Plant protein recovery with decanter centrifuges
Decanter centrifuges are the heart of every wet separation process line to obtain plant proteins for the use as e.g. meat alternatives or sport drinks and snack bars.
It takes a little bit more though, than just centrifugal force to separate the protein fraction out of the original raw material like peas or soy or rapeseed. Especially if you want to maximize your yield and make sure that your decanter centrifuge gets clean again after operation. Watch here what design features decanters should optimally have for the recovery of plant proteins.
Wet separation
For obtaining e.g. soy protein isolate, decanters are used for extraction, concentration and washing. The extraction of the protein from the soy flocs takes place in two stages. The fibers separated in the second stage still contain bound and insoluble protein and can be used as animal feed.
The protein dissolved in the supernatant of the first and second decanter stages is fed to the precipitation stage after extraction. During precipitation, protein flocs form which are concentrated by the decanter. The proteins remaining in the supernatant can be recovered by a disc stack separator to increase the yield of useable protein and to reduce loading of the waste water. The remaining whey can be evaporated and used as molasses in fermentation processes. The protein from the decanter and separator is then fed to the washing stage.
Due to this step, soluble carbohydrates are further reduced and the protein content is increased.
GEA has extensive know-how for the complete wet separation part as well as for evaporation and drying.
Plant-based Protein Technologies – A Comprehensive Webinar Series
