This study was concerned with the recovery of aroma compounds from aqueous solutions by pervaporation using poly(ether-block-amide) (PEBA) membranes. Three model aroma compounds (i.e., propyl propionate, C6-aldehyde and benzaldehyde) were used in the study to represent ester, aldehyde and aromatic aroma compounds, respectively. The effects of process conditions (i.e., feed concentration and operating temperature) on the pervaporation performance (in terms of permeation flux and selectivity) for aroma-water separations were investigated. It was found that both the aroma permeation flux and the selectivity were affected significantly by the feed aroma concentration. The aroma permeability was in the order of propyl propionate > C6-aldehyde > benzaldehyde, and the membrane selectivity for aroma/water separation followed the order of C6-aldehyde > propyl propionate > benzaldehyde. In general, the aroma flux was found to be proportional to the aroma compound concentration in the solution. In the concentration range (390-3,200 ppm) tested, the effect of temperature on the permeation flux followed an Arrhenius type of relation. The solubility and diffusivity of the aroma compounds in PEBA membrane, which determine their permeabilities through the membrane, were determined from the pervaporation and sorption/desorption data. It was shown that the solubility of the aroma compounds in the PEBA membrane generally followed the Henry’s law where the sorption uptake was proportional to the feed aroma concentration. Among the three aroma compounds studied, benzaldehyde was found to have the highest solubility selectivity in the PEBA membrane, followed by C6-aldehyde and propyl propionate. The solubilities of pure propyl propionate and water in PEBA membrane were also estimated; the solubility of pure propyl propionate was around 130 times higher than that of pure water. This confirmed that PEBA was an excellent organophilic membrane. The diffusivity of the aroma compounds through PEBA membrane was affected by the feed aroma concentration. From steady state pervaporation and equilibrium sorption data, the diffusivity was calculated on the basis of solution-diffusion model, and the diffusivity was shown to be linearly dependent on the feed aroma concentration. On the other hand, from the sorption kinetics data obtained from the time-dependent sorption experiments, the diffusivity was shown to be affected by the feed aroma concentration exponentially. The main reason may be that the simple form of the solution-diffusion model is unable to precisely describe the mass transport through the membrane during pervaporation. As an alternative to pervaporation where the liquid feed is in contact with the membrane and the mass transport involves permeation and evaporation (thus the word “pervaporation”), evaporation-permeation (or evapermeation, where the feed liquid is not in direct contact with the membrane and the mass transfer involves evaporation and then permeation) was also studied for aroma compound separation from water. It was shown that evapermeation was no better than pervaporation in terms of permeation flux and selectivity. This again demonstrated that the state of the membrane and the location for liquid-vapor phase change were important to the mass transport through the membrane. For aroma recovery from dilute aqueous solutions, batch pervaporation is often preferred. Batch pervaporation coupled with permeate decantation and water phase recycle was studied parametrically. It was demonstrated that compared to the conventional pervaporation, the aroma recovery can be enhanced by recycling the water phase from the permeate decanter to the feed for further recovery. In addition, unlike the conventional batch operation where the product concentration starts to decrease beyond certain time, the modified batch pervaporation allows a longer period of operation without compromising the product purity.

