High Purity, Low Energy: Membranes for Dairy Processing

With the dairy deep processing industry developing at high speed, the purification and refining of protein materials has become a key link determining product quality and corporate profitability. Relying on nearly thirty years of technical accumulation in the field of membrane separation, Jiuwu Hi-Tech has built an efficient, green and precise filtration solution for removing impurities from protein materials, bringing disruptive process upgrades to dairy processing, bio-fermentation, plant extraction and many other fields.

01 The "Two Dilemmas" of Conventional Impurity Removal Processes

In the dairy deep processing industry, animal protein materials have complex compositions and greatly varying viscosity, placing extremely high demands on separation processes. For a long time, enterprises have relied mainly on conventional sedimentation, centrifugation, heat treatment or ordinary filtration for impurity removal, but in actual production these methods have gradually exposed insurmountable shortcomings.

Insufficient Separation Precision Limits Product Purity

Conventional sedimentation and centrifugation rely on density differences for macroscopic separation, and face inherent physical limits when dealing with micron-level and even nano-level impurities. To compensate for insufficient precision, production often adopts aggressive measures such as repeated centrifugation and high-temperature heat treatment. However, as heat-sensitive macromolecules, proteins suffer irreversible destruction of their natural conformation under high temperature and strong shear force, leading to loss of activity, denaturation and aggregation — falling into the paradox of "sacrificing activity for purity". Ordinary filter media are prone to membrane pore blocking and concentration polarization when handling high-viscosity feed liquids, damaging both separation precision and yield.

High Energy Consumption Contradicts Green Principles

High-temperature evaporation and repeated centrifugation are the two major "energy black holes": evaporation consumes enormous latent heat to vaporize water, while centrifugation causes unstable motor loads due to drastic fluctuations in protein feed viscosity. High energy consumption not only pushes up production costs, but also runs counter to the "dual carbon" strategy. High-temperature evaporation easily generates exhaust gas containing volatile organic compounds, and centrifuge effluent contains high concentrations of organic matter, which is difficult and costly to treat. The extensive model of "high input, high consumption, high emission" can no longer meet the requirements of sustainable development.

02 Core Technology Matrix: Precise Purification, Product Fractionation

Jiuwu Hi-Tech is driven by the two wheels of "membrane materials + integrated processes", directly addressing the purification pain points of dairy deep processing. It can flexibly combine according to different target products such as whey powder, lactose, cheese and lactoferrin, achieving molecular-level precise separation and greatly improving protein yield and purity.

Jiuwu Hi-Tech masters core technologies possessed by only a few brands worldwide, forming a full-scenario separation material matrix: ceramic membrane products such as 1.4 μm and 0.1 μm microfiltration membranes and 10 kDa ultrafiltration membranes, together with food-grade spiral-wound nanofiltration membranes, reverse osmosis membranes and ion membranes.

Membrane Material Product Matrix

1.4 μm Ceramic Membrane — Physical SterilizationReplaces or assists traditional thermal sterilization, removing bacteria and spores through physical interception. No foreign substances are introduced, minimizing damage to protein structure from heat treatment and preserving activity for subsequent deep processing.

0.1 μm Ceramic Membrane — Protein SeparationUses particle size differences to precisely separate casein and whey protein. This enables enterprises to extend from ordinary liquid milk production to high value-added product lines such as casein powder and whey protein.

10 kDa Ceramic Membrane — Sugar and Salt RemovalRetains macromolecular proteins while allowing lactose and salts to pass through. This is a key process for producing Greek yogurt, low-lactose milk and high-protein dairy ingredients, effectively reducing the subsequent evaporation load.

Organic Membrane Series — Ultrafiltration / Nanofiltration / Reverse OsmosisAs an effective complement to ceramic membranes, organic ultrafiltration membranes are suitable for scenarios with large processing volumes and controllable fouling loads; nanofiltration and reverse osmosis are further used for fine desalting and feed pre-concentration, significantly reducing energy consumption.

03 Integrated Processes Enable High-Value Dairy Products

By building a complete integrated membrane process route of "pre-treatment impurity removal — low-temperature sterilization — protein fractionation — diafiltration desalting — membrane concentration", Jiuwu Hi-Tech has successfully achieved high-precision separation and purification of dairy products, effectively supporting the standardized production of various high value-added dairy ingredients.

