Composite Plant Protein Processing for High Solubility Without Hydrolysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for modifying plant proteins, such as enzymatic, chemical, and physical modifications, fail to achieve optimal solubility and functional properties required for industrial applications, leading to limited marketization due to issues like hydrolysis, bitter taste, and difficulty in controlling chemical reactions.
Innovation Solution
A method involving mixing plant proteins with compound alkali powder, followed by high-pressure jet mill-ultrasonic treatment, and spray-drying to create a composite plant protein with enhanced solubility and functional properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If enzymatic modification is used to improve plant protein solubility, then solubility is improved, but the protein is hydrolyzed into peptides and small molecular amino acids, losing nutritional properties and producing bitter taste
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces enzymatic modification with a mechanical-chemical hybrid approach using high-pressure homogenization combined with alkaline treatment. This substitution avoids enzymatic hydrolysis that causes bitter taste and nutritional loss, while achieving the desired solubility improvement through physical disruption and pH-mediated conformational changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs controlled pH changes (alkaline treatment followed by acidification) and pressure changes (high-pressure homogenization) to modify protein solubility. By adjusting these parameters, the protein structure is altered to improve solubility without hydrolyzing the protein into peptides, thus avoiding bitter taste while maintaining nutritional properties.
2Reliability
If chemical modification is used to improve plant protein solubility, then solubility is improved, but the reaction process is difficult to control and may cause food safety problems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex chemical modification processes with a simpler mechanical-chemical approach. High-pressure homogenization physically disrupts protein aggregates, while mild alkaline treatment followed by acidification provides controlled solubility improvement without requiring complex chemical reactions, thereby simplifying process control and ensuring food safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses food-grade alkaline and acid agents that are inexpensive, easily controllable, and leave no harmful residues. These simple chemical agents provide temporary pH adjustment during processing, achieving solubility improvement without the need for complex, expensive, or difficult-to-control chemical modification systems.
3Stability of the object's composition
If physical modification is used to retain plant protein primary structure, then nutritional properties are preserved, but the modification effect is limited and processing capacity cannot match industrial production requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges mechanical processing (high-pressure homogenization) with mild chemical treatment (alkaline and acidification). This combination achieves both the retention of primary protein structure (through gentle handling compared to harsh chemical modification) and the processing capacity needed for industrial production (through efficient high-pressure treatment and simple pH adjustment steps).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses controlled pH parameter changes and high-pressure parameters to achieve industrial-scale processing capacity. The alkaline treatment at controlled pH followed by acidification, combined with high-pressure homogenization, provides efficient solubility improvement that can be scaled for industrial production while maintaining protein structural integrity and nutritional properties.
4Stability of the object's composition
If plant protein is used directly without modification, then nutritional properties are retained, but solubility is low and it cannot be uniformly dispersed in water, limiting application scope
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies controlled pH parameter changes (alkaline treatment followed by acidification) and high-pressure treatment to modify protein solubility. These parameter changes enable uniform dispersion in water while retaining the original protein structure and nutritional properties, expanding the application scope to include emulsions, colloids, and foams.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces direct use of native protein with mechanically and chemically treated protein. High-pressure homogenization physically disrupts aggregates to improve dispersion, while controlled pH changes modify surface charge and conformation to enhance water solubility, enabling the protein to be uniformly dispersed without compromising nutritional properties.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method results in a composite plant protein with solubility of at least 85%, increased emulsifying property by approximately 80%, and foaming property by approximately 240%, suitable for industrial-scale production.
Implementation Method 1
adding compound alkali powder to a mixed solution and stirring, so as to obtain a protein stock solution with a pH of 10-10.5
Implementation Method 2
obtaining a protein solution with a pH of 6.8-7.0 by performing a high-pressure jet mill-ultrasonic treatment on the protein stock solution
Implementation Method 3
performing a high-pressure jet mill-ultrasonic treatment on the protein stock solution
Implementation Method 4
adding citric acid to a treated protein stock solution
Implementation Method 5
obtaining the composite plant protein by spray-drying the protein solution obtained from step S2
Data Source
AI summary
A method for preparing a composite plant protein, including: S1: mixing at least two kinds of plant proteins with water, adding compound alkali powder to a mixed solution and stirring, so as to obtain a protein stock solution with a pH of 10-10.5; the two kinds of plant proteins being rice protein and pea protein, or the rice protein and soy protein; and the compound alkali powder is sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide; S2: obtaining a protein solution with a pH of 6.8-7.0 by performing a high-pressure jet mill-ultrasonic treatment on the protein stock solution obtained from step S1, and adding citric acid to a treated protein stock solution; and S3: obtaining the composite plant protein by spray-drying the protein solution obtained from step S2.