Particle size effect on soy protein isolate extraction

This study was undertaken to determine if the yield and purity of soy protein isolates could be improved by changing the particle size of the starting raw material. Soy protein isolates were extracted from hexane defatted soy flour ground to three different average particle sizes (89.5 ± 1.1, 184.2 ± 1.6 and 223.4 ± 6.4 μm). By decreasing the average particle diameter of the starting raw material (soy flour) from 223.4 to 89.5 μm the total solids recovery increased from 23 to 32% (P = 0.00008), while the protein recovery increased from 40 to 52% (P = 0.00004). Final protein content (i.e., purity) of the soy protein isolates was not significantly impacted by average particle size. The results clearly demonstrated that protein recovery can be increased by >30% by decreasing the average particle size of the starting raw material (i.e., defatted soy flour), without having any detrimental impact on the purity of the final soy protein isolate. © 2007, Blackwell Publishing.