Process for preparing non-specific protein concentrate and of other fodder additives having a biological activity

Claim 2

A process for preparing a plant protein concentrate which comprises (a) pressing a green plant material to provide a press cake and pressed juices; (b) precipitating a protein fraction by heating the pressed juices at about 80° C.; (c) extracting in a multi-step manner the protein fraction containing 1.5 to 2 times more water than its dry weight twice with at least 5 times more ethyleneglycolether or diethyleneglycolether than its dry weight; (d) drying the extracted protein fraction after washing it with water to obtain a protein concentrate; (e) distilling the aqueous ethyleneglycolether or ethylenediglycolether phase obtained from the above extraction, and (f) isolating a pigment concentrate containing lipids, chlorophyll, xanthophyll and carotenoids by mixing a residue from the distillation of step (e) with the press cake of step (a).

Claim 3

A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein in step (b) the solvent system employed consists of ethyleneglycolether or diethyleneglycolether and methanol in a ratio of 3:1 to 2:1.

Claim 4

A process for preparing a plant protein concentrate which comprises (a) pressing a green plant material to provide a press cake and pressed juices; (b) precipitating a protein fraction by heating the pressed juices at about 80° C.; (c) extracting the coagulated protein fraction containing 1.5 to 2 times more water than its dry weight twice with at least 5 times more ethyleneglycolether or diethyleneglycolether than its dry weight; (d) combining and extracting the ethylene or diethylene glycolether phases with an immisible second solvent and separating both layers; (e) isolating a xanthophyll concentrate by distilling off the second solvent extract and drying the residue; (f) repeating process steps (c), (d) and (e) to isolate a beta-carotene concentrate; and (g) washing the extracted residue of step (f) with water and drying the product to obtain the protein concentrate.

Claim 5

A process for preparing a plant protein concentrate which comprises (a) pressing a green plant material to provide a press cake and pressed juices; (b) precipitating a protein fraction by heating the pressed juices at about 80° C.; (c) extracting the coagulated protein fraction containing 1.5 to 2 times more water than its dry weight twice with at least 5 times more ethyleneglycolether or diethyleneglycolether than its dry weight; (d) combining and extracting the ethylene or diethylene glycolether phases with an immisible second solvent and separating both layers; (e) isolating a xanthophyll concentrate by distilling off the second solvent extract and drying the residue; (f) repeating process steps (c), (d) and (e) to isolate a beta-carotene concentrate; and (g) washing the extracted residue of step (f) with water and drying the product to obtain the protein concentrate.

Claim 6

A process as claimed in claim 1 or 3 wherein the precipitation of the protein fraction is aided by the additional use of a surface active agent or mixture thereof which have an HLB value in the range of 8 to 18.