INTRODUCTION

The term “membrane technology” is used to collectively represent the separation

processes by employing specific semi-permeable membrane filters to concentrate
or fractionate a liquid into two liquids of different compositions (Winston and
Sirkar, 1992) by selectively allowing some compounds to pass while encumbering
the others. The liquid that is able to pass the membrane is known as “permeates”
and the retained liquid is known as “retentate” or “concentrate”. The efficiency of
membranes is largely governed by the hydrostatic pressure gradients (also known
as “transmembrane pressure”) across the membrane and concentration gradient of
the liquids. In few a cases, electric potential has important role (Winston and
Sirkar, 1992).

The milk is considered as the best, ideal and a complete food and has an important
place in human diet especially in vegetarian diet (Kumar and Rai, 2010; Shekhar et
al., 2010; Kumar et al., 2011b; Shekhar and Kumar, 2011). The milk is an ideal
liquid for membrane filtration due to its composition. Membrane technology has
been applied in the dairy industry since the early 1960s and now comes the second
behind the water treatment technology and serves as viable alternatives for more
traditional dairy processes like distillation, evaporation or extraction. The food
industry represents 20 to 30% of the current 250 million turnover of membranes
worldwide with 7.5% annual growth. Several hundreds of thousand square meters
of membrane (Ultrafiltration: 400,000; Nanofiltration: 300,000; Reverse osmosis:
100,000; Microfiltration: 50,000) are currently operating (Saxena et al., 2009).
About 2/3 of the membrane area installed in the dairy industry is used for the
treatment of whey and about 1/3 for milk (Saxena et al., 2009). The utilization of
membranes in dairy industry has been greatly enhanced with the introduction of
novel base materials viz. cellulose acetate, polyamides, polysulphons accompanied
by newer technological processes such as reverse osmosis, diafiltration (DF) and
nanofiltration (NF) (Figure 1). In the present scenario, different types of membrane
separation technologies such as micro-filtration, ultra-filtration (Balannec et al.,
2005), nano-filtration (Vourch et al., 2005) and reverse osmosis (RO) (Balannec et
al., 2005; Vourch et al., 2005) are being made available for use in the dairy
industry.

Figure 1

Milestones in the development of membrane technologies for protein separation/purification

(Adopted from Saxena et al., 2009).

The use of membrane filtration technology offers a wide range of advantages for
the consumer as well as for the producers. The membrane technology is a novel
non thermal environmental friendly greener technology with full of future
possibilities that minimizes the adverse effect of temperature rise such as change in
phase, denaturation of proteins and change in sensory attributes of the product. The
membranes remove unwanted components viz. microorganisms, drugs or
sediments that have a negative impact on product quality, making the final product
more attractive in texture and increasing its shelf life. The selectivity of
membranes is very high due to the unique mechanisms of action such as ion
exchange, solution diffusion, etc. The membranes are suitable to different types of
plant design and expansion due to their compact design and need very low
maintenance. The operations of the membranes are very simple, competitive and
do not required any specialized knowledge to handle or operate them. To get the
desired effect, it is sometimes necessary to use a combination of membranes rather
than single membrane (Balannec et al., 2005; Vourch et al., 2005) and redesigning
overall industrial production by the integration of various already developed
membrane operations (Saxena et al., 2009).

