Lactose-Reduced Dairy Powder With Continuous Enzyme Conversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing lactose-free dairy powders face challenges such as decreased drying equipment productivity, increased costs, hygroscopicity, stickiness, and brown color formation, due to the use of lactase after transgalactosylating enzyme inactivation, which complicates the process and does not fully eliminate lactose.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the sequential or simultaneous use of a transgalactosylase and lactase enzyme without intermediate inactivation, producing lactose-free dairy powder with at least 4% GOS, enhancing drying capacity and reducing hygroscopicity and stickiness, while maintaining high GOS levels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If lactase enzyme is used after transgalactosylating enzyme inactivation to produce lactose-free dairy powder, then lactose is reduced, but the process complexity increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the transgalactosylating enzyme treatment and lactase treatment into a single sequential process without intermediate inactivation steps. The transgalactosylating enzyme converts lactose to GOS, and subsequently lactase converts remaining lactose and GOS to monosaccharides, all in one continuous process flow, eliminating the need for separate inactivation and reactivation steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent maintains continuous enzymatic action by avoiding inactivation steps between enzyme treatments. The process flows continuously from transgalactosylation to lactase hydrolysis, keeping the system in a state of productive enzymatic conversion throughout, thereby maximizing drying equipment productivity.
2Manufacturing precision
If lactase enzyme is used after transgalactosylating enzyme inactivation, then lactose is degraded, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs transgalactosylation first to convert lactose to GOS, which then serves as a substrate for the subsequent lactase treatment. This preliminary conversion optimizes the substrate availability for lactase, enabling more efficient and faster lactose degradation in the second step without requiring extended production time.
3Stability of the object's composition
If high concentration of monosaccharides is present in treated liquid dairy, then glass-transition temperature drops, but spray dryer fouling increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the sugar composition parameters by converting lactose to GOS and then to monosaccharides through controlled enzymatic reactions. This parameter transformation modifies the glass-transition temperature characteristics and reduces the fouling tendency during spray drying, as the resulting monosaccharide composition has different thermal and flow properties compared to high lactose or high GOS content.
4Manufacturing precision
If lactose-free milk powder is produced, then lactose is eliminated, but hygroscopicity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the carbohydrate composition from lactose to a mixture of GOS and monosaccharides through sequential enzymatic treatment. This compositional parameter change results in lactose-free powder with modified hygroscopic properties, as GOS and monosaccharides exhibit different water binding characteristics compared to lactose.
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 increases drying capacity, reduces production time and costs, decreases hygroscopicity and stickiness, and minimizes brown color formation in lactose-free dairy powders, achieving at least 10% GOS and <0.1% lactose.
Implementation Method 1
treating a lactose comprising milk-based substrate with a first enzyme having transgalactosylase activity
Implementation Method 2
treating a lactose comprising milk-based substrate with a second enzyme having lactase activity
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The invention relates to the field of dry or powder dairy compositions. The present invention describes a method for producing a lactose reduced dairy powder comprising (i) treating a lactose comprising milk-based substrate with a first enzyme having transgalactosylase activity and a second enzyme having lactase activity to obtain a lactose reduced and galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) comprising milk-based product (ii) preparing lactose reduced dairy powder from said lactose reduced and GOS comprising milk-based product.