Kinetics of the acid precipitation of soya protein in a continuous‐flow tubular reactor

Abstract
The acid precipitation of soya protein was studied in a continuous‐flow tubular reactor under conditions of turbulent flow. Preliminary batchwise experiments of a semiquantitative nature were also carried out on a bench‐scale reactor to better define the parameters affecting precipitate growth. The experiments indicated the dominant growth mechanism to be the aggregation of primary precipitate particles produced by the contacting of the protein and acid streams. The rate of particle growth was observed to rise with an increase in the protein concentration as well as with greater intensity of turbulence. The final mean particle size decreased with increased intensity of turbulence. A theoretical model was set up to simulate the growth of the precipitate particles.