Downstream Processing of Bovine Lactoferrin from Sweet Whey

Abstract

The development of a downstream process for the isolation of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) from sweet whey is presented. Whey is a by-product from the cheese manufacturing process that is often used to produce whey protein concentrate powders for food applications. Besides the major whey proteins such as lactalbumin or BSA, minor whey proteins are present such as lactoperoxidase and bLF. In addition to the well-known biological functions as an antimicrobial and antiviral agent, bLF shows immunomodulatory functions in the host defence system. For the isolation of bLF, a two-step downstream process was developed based on membrane systems. This paper discusses the application of several membrane types for a crossflow filtration of sweet whey to remove insoluble particles and lipids from the whey with the aim of obtaining a permeate which can be directly used for downstreaming the minor component via ion exchange membrane adsorber systems. The application of such a membrane adsorber is demonstrated.