Process for the purification of nutrients from food process streams

摘要

A separation process for isolation and purification of useful nutrients from food process streams is described. The process includes the steps of contacting an aqueous solution including a nutrient and divalent ions with an ion exchange resin including monovalent ions. The eluate which is depleted of divalent ions is collected and subjected to a process capable of separating monovalent ions to obtain a permeate fraction including monovalent ions and a retentate fraction including said nutrient. The retentate is separated into fractions, wherein at least one of said fractions includes the major portion of said nutrient, which may then be further purified. The ion-exchange resin can be regenerated by contacting the ion-exchange resin with a solution including the permeate fraction until a major portion of the divalent ions in the ion exchange resin have been replaced by monovalent ions.