This study was concerned with the recovery of aroma compounds from aqueous solutions by pervaporation using poly(ether-block-amide) (PEBA) membranes. Three model aroma compounds (i.e., propyl propionate, C6-aldehyde and benzaldehyde) were used in the study to represent ester, aldehyde and aromatic aroma compounds, respectively. The effects of process conditions (i.e., feed concentration and operating temperature) on the pervaporation performance (in terms of permeation flux and selectivity) for aroma-water separations were investigated. It was found that both the aroma permeation flux and the selectivity were affected significantly by the feed aroma concentration. The aroma permeability was in the order of propyl propionate > C6-aldehyde > benzaldehyde, and the membrane selectivity for aroma/water separation followed the order of C6-aldehyde > propyl propionate > benzaldehyde. In general, the aroma flux was found to be proportional to the aroma compound concentration in the solution. In the concentration range (390-3,200 ppm) tested, the effect of temperature on the permeation flux followed an Arrhenius type of relation. The solubility and diffusivity of the aroma compounds in PEBA membrane, which determine their permeabilities through the membrane, were determined from the pervaporation and sorption/desorption data. It was shown that the solubility of the aroma compounds in the PEBA membrane generally followed the Henry’s law where the sorption uptake was proportional to the feed aroma concentration. Among the three aroma compounds studied, benzaldehyde was found to have the highest solubility selectivity in the PEBA membrane, followed by C6-aldehyde and propyl propionate. The solubilities of pure propyl propionate and water in PEBA membrane were also estimated; the solubility of pure propyl propionate was around 130 times higher than that of pure water. This confirmed that PEBA was an excellent organophilic membrane. The diffusivity of the aroma compounds through PEBA membrane was affected by the feed aroma concentration. From steady state pervaporation and equilibrium sorption data, the diffusivity was calculated on the basis of solution-diffusion model, and the diffusivity was shown to be linearly dependent on the feed aroma concentration. On the other hand, from the sorption kinetics data obtained from the time-dependent sorption experiments, the diffusivity was shown to be affected by the feed aroma concentration exponentially. The main reason may be that the simple form of the solution-diffusion model is unable to precisely describe the mass transport through the membrane during pervaporation. As an alternative to pervaporation where the liquid feed is in contact with the membrane and the mass transport involves permeation and evaporation (thus the word “pervaporation”), evaporation-permeation (or evapermeation, where the feed liquid is not in direct contact with the membrane and the mass transfer involves evaporation and then permeation) was also studied for aroma compound separation from water. It was shown that evapermeation was no better than pervaporation in terms of permeation flux and selectivity. This again demonstrated that the state of the membrane and the location for liquid-vapor phase change were important to the mass transport through the membrane. For aroma recovery from dilute aqueous solutions, batch pervaporation is often preferred. Batch pervaporation coupled with permeate decantation and water phase recycle was studied parametrically. It was demonstrated that compared to the conventional pervaporation, the aroma recovery can be enhanced by recycling the water phase from the permeate decanter to the feed for further recovery. In addition, unlike the conventional batch operation where the product concentration starts to decrease beyond certain time, the modified batch pervaporation allows a longer period of operation without compromising the product purity.

L'emballage alimentaire est l'un des principaux acteurs de la préservation de la sécurité alimentaire et de la qualité au cours du stockage. Toutefois, de transferts de masse se produisent entre le l'emballage polymère et les denrées alimentaires. Polylactide (PLA) est un nouveau polymère biosourcé utilisé dans les applications d'emballage. Pour cela son interaction avec des denrées alimentaires a été étudiée dans des conditions réelles d'utilisation. Une méthodologie originale basée sur l'extraction multiple de l'espace de tête (MHE) et l'extraction multiple de l'espace de tête couplée à la microextraction sur phase solide (MHS-SPME) pour la mesure de sorption de composés organiques volatils (COVs) dans le PLA a été développé à des activités faibles et dans le domaine vitreux du polymère. Les COVs ayant une structure chimique modérément hydrophobe et des similarités de structure avec le PLA montrent une forte affinité pour le polymère. Plus surprenant, la forte sorption de composés aromatiques, notamment du benzaldéhyde, a été montrée. En mélange avec d'autres COVs le benzaldéhyde favorise leur sorption par un effet synergique. De plus, même à des activités faibles (0,01) et en présence de benzaldéhyde, la sorption de COVs induit une cristallisation du PLA. En contact avec un aliment aqueux, le PLA se montre résistant à l'hydrolyse et la sorption des matières grasses est faible, même en utilisant des conditions de stockage proches de sa transition vitreuse. L'apparition de COVs pendant le procédé de transformation a été étudiée par MHS-SPME. Des lactides, l'acétaldéhyde et le 2,3-pentanedione étaient détectés après extrusion et thermoformage. Les quantités des deux derniers composés diminuaient cependant pendant le procédé de thermoformage. / Packaging plays a major role in the preservation of food but mass transfer between the packaging material and foodstuff occurs during shelf life leading to the quality deterioration. Polylactide (PLA) is a novel packaging material; therefore its interaction with food was investigated at service conditions. The sorption of ethyl esters, benzaldehyde and 2-nonanone at low concentrations and in mixture and the effects on the thermal properties of PLA were studied. Multiple Headspace Extraction (MHE) and Multiple Headspace coupled to Solid Phase MicroExtraction (MHS-SPME) developed here allow to show a high affinity for moderately hydrophilic molecules sharing structure similarities with PLA such as ethyl acetate. However, a very high affinity for the aromatic structure of benzaldehyde was revealed which seems to favor interaction and sorption of the aroma compounds present in the mixture. At 0.01 activities, a plasticization by aroma compounds was observed and a solvent induced crystallization seemed to be correlated to the sorption of benzaldehyde. The contact between a flavored food emulsion and PLA, using conditions near the PLA glass transition showed that PLA hydrolysis was moderate and oil and aroma compound sorption was low. The formation of VOC during the PLA manufacturing process was assessed by MHS-SPME. Lactides, acetaldehyde and 2,3-pentanedione are VOCs present in PLA after extrusion and thermoforming. The two latter compounds increased after extrusion and then decreased or disappeared after thermoforming.

