en solutions solutions for industries cheese and dairy id_321

Cheese & dairies

Valbio's Methacore technology provide optimal performance for the treatment of all effluents, co-products and by products of cheese manufacturing and milk processing : washing waters (waste waters or white waters), whey, permeates, production rejects, expired production.

1 m3 of whey can be transformed into 266 kWh of biogas, which can replace fossil fuels.

If the biogas energy produced is greater than the site's fossil fuel consumption, the biogas can be used in heat and power cogeneration (CHP)
1m3 of whey thus gives:
* 105 kWh electricity
* 120 kWh heat.


Since its creation, Valbio has designed and commissioned 12 waste water treatment plants using anaerobic digestion for this market with leading-edge performance levels:

  • COD and BOD5 removal rates up to 98% for a mix of whey and waste water
  • very low chemical reactants consumption
  • low manpower requirements for plant operation and maintenance
  • between 50% and 100% of the sites' energy requirements covered by biogas
  • re-use of pre-existing waste water treatment equipment (tanks, ...) for the aerobic polishing stage
  • meeting regulatory discharge requirements, including for nitrogen and phosphorous

Waste water treatment performance can reach more than 98% for a mix of whey and washing waters.

Valbio has also refurbished, upgraded and successfully commissioned anaerobic plants build by other suppliers
 

REFERENCE - Tyras Cheese Factory & Dairy, Trikala, Greece

Case study
  • 45 million litres of milk processed per year
  • Effluents to treat:
    • Whey permeate: 40 millions de litres / year
  • Opportunity to treat expired products:
    • 6 000 tons of expired products / year
Solution
  • Anaerobic digestion of effluents with Valbio Methacore's technology (2 x 628 m3 digesters) and treatment of expired products in one ISAT digester SAT (628 m3)
  • Biogas burned in a 4 MW boiler to produce hot water for the cheese making process
  • Aerobic polishing (Customer's existing aerobic WWTP)
  • Commissioned in July 2009 (start up in less than 4 weeks)
Results achieved
  • 1 730 000 m3 biogas production per year
    • 11 000 000 kWh energy per year
  • Removal efficiency:
    • DCO > 94%
    • DBO > 94%
 tyras_01 tyras_02

 

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REFERENCE - Blackburn Cheese Factory, Jonquières (Québec), Canada

REFERENCE - Port-Joli Cheese Factory, St-Jean-Port-Joli (Québec), Canada

REFERENCE - Gaugry Cheese Factory - Gevrey-Chambertin (21) - France

Case study
  • 1,8 million litres of milk processed per year
  • Regulatory requirement to treat effluents:
    • Washing waters : 4,2 million litres / year
    • Whey : 1,5 million litres / year
    • Cost of discharge without treatment : approx. 40K€/year
Solution
  • Anaerobic digestion of effluents with Valbio Methacore's technology (2 x 98 m3 digesters)
  • Biogas burned in the boiler to produce the hot water needed for the cheese making process
  • Project duration : 2 months study + 2 months construction
Results achieved
  • 78.000 m3 biogas produced per year
    • 400.000 kWh external energy saved per year
  • Treatment efficiency :
    • COD : 97%
    • BOD5 : 98%

Whey processing :

anaerobic digestion complements whey powder drying

Cheese production generates whey, an effluent containing a high organic matter load, and washing waters (waste waters or white waters); both need to be disposed of. Cheese factories typically get rid of their whey by selling it to the whey powder drying industry or by transporting it to pig farms which use it as a feedstock for animals or as a fertiliser for the land.

To make one kilogram of cheese, the dairy industry transforms 10 litres of milk. This thus generates approximately 9 litres of a co-product : the whey or lactoserum. In addition, cheese making facilities and equipment must be cleaned daily and use large amounts of water which load up with organic matter from milk or cheese residue.

Whey was traditionally disposed of as pig feedstock; this is the reason why next to each cheese factory, one used to find a pig farm. Industrialisation and concentration of pig farms, as well as the enforcement of stringent rules for animal food, have made this disposal option costly and next to impossible.

An industry has developed to dry the whey ; it produces whey powders which are used as additives in the food and beverage industry. However, this whey processing consumes large amounts of fossil fuels, for both transportation of whey and for the drying process itself. It is thus very sensitive to the energy market prices. In addition, whey powder has become a commodity and its market price is subject to fluctuations dictated by supply and demand.

For cheese-makers, it is critical to have a reliable and economical disposal method for the whey and for the treatment of waste water. Some wheys have chemical properties which make them unfit for powder production; others are produced in geographically remote areas, too far from drying factories to make their transformation in powder economical.

The investment in a waste water treatment plant to treat locally the whey and the washing waters allows the production of renewable energy used on site in the cheese making process. The cheese producer thus acquires autonomy for the disposal of his effluents and makes substantial savings on his energy expenses.
The result : profits, autonomy, treatment of effluents meeting regulatory constraints.

The treatment of effluents by anaerobic digestion is also of interest for all the actors of the milk processing industry. Whey drying plants, for example, generate large volumes of effluents containing substantial levels of organic matter; their anaerobic digestion can generate large amounts of biogas. An anaerobic digestion treatment plant thus allows the whey powder plant to arbitrate its whey powder production volumes, based on the market prices of fossil fuels and whey powder.