Recovery of proteins from whey using ultrafiltration offers significant drawback in terms of membrane fouling, which also results in increased cost of operation. The current study focuses on developing intensified process of whey protein recovery by crosslinking the protein with the help of transglutaminase enzyme that can aid in reducing the fouling. Protein was crosslinked with the help of free transglutaminase (TG) enzyme and the parameters such as enzyme concentration, temperature and reaction time used during the crosslinking were optimized. For effective application and reusage of enzyme, enzyme was encapsulated on calcium alginate beads and the whey processed by these beads was further utilized for ultrafiltration. The operational strategy indeed resulted in relatively less fouling and better protein recovery. It was demonstrated that fouling reduced to a minimum of 9% and protein rejection increased to a highest of 85% from only 69% in control sets. It was also noticeable that cake resistance decreased after enzyme treatment when encapsulated in calcium alginate beads, also elucidating the effective reuse of the crosslinked enzyme. Overall, the work has clearly demonstrated the improvements in the whey processing leading to better ultrafiltration efficacy in terms of fouling reduction and improvement in protein rejection.

使用超滤从乳清中回收蛋白质在膜污染方面存在显着缺陷，这也导致操作成本增加。目前的研究重点是通过在有助于减少污垢的转谷氨酰胺酶的帮助下交联蛋白质来开发强化的乳清蛋白回收过程。蛋白质在游离转谷氨酰胺酶（TG）的帮助下交联，并优化了交联过程中使用的酶浓度、温度和反应时间等参数。为了酶的有效应用和再利用，酶被封装在海藻酸钙珠上，并且这些珠加工的乳清被进一步用于超滤。该操作策略确实导致相对较少的结垢和更好的蛋白质回收。结果表明，污垢减少到最低 9%，蛋白质排斥率从对照组中的仅 69% 增加到最高 85%。同样值得注意的是，酶处理后，当封装在海藻酸钙珠中时，抗滤饼性降低，这也说明了交联酶的有效再利用。总体而言，这项工作清楚地证明了乳清加工的改进，从而在减少结垢和改善蛋白质排斥方面提高了超滤效率。