Prediction of Lactose Crystals Present in Supersaturated Lactose and Whey Solutions by Measuring the Water Activity

Abstract

Linear models based on water activity measurement were developed to predict the crystalline fraction of lactose present in the supersaturated crystal-solution mixture of lactose and whey. By this method, it was possible to measure the crystalline fraction in the mixture even if the sample is opaque or coloured, which would be difficult to measure by the conventional refractometric method. To calculate the fraction of lactose crystallized, the differential water activity of the crystallized mixture and non-crystalline supersaturated solution needs to be determined. For the pure lactose, the predictive linear equation was Δ L = 1874.4 Δ a_w, whereas for whey it was Δ L = 1155.2 Δ  a_w, where Δ  L is the amount of α-lactose monohydrate crystals (g 100g⁻¹ water) that is in the crystallized solution, and Δ  a_w is the differential water activity after and prior to crystallization. Other equations such as Raoult's. Norrish, and Money-Born were also tested to predict the water activity of supersaturated solutions of lactose or whey.

Keywords:

• Water activity
• Whey
• Lactose
• Crystallization