Influence of process parameters on the foam separation course of whey proteins

Abstract

Consulta en la Biblioteca ETSI Industriales (8271)

[EN] Whey has generally been considered as the by-product by cheese production and in addition, a problem to get rid of. Hence, before it was regulated by the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) it was often dumped in fields and into earthen seepage pits and sometimes fed to hogs. Components of whey, especially the proteins and peptides, and their properties allowed transforming the whey from a waste material that has often been shunned, to a valuable dairy stream containing a multitude of components available for exploitation in the agri-food, biotechnology, medical, and related markets. Currently there is a good market for whey due to the development of technological processes that can produce useful products from whey e.q. nutrient for children. Proteins of whey are valuable products and foam separation is one of the processes than can be conducted for extracting them. Foaming has long been employed in the purification and concentration of conventional surface-active substances since about 40 years. The surface activity of proteins is well recognized and the foam formation by proteins has been studied in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Foam fractionation plays an important role in diverse fields both for recovering valuable solutes and for removal of impurities and pollutants from diluted solutions. The objective of the presented thesis is to investigate an influence of process parameters on the course and the final result of the whey protein foam separation.