Midweek Mixer: Using enzyme-based soy processing to maximize recovery of high value components

 

Enzyme-based soy processing enables oil, protein and sugar to be recovered in a single step in separate streams. Join Prof. Lu-Kwang Ju, The University of Akron, USA, as he provides details on this new processing method and answers your questions. His presentation will be followed by a discussion about the Biotechnology (BIO) Division's activities at the 2022 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo, May 1–4, 2022. Hosted by Tom McKeon, Retired, USDA. Bring your questions and curiosity!

This mixer is sponsored by the AOCS Biotechnology Division.

When: Tuesday, November 16, 2021, 9 a.m. CST (Chicago, USA; UTC-6)

Register for free.

 

Description of the talk

Soybeans contain three major components: protein (ca. 40%), carbohydrate (25-30%) and oil (18-20%). To maximize value and minimize waste in soy processing, all these components should be collected and utilized. Current processing was originally designed to maximize oil extraction. It tends to make separation of protein and carbohydrate from remaining meal more difficult and reduce their value. We have been developing an enzyme-based processing method which, in a single step, enables oil, protein and sugar to be recovered in separate streams. Furthermore, oil and protein present in soybeans as individually “packaged” oil bodies (oleosomes) and protein bodies. This solvent-free, enzyme-based processing allows collection of intact oleosomes and protein bodies without alteration by heat, solvent or mechanical pressing. This new processing method can maximize the recovery of nutritional, industrial and economic value of all major soybean components.

Speaker

Lu-Kwang Ju is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering, The University of Akron (UA), Akron, Ohio. His research involves biological processes and systems using living microorganisms and enzymes. His group currently works on (1) bioproducts from renewable resources, (2) phagotrophic algae processes for bioproducts and waste treatment and (3) biobased self-healing materials. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Ju has served as chairperson (2018-2020), vice chairperson (2016-2018), secretary/treasurer (2015-2016), and newsletter editor (2012-2015) of the AOCS BIO Division. He also served as department chair at UA in 2005-2013 and 2020-2021 (interim). He earned a Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Buffalo (SUNY) and a B.S. from National Taiwan University, all in chemical engineering.

Host

Tom McKeon joined the USDA Agricultural Research Service in 1981 as a research chemist in the Postharvest Physiology and Chemistry Research Unit. Initially, his research involved fruit development and plant senescence. His research turned to fatty acid and triacylglycerol biosynthesis in the castor plant. Much of his career was spent as a project leader, occasionally serving as an acting research leader and a brief stint as an acting assistant Area Director. He retired in 2019. When McKeon started the research project on castor oil biosynthesis, he joined AOCS and the BIO Division. He has been involved in the BIO Division and AOCS activities since 1997.