Wageningen UR Announces New Technology for Sustainable Extraction of Protein from Quinoa

The method claims to better preserve the functional properties of the protein whilst using less than half the water. This means less energy is needed to dry the final product.

 

Maarten Schutyser, Associate Professor at the Wageningen UR Laboratory of Food Process Engineering told FoodIngredientsFirst: “Although the quinoa protein market is still developing, this new method is milder than previous techniques, and delivers native functional protein properties.”

 

The traditional method for isolating quinoa proteins consists of grinding, degreasing the quinoa flour using hexane and caustic soda, concentrating the protein with hydrochloric acid, washing, neutralising and finally freeze-drying. While these results in a protein isolate with a protein content of over 90%, the method uses a lot of chemicals as well as large quantities of water, which then has to be removed through drying.

 

This new method, which has already been successfully applied to peas, consists of a dry separation step followed by an aqueous fractionation step. In the dry separation step, the quinoa is carefully ground and then a lighter high-protein fraction is separated using air.

 

“The protein fraction is less pure than a traditional protein concentrate, but it is more natural thanks to the mild processing,” explains Schutyser, “This meets the industry’s increasing demand for more natural ingredients.”

 

By applying this method to quinoa, Maarten Schutyser thinks consumers will have access to a healthier processed protein, as well as the additional benefits of quinoa. He explains: “Quinoa has a more complete amino acid profile than peas, so a quinoa based protein can be more appealing to consumers than pea proteins.”

 

The quinoa proteins obtained using this new technology are suitable for sports food, meat substitutes and other high-protein products. By varying the process conditions, the properties can be fine-tuned to various applications, with researchers claiming that they are able to develop customized quinoa proteins for certain applications.

 

Maarten Schutyser says that Wageningen UR is now on the hunt for industry partners, explaining, “We’re looking to partner with ingredient and end user companies to upscale and run pilots on this technology.”