Microfiltration of Milk

Microfiltration is the most open or porous in the filtration spectrum.

Bacteria Removal/Extended Shelf Life Milk : The most common separation in this category is the removal of bacteria and spores from milk. In some regions the somatic cell count of fresh can be difficult to manage. In other parts of the world vegetative spores associated with animal feeds pass directly through the animal and into the milk supply. Some of these spores survive pasteurization and can cause shelf-life problems in certain of the final products produced. Microfiltration can allow milk to pass through the membrane and reject the problem bacteria which are too large to pass through the membrane. This can also be used as a precursor to pasteurization allowing for extended shelf-life of products with standard pasteurization techniques.

Casien Fractionation: The most promising and under-utilized microfiltration technique for milk is separating casein from the serum milk proteins or "Whey" proteins. This application produces a casein-rich milk concentrate that can be used for cheese making and a fat free serum milk protein stream that can be further processed with Ultrafiltration to make a Whey protein-type concentrate.