Continuous flow removal of patulin by cysteine and porcine pancreatic lipase-modified hierarchical mesoporous zirconium metal–organic framework aerogel for apple juice treatment

Patulin (PAT) is a mycotoxin synthesized by fungi such as Penicillium expansum. It has become a key risk indicator in fruit juices and therefore needs to be removed. Here, we used an ex-situ method and a self-assembly strategy to prepare a green carboxymethyl cellulose@hierarchical mesoporous zirconium metal–organic framework-cysteine/porcine pancreatic lipase (CMC@HMMOF-Cys/PPL) aerogel for the safe and efficient removal of PAT from apple juice. The optimal CMC@HMMOF-Cys/PPL aerogel exhibited high adsorption capacity (38.41 μg/mg), excellent degradation capacity (28.68 μg/mg at 10 μg/mL PAT), good reusability and storage stability, and improved selectivity. Notably, it could be customized as a filler for flow reactors to achieve the safe and efficient removal of PAT from apple juice. More importantly, the CMC@HMMOF-Cys/PPL aerogel designed did not have a significant effect on the quality of apple juice. The present study provided a new method for removing PAT from apple juice and further expanded the real-world applications of MOFs.