Les choix et préférences des consommateurs pour les aliments sont largement conditionnés par leurs propriétés sensorielles, et notamment par les perceptions aromatiques dans le cas des boissons alcoolisées. Un des enjeux des industriels du secteur pour contrôler et développer les ventes des produits est de mieux comprendre les déterminants de la qualité sensorielle de ces produits. Les travaux réalisés dans le cadre de ce projet de thèse concernent les cognacs et visent à appréhender les liens entre la composition des produits, les étapes du processus d’élaboration, dont la phase de vieillissement, et leurs caractéristiques sensorielles finales. L’objectif est notamment de comprendre l’impact des constituants de la matrice des cognacs sur la libération et la perception des composés d’arôme. Pour répondre à cet objectif, une stratégie fondée sur des approches sensorielle et physicochimique a été mise en œuvre. Les travaux réalisés en évaluation sensorielle ont permis de montrer l’absence d’impact des constituants non-volatils et de réaffirmer l’importance des composés d’arôme dans la perception des différences sensorielles entre les cognacs. Le suivi des libérations de composés d’arôme par PTR-MS au cours de la consommation des cognacs a été possible par la mise au point de conditions opératoires compatibles avec la teneur élevée en éthanol des produits. Ces travaux ont montré que les composés d’arôme clés pour la perception des cognacs étaient libérés en plus grandes quantités dans les cognacs les plus âgés. En revanche, aucune différence entre les produits n’a été constatée au niveau de la temporalité de ces libérations. L’application des approches statistiques prédictives a finalement permis de montrer qu’il est possible de prédire les propriétés sensorielles des cognacs à partir de certaines de leurs caractéristiques physicochimiques, et que les corrélations établies entre les variables physicochimiques et sensorielles pouvaient être expliquées qualitativement grâce aux connaissances existantes dans la littérature et à celles des experts, notamment concernant leur processus d’élaboration. / Consumer’s choices and preferences for foods are widely influenced by their sensory properties, and especially by aromatic perceptions in the case of alcoholic beverages. One of the challenges of wine and spirit industries for controlling and developing product sales is to gain insights on the determinants of the sensory quality of their products. The work carried out during this PhD project concerns cognacs and aim to apprehend the links between product composition, the stages in their elaboration process, including maturation, and their final sensory properties. An important objective is to understand the impact of cognac matrix components on aroma compounds release and perception. To fulfill this objective, a strategy based on the use of physicochemical and sensory approaches was set up. Sensory evaluation enabled to highlight the absence of impact of non-volatile components and to reaffirm the essential effect of aroma compounds for the perception of sensory differences between cognacs. The monitoring of the release of aroma compounds by PTR-MS during cognac consumption has been possible by the setting up of operating conditions allowing the analysis of high ethanol-containing beverages. These works have shown that key aroma compounds for cognac perception were released in higher amounts in the oldest cognacs. However, no difference was observed concerning their temporality of release. The development of statistical approaches finally showed that it was possible to predict the sensory properties of cognacs from their physicochemical characteristics. Correlations between physicochemical and sensory variables could be qualitatively explained in reference to the knowledge on the elaboration process of cognac in the literature and held by experts.

