Membrane separation of porcine blood for food industrial use of permeate and retentate

In this article, we introduce the importance of blood processing for human consumption while also presenting the methodology of porcine blood membrane separation to plasma and red blood cell fractions, as well as the membrane purification after porcine blood separation. Basic analytical measurements were carried out to investigate the blood product attributes, which relate to technological and nutritional quality depending on the separation parameters. Next, we present how the relevant hydrodynamical parameters were calculated during the experiments. Membrane separation was realized by crossflow microfiltration with pore size of 0.8 μm or 1.2 μm, retentate flow rate of 200 l·h-1 or 300 l·h-1 and with transmembrane pressure of 1 × 105 Pa, 2 × 105 Pa or 3 × 105 Pa. The experimental design was analysed, the parameters of the objective function and effect sizes were estimated and the global minimum of the objective function was successfully identified. The results of this optimization can be applied in practice. The membrane separation parameters were then optimized according to a model based on the observed data. An optimum was detected within the examined factor levels and experimental conditions at the lowest transmembrane pressure and at the highest membrane pore size.