A water-only process to fractionate yellow peas into its constituents

To meet the consumer demand for minimally processed foods and clean labels, the potential of processes where chemicals are omitted and only water is used needs to be explored. Mild wet fractionation of yellow pea, a water-only process, is investigated on maximum separation and efficient water use. By only using water, starch and protein from pea could be successfully separated, resulting in fractions high in yield and purity. Multiple washing steps of both the starch and the non-soluble protein fraction were performed to enhance separation. As a result of starch- and non-soluble protein pellet washing, the starch fraction was further depleted in protein and the protein solubility in the non-soluble protein fraction decreased. Ultrafiltration of the soluble protein fraction served to concentrate and the extracted water has potential to be reused in the process. Small solutes were concurrently extracted, which resulted in a higher protein purity in the soluble protein concentrate of 75%. The presented method has potential for upscale use in industry to produce protein fractions comparable to protein isolates obtained through conventional fractionation.