Abstract
A systematic selection of different transmembrane pressures (TMP) and levels of diafiltration (DF) was studied to optimize these critical process parameters during the manufacturing of micellar casein concentrate (MCC) using spiral-wound polymeric membrane filtration. Three TMPs (34.5, 62.1, and 103.4 kPa) and four DF levels (0, 70, 100, and 150%) were applied in the study. The effect of the TMP and DF level on flux rates, serum protein (SP) removal, the casein-to-total-protein ratio, the casein-to-true-protein ratio, and the rejection of casein and SP were evaluated. At all transmembrane pressures, the overall flux increased with increases in the DF level. The impact of DF on the overall flux was more pronounced at lower pressures than at higher pressures. With controlled DF, the instantaneous flux was maintained within 80% of the initial flux for the entire process run. The combination of 34.5 kPa and a DF level of 150% resulted in 81.45% SP removal, and a casein-to-true-protein ratio of 0.96. SP removal data from the lab-scale experiments were fitted into a mathematical model using DF levels and the square of TMPs as factors. The model developed in this study could predict SP removal within 90–95% of actual SP removal achieved from the pilot plant experiments.
Highlights
Membrane separation technology was introduced to dairy processing in the early1970s as an alternative to some thermal and non-thermal processes [1]
The micellar casein concentrate (MCC) is produced from the MF of skim milk by permeating most of the serum protein (SP) and non-protein nitrogen components, thereby increasing the ratio of casein to total protein (CN/TKN) and casein to true protein (CN/TP)
It has been shown that using ceramic membranes, over 95% of serum protein could be removed in a three-stage process in which diafiltration (DF) to a level of 200% was used
Summary
Membrane separation technology was introduced to dairy processing in the early1970s as an alternative to some thermal and non-thermal processes [1]. The MF process uses porous membranes with a porosity of 0.1 to 2 μm [2] and is extensively used in the defatting of whey stream in the production of whey protein isolates [3]. The interest in using MF in micellar casein concentrate (MCC) production has increased recently [4,5,6,7,8]. The retentate obtained from this process is a concentrated colloidal suspension [9] containing casein in micellar form, lactose, minerals, and some serum proteins. The permeate obtained from this process is another ideal starting material for manufacturing native serum protein concentrates, native α-lactalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin-enriched protein ingredients
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