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2.3.3.2.2 Filtration
Filtration is an important process for several different foodstuffs, including milk, oils, wine, and beer, as well as for purifying bio-actives that are present at low concentration. In addition, it is estimated that the food industry uses more water per unit mass of product than any other industry[i], for example the dairy industry produces between 0.2 and 10 litres of effluent per litre of processed milk[ii]. As a result, filtration technologies are becoming increasingly important in the drive to minimise and recycle as much of this waste-water as possible. In the dairy industry in particular, much of this waste also contains useful proteins (such as whey) but has a high mineral content. Nanofiltration technologies are seen as one solution to these issues. Nanofiltration systems employ multiple membrane layers where molecules and ions can be separated based on charge, size and water solubility. Most employ ceramic and polymer layers. They have demonstrated ability to separate and concentrate useful components from waste[iii],[iv],[v], however one issue that still needs to be addressed is bio-fouling, which is estimated to be the biggest contributor to decreased filtration efficiency[vi] and to the loss of desirable proteins and peptides (through retention in the membrane)[vii] .
[i] MAVROV, V. & BELIERES, E. (2000) Reduction of water consumption and wastewater quantities in the food industry by water recycling using membrane processes. Desalination, 131, 75-86.
[ii] VOURCH, M., BALANNEC, B., CHAUFER, B. & DORANGE, G. (2008) Treatment of dairy industry wastewater by reverse osmosis for water reuse. Desalination, 219, 190-202.
[iii] SARRADE, S. J., RIOS, G. M. & CARLES, M. (1998a) Supercritical CO2 extraction coupled with nanofiltration separation - Applications to natural products. Separation and Purification Technology, 14, 19-25.
[iv] ATRA, R., VATAI, G., BEKASSY-MOLNAR, E. & BALINT, A. (2005a) Investigation of ultra- and nanofiltration for utilization of whey protein and lactose. Journal of Food Engineering, 67, 325-332.
[v] CUARTAS-URIBE, B., ALCAINA-MIRANDA, M. I., SORIANO-COSTA, E. & BES-PIA, A. (2007) Comparison of the behavior of two nanofiltration membranes for sweet whey demineralization. Journal of Dairy Science, 90, 1094-1101.
[vi] HERZBERG, M. & ELIMELECH, M. (2007) Biofouling of reverse osmosis membranes: Role of biofilm-enhanced osmotic pressure. Journal of Membrane Science, 295, 11-20.
[vii] CUDENNEC, B., RAVALLEC-PLE, R., COUROIS, E. & FOUCHEREAU-PERON, M. (2008) Peptides from fish and crustacean by-products hydrolysates stimulate cholecystokinin release in STC-1 cells. Food Chemistry, 111, 970-975.
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Visits: 15, Published on: November, 10th 2008, 04:07 PM, Last edit: 2009-06-08 15:03:41 Size: 4 KByte
Tags: thin-film, electronic nose, electronic tongue, nanofilter, functional food, nutriceutical, liposome, solid lipid nanoparticle, micelle, sensor, nano-emulsion