The possibility of using pervaporation for the recovery of natural aroma compounds in the food industry has been widely recognised. The aim of this study was to build a bridge between experimental studies of multi-component systems and potential applications of pervaporation in the food industry. Therefore, a novel process simulation of pervaporation has been developed for multi-component mixtures. By applying this simulation to 10 aroma compounds of relevance in the food industry, the influence of process parameters such as permeate pressure, feed temperature, degree of aroma folding and membrane area, on the performance of pervaporation has been investigated. Based on the results of the simulations, it has been demonstrated that process simulation can play an important role in integrating and optimising pervaporation in the food industry. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.