Trends in whey protein fractionation

Abstract

Whey is a by-product of cheese manufacture that is normally treated as a waste. However, it contains a mixture of proteins with important nutritional and biological attributes. To extract these valuable proteins, whey fractionation has been developed using three main techniques; namely chromatographic (e.g., ion-exchange and hydrophobic adsorption), membrane (e.g., traditional pressure-driven and electro-separation)-, or combined methods. Recently, new promising techniques have been introduced such as aqueous two-phase separation (ATPS) and magnetic fishing. This article reviews the use of these techniques together with an evaluation of their performance regarding the yield and purity of two major proteins in whey.

Cheese whey: A potential resource to transform into bioprotein, functional/nutritional proteins and bioactive peptides

“…El-Sayed et al (2011) have reviewed in detail about the trends in individual whey proteins fractionation where they have covered all the recent studies for individual whey protein separation by the membrane technology, chromatography and new technologies such as aqueous two-phase separation (ATPS) and magnetic fishing. They have covered in detail types of membranes used, chromatographic conditions (matrix, buffer and elution conditions) or a combination of the membrane and chromatography system and achieved final recovery and purity.…”

Adsorptive behavior of α-lactalbumin on cation-exchange supermacroporous monolithic column

“…Gerberding and Byers [24] described a preparative ion-exchange chromatographic process for the separation and recovery of the four major proteins from sweet dairy whey. El-Sayed and Chase [25] studied the cation-exchange adsorption of whey concentrate mixtures at pH 3.7 in a fixed bed column. Recently, Fontan et al [8] studied the anion exchange of a-la on a commercial adsorbent exploiting the thermodynamical aspects to try understanding involved mechanisms.…”

Pilot-scale purification of α-lactalbumin from enriched whey protein concentrate by anion-exchange chromatography and ultrafiltration

“…The methods applied to obtain enriched fractions or purified α-La have recently been reviewed by Kamau et al (2010) and El-Sayed and Chase (2011). Extraction of α-La with high purity is not an easy task, especially at large-or pilot-scale purification, primarily due to the presence of the other major whey protein β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg).…”