Study the performance of the organic membrane ultrafiltration on whey treatment

Sakina Belhamidi, Majdouline Larif, Hajar Qabli, Soufian Elghzizel, Hicham Jalte, Selma Chouni, Azzedine Elmidaoui

Treatment of whey using the organic membrane processes namely ultrafiltration (UF) was investigated to recover the proteins for re-use. Membrane module was tested in batch mode operations and multi-stages operations employing the influence of the pH and temperature. The performance of ultrafiltration membrane can be characterized permeate flux and membrane retention, these parameters are determined by pH and temperature. The influence of these parameters on whey protein concentrate is also measured. The permeate flux and the protein content in the permeate and in the concentrate fractions were measured during the experimental runs. By comparing the separation behavior of the membrane for the two separation modes it was found that the investigated membrane produced the best results from the point of permeate flux, VRF and protein content in multi-stage modes in optimal condition (pH=6.5 and Temperature 50°C). The filtration characteristics were obviously influenced by the process parameters.