Isolation and characterisation of micellar casein from buffalo milk using microfiltration technique with modified buffer composition

The objective of this work was to study the effect of di-sodium phosphate (Na2HPO4) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) salt concentrations (10 to 90 mM) on the isolation of casein micelles from buffalo milk by microfiltration (0.20 mu m) process. Destabilisation of buffalo micellar casein resulted in the presence of CaCl2. A complete isolation of caseins from buffalo skim milk was achieved using modified buffer containing 90 mM Na2HPO4 after 4th cycle of washing with 92% removal of whey proteins. Modification of casein micelles with Na2HPO4 resulted in 33% removal of calcium in the preparation of buffalo micellar casein. Based on transmission electron micrographs, no aggregation was recorded for buffalo micellar casein and size varied from 30 to 80 nm.

Automated summary

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of di-sodium phosphate and calcium chloride salt concentrations on the isolation of casein micelles from buffalo milk. The results showed that the modified buffer with a high concentration of Na2HPO4 achieved complete isolation of caseins from buffalo skim milk. The modification of casein micelles with Na2HPO4 resulted in a significant removal of calcium.