The effect of pretreatment of sugarcane juice and juice composition on the performance of a ceramic membrane with pore size of 20 nm has been studied. Pretreatment options assessed included heating juice (60, 75 and 90 degrees C) with and without sedimentation at specified pHs (7.2, 7.5 and 7.8) and using evaporator supply juice (ESJ). The average permeate flux at 75 degrees C and pH 7.8 for limed juice, and partially clarified juice, and ESJ were 278 L/m(2) h, 248 L/m(2) h and 160 L/m(2) h in that order. It was shown that with ESJ, where the juice is boiled, there are higher proportions of crystalline and microcrystalline phases, and other impurities which reduces the efficiency of the membrane filtration process as the cake resistance (1.17 x 10(12)/m) is 1.7 times higher than of the partially clarified juice. With respect to the juice quality, the results of the permeate derived from the partially clarified juice at 75 degrees C, show that the lowest pH value of 7.2 gave the largest impurity reduction, though liming at pH 7.5 would be the preferred treatment for industrial application because of pH drop during processing. The fouling mechanism for the partially clarified juice was shown to be the combined cake filtration-complete blocking model.