CHARACTERISTICS OF MEMBRANE
Microfiltration (MF) is a membrane separation process similar to ultrafiltration
(UF) but with even larger membrane pore size allowing particles in the range of
0.2 to 2 micrometers to pass through. The pressure used is generally lower than
that of UF process. MF membranes are especially well suited for the separation of
fine particles in the size range of 0.1 to 10.0 μm whereas UF membranes with 1 to
100 nm pore size were designed to provide high retention of proteins and other
macromolecules (Van Reis et al., 2007). UF is a variety of membrane filtration in
which hydrostatic pressure forces a liquid against a semi-permeable membrane.
Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained, while water
and low molecular weight solutes pass through the membrane. It is a
separation/fractionation process using a 10,000 MW cutoff, 40 psig, and
temperatures of 50 to 60°C with polysulfone membranes. Nanofiltration (NF) is a
type of reverse osmosis where the membrane has a slightly more open structure
allowing monovalent ions to pass through the membrane and rejecting the divalent
ions to a great extent. RO is a high pressure-driven membrane filtration process
which is based on a very dense membrane. The Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane
pore size is very small allowing only small amounts of very low molecular weight
solutes to pass through the membranes. It is a concentration process using a 100
MWCO (molecular weight cutoff), 700 psig, temperature lower than 40°C with
cellulose acetate membranes and 70–80°C with composite membranes. MWCO is
the equivalent molecular weight of the smallest protein that would exhibit above
90% rejection. Diafiltration (DF) is a specialized type of ultrafiltration process in
which the retentate is diluted with water and re-ultrafiltered, to reduce the
concentration of soluble permeate components and to further increase the
concentration of retained components.
USE OF MEMBRANE IN DAIRY INDUSTRY
In the modern dairy processing, membranes play a major role in clarification of the
milk, increase the concentration of the selected components as well as separation
of the specific valuable components from milk or dairy by-products etc. Membrane
separation technology seems a logical choice for the fractionation of milk, because
many milk components can be separated on size (Figure 2) (Brans et al., 2004).
Membranes are already well established in the processing of whey and are gaining
popularity in other dairy applications (Daufin et al., 2001). The membrane
technology improves the economics of dairy by reducing the cost of production as
well generating new revenue resources (Siebert et al., 2001). Membrane
technology proves a suitable and economical alternative to many important
processing stage of milk in dairy industry such as centrifugation, bactofugation,
evaporation, demineralization of whey, etc (Pouliot, 2008). The CO2-aided cold
MF process has the potential to become economically attractive to the dairy
industry, with direct benefits for the quality and shelf life of dairy products (Fristch
and Moraru, 2008). Initial reports have indicated that MF will reject fat and
microbes while allowing other milk constituents to pass through the membrane,
resulting in (theoretically) fat-free, bacteria-free milk (Piot et al., 1987). The
membrane area of RO has stabilized around 60,000 m2, mainly for whey
concentration. MF is developing due to its capability to retain, partly or totally,
particles (microorganisms, casein micelles, fat globules), and NF has a large field
of applications due to its intermediate selectivity (200 to 1,000 Da) between UF
and RO (demineralization, de-ionization, purification) in particular for whey
protein valorization (Saxena et al., 2009).

Figure 2

Components in milk: size indication and membrane processes. MF = Microfiltration, UF =

Ultrafiltration, NF = Nanofiltration, RO = Reverse osmosis (Adopted from: Daufin et al.,
2001).

APPLICATION OF MEMBRANES IN DIFFERENT

FIELDS OF DAIRY TECHNOLOGY
Various types of membrane filters with different properties are available in market
(Table 1) and commonly used in the dairy industry. Membranes have been applied
in different fields of dairy technology including shelf life of milk, whey
processing, cheese industry, milk protein processing, fractionation of milk fat and
desalting or demineralization.

Table 1
Commonly used membrane techniques in dairy industry

Molecular Pressure
Pore Compounds Application in dairy
Type weight and
size in retentate industry
cut off principle
Microfiltration 0.2– >200 kDa Low Low  - Skim milk
2 μm pressure retentate, and cheese
(below 2 separation of  - Dextrose
bar) driven protein, clarification
membrane bacteria and  - Bacteria
process other removal
particulates
Ultrafiltration 1– 1–200 Medium Large  -
500 kDa pressure retentate Standardization
μm (1–10 bar) with casein of milk,
pressure micelles, fat reduction of
driven globules, calcium and
process to colloidal lactose
overcome minerals,  - Protein,
the bacteria and whey, milk
viscosity somatic cells concentration

Nanofiltration 0.5– 300–1,000 Medium to Low Desalting of whey,

2 nm Da high productivity, lactose free milk,
pressure separate volume reduction
(5–40 bar), monovalents
mass salt and
transfer water
phenomena
by size
exclusion
and
electrostatic
interactions
Reverse No 100 Da High Based on the volume reduction,
osmosis or pores pressure, principle of recovery of total solids
hyperfiltration 10–100 bar solubility, and water
low
productivity

Source: Rosenberg, 1995; Childress and Elemelech, 2000; Pouliot, 2008.

