Lupine protein enrichment by milling and electrostatic separation

Lupine seeds are an excellent source of plant protein. Wet extraction of protein from lupine seeds consumes large amounts of water and energy. Alternatively, dry fractionation is more sustainable and retains the native functional properties of the protein. Previously, it was shown that dry milling and electrostatic separation could be used to further enrich protein from lupine flour. In this study, the process was further investigated with a new custom-build bench scale electrostatic separator. We found that a lupine protein concentrate could be obtained with higher purity compared to conventional air classification and earlier lab-scale experiments. Subsequently, a scheme was developed to improve the yield of the lupine protein concentrate without compromising the purity, and this provides a guideline for scaling-up this technique for industrial application.