Coagulation method for preparing leaf protein concentrates (LPC) from plant foliage
AssigneeInternational Harvester Company
InventorDonald W. De Jong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The addition of a multifunctional crosslinking reagent, such as glutaraldehyde, to green juice in conjunction with lowering the pH to a value in the range of 3.0 to 5.0, such as by the addition of potassium bisulfate causes substantially complete precipitation of soluble proteins from green juice extracted from leafy plant tissue and simultaneously coagulates suspended protein. The multifunctional crosslinking reagent generally can be any compound having a chemical structure within the following general formula: ##STR1## wherein X is a divalent ion such as oxygen, sulfur or NH; R is hydrogen or a short chain alkyl radical having 1-5 carbon atoms; and n is an integer in the range of 0-10.
Claims11
A method of separating protein from a photosynthetic organism comprising:
- disrupting cells of said photosynthetic organism to form a green juice;
- adding a crosslinking reagent to said green juice;
- lowering the pH of said green juice to a value in the range of 3.0 to 5.0 to cause said protein to precipitate and to form a coagulum;
- and
- separating said coagulum from said green juice.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.