Process Overview
As an important way to replace traditional animal protein sources, plant protein production has received widespread attention worldwide in recent years. Its production process mainly includes raw material selection, pretreatment, extraction, separation, purification, modification, drying and packaging, aiming to extract high-quality protein from plant raw materials efficiently and environmentally friendly.
1. Raw material selection: According to the characteristics of the target protein and market demand, select suitable plant raw materials, such as soybeans, peas, wheat, lentils, etc. The quality of the raw materials directly affects the quality and yield of the final product.
2. Pretreatment: Through cleaning, crushing, soaking, cooking or enzymatic hydrolysis, soften the cell wall, promote protein release, and remove some anti-nutritional factors and bad flavors.
3. Extraction: Use water extraction, acid-base method, enzymatic hydrolysis or organic solvent method to dissolve the protein from the plant cells to form a protein solution.
4. Separation and purification: This step is the key to improving protein purity. Remove insoluble impurities by filtration, sedimentation, centrifugation and other methods, and then use dialysis, electrophoresis, ion exchange chromatography and other technologies to further purify the protein.
5. Modification: Improve the functionality of protein, such as solubility, emulsification, gelation, etc., through physical, chemical or enzymatic treatment as needed to meet different application requirements.
6. Drying: Use spray drying, freeze drying and other technologies to convert liquid protein into a stable, easy-to-store and transport powder form.
7. Packaging: Ensure the quality of the product is stable during storage and transportation, and select appropriate packaging materials and methods.
Centrifuge Application
In the separation and purification stage of plant protein production, centrifuge plays a vital role. Centrifugal technology uses the difference in sedimentation speed of different substances in the rotating force field to achieve efficient separation, and has the advantages of simple operation, high separation efficiency, and strong adaptability.
1. Solid-liquid separation: In the early stage of protein extraction, solid impurities in the raw materials, such as fibers, husks, etc., can be quickly removed by centrifugation to obtain a relatively clear protein extract.
2. Protein concentration: The centrifugal force generated by high-speed centrifugation is used to separate the water in the protein solution from other low-molecular-weight solutes to achieve preliminary concentration of the protein, laying the foundation for subsequent purification steps.
3. Fractional separation: For plant extracts containing multiple protein components, fine classification can be performed according to the size, density or sedimentation coefficient of the protein molecules through density gradient centrifugation or differential centrifugation and other technologies to obtain protein components in a specific molecular weight range.
4. Clarification and impurity removal: In the later stage of purification, the centrifuge can be used to remove tiny particles, colloidal substances and some soluble impurities in the protein solution to improve the clarity and purity of the protein solution.