Dry fractionation of oil-rich legumes for recovery of functional protein ingredients

Summary

Protein ingredients from legumes are often prepared by wet extracting the proteins followed by drying, which costs a lot of energy. For starch-rich legumes, dry fractionation is an attractive sustainable alternative, but for oil rich legumes it is unclear whether dry fractionation is possible. Thus this thesis aims to provide knowledge-based processing guidelines for dry fractionation of oil-rich seeds towards functional protein ingredients. Dry fractionation of oil-rich legumes is possible and pre-treatments, such as de-oiling, are key to optimize the powder properties and process performance. The pre-treatments have various consequences along the processing line up till the flavour perception and functionality. Dry fractionation is not limited to legumes, and translation to other biomass is possible. For this, the combination of pre-treatments and fine milling should release cellular components with different composition and distinctly different physical properties, with favourable bulk properties for dry separation.