Abstract

In the early 1990s, the world population began to recognize the benefits of oligosaccharides consumption for the well-being of newborns, the elderly, and other specific population groups. This awareness triggered a growing demand for their inclusion in various food matrices. Consequently, both industry and academia engaged in significant efforts to develop technically and economically feasible processes for large-scale production of these compounds. After decades of intensive research, the upstream processing stages are now well established in most cases, with only minor technological gaps remaining to be addressed and limited room for process optimization. However, downstream processing remains challenging and critical for the economic performance of industrial oligosaccharide manufacturing. Among the impurities to be removed from the raw oligosaccharides preparations, undesired carbohydrates are the most difficult to deplete. Usually, they have little differences in their physicochemical properties with the desired oligosaccharides, making downstream processing technically complex. Therefore, this chapter provides a review of the main technologies used at large scale for carbohydrate fractionation, including several examples of their use in oligosaccharides manufacturing. © 2026 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.