Method of Precipitating Phytase
Herein is disclosed a process for effectively precipitating phytase as a complex with a polyanion, as well as compositions comprising phytase and a polyanion, and a method for manufacturing such compositions.
1 - 19 . (canceled)
20 . A method of precipitating phytase comprising
i. providing an aqueous medium comprising phytase; and
ii. adding polyanion; and
wherein no Ca 2+ is added to the aqueous medium during the method.
21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the aqueous medium comprising phytase comprises fermentation broth.
22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the aqueous medium comprising phytase comprises clarified fermentation broth, spent fermentation broth, spent and clarified fermentation broth, or a combination thereof.
23 . The method of claims 20 - 22 , wherein the dry matter content of the aqueous medium comprising phytase without solids is between 0.1-25% w/w before step ii.
24 . The method of claims 20 - 23 comprising setting pH to 3-5 for enhancing precipitation of phytase.
25 . The method of claims 20 - 24 , wherein the polyanion is alginic acid, pectic acid, hyaluronic acid, phytic acid, a salt of such a polyanionic acid, or any combination thereof.
26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the salt of the polyanionic acid is added in a solid form or as an aqueous solution to the aqueous solution comprising phytase.
27 . The method of claims 20 - 26 wherein the concentration of CaCl 2 is below 5 mM, 2 mM or 1 mM.
28 . A method of preparing a phytase composition comprising
i. providing an aqueous medium comprising phytase;
ii. adding a polyanion for precipitating phytase as a complex of phytase and polyanion; and
iii. directly recovering the precipitated phytase to obtain the phytase composition, and
wherein no Ca 2+ is added to the aqueous medium during the method.
29 . The method of claim 28 , comprising washing the precipitated phytase.
30 . The method of claims 28 - 29 wherein the precipitated, optionally washed, phytase is dehydrated to obtain a dry product.
31 . The method of claims 28 - 30 comprising dissolving of the precipitated phytase to obtain a liquid product.
32 . The method of claims 28 - 31 , comprising dehydrating the precipitated, optionally washed, phytase to obtain a dry product.
33 . The method of claim 32 , comprising dissolving the dry product to obtain a reconstituted product.
34 . The method of claims 20 - 33 wherein the ratio of phytase to polyanion expressed as FTU:mg polyanion is selected from the range 500-15000.
35 . The method of claims 20 - 34 , wherein the amount of the added polyanion is selected from the range of 0.001-2% w/w based on dry matter content.
36 . A phytase composition comprising phytase complexed with a polyanion, and not containing added Ca 2+ .
37 . The phytase composition of claim 36 wherein the polyanion is alginic acid, pectic acid, hyaluronic acid, phytic acid, a salt of such a polyanionic acid, or any combination thereof.
38 . The phytase composition of claims 36 - 37 , wherein the composition is a liquid product or a dry product.