Technical Achievements

Guaranteed the high quality of milk protein concentrates — low-temperature sterilization and membrane concentration technology preserve the natural activity of milk.

Flagship products: MPC80/85 (milk protein concentrate) and MPI90 (milk protein isolate) are the direct embodiment of this process. Among them, MPC80/85 reaches a protein content of 80%–85%, retaining the natural casein-to-whey protein ratio of milk, with taste and functional properties closer to natural milk protein; MPI90 has a protein content of over 90%, with most lactose and minerals removed through precise fractionation, offering higher purity and suitable for nutritional supplements and functional foods with strict protein purity requirements.

Achieved precise fractionation of whey protein — precisely controlling protein retention rate to produce multi-grade concentrated whey protein products that meet the internationally accepted ADPI standard.

Flagship products: WPC80/90 (whey protein concentrate) and WPI90 (whey protein isolate) are the core achievements of the fractionation technology. WPC80/90 retains the natural active ingredients of whey, with protein contents of 80% and 90% respectively, suitable for sports nutrition and daily protein supplementation; WPI90 removes most lactose and fat through finer membrane separation, with a protein content of over 90%, more suitable for lactose-intolerant consumers and premium infant formula foods; MCC (micellar casein) is natural casein micelles extracted directly from milk through membrane technology, retaining the complete micelle structure, digested and absorbed more slowly, and able to provide longer-lasting satiety and muscle synthesis support.

Achieved deep desalting effects — through efficient diafiltration desalting processes, deep removal of minerals (ash) in whey powder is achieved, meeting the needs of premium infant formula foods.

Flagship products: High-end demineralized whey powder D90 and food-grade lactose are the key outputs of the desalting process. D90 has an ash content of less than 1%, far lower than the 5%–7% of ordinary whey powder, greatly reducing the metabolic burden on infant kidneys, and is a core raw material for premium infant formula milk powder; food-grade lactose removes impurities and off-flavors through membrane separation, reaching a purity of over 99% with a pure taste, and can be directly used in infant foods, baking and functional foods, replacing lactose produced by traditional chemical methods, being safer and more natural.

Jiuwu Hi-Tech's integrated membrane process route not only connects the entire process from raw material treatment to finished product output, but has also reached internationally advanced levels in key technical indicators such as protein purity, desalting depth and activity retention.

04 From "Single Filtration" to "Systematic Refining"

Jiuwu Hi-Tech not only provides single filtration equipment, but based on the characteristics of dairy deep processing materials, upgrades domestic substitution from "equipment replacement" to "process reshaping".

Deep Adaptation of Full-Process Customization and Domestic Substitution

Different from standardized equipment sales, Jiuwu Hi-Tech flexibly combines ceramic microfiltration, ultrafiltration and organic membrane technologies according to customers' raw material characteristics and target products (such as ice cream ingredients, functional dairy products, etc.), designing exclusive process routes. At present, Jiuwu Hi-Tech's dairy deep processing membrane separation solutions have been successfully implemented at a number of leading domestic enterprises, achieving domestic substitution of core raw materials and industrial chain upgrading.

Physical Separation Advantages and Prominent Value

Adhering to a gentle physical separation process, it fully preserves the nutrition, flavor and subsequent processing performance of dairy products while achieving sterilization, separation and concentration. Compared with traditional thermal evaporation concentration, Jiuwu Hi-Tech's membrane concentration technology can concentrate the dry matter of raw milk to about 50%, with no phase change throughout the process, effectively maintaining the natural activity of raw milk while reducing overall energy consumption by more than 50%.

Full Lifecycle Value and Long-Term Guarantee

As the pioneer of ceramic membrane technology in China, Jiuwu Hi-Tech, with its high-performance membrane separation materials, significantly reduces procurement costs while achieving key indicators that match or even exceed imported products, successfully breaking the long-standing technology monopoly and price barriers of foreign brands. Relying on a fast-response service system, the company effectively solves the industry pain points of long equipment maintenance cycles and high costs, providing dairy deep processing enterprises with value guarantees covering the full lifecycle.

In the future, Jiuwu Hi-Tech will continue to focus on fields such as bio-manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals and food & beverage, helping enterprises solve process pain points through customized membrane separation solutions, promoting the industry toward high precision, low energy consumption and intelligent development, and jointly building a new ecosystem for green industrial development.