Application of membranes in extending shelf life of milk

Extended shelf life (ESL) milk products are products that have been treated in a
manner to reduce the microbial count beyond normal pasteurization, packaged
under extreme hygienic conditions, and have a prolonged shelf life under
refrigerated conditions (Rysstad and Kolstad, 2006). Microfiltration constitutes an
alternative to heat treatment to reduce the presence of bacteria and improve the
microbiological safety of dairy products while preserving the taste (Pafylias et al.,
1996). It is a non thermal method of removing bacteria and spores from milk, whey
and cheese brine and extending shelf life without damaging sensory attributes
(Meersohn, 1989). The significant reduction of
mesophilic, Salmonellae and Listeria count have been reported upon using MF
with 1.4 μm pore size (Madec et al., 1992). Cold MF could also minimize
microbial fouling of the membrane and prevent the germination of thermophilic
spores (Fristch and Moraru, 2008). Fristch and Moraru (2008)performed a study to
analyse microbiological, chemical, and somatic cell count to evaluate the effect of
MF on the composition of skim milk and found that permeate flux increased
drastically when velocity was increased from 5 to 7 m/s.

By the suitable modifications in the membranes structure, design and composition,

it is possible to make milk free from bacteria (Malmberg and Holms, 1988; Olesen
and Jensen, 1989). ESL milk has been prepared by removing bacteria from milk by
MF without causing any compositional change or negligible decrease in the total
protein by 0.02 to 0.03% (Hoffmann et al., 2006). A thermal treatment or
combination of heat treatment and membrane filtration are involved in the
production of ESL milk (Lorenzen et al., 2011).

By adding a filtrate circulatory system in the concentrate circulatory system of

membrane filters (better known as UTMP concept Uniform Transmembrane
Pressure concept), up to 99.70% of the bacterial load in skim milk has been
achieved by Alfa Laval (Olesen and Jensen, 1989). Tetra Alcross Bactocath of
Alfa Laval removes the bacteria and spores from milk by separating milk into
cream and skim milk and then separates the skim milk from bacteria and spores by
microfiltration, while retaining all bacteria and spores in retentate which is about
0.5% of the original milk volume. The retentate is mixed with suitable amount of
cream and mixed in filtered milk after pasteurizing it. As the heat treatment is
given to a very small amount of milk, the organoleptic and sensory attributes of
milk are retained. It extends the shelf life of milk by 12 to 45 d at 4°C (Olesen and
Jensen, 1989; Puhan, 1992; Saboya and Maubois, 2000; Goff and Griffiths, 2006).
The major hitch is that it does not remove all pathogenic bacteria from milk, thus
still necessitate the heat treatment (Rosenberg, 1995).

The somatic cell counts (SCC) increase in the milk of lactating cows suffering
from mastitis and thus severely affecting the composition and quality of milk
(Sharma and Maiti, 2010; Sharma et al., 2011; Sharma et al., 2012a; Sharma et al.,
2012b). This somatic cell count can be reduced up to 100% by the application of
combined processes of MF (microfiltration) followed by HHT (high heat
treatment) (Pedersen, 1992). Damerow (1989) reported the extension of shelf life
of refrigerated milk from 12 d to 18 d at 8°C by the combined application of MF
and HHT without compromising sensory attributes by reducing the number of
psychrotrops. The MF process is more efficient in removing bacteria and spores
than the bactofugation (Stack and Sillen, 1998). With the direct epifluorescent
filter technique (DEFT) technology, keeping quality of milk can be judged in short
time by concentrating the bacterial cells and their spores as well as somatic cells by
membranes followed by quantification of these by epifluorescent microscopy
(Pettifer, 1982).

Recently narrow pore sizes in smooth inert silicon nitride surface microsieves have
been prepared by micro-machining technology to increase the selectivity and
permeability to pass liquids at lower transmembrane pressure (Brans et al., 2004).
The microsieves also reduce the fouling as well as microbial count significantly in
milk (Van Rijn and Kromkamp, 2001).

Application of membranes in whey processing

Whey is a dairy by-product which is obtained during the preparation of milk

products viz. cheese, paneer and casein. Paneer is an Indian dairy product similar
to soft cheese prepared by coagulating casein with citric acid, lactic acid or tartaric
acid (Kumar et al., 2011a; Kumar et al., 2008). Whey is simply drained in most of
the cases in developing countries. This causes huge loss of valuable nutrients as
well as creating environmental hazards. The separation or concentration of whey
nutrients by traditional method is cumbersome and time consuming. By application
of different membrane filtration technology, the nutrients in whey are
concentrated, fractionalized or purified into valuable products such as whey protein
concentrate/isolates, α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, lactose and salts (Figure 3).
Up to 60% more saving on fuel has been reported in whey concentration by
applying RO over the traditional evaporation methods. By application of UF and
DF, the protein content of the whey protein concentrate can be increased by 35 to
85% of the total solids whereas by removing bacteria and fat by passing whey
through MF, the protein content of whey protein isolates can be increased to 90%
of the total solid content (Lipnizki, 2010).

Figure 3

Diagrammatic representation of use of membrane in whey processing.

The membrane separation of bacteria and spores also leads to production of high
quality whey protein concentrate (WPC) and whey protein isolates (WPI) with
inherent functional properties from whey (Lipnizki, 2010) as it avoid the
denaturation of whey or serum proteins. These whey proteins are used in food
industry for their high biological value as well as their ability to improve the
functional properties (emulsifying, foaming and gelling) of the food products
(Harper, 1992). The removal of as much lipids as possible from whey by efficient
membrane function produces whey protein concentrate with good keeping quality
(Harper, 1992). At present the WPC are prepared on industrial scales by using UF,
however fouling of membranes still remains a concern. UF and RO have
application in production of concentrated whey and whey protein concentrates
(Sienkiewicz and Riedel, 1990).

The development of off-flavour in these whey products due to the impurities of

lipids causing rancidity remain the major concern (Morr and Ha, 1993). A number
of studies have suggested the removal of residual fat from whey by thermocalcic
precipitation under which phospholipids are aggregated by calcium under heat
treatment for 8 min at 50°C followed by removal of the precipitates by MF and UF
(Fauquant et al., 1985; Harper, 1992; Gesan et al., 1995). The advances in MF
make it easier to direct removal of lipoproteins by separating the transmembrane
pressure from the inlet pressure limiting the fouling.

With the use of membrane technology, it is possible to concentrate and separate

whey proteins in their un-denatured form with high functional property in native
whey as compared to traditional sweet cheese whey (Maubois, 2002). Native whey
protein concentrates (NWPC) and native whey protein isolates (NWPI) are
produced by UF concentrating the native whey (Maubois et al., 2001), showing
excellent gelling, foaming and reconstituability on drying (Ostergaard, 2003). At
present, these native whey proteins are utilized extensively in human nutrition as
an integral component of weight balancing products (Burton-Freeman, 2008) and
in baby foods due to lower risk of hyperthreoninemia due to lack of
glycomacropeptides which in turn are rich in threonine (Rigo et al., 2001). The
individual whey protein can be concentrated or fractionated by application of
membrane technology. This facilitates the production of WPC with the enrichment
of specific proteins or with single proteins. The composition of whey proteins
differ very little from that of membrane permeates obtained during concentration
of the casein (Brans et al., 2004). Doyen et al. (1996) reported that the main
concern during the preparation of whey protein concentrate is fouling as
membranes with different permeability have the comparable flux due to the
pressure independent flux regime. A typical whey micro-filtration process may run
in long cycles of about 24 h, which offer great potential for the formation of
bacterial biofilms leading to reduced membrane performances.

Application of membranes in Cheese industry

Membrane filtration technology has number of applications in cheese industry such

as improving the nutritive quality, better compositional control and yield of cheese
by increasing the total solid content, utilization of whey during preparation of
cheese, comparatively reducing the requirement of rennet and starter culture.
Concentrating the milk prior to cheese making opens a new arena in cheese
industry thereby reducing the cost as well as hasten the whole procedure of cheese
making (Henning et al., 2006). The quality of cheese brine is maintained easily by
membrane filters of pore size of 100 μm to removing bacteria and spores as well as
other extraneous matters and maintaining the chemical balance of brine which
results in production of high quality cheese with superior flavour and shelf life
(Ottosen and Konigsfeldt, 1989).

The UF and MF are most commonly used in the cheese industry.

Use of UF in cheese making:

UF technology in cheese processing is highly remunerative by concentrating milk

by a factor of 1.2 to 2.0 times (Rosenberg, 1995) and increase in the casein: protein
ratio (Guinee et al., 1995; Guinee et al., 2006; Johnson and Lucey, 2006) leading to
fewer requirements of processing equipments, better compositional and quality
control as well as improving the yield of cheese. A 13 to 14% saving of skim milk
has been reported during preparation of quarg cheese with the application of UF
process as compared with traditional process (Pedersen and Ottosen, 1992). By
removing the water during concentration of milk by the application of membrane
filtration technology, it is possible to make cheese without whey, thus do not
require the use of cheese vat and avoid cumbersome processing steps of removal
and draining of whey. However, some workers reported the negative impact on the
ripening of semi-hard and hard cheese due to increased whey content in cheese
prepared by concentrated milk (Qvist, 1987). Lipnizki (2010) rightly called UF as
complementary process of cheese making. With the application of UF, good
quality fresh and brine cheese is obtained with higher yield (Pedersen and Ottosen,
1992; Puhan, 1992; Mistry and Maubois, 1993). Maubois et al. (1969) first
patented the procedure of production of cheese on industrial basis from UF
retentate by using MMV method (a process named after its inventors Maubois,
Mocquot and Vassal) by concentrating the milk by 5 to 7 times and getting the
high quality curd. The increase in the viscosity and buffering capacity of such
cheese milk needs certain procedural modifications in the process of cheese
making (Pouliot, 2008). UF of milk is done to save cost during preparation of
semi-hard and hard cheese by increasing the salt and whey protein concentration
but it causes compromised sensory and functional properties (Mistry and Maubois,
1993) with slower ripening rate due to decreased proteolysis caused by reduction
chymosin and rennin action and presence of more whey proteins (Neocleous et al.,
2002). Some reports mentioned that UF have not given good results in making of
fresh cheese from acidified curd as it is difficult to process high acidic milk by
these traditional membranes. Increasing the pH before fermentation results in poor
sensory attributes with enhanced proteolysis and mineral contents. With the
introduction of advanced ceramic and polysulfone membranes, it is possible to
apply UF to acidic milk with pH 4.4 to 4.6 in the production of better quality of
fresh cheese (Jelen and Renz-Schauen, 1989).

Based on the concentration factors and increase in the protein content, there are
three different types of retentate obtained in the UF viz. low concentrated retentate
(LCR), medium or intermediate concentrated retentate (MCR) and liquid pre-
cheese (LPC) (Rosenberg, 1995; Henning et al., 2006) (Table 2).

Table 2

Role of UF in concentrating cheese milk

Concentration
Retentate Types of cheese Remark
factor
Low concentrated 1.2–2: 1 Cheddar, brick, 4.5–5% more protein in
retentate (LCR) cottage cheese, cheese, Increase yield,
colby, mozarella, efficient utilization of
edam, saint paulin, cheese vat, good
quag compositional control
Medium/concentrated 2–6: 1 Cheddar, feta, 6–8% more yield, need
retentate (MCR) havarti, gouda, and special cheese making
blue cheese equipment
Liquid pre cheese Same as of Feta, mozzarella, Very economical,
(LPC) cheese curd quarg, camembert, cheese vat not required,
ricotta, cream minimum whey
cheese, mascarpone drainage
and saint mauri

Source: van Leeuwen et al., 1987; Mistry and Maubois 1992; Rosenberg, 1995; Henning et al.,
2006.

Use of MF in cheese making:

The MF casein concentrated milk is very suitable for various cheese preparations
due to its superior microbial quality achieved after removing bacteria and spores
from milk, as well as optimization of the different major milk components. The
MF pre-treatment of cheese milk improves the firmness of curd, accelerate
ripening (Pierre et al., 1992; Caron et al., 1997; Maubois, 2002), reduce the amount
of additives e.g. CaCl2 (Schafroth et al., 2005) and facilitates heating at higher
temperature. Further the UHT milk need higher amount of rennet for coagulation.
By application of UF, UHT milk is coagulated with lesser amount of rennet by
compensating the hindrance to coagulation arising from the formation of
complexes between k-casein and β-lactoglobulin by reduction of the zeta potential
of the casein micelle (Mistry and Maubois, 1993).

The MF has future possibilities in standardization of protein in cheese milk and

fortification with casein micelle powder (Mistry and Maubois, 1993). The MF
followed to HTT (high temperature treatment) is more efficient than single stage
bactofugation in terms of microbial quality. But this treatment of MF followed by
HTT modifies rennet coagulation and increases the water holding capacity,
necessitating adjustments in the parameters during cheese preparation (Pedersen
and Ottosen, 1992).

Application of membranes in milk protein processing

Milk proteins especially caseins play important role in white turbid appearance and
viscosity of milk. By application of ultra filtration, the level of protein content in
milk is adjusted without adding any extraneous protein source by removing the
water. This causes the maintenance of the composition, nutritive value, physico-
chemical properties and sensory attributes of the milk irrespective to the variation
caused by the genetic as well as environmental factors (Puhan, 1992). Adding of
1% ultra filtered protein enriched milk in skim milk has improved the viscosity and
sensory attributes to similar to full cream milk (Quinones et al., 1997). The milk
protein concentrate (MPC) containing 50 to 58% proteins of good functionality are
prepared by application of MF, UF and diafiltration (DF) technologies either alone
or in combinations.

Fractionalization of milk protein:

Separating out the various milk components of different sizes from milk by
applying membrane technology (Figure 3) will transform dairy industry into very
efficient and profitable enterprises. Jimenez-Lopez et al. (2008) described
membrane pore size homogeneity, concentration polarization phenomena and
membranes fouling as main factors determining the fractionalization of milk
components. The milk protein concentrates (with 50 to 85% protein in the
products) and milk concentrates (with more than 85% protein in the products) are
increasingly prepared by using MF (Novak, 1992). The composition, heat stability,
rheological and textural properties of these products depend upon the type of
membranes used and prevailing processing conditions such as, temperature, pH,
time of processing. The judicious use of these factors should be selected based on
the ultimate use of the MPC (milk protein concentrate) and MP (milk protein)
(Novak, 1992; Hallstrom and Dejmek, 1988). Novak (1992) suggested UF
processing at 50 to 60°C with high flow rate to minimize the whey protein
denaturation for desired rheological properties.

A lot of work has performed to recover valuable proteinacious components from

dairy waste streams (Chakravorty and Singh, 1990). Dairy proteins are valuable
products and used as high-value food additives, neutriceutical and therapeutics.
The milk protein can be recovered by using MF, UF and NF processes. MF of milk
separates the casein micelles and whey proteins (Maubois et al., 1987). The various
milk proteins such a casein and serum or whey proteins are separated in a simple
and economic method by applying membrane filters of 0.2 μm pore size at constant
TMP, without the need of application of heat and chemicals.

Casein:
Membrane technology has revolutionized the casein industry. Application of
different membrane types with desired pore size either alone or in combination
with enzymatic action, chromatography lead to the concentration, fractionalization
and purification of milk proteins. The physico-chemical properties of casein in
relation to membranes largely depend upon the ionic strength as well as
temperature (Mulvihill, 1992). At suitable ionic strength, it is possible to
concentrate and fractionate casein as β-casein at 5°C, skim milk at 4°C and pH 4.2
to 4.6 (Famelart et al., 1989) using MF and UF separating β-casein in permeates
and α and κ-casein in retentate (Murphy and Fox, 1990). The native casein can be
concentrated in retentate by passing the skim milk into MF with 0.2μm pore size
(Fauquant et al., 1985; Maubois and Ollivier, 1992). Upto 90% casein
concentration is possible by DF and it can be used for industrial, pharmaceutical as
well as edible purposes (Maubois and Ollivier, 1992). The concentrated casein and
native casein micelles can be prepared through ceramic, ceraflow, membralox
membrane with different flux (Pouliot et al., 1996; Vadi and Rizvi, 2001; Van Rijn
and Kromkamp, 2001; Brans et al., 2004). The significant improvement was
recorded in flux with 65 kPa transmembrane pressure having flow velocity of 12.5
metre/second (Krstic et al., 2002).

Papadatos et al. (2003) found that although there was higher profit in the
production of cheddar and mozzarella cheese by MF milk in North America but the
profit changed little with the increase in concentration of casein from 2 to 3 times.
The fouling is major concern than selectivity during the concentration of casein in
milk as some whey proteins are there in casein and vice versa and thus affecting
the yield of cheese as well as whey concentrates (Brans et al., 2004). Use of
membrane process accompanied with other advance technology as liquid
chromatography, leads to purification of casein derived bioactive peptides showing
morphine-mimicking, cardiovascular and immunostimulating activities (Maubois
and Ollivier, 1992; Mulvihill, 1992).

