Table 6.

Membrane types based on milk components in membrane separation process technology

Membrane type	Pore size, nm	Molecular weight cut off (pressure)	Separation component (Size distribution, nm)	Reference
Microfiltration	100–10,000 100–200	> 200 kDa (low, below 2 bar, 0.2 Mpa)	Fat globules (100–15,000) Casein micelles (20–300)	[117–119, 122–124]
Ultrafiltration	1–100	1–200 kDa (medium, 1–10 bar, 0.1–1 Mpa)	Casein micelles (20–300) Whey proteins (3–6)
Nanofiltration	1–10	0.3–1 kDa (medium to high, 5–40 bar, 0.5–4 MPa)	Whey proteins (3–6) Hormones and antibiotics (0.25–0.5 kDa)
Reverse osmosis	< 1	0.1 kDa (high, 10–100 bar, 1–10 MPa)	Lactose and water (0.35 kDa) Hormones and antibiotics (0.25–0.5 kDa)