Pulse fractions have vast potential to change the food industry, for the better. Companies are already making everything from energy bars to snack foods with the starch, protein and fibre components of crops like peas, lentils and faba bean. These products answer consumer demands for healthier food options in a powerful way.

The question is, what is the most productive, cost-effective way to obtain these high-value fractions?

University of Alberta Professor Thava Vasanthan believes he has an answer. Known as Air Currents-Assisted Particle Separation (ACAPS) technology, it was developed by Vasanthan in 2012 with cereal crop fractionation in mind.

“It works very much like a tornado, operating in a chamber,” Vasanthan said. “As with a tornado, the air is coming from a particular direction and it swirls around to lift particles higher.”

ACAPS can produce dietary fibre concentrates from barley at less cost than using conventional air classification (AC) technology. Once the dietary fibre component is separated, what’s left is a 65% starch, 32% protein concentrate. For a food processing company, the capital cost of ACAPS is another attraction. It requires an initial investment that’s far less than with AC.

Over the past year, Vasanthan has been working on his approach to using ACAPS to produce a concentrate of starch and protein from pulse crops. This project, which is being funded by Alberta Pulse Growers, runs until next spring.

Using ACAPS on faba bean

Vasanthan’s initial pulse crop subject has been faba bean. This crop is relatively higher in protein than other pulses and is currently lower in price, as well.

“We have two different types of faba bean, low-tannin and high-tannin,” Vasanthan said. “Low- tannin is good for pet food, high-tannin is good for human food. When you use ACAPS on faba bean, you can separate out the starch and the protein. You can then use AC to concentrate the protein.”

AC technology is currently being used by several companies to fractionate pulse fibres and proteins. Vasanthan’s aiming to capture a high-protein fraction with a minimum amount of fibre.

“We are developing a holistic approach to characterizing the starch, protein and fibre fractions of pulses with ACAPS,” Vasanthan said.

Food ingredient companies are looking for practical, economical ways to unlock the valuable fractions of pulse crops. Based on research to date, ACAPS appears to be a strong candidate. It’s cheaper to buy, cheaper to operate and works more efficiently than conventional air classification technology. Food ingredient companies, and pulse growers themselves, will be watching this project with interest.

“We did some preliminary work with ACAPS to take the fibre out and create a starch and protein concentrate,” Vasanthan said. “I am quite optimistic with the way it’s going so far, but we will wait and see.”

Project at a glance

Project title:                Application development for the starch/protein concentrate produced by Air Currents Assisted Particle Separation (ACAPS) Technology

Project lead:                Thava Vasanthan, University of Alberta

Total value of project: $372,000

Start date:                   April 1, 2016

Completion date:        March 31, 2018