Determinants of water consumption in the dairy industry

Abstract

This paper analyzes the correlations between selected technical, process and production factors, equipment profi les and water consumption statistics in four types of dairy plants. Dairy plants were surveyed both individually and in groups. Water consumption was most highly correlated (r > 0.868) with equipment profi les. The highest water consumption was observed in dairy plants operating milk powder departments. In those plants, organization and production factors could signifi cantly reduce water consumption levels because in addition to milk powder, those plants also supplied eight other products. The indicators of water consumption per unit of the fi nal product were correlated (at 0.820 > | r | > 0.663) with equipment profi les, the degree of process automation and employment. Variations in water consumption per unit of the fi nal product were best explained in small plants supplying several products. The presented equations can be used to optimize water demand of various types of equipment and to determine the correlations with energy consumption for wastewater treatment. Our results can contribute to the development of water consumption models in dairy plants and the implementation of clean production standards.

Crise de abastecimento de água em São Paulo e falta de planejamento estratégico

“…Em que pese o processo de desindustrialização verificado no esta-do (Cleps, 2003;Negri, 1996), essa atividade responde por 23,53% do Produto Interno Bruto da RMSP (Seade, 2014) e demanda um uso intensivo de água (Alkaya;Demirer, 2014;Vos;Boelens, 2014;Wojdalski et al, 2013). Ponderou--se como necessário verificar qual a influência da temperatura no consumo de água na Região, aspecto considerado fundamental no planejamento estratégico do sistema de abastecimento.…”

Reuse of Dairy Wastewater Treated by Membrane Bioreactor and Nanofiltration: Technical and Economic Feasibility

“…It is noteworthy that the literature reports several studies focused on the treatment and reuse of evaporator condensate, spent clean in place (CIP) solutions and other product disposal streams of the dairy industry (Trägardh and Johansson, 1998;Dresch et al, 2001;Balannec et al, 2002;Vourch et al, 2008;Fernández et al, 2010;Riera et al, 2013;Wojdalski et al, 2013). However, there are few studies that address the treatment of end-of-pipe wastewater, especially aiming at its reuse in cleaning processes and auxiliary purposes (Sakar et al, 2006;Luo et al, 2011;Andrade et al, 2014).…”

“…In the case of the dairy industry, due to the risk of contamination, one should avoid the use of treated effluent for washing equipments that are in direct contact with the products or for operations where there is a possibility of direct contact with raw milk. In contrast, the reuse of treated effluent should be encouraged for replacing the water in cooling towers or boilers and for good manufacturing practices such as washing the floors and external part of trucks and rinsing outside areas (Vourch et al, 2005;Asano et al, 2007;Wojdalski et al, 2013).…”

The Parameters of Cleaning a CIP System Affected Energy Consumption and Cleaning Efficiency of the Plate Heat Exchanger

“…Some reports indicate that the cleaning processes in food industry are energy-intensive processes and that in the food industry they require even about 13.5 -14% of the total process energy consumption (Neryng et al, 1990;Pawełas, 2010;Rad and Lewis, 2014). This consumption primarily results from the operation conditions of the CIP cleaning station, type and size of the objects subjected to cleaning and the choice of cleaning agents (Piepiórka-Stepuk et al, 2016;Ramirez et al, 2006;Wojdalski et al, 2013). Studies conducted by many authors on cleaning of milk installations suggest that energy requirement of cleaning process in flow mainly results from the necessity of heating a large volume of cleaning agents in storage tanks (even up to 95 °C) and maintaining their appropriate temperature throughout the cleaning time (Berlin et al, 2007;Diakun et al, 2012;Eide et al, 2003).…”

“…Furthermore water and energy are interrelated with wastewater production (Krzemińska et al 2013). The demand for agro food processing facilities for water and energy is dependent on many factors (Kowalczyk and Karp, 2005;Steinhoff-Wrześniewska et al, 2013;Williams and Anderson, 2006;Wojdalski et al, 2013). The basic ones include technology of food processing, technical equipment, degree of automation and mechanization of production operations, thermophysical properties of materials, requirements for products, magnitude and structure of production and its organization (Bunse et al, 2011;Marchini et al, 2014;2015; and related with those the operations of cleaning and disinfection of machines and production equipment.…”