Sustainable recovery of camel milk whey proteins by ultrafiltration: Influence of processing temperature
Mairaj KHALID, Nayef GHASEM, Akmal NAZIR
Abstract. Whey, a main by-product of cheese and casein production, is a valuable source of high quality proteins with many nutritional and functional properties. Although whey from cow milk is already well studied while camel whey is emerging as an alternative source of valuable components due to its unique composition and potential health advantages. In this study, we investigated the ultrafiltration (UF) process to concentrate the whey produced from camel milk, at two different temperatures. We analyzed the permeate flux, fouling resistance, and protein partitioning by using microfiltration (0.1µm) process followed by UF (10 kDa) process. Results indicate that ultrafiltration (UF) of camel whey at 40°C exhibited higher permeate flux but was accompanied by increased membrane fouling and rapid flux decline. While UF at lower temperatures (10°C) showed stable flux throughout the process, and water flux was partially recovered after membrane washing at the end of the experiment. These findings highlight UF at lower temperatures as a sustainable approach for valorizing camel whey due to stable membrane performance, converting a low-value stream into high-functional ingredients for the food sector.
Keywords
Membrane, Whey, Ultrafiltration, Fouling, Camel Milk, Flux
Published online 6/20/2026, 5 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Mairaj KHALID, Nayef GHASEM, Akmal NAZIR, Sustainable recovery of camel milk whey proteins by ultrafiltration: Influence of processing temperature, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 67, pp 554-558, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904176-73
The article was published as article 73 of the book Climate Action and Sustainability
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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