Structural and techno-functional characteristics of protein from the by-product of virgin coconut oil produced by centrifugation using coconut milk

The process of extracting virgin coconut oil (VCO) by centrifugal method utilizing coconut milk as raw material produces two main by-products of aqueous and solid phases which contain a certain amount of proteins. In this study, the structural and techno-functional characteristics of aqueous-phase proteins (APP) and solid-phase proteins (SPP) are analyzed and compared. Results show that glutamic acid was the most abundant amino acid in both APP and SPP, accounting for 21.2 % and 18.1 % of the total amino acid content, respectively. APP has a higher level of disorder structure and a lower proportion of essential amino acids (33.8 %), and it's solubility, foaming capability, and emulsifying stability are better than that of SPP. Conversely, SPP possesses better water holding capability (2.38 g/g). These can provide a theoretical basis for the development of a new method that can convert this underutilized protein into a food ingredient with higher value.