Ultrafiltration of cheese whey

Aimar, P., Taddei, C., Lafaille, J.P., and Sanchez, V., Mass transfer limitations during ultrafiltration of cheese whey with inorganic membranes, J. Membr. Sci., 38, 203, 1988. 

Processes for crystallization of lactose are well established, with production generally limited to a few large plants. Although a variety of cheese wheys and whey ultrafiltrates can be used for lactose production, sweet whey or ultrafiltrates are preferred (Woychik 1982). The crystallization process has three basic steps ... 

The three proteins chosen for this study are a mildly produced soy protein isolate, kindly provided by Central Soya, a commercially available sodium caseinate (DMV, Holland) and a whey protein concentrate (WPC) obtained by ultrafiltration (UF) and spray drying of cheese whey. Analysis of the proteins is given in (4) and (11). The present protein products have been investigated , when dispersed in distilled water and in 0.2 M NaCl solution at pH 7 denoted as (0 - 7) and (0.2 - 7), respectively. 

Fachin, L., and Viotto, W.H. (2005). Effect of pH and heat treatment of cheese whey on solubility and emulsifying properties of whey protein concentrate produced by ultrafiltration. Int. Dairy ]. 15, 325-332. 

Even though enzymatic conversion is not too effective, it is possible to prepare semipermeable membranes whose ultrafiltration yields are higher than those of passive membranes.74 75 Ultrafiltration experiments of cheese whey through cellulosic membranes to which papain was covalently bound, show that flux decay curves of enzymatic membranes are even less sensitive to pH changes.74... 

Figure 3.26 Processing of cheese whey using multiple membrane systems and a membrane recycle bioreactor. Source Cheryan, Copyright 1998 from Ultrafiltration and Microfiltration Handbook by M. Cheryan. Reproduced by permission of Routledge/Taylor Francis Group, LLC.

Typical applications of ultrafiltration processes are the treatment of electroplating rinse water, the treatment of cheese whey, and the treatment of waste-water from the pulp and paper industry. 

K. marxianus var. fragilis which utilizes lactose, produces a food-giade yeast product from cheese whey or cheese whey permeates collected from ultrafiltration processes at cheese plants. Again, the process is similar to that used with C. utilis (2,63). The Provesteen process can produce fragiUs yeast from cheese whey or cheese whey permeate at cell concentrations ia the range of 110—120 g/L, dry wt basis (70,73). 

The largest industrial use of ultrafiltration is the recovery of paint from water-soluble coat bases (primers) applied by the wet electrodeposition process (electrocoating) in auto and appliance factories. Many installations of this type are operating around the world. The recovery of proteins in cheese whey (a waste from cheese processing) for dairy applications is the second largest application, where a... 

Ultrafiltration is a French originated process that uses a membrane filtering system. In its raw form, whey contains protein, lactose, ash, and some minerals. This should not surprise anyone since whey is the bi-product of cheese or casein production from milk. The original ultrafiltration method separated the ash and lactose from the whey protein resulting in a product providing about 35-70% protein. As the process improved the protein, content was elevated to up to 80% -86.5% protein content. Ultrafiltration provides a decent product with... 

Because of the challenging environment in which ultrafiltration membranes are operated and the regular cleaning cycles, membrane lifetime is significantly shorter than that of reverse osmosis membranes. Ultrafiltration module lifetimes are rarely more than 2-3 years, and modules may be replaced annually in cheese whey or electrocoat paint applications. In contrast, reverse osmosis membranes are normally not cleaned more than once or twice per year and can last 4-5 years. 

Figure 6.23 Simplified flow schematic of an ultrafiltration/reverse osmosis process to extract valuable components from cheese whey...

Fukumoto, L.R., Li-Chan, E., Kwan, L., and Nakai, S. 1994b. Isolation of immunoglobulins from cheese whey using ultrafiltration and immobilized metal affinity chromatography. Food Res. Int. 

Filtration of small (nano) particles from solvent using a filter with extremely small pores (0.001-0.010 micron) finer than ultrafiltration, not as fine as reverse osmosis. Used for the removal of viruses from plasma protein products. See Yaroshchuk, A.E., Dielectric exclusion of ions from membranes, Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 85,193-230,2000 Rossano, R., D Elia, A., and Riccio, R, One-step separation from lactose recovery and purification of major cheese-whey proteins by hydroxyapatite — a flexible... 

Separation of lactic and propionic acids. The lactose fraction in the sweet whey permeate from cheese whey ultrafiltration can be fermented to produce lactic acid. In conjunction with the fermentation step, inorganic membranes have been tested in a continuous process to separate the lactic acid. This approach improves the productivity and reduces energy consumption compared to a conventional fermentation process. In addition, it produces a cell-free product. In a conventional process, some cells, although immobilized, are often detached and released to the product Zirconia membranes with a MWCX) of 20,000 daltons were operated at 42 C and a crossflow velocity of 2-5 m/s for this purpose [Boyaval et al., 1987]. The resulting permeate flux is 12-16 L/hr-m. To... 

Propionic acid and its derivatives are used in food, perfume and plastic applications. Traditional processes for making this compound, however, have limited productivity due to the low growth rate of the propionic bacteria and the inhibitory effect of the acid on the fermentation. The cheese whey permeate can be an inexpensive source of propionic acid. Propionic acids can be produced by fermentation of sweet whey permeate in a stirred tank reactor with cells separated from the medium and recycled back to the reactor by an ultrafiltration Z1O2 membrane on a carbon support [Boyaval and Corre, 1987]. This arrangement reduces the propionic acid concentration and increases the... 

Ultrafiltration processing for whey proteins concentration and fractionation, for recovery of lactose from milk and whey, for total milk protein concentration for the production of milk protein concentrate (MFC) or nulk protein isolate (MPl), for milk standardization for continuous mechanized manufacture of cheese and other fermented products, and for production of high-solids milk base for dried milk production. 

Ultrafiltration may be integrated into the cheesemaking process either for partial milk concentration or full milk concentration (Table 22.1), in which cutting and whey drainage are entirely eliminated and 100% of the whey proteins of milk are retained in the cheese matrix [28,75,76], The reduced volume of the liquid pre-cheese and the absence of whey drainage from the curd when UF pre-cheese is used lead to the reduction of rennet requirement by -80% compared to what is usually needed in conventional manufacture of cheese [25,77],... 

Merin, U. and Cheryan, M., Eactors affecting the mechanism of flux decline during ultrafiltration of cottage cheese whey, J. Food Proc. 

Castro, B.N. Gerla, P.E. Hollow fiber and spiral cheese whey ultrafiltration Minimizing controlling resistances. Journal of Food Engineering 2005, 69, 495-502. 

The principle of cheese production by ultrafiltration is that the proteins are concentrated by UF in the soluble form, i.e. before the enzyme treatment. The concentration is controlled in such a way that the composition of the concentrate as regards fat, protein, salts and water, is equivalent to the composition of the finished cheese. It is at this point the enzyme is added, causing the cheese to set in the form, into which it has been poured. The whey proteins, which were previously wasted during the traditional process, remain in the finished cheese, resulting in increased production and therefore higher profits. I shall revert to this later. 

Hayes et al. (21) studied the effects of pH variation on the ultrafiltration of Cheddar cheese and HCl casein wheys. Their earlier work had shown that both wheys gave low flux rates at pH... 

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