Dairy Industry

Specsheets

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Whey Protein Concentration/Isolate Production

Synder’s polymeric spiral-wound ultrafiltration membranes are standard for the separation of whey protein concentrate and isolate from cheese whey. VT (PES 3kDa), MT (PES 5kDa), and ST (PES 10kDa) ultrafiltration membranes are commonly used in this application to provide an optimal balance of flux, protein separation, and membrane durability. Membrane filtration is a preferred method for this application, and Synder supplies products and service for customers around the world with our sanitary elements which conform to 3A, FDA, and USDA sanitary standards.


Benefits of using membrane process:

  1. Physical way to selectively separate components, compared to ionic exchange
  2. Low energy requirements, compared to using a direct evaporator
  3. Better recovery of valuable protein fraction and mineral composition

For WPC, a continuous ultrafiltration system is typically set up stage-by-stage along with diafiltration in later stage to increase the removal efficiency of small non-protein species into the permeate. In the stage-by-stage configuration, the customer typically increases the spacer size of the element to maximize the solid content during the later stage of filtration.

For WPI, microfiltration is necessary step to lower the fat content in whey protein. Ultrafiltration is applied to the defatted protein, along with diafiltration for later stage. The resulting WPI product is typically higher in whey protein and lower in fat and lactose than WPC.

Recommended membrane:

VT, MT, ST
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