Tailoring Pilot‐Scale Membrane Filtration Processes for Selective Enrichment of Bovine Milk Oligosaccharides and Peptides From Colostrum Whey Permeate

ABSTRACT Bovine colostrum whey permeate (BCWP) contains bioactive peptides and oligosaccharides. Tight ultrafiltration (UF) processes with the Synder NFG (600–800 Da) and Hydracore 50 (1000 Da) membranes were optimized to selectively enrich oligosaccharides and peptides from BCWP. Following UF, nanofiltration was used to concentrate the UF permeate (NFR‐UFP) and the in vitro biological properties of the enriched fractions were characterized. Synder NFG achieved 14–19 times higher permeate fluxes than Hydracore 50, revealing the importance of membrane‐solute interactions. Whey permeate was concentrated 15‐fold at 8 and 16 L min −1 , under 18 bar using the Synder NFG membrane. Although feed flow influenced permeate flux and concentrations of peptides/oligosaccharides, it did not significantly impact the biological activity of retentates or permeates. However, fractionation into UF retentates (UFR) and NFR‐UFP had a significant effect. Ion‐exchange chromatography revealed higher concentrations of acidic oligosaccharides in UFR fractions, while peptide profiling revealed a higher proportion of biologically active peptides in NFR‐UFP fractions. UFR fractions showed enhanced selective growth toward Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis ATCC15697 and higher α‐glucosidase inhibitory activity (55% and 51%) compared to NFR‐UFP fractions (34% and 44%). In contrast, NFR‐UFP fractions showed enhanced ACE‐inhibitory (NFR: 76%; UFR: 32% and 41%) and antioxidant activity (NFR‐UFP: 54 and 60 μmol TE/g powder; UFR: 22 and 24 μmol TE/g powder) compared with UFR fractions. This research highlights the importance of process optimization for selective fractionation and identifies the distinct roles of oligosaccharides and peptides in biological applications, offering key findings for the effective use of dairy streams.