Examination of whey de-fatting by enhanced membrane filtration

The largest quantities of by-products of dairy processing originates from the cheese making. Whey proteins are used for animal feeding and human nutrition as well, for example in dry soups, infant formulas, and supplements. The fat components of the whey might impair its use. The aim of our experiments was to investigate the separation of the lipid fraction of whey. The microfiltration is said to be a gentle and energy efficient method for this task. During the measurements 0.2 μm microfiltration membranes were used and the membrane separation was enhanced by vibration, inserting static mixer and air sparging. The de-fatting efficiency, the retention of the whey components, the flux values, and the resistances in different combinations were compared in this paper