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REDUCTION OF PRODUCT LOSS IN DAIRY FOODS MANUFACTURING.

Discipline: industry; 

Product loss in the dairy processing industry is about 3% of the processing volume. The loss can be reduced and energy consumption and waste treatment costs can be decreased substantially by real-time online Total Organic Carbon (TOC) monitoring in a process or waste water stream.

TOC, measured by the BioTector Two Stage Advanced Oxidation (TSAO) technology, is proven to have a direct relationship to the content of products in the process or waste water stream leaving the production facility. The direct relationship is possible because the oxidation method includes the organic content of particulate material and sludge present in the liquid sample, in the TOC measurement, without any filtration process.

TSAO technology was specifically developed to operate in challenging dairy plants where waste water typically contains fats, oils, greases and particulate material. This technology has already become a global solution for reliable TOC analysis in the demanding chemical and refining industries. The benefits of the technology are now applied in the dairy and food processing industries.

Reducing product lost has been previously attempted by using online Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) measurement but this method is unreliable. The unfiltered measurement of TOC has been demonstrated to be more successful and cost-effective than COD measurement in the dairy industry. This is due to the closer relationship between the TOC and the bulk products which may be lost in the waste streams. COD measurement may be useful for determining the biological load to the waste water treatment plant. However, TOC measurement is much more useful when identifying the quantities of products lost in physical quantities, which is measured in pounds or kilograms, rather than in terms of biological loading.

Product lost can be reduced by up to 20% in dairy processing plants using TOC analysis, thereby savings of up to 30% in waste water treatment costs can be achieved.

Reference:

Halls, M. 2016. Reduction of product loss in dairy foods manufacturing. In: Proc of the 49th Annual General Meeting and Symposium of the SASDT on Sustainable Dairy: Nutrition & Composition, 10-12 May 2016, Gateway Hotel, Umhlanga, KZN.