Delactosed Milk Preparation via Membrane Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing lactose-free and low-lactose milk products are inefficient and difficult to implement in industrial production, often failing to reduce sugar content effectively and maintaining nutritional balance.
Innovation Solution
The method involves defatting milk, adding a coagulant and calcium salt to form curd particles and whey, dissolving the curd in a milk-dissolving solvent, removing lactose through membrane separation, and recombining with delactosed whey to produce lactose-free or low-lactose milk, which can be further processed into liquid or powder form.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If lactase is added to milk to decompose lactose, then lactose intolerance symptoms are relieved, but total sugar content is not reduced and blood sugar levels may be adversely affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes lactose from milk through membrane separation technology, physically separating it from the milk matrix. This approach directly eliminates the harmful substance (lactose) rather than just transforming it, thereby reducing both lactose content and total sugar content simultaneously, avoiding the blood sugar issue associated with lactase hydrolysis
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the biochemical method (lactase enzyme hydrolysis) with a physical separation method (membrane separation). This substitution allows for direct removal of lactose without converting it to glucose and galactose, thus reducing total sugar content while relieving lactose intolerance symptoms
2Quantity of substance
If membrane separation is used to remove lactose directly, then sugar content is reduced, but the method is difficult to implement in industrial production
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the milk processing into distinct stages: coagulation to separate curd and whey, followed by targeted membrane separation of lactose from the whey phase. This segmentation allows the complex industrial process to be broken down into manageable, easily implementable steps that can be efficiently executed in industrial production
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses whey as an intermediary medium. By coagulating milk to separate curd and whey, the lactose-rich whey phase is isolated and subjected to membrane separation. This intermediary approach facilitates efficient lactose removal while maintaining industrial production feasibility
3Object-affected harmful factors
If lactose is removed from milk, then lactose intolerance is prevented, but nutritional balance may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent discards only the lactose component from the whey through membrane separation, while recovering and retaining other valuable nutritional components such as proteins, minerals, and vitamins. This selective removal maintains nutritional balance by preserving essential nutrients while eliminating the harmful 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
This method significantly reduces lactose content by 50% or more, preventing lactose intolerance and abnormal blood glucose changes, while retaining essential nutrients and original flavor, making it suitable for lactose-free and low-lactose dairy products.
Implementation Method 1
adding a coagulant and calcium salt to form curd particles and whey
Implementation Method 2
removing lactose through membrane separation
Data Source
AI summary
A kind of lactose-removing milk is prepared with milk as material and through de-fatting (or not de-fatting ), curding, precipitation, ultra-filtering, re-dissolving, mixing, recovering and other steps. The lactose-removing milk may be produced into liquid milk or milk powder, and may be also mixed with common milk to produce low lactose liquid milk or low lactose milk powder.