EFFECT OF NUMBER OF BIPOLAR MEMBRANES AND TEMPERATURE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BIPOLAR MEMBRANE ELECTROACIDIFICATION

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of stacking bipo lar membranes (1-4 BPMs) on the energy and electroacidification parame ters, as well as the temperature (10, 20, and 35 degrees C) on the eff iciency of bipolar membrane electroacidification (BMEA) of soybean pro tein for the production of isolate. BMEA is based on the production of protons by dissociation of water molecules at the interface of bipola r membranes. Increasing the surface of bipolar membranes accelerates t he electrochemical precipitation in a quasilinear fashion, while also increasing the electrical efficiency. The stacking has no effect on th e final protein precipitation rate. The main effect of increasing the temperature from 10 to 35 degrees C appears to be a decrease in the du ration of the procedure (30.42 vs 26.79 min) as well as increasing the energy efficiency. Increasing temperature slows the precipitation of proteins by decreasing hydrophobic interactions.