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separation techniques

Membrane separation

Membrane separation is aimed at the selective removal of water (and solutes and/or suspended material) from a solution by using semi-permeable membranes. Therefore it can also be seen as a fractionation technique. There are two membrane separation techniques used in the food industry: membrane filtration and electrodialysis. Membrane separation is applied for the concentration of liquids... go to >> Membrane separation

Deionisation

Deionisation (ion exchange) is used to remove unwanted organic and/or inorganic constituents from water and food products. In the dairy industry deionisation is applied in whey processing. For the application of whey solids in human food and in infant formulae, low levels of mineral constituents are required. Deionisation is also widely used in the food industry for the treatment of boiler... go to >> Deionisation

Deodorisation, decolourisation

(removal of fatty acids) The objective of the chemical neutralisation process is to remove the free fatty acids and the rests of phosphatides from vegetable oils, using chemicals such as phosphoric acid or (in some cases) citric acid and lye. Chemical neutralisation is applied in the refining process of vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, and of animal oils... go to >> Deodorisation, decolourisation

Extraction

The objective of extraction is to recover valuable soluble components from raw materials by primarily dissolving them in a liquid solvent, so that the components can be separated and recovered later from the liquid. Extraction is applied to a wide variety of food products. Typical examples are: the extraction of sugar from sugar-beets or sugar-cane the extraction of oil... go to >> Extraction

Centrifugation

Sedimentation and centrifugation are used to separate immiscible liquids and solids from liquids. The separation is carried out by the application of either natural gravity or centrifugal forces. Centrifugation is typically used in the dairy industry in the clarification of milk, the skimming of milk and whey, the concentration of cream, in the production and the recovery of casein, in the... go to >> Centrifugation