Isolation of Starch and Protein from Chickpea Flour Using a Hydrocyclone and Isoelectric Precipitation Method

Abstract

Pin-milled chickpea flour was fractionated to obtain isolated starch and isolated protein using isoelectric precipitation method. Two processes were employed for fractionation and isolation. In process 1 hydrocyclone and centrifuge were employed; however, in process 2, centrifuge and sieve were used. Process 1 produced three fractions, namely, isolated starch, isolated protein, and supernatant. The starch fraction, with starch separation efficiency of 99.7% contained 75.0% starch and 2.13% protein; whereas, the protein fraction, with protein separation efficiency of 89.3% contained 81.91% protein and 0.9% starch. Process 2 produced four fractions including isolated starch, isolated protein, cell wall fraction, and supernatant. The starch fraction, having lower starch separation efficiency than process 1 contained 78.3% starch and 2.91% protein; whereas, the protein fraction, with lower protein separation efficiency than process 1 contained 80.24% protein and 0.4% starch. The cell wall fraction contained 69.4% total dietary fibre and 6.6% starch. The combination of sieving and centrifuge increased starch purity, although it reduced starch and protein recoveries in the starch and protein fractions, respectively.