we The key difference between maceration and percolation is that maceration is the process of soaking or steeping something to make it soft while percolation is the process of seeping water through the soil or filtering a liquid through a porous material.
Maceration and percolation are two important processes used to separate out interested components from a mixture. Simply, they are extraction methods that facilitate the extraction of substances into a liquid. Maceration and percolation have different applications. Among them, their use in preparation tinctures is very popular.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Maceration
3. What is Percolation
4. Similarities Between Maceration and Percolation
5. Side by Side Comparison – Maceration vs Percolation in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is Maceration?
Maceration is the process of soaking or steeping anything to make it softer. Maceration is helpful in dehydration of foods, in the flavouring of ingredients as well as making wine. Moreover, maceration involves a number of biological and chemical processes. Furthermore, maceration is also carried to preserve food that is sold in its packed form. All the types of maceration, whether they are chemical or biological, it involves the softening of some substance. When macerating fruits, ingredients such as sugar, lemon juice and spices can be added at the time of the crushing and sprinkling. Likewise, we can prepare different types of fruit dishes by macerating them.
Figure 01: Maceration
Furthermore, before cooking meat products, they macerate in a mixture of liquids for the purpose of marinating to make them better and enhance the taste. And also, a number of vegetables macerate before they are grilled to make their taste better and much enjoyable. Mostly alcohol incorporates in the maceration of different foods since it helps to soften of foods. Macerated foods allow them to have a separate look making them much enjoyable and tasty on pairing them with desserts. However, maceration is a process that requires proper control. If maceration proceeds for a longer time than the correct time, it breaks down food and makes it mushy. The process of maceration also helps in freeing the food from coming in contact with bacteria.
What is Percolation?
Percolation is a process of seeping water through the soil or filtering a liquid through a porous substance. Especially, rainfall seeps underground via the percolation. During the percolation of rainfall, water travels through small spaces or pores between rock and soil particles along the gravitational pull. Hence, percolation helps to replenish the aquifers underground.
Figure 02: Percolation
Furthermore, percolation is carried out on basins where polluted materials are filled. 750 tons of soil can be filled in these basins of the bioreactor. Polluted water spread on the surface of the soil and allow draining through the soil basins. The infiltrated water heaps through the soil. And they come out from the drainage system of the bioreactor. Another application of percolation is the preparation of tinctures and brewing liquids such as coffee. When the liquid passes through the filter, it prevents the microbes entering to the filtrate. It is some kind of a sterilization technique.
What are the Similarities Between Maceration and Percolation?
- Maceration and Percolation are extraction methods.
- These processes are useful in preparing tinctures.
What is the Difference Between Maceration and Percolation?
Maceration is a method of softening something while percolation is a method of filtering liquids through a porous material. Both methods are extraction methods. The key target of the process of maceration is to make the substance, on which liquid is applied, softer than before. Percolation, on the other hand, targets taking some pollutant or colour out of a mixture. Percolation makes use of gravity and biological techniques which allow some substances free of pollution. The key difference between maceration and percolation is the reaction that these processes perform. Thus, maceration is a process for softening of certain substance while percolation is a process that we use to disinfect some substance with the use of microorganisms unlike the use of fluid in Maceration.
The below infographic on difference between maceration and percolation shows more differences between these two extraction methods.
Summary – Maceration vs Percolation
Maceration and percolation are extraction methods. Maceration involves soaking or steeping. On the other hand, percolation involves filtration through a porous material. Therefore, this is the key difference between maceration and percolation. Both methods facilitate the extraction of desired substances from a mixture. However, their applications differ from each other. Maceration makes substances softer than before they were while percolation makes liquid drain through pores downwards. Furthermore, maceration does not involve gravity while percolation occurs towards the gravity.
Reference:
1.“Percolation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Sept. 2018. Available here
2.“Maceration (Wine).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Jan. 2018. Available here
Image Courtesy:
1.”Mthomebrew maceration”By Agne27, (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2.”Manual coffee preperation”By miheco from California, USA – FlickrUploaded by JohnnyMrNinja, (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia