RESEARCH ON CONSTRUCTIVE AND TECHNOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF MEMBRANE APPARATUS FOR COTTAGE CHEESE WHEY CONCENTRATION

The development of equipment for food production containing a set of necessary components for the life of the body (amino acids, in particular) is quite an urgent problem. Milk and whey proteins contain a number of essential amino acids which the body easily assimilates when they are in the dissolved state. As proteins are thermolabile, membrane technology is successfully applied for their concentration now. Mixture concentration by membrane methods is performed without phase transformations and usually at ambient temperature. During concentration of a product, milk protein undergoes no changes and keeps its natural form and its useful properties, respectively. This cannot be related to the protein concentrates obtained by standard methods. Moreover, in some cases, membrane methods are not only economic and less power-intensive in comparison with other methods, but they often allow using more raw materials and energy to be used, i.e. there is a possibility of secondary raw materials and waste processing. The construction of membrane apparatus including a cylindrical element with holes on the side surface has been developed, in which the decrease of layer thickness of the detained substances on the membrane is carried out in the hydrodynamic way. Experimental studies on the membrane apparatus used for the cottage cheese whey concentration showed the efficiency of the new construction. The created regression models allowed us to define the rational values of constructive (L = 2 mm, N = 13 rows, D = 1 mm) and technological (Т = 60°С, Р = 0.18 MPa) parameters of the membrane apparatus, at which the greatest possible productivity (8.8·10-6m³/(m² · s)) is observed. It is experimentally determined that the productivity of the developed membrane apparatus is 1.4 more than that of the prototype.