IIT Roorkee research team has come up with a great technique that paves way for healthier and efficient milk processing.

A study conducted by them demonstrates one-step separation of fat globules based on size from bovine milk using a cross-flow microfiltration.

The first author (Ph.D. student: Ayushi Kapoor) has been granted the International Travel Award by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, as her research paper has been selected for Oral presentation.

She will be presenting it at the upcoming Annual Conference of the Membrane Society Australasia conference in Perth, Australia in December.

Microfiltration

Milk microfiltration has gained attention in the dairy industry due to its ability to selectively separate and concentrate bioactive components from milk and its further application in food fortification, says IIT Roorkee research team.

One such compound is milk fat globules, a bioactive component with potential health benefits, which undergo structural and functional damage, membrane phospholipids loss, experience longer processing time, and higher recovery cost due to its current multi-step separation process, says IIT Roorkee research team.

IIT Roorkee research team

IIT Roorkee research team comprised Ayushi Kapoor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Roorkee; Saurav Datta, Amgen Bioprocessing Center, Keck Graduate Institute, Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences, Claremont.

It also comprised Gaurav Gupta, Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, IIT Kanpur; Ajay Vishwakarma, Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, IIT Roorkee, Saharanpur Campus.

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Avinash Singh, Department of Dairy Technology, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj; Sujay Chattopadhyay, Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, IIT Roorkee, Saharanpur Campus; Kiran Ambatipudi, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Roorkee also formed part of IIT Roorkee research team.

Output

The first author, Ph.D. student at the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Roorkee, Ayushi Kapoor, highlighted the research output of this study.

‘Our study has developed a one-step process which not only operates efficiently at lower pressure but also successfully preserves the structure of separated fat globules.’

The current milk fat globule separation techniques involve 4-5 steps which makes it a more time-consuming and costly process, said Ayushi Kapoor of IIT Roorkee research team.

Also, the excess processing steps damage the milk fat globules leading to the reduction in their nutritional properties, she said.

Whereas, the process that we have developed directly separates from raw milk, without applying any pre-processing, thus saving time, energy and money, when implemented at the industrial level, she said.

Groundbreaking

The IIT Roorkee research team has developed a groundbreaking one-step process to separate smaller, health-beneficial milk fat globules from cow and buffalo milk based on their size, preserving their structural and nutritional qualities.

This innovation streamlines operations, saving time, energy, and resources, and has the potential to reduce milk fat content, making it suitable for consumption across age groups, says IIT Roorkee research team.

The isolated fat globules can be utilized to create functional food ingredients, including infant formula, and serve as raw materials for various high-value products in the food and pharmaceutical industries, offering significant benefits to these sectors, says IIT Roorkee research team.

The study was recently published in the Separation and Purification Technology journal, and the institute has already filed a complete Indian patent for the process, says IIT Roorkee research team.

Director of IIT Roorkee

Expressing his heartfelt congratulations to the researchers, Prof K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, “Output of this research will provide valuable insights for further advancements in fat globule isolation and opens avenues for future research and industrial applications.

Innovative approach

This innovative approach to milk fat globule separation has the potential to revolutionize the dairy and food processing industries, offering a more efficient and cost-effective method for preserving the nutritional qualities of milk fat globules, says IIT Roorkee research team.