Fractionation of Glycomacropeptide from Whey Using Positively Charged Ultrafiltration Membranes

Fractionation of the bovine glycomacropeptide (GMP) from the other proteins in cheese whey was examined using ultrafiltration membranes surface modified to contain positively charged polymer brushes made of polyhexamethylene biguanide. By placing a strong positive charge on a 1000 kDa ultrafiltration membrane and adjusting the pH of whey close to the isoelectric point of GMP, a 14-fold increase in selectivity was observed compared to unmodified membranes. A one stage membrane system gave 90% pure GMP and a three-stage rectification system gave 97% pure GMP. The charged membrane was salt-tolerant up to 40 mS cm^-1 conductivity, allowing fractionation of GMP directly from cheese whey without first lowering the whey conductivity by water dilution. Thus, similarly sized proteins that differed somewhat in isoelectric points and were 50⁻100 fold smaller than the membrane molecular weight cut-off (MWCO), were cleanly fractionated using charged ultrafiltration membranes without water addition. This is the first study to report on the use of salt-tolerant charged ultrafiltration membranes to produce chromatographically pure protein fractions from whey, making ultrafiltration an attractive alternative to chromatography for dairy protein fractionation.