Protein recovery from enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction of soybean

Enzyme-assisted aqueous oil extraction from soybean is a "green" alternative to hexane extraction that must realize potential revenues from a value-added protein co-product. Three technologies were investigated to recover protein from the skim fraction of an aqueous extraction process. Ultrafiltration achieved overall protein yields between 60% and 64%, with solids protein content of 70%, and was effective in reducing stachyose content, with fluxes between 4 and 10 L/m(2) hr. Protein content was limited because of high retention of lipids and the loss of polypeptides below 13.6 kDa. Isoelectric precipitation was effective in recovering the minimally hydrolyzed proteins of skim, with a protein content of 70%, again limited by lipid content. However, protein recovery was only 30% because of the greater solubility of the hydrolyzed proteins. Recovery by the alternative of protein capture on dextran-grafted agarose quaternary-amine expanded bed adsorption resins decreased with decreasing polypeptide molecular weight. Proteins with molecular mass greater than 30 kDa exhibited slow adsorption rates. Expanded bed adsorption was most effective for recovery of proteins with molecular weight between 30 and 12 kDa. Overall, adsorption protein yields were between 14% and 17%.