New opportunities of membrane processes for protein recovery

Proteins are important for our daily diet and thus, one of the most important food ingredients. Currently, the global protein market was valued at over 72 billion U.S. dollars and is projected to reach 114.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. The success story of membranes in the food sector is closely tied to their ability to effectively recover proteins.
A milestone for the adoption of membrane technology in the food sector was the concentration and desalination of whey by ultrafiltration. Until the 1970s, whey from cheese production was a disposal challenge since it has a high biological oxygen demand and is low in solid content. By using ultrafiltration, it was possible to convert whey into high value products like whey protein concentrate and isolate. Most recently, two new trends in the protein market provide new opportunities for membrane processes: (1) the protein shift moving consumption of animal-based to plant-based proteins and (2) proteins produced by precision fermentation.
In this work, the resulting success of membrane processes for a wide range of animal-based protein products will be presented by two industrial case studies on gelatin and egg white processing. Furthermore, two case studies will highlight the use of micro- and ultrafiltration for the processing of rapeseed proteins based on by-products from the rapeseed oil production, and in the production of novel sweet proteins by precision fermentation. Moreover, new insights into protein fouling of membranes using micro- and nano-tomography will be shared.
Overall, this study demonstrates that membrane processes are well-established for animal-based protein recovery and that plant-based as well as precision fermentation-based proteins provide new application opportunities for membrane technology.

Acknowledgements
The project is supported by EIT Food “Precision Fermentation: From Biotechnology to Sustainable Nutrition” and the Swedish Energy Agency Project No. P2022-00101 “Verification of membrane technology for plant-based dairy”