Ames, Iowa
February 14, 2007
Graduate student Bishnu Karki
turned on an ultrasonic machine in an
Iowa State University
laboratory. With a loud screech, the machine's high-frequency
sound waves churned a mixture of soy flakes and cold water. And
that churning could be a major boost to soy processors and the
food industry.
Adding ultrasonic pretreatment to soy processing boosts and
improves the yield of protein that can be added to foods, said
Samir Khanal, an Iowa State research assistant professor of
civil, construction and environmental engineering. In Iowa State
laboratory tests, exposing ground and defatted soy flakes to
ultrasonics has increased the release of soy proteins by 46
percent.
Khanal said the ultrasonic treatment also breaks some of the
bonds that tie sugars to the soy proteins. Separating the sugars
from the proteins improves the quality of the proteins. It also
boosts the sugar content of the soy whey that's left after
processing. Ultrasonic treatment boosted sugar yields by 50
percent.
The low-cost, sugar-enriched whey can replace an expensive
compound used to grow lactic acid bacteria, Khanal said. The
bacteria produce nisin, a valuable natural food preservative
that's also used in cosmetic and health care products such as
mouthwash and toothpaste.
"Our preliminary economic analysis showed that the proposed
technology could generate revenue up to $230 million per year
from a typical plant producing 400 million pounds of soy protein
isolate," says a summary of the research project. "This is a
major breakthrough in the soy processing industry."
Khanal leads a research team that includes Hans van Leeuwen, an
Iowa State professor of civil, construction and environmental
engineering; David Grewell, an Iowa State assistant professor of
agricultural and biosystems engineering; Stephanie Jung, an Iowa
State assistant professor of food science and human nutrition;
and Buddhi Lamsal, a senior scientist at Kansas State University
in Manhattan. Larry Johnson, the director of Iowa State's Center
for Crops Utilization Research, and Tony Pometto, an Iowa State
professor of food science and human nutrition, are assisting the
project. Iowa State graduate students Bishnu Karki, who's
studying environmental science, and Debjani Mitra, who's
studying biorenewable resources and technology, are also working
on the research project.
The research is supported by a grant of $81,977 from the Grow
Iowa Values Fund, a state economic development program. Cargill
and other major food processors are supporting the research
project with materials and supplies. And the Iowa Biotechnology
Byproducts Consortium is supporting the nisin portion of the
project with a grant of $155,711.
Khanal said the technology has boosted protein and sugar release
in batch-by-batch lab tests. The researchers will now try lab
tests to see how it works in the same kind of continuously
flowing stream that would be used in a soy processing plant.
The researchers are optimistic the technology can be effective
and efficient in a full-size soy processing plant. Van Leeuwen
said the ultrasonic treatments only require a few seconds and
can be done in a pipeline connecting a plant's soy processing
units. He also said the capital costs and power requirements for
ultrasonics are small.
Yes, Khanal said, "I think this is commercially viable."
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