Effect of Whey Composition on Ultrafiltration Performance

Abstract

The ultrafiltration (UF) of acid, cheese, and Shrikhand wheys is strongly affected by membrane fouling. UF membrane performance is significantly improved by a clarification procedure consisting of raising the pH to 7.5 and filtering out the precipitate. This improvement due to clarification can be attributed not only to the reduction in Ca salts but also to the reduced concentration of high molecular weight proteins such as immunoglobulin G, which have isoelectric points near the clarification pH. UF data with previously well-characterized membranes showed that the flux/protein rejection characteristics of the clarified wheys are similar to those for filtration of single-component (BSA) solutions. Keywords: Clarification; pretreatment; whey; ultrafiltration; immunoglobulins