CURRENT AND FUTURE APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBRANE PROCESSES IN THE DAIRY-INDUSTRY

Technological advances related to the development of new membranes, improvements in process engineering and better understanding of the functionality of milk constituents have extended the range of membrane separation processes to cover the entire compositional spectrum of milk. Advanced membrane processes allow the recovery and purification of valuable milk constituents and have become an integral part of an increasing number of diary processes. Current applications are aimed at enhancing the manifestation of desired functional properties of milk proteins, fractionating caseins and whey proteins, enhancing the microbial quality of dairy fluids, upgrading the quality of low-quality whey, and standardizing milk. Combinations of membrane processes with traditional milk-processing practices are being used to enhance the quality attributes of various dairy products.