Exploring wheat and pulse protein fractionation: techniques and applications in sustainable food systems

Protein fractionation plays a crucial role in producing high-value protein ingredients, shaping nutritional quality, functionality, and sustainability outcomes. This review examines major fractionation techniques, including physical methods (sieving, air classification, electrostatic separation) and chemical approaches (isoelectric precipitation, alkaline extraction, aqueous fractionation), together with emerging hybrid strategies. Quantitatively, dry fractionation typically delivers 30-60% protein purity at ~0.5-1.0 MJ kg^-1 flour (excluding milling), while wet fractionation can achieve 70-95% purity but requires substantially more resources, including ~2-5 MJ kg^-1 water removed for drying. Hybrid routes offer intermediate or superior performance by combining high purity with lower energy and water use. Applications in bread, pasta, meat analogues, and dairy substitutes demonstrate the functional and nutritional advantages of these protein fractions. A structured database search with defined keywords and criteria ensured methodological transparency. The novelty of this review lies in integrating process efficiency, techno-functional performance, and sustainability metrics into a unified assessment framework, addressing gaps not fully covered in previous reviews. Collectively, these insights highlight the potential of optimized, hybridized fractionation methods to support sustainable and innovative food processing. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.