RECOVERY OF PROTEIN FROM MUNG BEAN STARCH PROCESSING WASTEWATER BY ROTATING ULTRAFILTRATION

Mung bean wastewater containing valuable protein is very potential to be recovered for reuse. In this study, rotary disk ultrafiltration was employed to recover this protein. The effects of transmembrane pressure (TMP) and membrane rotational speeds on process efficiency were studied and the optimum condition was chosen based on membrane permeate flux and protein retention. The results suggested that the use of TMP of 1.2 bar and rotating speed of 1,683 rpm under total recycle mode tended to achieve highest permeate flux (43 L/m(3)h) compared to those using lower TMP and rotating speeds. The permeate fluxes under total recycle mode and batch concentration mode tended to increase with processing time, indicating the effectiveness of rotating shear force. In addition, the effect of stabilization technique on process performance under batch concentration mode was also studied. However, the variable did not show positive impacts on permeate flux and protein retention improvement. The optimum condition to achieve volume concentration factor (VCF) of 5 was TMP of 1.2 bar and rotating speed of 1,403 rpm without stabilization. Under this condition, the average flux, protein retention and energy consumption were 42 L/m(2)h, 96% and 81 kWh/m(3), respectively.