Synergistic extraction of ?-Lactalbumin and ?-Lactoglobulin from acid whey using aqueous biphasic system: Process evaluation and optimization

Abstract

The present investigation focused on the simultaneous partitioning of ?-Lactalbumin (?-La) to the PEG rich phase and ?-Lactoglobulin (?-Lg) to the salt rich bottom phase from acid whey using polyethylene glycol 1000-trisodium citrate systems. The effect of Tie Line Length (TLL), pH, volume ratio and whey concentration on the proteins partitioning was evaluated. Further the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to analyze the synergistic and interactive effect of these variables (TLL, pH and whey loading) on the responses (recovery and purity of ?-La and ?-Lg). Optimum values of these variables were obtained for different goals through desirability based multi response optimization. A system of 54.12% (w/w) TLL with 30.6% (w/w) whey at pH 7.23 separates ?-La with 89% recovery and purity of 96% in the top phase, whereas that of ?-Lg in the bottom phase was 96% and 76% respectively. 2015 Elsevier B.V.