Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
229 words
A process of preparing a protein isolate, which comprises: (a) extracting an oil seed meal having a fat content up to about 10 wt % of the meal with an aqueous food grade salt solution having an ionic strength of at least about 0.2 and at a pH of about 5 to about 6.8 at a temperature of about 5° to about 35° C. to cause solubilization of protein and fat in said oil seed meal and form an aqueous protein solution, (b) separating the aqueous protein solution from residual oil seed meal, (c) removing fat from said aqueous protein solution to provide a defatted protein solution, (d) increasing the protein concentration of said defatted protein solution while maintaining the ionic strength thereof substantially constant to form a concentrated defatted protein solution, (e) diluting the concentrated defatted protein solution to an ionic strength below about 0.2 to cause the formation of discrete protein particles in the aqueous phase at least partially in the form of protein micelles, (f) settling the protein micelles to form a mass of protein isolate at least partially in the form of an amorphous sticky gelatinous, gluten-like protein micellar mass, (g) separating the protein isolate from supernatant liquid, and (h) drying the separated protein isolate to provide a dried proteinaceous powder substantially undenatured and having a protein content of at least about 90 wt %.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
229 words
A process of preparing a protein isolate, which comprises: (a) extracting an oil seed meal having a fat content up to about 10 wt % of the meal with an aqueous food grade salt solution having an ionic strength of at least about 0.2 and at a pH of about 5 to about 6.8 at a temperature of about 5° to about 35° C. to cause solubilization of protein and fat in said oil seed meal and form an aqueous protein solution, (b) separating the aqueous protein solution from residual oil seed meal, (c) removing fat from said aqueous protein solution to provide a defatted protein solution, (d) increasing the protein concentration of said defatted protein solution while maintaining the ionic strength thereof substantially constant to form a concentrated defatted protein solution, (e) diluting the concentrated defatted protein solution to an ionic strength below about 0.2 to cause the formation of discrete protein particles in the aqueous phase at least partially in the form of protein micelles, (f) settling the protein micelles to form a mass of protein isolate at least partially in the form of an amorphous sticky gelatinous, gluten-like protein micellar mass, (g) separating the protein isolate from supernatant liquid, and (h) drying the separated protein isolate to provide a dried proteinaceous powder substantially undenatured and having a protein content of at least about 90 wt %.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said aqueous food grade salt solution has an ionic strength of about 0.3 to about 0.6.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
18 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said extracting step is effected for about 10 to about 60 minutes.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
21 words
The process of claim 2 wherein said aqueous food grade salt solution has a pH of about 5.3 to about 6.2.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said aqueous protein solution has a concentration of about 10 to about 100 g/l of protein and about 1 to about 10 g/l of solubilized fat.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
38 words
The process of claim 5 wherein fat is removed from the aqueous protein solution by chilling the aqueous protein solution to cause fat to separate from the aqueous phase and then separating the fat from the aqueous phase.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
16 words
The process of claim 6 wherein said fat is separated by decanting, centrifugation and/or fine filtration.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
36 words
The process of claim 6 wherein said aqueous protein solution is chilled to about 3° to about 7° C. and about 30 to about 90% of the fat content of the aqueous protein solution is removed.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 8 wherein about 70 to about 90% of the fat content of the aqueous protein solution is removed.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
24 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the defatted protein solution is concentrated while maintaining the ionic strength thereof by using a selective membrane technique.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
23 words
The process of claim 10 wherein the defatted protein solution is concentrated by a volume reduction factor of about 3.0 to about 4.0.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
21 words
The process of claim 11 wherein said concentration is effected at a temperature of about 20° C. to about 45° C.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
24 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the concentrated defatted protein solution is subjected to a further fat removal step prior to said dilution step.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
38 words
The process of claim 13 wherein said further fat removal step is effected by chilling the concentrated defatted protein solution to cause fat to separate from the aqueous solution and then separating the fat from the aqueous phase.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
16 words
The process of claim 14 wherein the fat is separated by decanting, centrifugation and/or fine filtration.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
37 words
The process of claim 14 wherein said concentrated defatted protein solution is chilled to about 3° to about 7° C. and about 30 to about 90% of the fat content of the concentrated protein solution is removed.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 16 wherein about 70 to about 90% of the fat content of the concentrated protein solution is removed.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
21 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the dilution step is effected at a temperature of about 5° to about 25° C.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
20 words
The process of claim 18 wherein said dilution is effected to an ionic strength of about 0.06 to about 0.12.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
13 words
The process of claim 19 wherein said protein micelles are settled by centrifugation.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
13 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said oil seed meal is canola meal.