Use of immobilised biocatalysts in the processing of cheese whey

Food processing industry operations need to comply with increasingly more stringent environmental regulations related to the disposal or utilisation of by-products and wastes. These include growing restrictions on land spraying with agro-industrial wastes, and on disposal within landfill operations, and the requirements to produce end products that are stabilised and hygienic. Much of the material generated as wastes by the dairy processing industries contains components that could be utilised as substrates and nutrients in a variety of microbial/enzymatic processes, to give rise to added-value products. A good example of a waste that has received considerable attention as a source of added-value products is cheese whey. The carbohydrate reservoir of lactose (4–5%) in whey and the presence of other essential nutrients make it a good natural medium for the growth of microorganisms and a potential substrate for bioprocessing through microbial fermentation. Immobilised cell and enzyme technology has also been applied to whey bioconversion processes to improve the economics of such processes. This review focuses upon the elaboration of a range of immobilisation techniques that have been applied to produce valuable whey-based products. A comprehensive literature survey is also provided to illustrate numerous immobilisation procedures with particular emphasis upon lactose hydrolysis, and ethanol and lactic acid production using immobilised biocatalysts.     

Application of reverse micelle extraction process for amylase recovery using response surface methodology

The effect of different process variables of reverse micelle extraction process like pH, addition of surfactant (AOT) concentration and potassium chloride (KCl) concentration on amylase recovery has been studied and analysed. Solid-state fermentation was used for the production of amylase enzyme. Response surface methodology (RSM) using central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was employed to analyse and optimize the enzyme extraction process. The regression analysis indicates that the effect of AOT concentration, and KCl concentration were significant, whereas the effect of pH was non-significant on enzyme recovery. For the maximum recovery of enzyme, the optimum operating condition for pH, AOT concentration (M) and KCl concentration were 10.43, 0.05 and 1.00, respectively. Under these optimal conditions, the enzyme recovery was 83.16%.