Intensification of the lactose crystallization process

The work is devoted to the research of the lactose crystallization process in concentrated demineralized curds whey solutions before their drying. On the basis of the available data on intensifying the crystallization process in the oversaturated lactose solutions formed in lactose-containing food products the opportunity of applying vortex processing of food products for these purposes has been proved. The object of the research was the curds whey demineralized to 50 % and concentrated to 55 % of dry matter content. Vortex processing of the concentrate has been performed on the concurrent vortex equipment at the temperature of 60 °C, at the pressure of feeding the product into the chamber of 0,55 MPa, with the output of 0,74 m 3/h. Then the treated concentrate was being gradually cooled to the temperature of 20 °C under constant stirring. It has been stated that in the process of 4-hour cooling the dry matter content in the treated product measured with a refrac-tometer decreased from 55 to 34 %, and in the process 80 % of lactose was crystallized. Vortex processing of condensed whey considerably accelerates the nucleation process meanwhile reducing the duration of crystallization in the whole. The subsequent drying of the processed concentrate proceeded steadily: the moisture content and the water absorbency of the dry product amounted to 3.9 and 12 % respectively.

crystallization, vortex processing, demineralized condensed curds whey, lactose