La qualité des eaux-de-vie est un paramètre associé à la composition en composés volatils d’arôme. Cette composition résulte de la combinaison de différents facteurs dont la nature et le traitement des matières premières, mais surtout des transformations ayant lieu lors des phases de fermentation, distillation et, dans la plupart de cas, vieillissement.La distillation est une opération de séparation pratiquée depuis des millénaires, avec une technologie assez mature. Cependant, dans le domaine des eaux-de-vie, elle s’appuie essentiellement sur des connaissances empiriques. L’objectif de ce doctorat fut de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension du comportement des composés volatils d’arôme au cours de différents modes de distillation et de fournir des bases scientifiques à la conduite des unités par le biais de modules de simulation. L’attention a été portée sur la distillation d’Armagnac et de Calvados dans des colonnes multiétagées en régime stationnaire.Les modules de simulation ont été construits avec le logiciel ProSimPlus®. La première partie des travaux a été consacrée à l’acquisition de données d’équilibre liquide-vapeur des composés volatils d’arôme en milieu hydroalcoolique pour l’identification du modèle NRTL, en suivant trois approches complémentaires : recherche dans la littérature, détermination expérimentale et prédiction théorique avec les modèles UNIFAC et COSMO. Grâce à la connaissance acquise sur les volatilités relatives par rapport à l’éthanol et à l’eau, les composés volatils d’arôme ont pu être classés en trois groupes : composés légers, composés intermédiaires et composés lourds. La deuxième partie des travaux a porté sur la construction et la validation des modules de simulation, après réconciliation des données issues de la caractérisation expérimentale des unités de distillation. Cette investigation démontre que la simulation est un outil d’ingénierie performant dans le domaine des eaux-de-vie. Les résultats de la simulation ont permis d’affiner la classification des composés intermédiaires en trois catégories supplémentaires selon leur profil de concentration dans la colonne et leur taux de récupération dans le distillat. Enfin, cet outil a mis en évidence que certains paramètres opératoires, notamment l’augmentation de la teneur en éthanol du distillat ainsi que l’extraction de queues, favorisent la séparation préférentielle de certaines espèces de volatilité faible ou intermédiaire par rapport à l’éthanol. / The quality of spirits is a parameter related to the composition of volatile aroma compounds. This composition results from the combined production process of raw material extraction, subsequent fermentation, distillation and, in many cases, ageing.Distillation is a very old and the most important industrial separation technology. However, in spirits production, this operation relies essentially on empirical knowledge. The aim of this PhD was to contribute to a better understanding of the volatile aroma compounds behaviour in spirits distillation and to provide a scientific basis for the process through computer simulation. The study was focused on Armagnac and Calvados production by continuous multistage distillation.The simulation modules were built using the software ProSimPlus®. The first part of this research was dedicated to the acquisition of vapor-liquid equilibrium data of the volatile aroma compounds in ethanol-water solutions, in order to estimate the binary interaction parameters of the NRTL model.Three complementary approaches of data acquisition were used: literature compilation, experimental measurements and predictions with UNIFAC and COSMO models.According to their relative volatilities with respect to ethanol and water, the volatile aroma compounds can be classified in three groups: light compounds, intermediary compounds and heavy compounds. The second part of this research dealt with the creation and validation of simulation modules, by using reconciled experimental data from the distillation units. The results prove that simulation is a powerful tool in spirits distillation. The simulation data enables a more precise classification of the intermediary compounds in three categories, by considering their composition profiles in the distillation column and their recovery ratios from feed to distillate. Finally, the analysis of some operating parameters, including ethanol concentration in the distillate as well as tails extractions, demonstrates that the distillate composition can be modified by virtue of a selective separation of intermediary and heavy compounds with respect to ethanol.