Fractionalization of whey protein:

Whey proteins are obtained by concentrating and purification from

whey. Govindasamy-Lucey et al. (2007) and Lawrence et al. (2008) separated the
whey protein from skimmed milk by polymeric microfiltration in permeate flux.
Mass flux form of permeated whey protein with permeates flux, mainly determine
the whey protein concentration and fractionalization (Gauthier et al., 2006). With
the advancement of newer technology in membrane process, it is possible to
recover growth factor from whey (Gauthier et al., 2006). Attempts have been made
to tap the growing market of health foods by separating immunoglobulins and
growth factors from colostrum by applying MF and UF with suitable modifications
(Regester et al., 2003; Piot et al., 2004).

The β-lactoglobulin is separated by the membrane process followed by heat

treatment (Maubois et al., 1987; Pearce, 1987). The β lactoglobulin can be
fractionized from defatted whey proteins by using MF and centrifugation followed
by purification by UF with electrodialysis (ED) or DF. β-lactoglobulin is purified
by diafiltration of supernatant (Maubois et al., 1987), while immunoglobulins are
separated from whey protein concentrates by using membrane technology (Scott
and Lucas, 1989). The α-lactalbumin is separated and purified by applying UF on
solubilised MF retentate at neutral pH (Rosenberg, 1995). With the introduction of
inorganic membranes with polyvinylimidazole derivates, the pure α-lactalbumin
can be obtained in filtrate but the fouling proves major constraint (Chaufer et al.,
1991; Chen and Wang, 1991). The whey proteins can be separated from WPI by
applying UF/DF with more than 99% purity (Mailliart and Ribadeau-Dumas,
1988). The use of hydrophilic cellulose membrane made it possible to separate low
molecular weight compounds from high molecular weight compounds (Mehara
and Donnely, 1993). Lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase are recovered from defatted
WPC on industrial scale by using ion-exchange chromatography (Perraudin, 1991).

Application of membranes in milk fat processing

Traditionally, cream is separated from whole milk by energy intensive

centrifugation in which lighter fat globules moves towards the centre and heavier
skim milk move towards periphery under the centrifugal force. The cream
separation is also possible by energy saving membranes technology producing
skim milk with good storage quality and improved sensory attributes of cream
without causing any damage to fat globular membranes. Goudedranche et al.
(2000) reported the fractionation of fat globules by application of membranes of 2
μm size. The size of fat globules have profound impact on textural and sensory
attributes as the cream with smaller fat globules have fine texture and improved
flavour than cream with large fat globules.

Role of membranes in desalting or demineralization

The removal of minerals from whey increases its value (Kelly et al., 1991). The
cheese whey is rich in salt and acids and the reduction or demineralization of whey
is essential before its use and to alleviate the environmental hazards. The
demineralization is done by electrodialysis and ion exchange process (Greiter et
al., 2002) in the dairy industry to get up to 60% reduction of minerals (Kelly et al.,
1991). The efficiency of electrodialysis can be increased by pre-concentrating up
to 20% dry matter by RO or evaporation. By ion exchange, desalting of whey is
done by passing it over ion exchange column and the rate of removal of ions
depends upon the resin used in the column as well as the type of ions. The need of
lots of water and chemicals for regeneration of resins is the major limitations of
this technology.

The NF membranes with molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) ranging between 200
to 1,000 Daltons are best suited for demineralization of whey as these membranes
are permeable to salt and monovalent ions but impermeable to organic compounds.
The carboxyl group of organic compounds bound to these membranes under
prevailing acidic conditions. This technology simultaneously demineralises whey
at the time of concentrating, helping in savings in term of cost, time and water
disposal (Kelly et al., 1991). The NF is more economical than electrodialysis and a
method of choice for partial desalting of whey. NF membranes are highly
permeable to water and monovalent ions. The mineral contents of the whey is
reduced by 35% and ash content by 3 to 4 times in addition to increase
concentration of whey by applying nanofiltration (NF), making it suitable for the
people having cardiovascular diseases. The mineral content of whey is further
reduced by 45% by applying DF (Kelly et al., 1991; Lipnizki, 2010). The reduction
of mineral content in whey, liquor and brines on industrial scale can be done
mainly by NF (Kelly et al., 1991; Van der Horst et al., 1995; Horton,
1997a; b; Horton, 1998). Daifiltration also causes the removal of ions to a greater
extent.

