A study of the separation of lactose from whey ultrafiltration permeate using nanofiltration

Whey is the main by-product obtained from cheese production. It contains a high concentration of organic matter, mainly proteins and lactose, and mineral salts. Usually, pre-treated whey was discharged into sewer together with the other liquid effluents from the dairy industry. However, the increasi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Desalination 2009-05, Vol.241 (1), p.244-255
Main Authors: Cuartas-Uribe, B., Alcaina-Miranda, M.I., Soriano-Costa, E., Mendoza-Roca, J.A., Iborra-Clar, M.I., Lora-García, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Chemical engineering
Exact sciences and technology
Food engineering
Food industries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
General purification processes
Lactose
Membrane separation (reverse osmosis, dialysis...)
Nanofiltration
Pollution
Ultrafiltration
Wastewaters
Water treatment and pollution
Whey
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Whey is the main by-product obtained from cheese production. It contains a high concentration of organic matter, mainly proteins and lactose, and mineral salts. Usually, pre-treated whey was discharged into sewer together with the other liquid effluents from the dairy industry. However, the increasingly stringent legal standards for wastewaters in contrast with the high COD and BOD of whey have entailed a change in the approach to whey management. The present paper is focused on the study of the concentration and diafiltration processes applying nanofiltration (NF) membranes for whey after its ultrafiltration. The NF membrane used in all experiments was DS-5 DL from GE-OSMONICS. For each test, different transmembrane pressures ranging between 0.5 and 2.5 MPa were tested. Results indicated that both the lactose concentration and the whey demineralization were achieved for a combination of the concentration and continuous diafiltration modes. The best operating conditions for the process (those entailing the lowest lactose loss) were 2 MPa and a VDF of around 2. Higher volume dilution factor (VDF) implied higher chloride removal from the whey but at the same time a lactose loss increase.
ISSN:0011-9164
1873-4464
DOI:10.1016/j.desal.2007.11.086