Effects of different factors on the forward extraction of soy protein in reverse micelle systems

Reverse micelle extraction is a new technology for the extraction of protein. In this research, three kinds of reverse micelle systems, anionic surfactant sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) reverse micelle system, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) reverse micelle system, and cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) reverse micelle system, were used to extract soy protein respectively. Effects of soy flour concentration, Wo ([H2O]/[AOT]), temperature, time, pH, ionic strength and ultrasonic power on forward extraction efficiency of soy protein were investigated. The effect of AOT reverse micelle diameter was studied as well. AOT reverse micelle system had higher extraction efficiency than SDS and CTAB systems. The main factors that affected the forward extraction were soy flour concentration, temperature and pH. The optimal conditions in AOT system were soy flour concentration being 0.007 g/ml, Wo 16, pH 6.5, temperature 34°C, time 20 min, KCl concentration of 0.1 mol/L and ultrasound power of 240 W. Under these conditions, the extraction efficiency of soy protein was 85.5%. The forward extraction efficiency of soy protein in AOT reverse micelle system increased with the increase of the reverse micelle diameter. Reverse micelle extraction is an effective way to extract soy protein.Key words: Soy protein, reverse micelle, forward extraction, sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)