Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Separating a starting material into plural different...
Reexamination Certificate
2003-12-29
2004-12-07
Wong, Leslie (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Separating a starting material into plural different...
C426S422000, C426S424000, C426S490000, C426S657000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827960
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for sequential separation of various nutritional components of milk, particularly sequential separation of various milk proteins, carbohydrates, enzymes, and minerals contained in milk, colostrum, whey, or other diary products, using cross-flow filtration modules.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Milk contains various useful and beneficial components. Butterfat, casein, and lactose are the most commonly known dairy components. Some other components, which are equally important although less known, include lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, immunoglobulins, sialyllactose, phospholipids, &agr;-lactalbumin, and &bgr;-lactoglobulin.
Cheese manufacturing processes involve separation of casein, an insoluble protein contained in whole milk, from other components of milk by precipitation. The two predominant precipitation techniques are rennet precipitation and acid precipitation, which are alternatively utilized, depending on the specific type of cheese to be produced.
The supernatant fluid generated during cheese manufacturing process is commonly referred to as whey. Proteins contained in whey, which are soluble proteins including lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, immunoglobulins, albumin, &agr;-lactalbumin, and &bgr;-lactoglobulin, are historically referred to as whey proteins. In the present application, the terms “whey proteins” and “milk proteins” are synonymous with one another, and are used interchangeably to refer to those soluble proteins contained in milk, in contrast to the insoluble components such as casein.
Whey, a byproduct of the cheese manufacturing process, has long been the predominant source of milk proteins, and significant efforts have been devoted to separation and isolation of various whey proteins. Despite the intensive efforts that have been focused on achieving this objective, the separation and isolation of various whey proteins, such as the aforementioned lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, immunoglobulins, albumin, &agr;-lactalbumin, and &bgr;-lactoglobulin, still heavily depend on use of conventional chromatography and precipitation methods.
The chromatography separation method is expensive and complex, requiring continual replacement of the chromatographic resin, as well as adjustments of pH value and ion concentration of the whey prior to the chromatography separation process.
Moreover, chromatography separation is suitable only for post-casein-precipitation protein extraction, because it necessarily requires whey instead of whole milk as the starting material.
Further, the conventional chromatographic separation method undesirably changes the natural quality and character of milk, by adding chemical additives thereto, in order to effect separation and to enhance product yield.
In one approach to chromatographic separation of milk, Mozaffar et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,870, entitled “Sequential Separation of Whey” and issued Aug. 1, 2000, discloses a milk chromatographic purification method, comprising the following thirteen steps:
1) adding rennet to precipitate casein;
2) clarifying the whey using a clarifier;
3) centrifuging the whey to remove fat components;
4) adjusting pH value of the whey to 3.8 by addition of acetic acid;
5) loading the whey on an anion exchange chromatographic column;
6) column washing using 0.05M sodium acetate;
7) elution with 0.1 M sodium acetate and 0.5 M sodium chloride to separate immunoglobulin and &bgr;-lactoglobulin;
8) column reconditioning with 0.05 sodium acetate;
9) eluting for the second time with 0.1 M sodium acetate and 0.1 M sodium chloride to separate &agr;-lactalbumin;
10) column reconditioning for the second time with 0.05M sodium acetate;
11) eluting for the third time with 0.05M sodium phosphate to separate bovine serum albumin;
12) eluting for the fourth time with 0.05 M sodium phosphate and 0.5 M sodium chloride to separate lactoferrin; and
13) cleaning the chromatographic column with sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride, and alcohol.
Clearly, such chromatography separation process, by adding one or more precipitants, i.e., rennet or acid, and one or more other solutions such as sodium acetate, sodium chloride, and sodium phosphate into the whey, substantially and undesirably alters the natural quality and character of milk. Moreover, the chromatography process incurs additional expenses relating to necessary downstream removal of those unnatural additives from the separated whey proteins, which otherwise constitute contaminants that compromise the nutritional and compositional integrity of the natural milk products.
Similarly, conventional precipitation method for purifying whey proteins also requires adjustment of pH value and temperature, and addition of various chemicals and salts that are not natural components of milk. For example, selective precipitation of &bgr;-lactoglobulin from whey requires adjustment of the pH value of whey to 4.65, which undesirably alters the natural quality of whey.
See Amundson, C. H., Watanawanichakorn, S., and Hill, C. G.,
Production of Enriched Protein Fractions of Beta
-
Lactoglobulin and Alpha
-
Lactalbumin from Cheese Whey
, J
OURNAL
O
F
F
OOD
P
ROCESSING
A
ND
P
RESERVATION
, vol. 6, pp. 55-71 (1982).
It is therefore an object of the present invention to sequentially separate various milk components, without introducing unnatural additives.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an integral separation system for sequential separation and isolation of beneficial milk proteins, with significantly improved efficiency and reduced costs, suitable for commercial scale-up and mass production of purified milk proteins.
It is yet anther object of the present invention to separate the milk proteins without first precipitating casein.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more fully apparent from the ensuing disclosure and appended claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates in one broad aspect to a method and apparatus for separating raw milk, milk-based diary product, or dairy waste into multiple components in a sequential fashion, using cross-flow filtration modules, as described more fully hereinafter.
In one specific aspect, the present invention relates to a method for separating milk by cross-flow filtration, comprising the steps of:
a) providing a milk source;
b) effectuating flow of milk from the milk source through one or more cross-flow filtration modules, using a fluid delivery means, wherein each fluid delivery means is connected to at least one cross-flow filtration module; and
c) sequentially capturing one or more filtration fractions generated by the cross-flow filtration modules.
The term “milk” in the present application means any type of natural or modified dairy products, including, but not limited to: milk, whole milk, skim milk, milk fat, colostrum, whey, milk concentrates, milk dilutes, milk subcomponents, milk isolates, and other lactic outputs from bovine, human, goat, rabbit, deer, or other mammals, as well as mixtures of two or more of the foregoing.
In another specific aspect, the present invention relates to an apparatus for isolating and purifying one or more milk components, comprising:
a) a milk source;
b) one or more cross-flow filtration modules communicatively connected to the milk source, for generating one or more filtration fractions;
c) one or more fluid delivery means connected to each of the cross-flow filtration modules for creating sufficient flow of milk through the cross-flow filtration modules to effect separation of milk components; and
d) one or more means downstream of each of the cross-flow filtration modules for sequentially capturing one or more fractions generated by the cross-flow filtration modules.
“Cross-flow filtration module” refers herein to a type of filter module or filter cassette that comprises a porous filter element across a surface of which the liquid medium to be filtered is flowed in a tangential flow fashion, for permeation through the filter element of selected component(s) of the liquid mediu
Kopf Henry B.
Kopf, III Henry
Fuierer Marianne
Hultquist Steven J.
Wong Leslie
Yang Yongzhi
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