Une approche intégrée physicochimie et relations structure-activité a été mise en œuvre afin d’étudier le phénomène rétention-libération des composés d’arôme dans un gel laitier allégé additionné de pectine. Notre objectif était d’identifier les propriétés moléculaires qui régissent ce phénomène en supposant que la modification de la structure entraîne forcement un changement dans la rétention-libération des composés d’arôme. Dans ce but, nous avons déterminé les coefficients de partage de 28 composés d’arôme dans l’eau, dans des gels de pectine et dans des gels laitiers avec ou sans de pectine, à l’équilibre en utilisant la méthode PRV (Phase Ratio Variation). Nous avons ensuite effectué une étude des relations structure-rétention en évaluant les corrélations entre les coefficients de partage et quatre descripteurs traduisant quatre propriétés moléculaires : l’hydrophobie globale, la surface moléculaire, la polarisabilité et la densité de charge négative. Notre démarche d’étude des relations structure-activité (Structure-Activity Relationships, SAR) consistait à étudier des composés d’arôme appartenant à une gamme de structures variée, dans un même ensemble, puis en sous-groupes en fonction d’une particularité structurale donnée afin de révéler les particularités de la structure qui influent sur le phénomène rétention-libération. La comparaison des rétentions entre les milieux n’a pas montré l’existence d’un effet pectine. Les études des relations structure-activité ont montré l’impact de certaines particularités structurales telles que la ramification et la double liaison sur la rétention. Elles ont également montré que l’hydrophobie globale des molécules n’était pas la propriété moléculaire la plus à même d’expliquer les phénomènes impliqués dans les interactions de molécules odorantes avec les constituants du milieu (eau ou gel laitier). La surface et la polarisabilité rendent mieux compte des rétentions des composés d’arôme. Les corrélations impliquant la surface, la polarisabilité et l’hydrophobie globale, confirment que les interactions de type van der Waals (essentiellement Keesom et London) sont favorables à la rétention dans les gels laitiers et défavorables à la rétention dans l’eau. De même, les corrélations impliquant la densité de charge montrent que les interactions polaires sont favorables à la rétention dans l’eau. Notre choix de départ, qui consistait à faire varier la structure des composés d’arôme afin d’apprécier son effet sur le phénomène rétention-libération des composés d’arôme, s’est avéré concluant, et le groupe de 28 composés permet effectivement de mener une étude quantitative des relations structure-propriété. Cette démarche QSAR pourra se transposer à des systèmes alimentaires simples ou complexes. / An integrated approach physicochemistry and structures activity relationships has been carried out to study the aroma compounds retention-release phenomenon in a fat free dairy gel added with pectin. This study aimed to identify the molecular properties that govern this phenomenon assuming that modifying the structure leads automatically to a change in the retention-release of aroma compounds. For this purpose, we have determined the partition coefficients of 28 aroma compounds in water, in pectin gels and in dairy gels supplemented or not supplemented with pectin, at equilibrium conditions using the PRV method (Phase Ratio Variation). Then, we have performed a structure-retention relationships study for the aroma compounds by estimating correlations between the partition coefficients and four descriptors representing four molecular properties: Global hydrophobicity, molecular area, polarizability and negative charge density. Our methodology concerning the structure-activity relationships study (SAR) consisted on studying a varied range of aroma compounds in terms of molecular structure, first taking into account all of them in the same set, then in separated subgroups according to a given structural particularity in order to reveal which structural particularities control the retention-release phenomenon. The comparison of retention between the several media has not shown any effect of pectin. Structure-activity relationships studies have shown the impact of some structural particularities like branching and double linking. They have also shown that the global hydrophobicity was not the best molecular property to explain the phenomena involved in the interactions between aroma compounds and matrix components (water and dairy gel). Molecular area and polarizability are more likely to report of aroma retention-release. Correlations implying molecular area, polarizability or global hydrophobicity confirm that van der Waals (especially Keesom and London) are involved in the retention in dairy gels and unfavourable in the retention in water. Correlations implying negative charge density show that polar interactions are favourable in the retention in water as well. Our strategy which consisted on varying the structure of aroma compounds to exanimate its effect on the retention-release phenomenon was found to be effective, and the set of 28 aroma compounds allowed as leading a quantitative structure-property relationships study. This QSAR approach can be transposed to simple or complex food systems.