourable process conditions enabling acceptable performance (permeate flux and extraction of bioactive compounds). RESULTS : Results showed that the innovative pre-treatment allowed to improve significantly the productivity of the process, as well as the extraction of polyphenols from mango overripe pulp. Moreover, even if the crossflow filtration mode enabled a better productivity, dead-end configuration seemed to be promising when combined with the innovative pre-treatment allowing to reach an interesting sustainable performance. CONCLUSION : This study offers new prospects to the development of a new process to upgrade overripe mangoes and thus limit the post-harvest losses of this fruit worldwide namely when the operating conditions are sustainable and operators friendly.