This book provides a very detailed examination of the most important, advanced separation processes now in use. Each chapter is prepared by a specialist or specialists in the type of separation discussed. Each separation method is related to practical commercial applications. The book concentrates on the more recent methods and techniques for separating food components and products of the biotechnology industry. Each chapter deals with a specific type or area of application and includes information on the basic principles, industrial equipment available, commercial applications, and an overview of current research and development.

Much of the emphasis is on extraction of macromolecules, increasing the added value of foods and recovering valuable components from by-products and fermentation media. Many of the methods discussed are now in commercial practice, while others are being vigorously researched.

Contents
Preface

1. Separation processes-an overview
   • Foods-the raw material
   • Separation techniques: Introduction, Separation from solids, Separations from gases and vapors
   • Water treatment
2. Supercritical fluid extraction and its application in the food industry
   • Introduction
   • The supercritical fluid state: Physical properties of NCF CO2
   • Properties of NCF solutions: Solubilities in NCFs, Theoretical models (equations of state (EOS), Diffusion coefficients
   • Factors determining the efficiency of NCF extraction: Extraction stage, Separation stage
   • Equipment and experimental techniques used in NCF extraction and fractionation: Extraction, fractionation
   • Applications: Decaffeination of coffee and tea, Seed oil extraction, Purification of lecithin, Lowering cholesterol levels in foods, Fractionation of high-value oils and fats, Extraction of flavours and fragrances
3. Pressure-activated membrane processes
   • Introduction
   • Terminology
   • Concentration factor and rejection
   • Membrane characteristics
   • Permeate rate
   • Transport phenomena and concentration polarisation
   • Membrane equipment: Membrane configuration
   • Safety and hygiene considerations
   • Reverse osmosis applications: Introduction, Water treatment, Milk processes, Fruit and vegetable juices, Other applications
4. Ultrafiltration
   • Introduction
   • Processing characteristics: Rejection or retention factors, Yield, Average rejection, Practical rejection data
   • Performance of ultrafiltration systems: Transport phenomena and concentration polarisation, Fouling, Factors affecting flux
   • Diafiltration: Washing out at constant volume, Diafiltration applications, Protein fractionation
   • Ultrafiltration applications: Dairy applications, Oilseed and vegetable proteins, Animal products, Biotechnology applications, Medical applications: serum fractionation
5. Microfiltration
   • Introduction
   • Theory, materials and equipment: Membrane configurations and characteristics, Performance of microfiltration systems and membrane fouling
   • Applications in the food and biotechnology industries: Food industry, Applications for biotechnology
   • Conclusions
6. Ion-exchange and electrodialysis
   • Ion-exchange: Theory, materials and equipment, Applications of ion-exchange in the food and biotechnology industries
   • Electrodialysis: Theory and equipment, Applications of ED in the food and biotechnology industries
7. Innovative separation methods in bioprocessing
   • Introduction
   • System characteristics: Physiochemical basis for separation operations, Kinetics and mass transfer
   • Liquid-liquid extraction: introduction: Aqueous two-phase separation, Reverse micelle extraction, Perfluorocarbon affinity separations, Liquid membrane separations
   • Solid-based separations: Adsorption systems: expanded bed adsorption, Continuous adsorption recycle extraction, Membrane chromatography, Chromatographic and adsorption materials
   • Other developments: Electrically enhanced separations, Genetic approaches to protein purification, Purification of intracellular proteins
8. Fractionation of fat
   • Introduction: Crystallisation: nuclei formation and crystal growth, Polymorphism, Quality of edible oils
   • Dry fractionation: Flat-bed vacuum band filter, Rotary drum filters, Membrane filters
   • Detergent fractionation: The Lipofrac process, Crystallisation
   • Solvent fractionation
9. Solids separation processes
   • Introduction
   • Physical properties of solids: Classification of powders, Particle size and particle size distribution, Particle density, Forces of adhesion, Bulk properties, Bulk density and porosity, Flowability
   • Separation of particulates and powders: Size reduction, Sieving
   • Air classification: Introduction, Commercial air classifiers, Process characterisation, Applications, Cereal separations, Legumes, Other applications
   • Wet separation processes: Protein recovery, Soya processing, Wheat protein, Other applications
   • Some miscellaneous solids separations: Dehulling, Peeling, Cleaning of raw materials, Sorting and grading