Other applications

The use of different membranes accompanied with suitable heat treatments leads to
the development of several dairy products with unique characteristics as better
compositional control, binding, texture, juiciness, etc. With the help of membrane
technology, several novel products are introduced in market as lactose free milk for
lactose intolerant people, low calcium milk, non fat yoghurt, high protein low
lactose ice cream, protein fortified low fat milk, whey based beverages, etc. By
applying RO (reverse osmosis), milk is condensed by removing about 70% of its
water and retaining all other components of milk without undergoing any thermal
processing. During preparation of fermented dairy milk such as cheese, yoghurt
and curd, the protein and total solids of standardized UF milk show better textural
and nutritional properties than those of prepared by either adding milk powder or
evaporated milk (Puhan, 1992). It is easier to control the textural and
compositional properties of milk by membrane filtration technology, but it
necessitates better attention to the selection of starter and incubation/ripening
conditions such as temperature, time and pH (Rosenberg, 1995: Lipnizki,
2010). Rosenberg (1995) noted that such changes is due to the increasing content
of lactose and minerals, higher osmotic pressure, change in the pH, change in ionic
strength as well accumulation of some inhibitory compounds in the UF treated
milk.

The transport cost of milk is reduced by membrane technology by pre-

concentrating it, removing the water and lactose or dewatering it at farm level and
thus decreasing the volume of transported milk without damaging its sensory
attributes (Rattray and Jelen, 1996). RO of milk results in permeate containing
protein and minerals whereas UF of milk produces permeate consisting of water
and lactose. Membrane technology is used to separate κ-casein-glycomacropeptide
(GMP), which have pharmaceutical uses in controlling the adhesion of E. coli cells
to the intestine walls, protects against influenza and prevents adhesion of tartar to
teeth (Maubois and Ollivier, 1992).

FOULING OF MEMBRANES
Membranes are having some limitations such as fouling of membranes due to
blockage of membrane pores, adsorption of particles on the pores, deposition of
protein and minerals, cake formation and depth fouling (James and Chen,
2003; Popovic et al., 2010; Anand et al., 2012), and bacterial biofilms (Kumar and
Anand, 1998; Tang et al., 2009). The fouling is caused by the accumulation of
particles, bacteria and sediments present in milk leading to remarkable loss in the
efficiency of membranes. The fouling of membrane remains the major concern in
dairy industry (Gesan et al., 1995; Makardij et al., 1999). The fouling of
membranes is mainly affected by several factors such as backpulsing,
crossflushing, backwashing, particle size, membrane surface chemistry and ionic
strength (Huimin et al., 2001).

This major issue of fouling in membranes can be trounced by regular cleaning of

membranes at appropriate time intervals, use of low fouling membranes,
membrane modules with suitable channel heights, by applying high pressure,
application of electric potential, ultrasound waves, microturbulence, ceramic
membranes, uniform transmembrane pressure (UTP), vibrating and rotating disc
modules, use of turbulent flow of liquids (Vishwanathan and Ben, 1989; Saboya
and Maubois, 2000; Duriyabunleng et al., 2001; Ding et al., 2002; Wakeman and
Williams, 2002) and high frequency back pulsing (Levesley and Hoare, 1999).

FUTURE TRENDS
There is need for progressive development of innovative applications based on the
technique. Currently, the membranes for dairy processes have rather a low capacity
owing to strong flux decline by fouling and processes are energy demanding
because of the high cross-flow velocity that is required to control fouling.
Furthermore, methods to control fouling have increased the complexity in
equipments and operation. Besides fouling, selectivity is an important issue for
membrane fractionation of milk. Therefore, we need innovative techniques for the
development of cheap, easily available, superior and long lasting membranes.
Consumers are looking for products with increased freshness and higher quality
and the retailers require products with extended shelf life and the demands of both
can be fulfilled by the use of the membrane technology.

CONCLUSION
Introduction of membrane technology into dairy science witnesses phenomena of
mutual benefit for membranes as well as for dairy industry. The marked
improvement in the nutritive quality and sensory attributes of the existing dairy
products with higher yields in addition to development of several innovative dairy
products became possible by the application of membrane technology. Continuing
the efforts for the development of superior membranes will further expand the role
of membranes in dairy processing.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the research grant from the Chungbong Academic
Research Fund of Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea in 2010.

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