Enhancing the adsorption of the proteins in the soy whey wastewater using foam separation column fitted with internal baffles

In order to promote industrialization of protein recovery from soy whey wastewater using foam separation, a novel foam separation column fitted with baffles consisting of circular disk segments placed at regular intervals in the liquid layer of the column (known as CIB in this paper) was developed to intensify the interfacial adsorption of the proteins. The column was evaluated by studying the effects of: 1. volumetric air flow rate, 2. the initial concentration of the proteins in the soy whey water, 3. the size and spacing of the disk segments on protein adsorption characteristics. The results showed that such a column could significantly intensify the adsorption of proteins. The maximum surface excess was obtained at a volumetric air flow rate of 250 mL/min, a baffle spacing of 10 mm and a disk segment chord length of 29.8 mm. At an initial concentration of the proteins of 1.8 g/L, the surface excess given by the baffled foam column was 193% higher than that given by an unbaffled column.