Description of milk processing Dairy plants are found all over the world, but because their sizes

and the types of manufactured products vary tremendously, it is hard to give general characteristics. The dairy industry can be divided into several production sectors. Each division produces wastewater of a characteristic composition, depending on the kind of product that is produced (milk, cheese, butter, milkpowder, condensate). Figure 4 presents a schematic flow sheet of the main dairy products. Milk receiving Irrespective of the product, every factory has a section where milk is delivered and stored. Liquid milk products In developed countries (parts of Europe, North-America, Australia etc.), raw milk is decreamed and pasteurised or sterilised. After these steps, several products are made: consumer milk, chocolate milk, custard etc. In developing countries/regions (Southern and Eastern Africa, the Middle East - Syria and India etc.) boiling but also fermenting may be used as a means to preserve milk in the absence of refrigeration facilities. Usually, as a sanitizing method, the vessels for the storage of milk are smoked. Fermented milk may be used in fermented form but often it is churned so as to produce butter and buttermilk. Cheese/Whey/Curd There are about 500 varieties of cheese produced throughout the world. These are classified in nine major cheese families. These varieties come about as a result of different types of production processes. The composition of the wastewater of each specific production process varies from variety to variety. For the purpose of discussing the environmental impact, the production of cheese will be related to the production of whey. For hard cheeses (Cheddar cheese, Dutch cheese, etc.), the quantity of whey produced is high and equals more or less the amount of milk used. During the production of other types of cheeses, such as soft types, the whey production is much lower or there is no production of whey at all. Butter/Ghee In developed countries, butter is made from cream that has been churned (separation of sweet butter and sweet buttermilk). In developing regions the technology in use for the making of butter and ghee is closely related to the technology to make fermented milk. Traditional butter is made from fully soured whole milk that is churned. Milk powder Milkpowder is made from raw milk, skimmilk or sweet buttermilk. After pasteurization, decreaming etc. the water from the milk is removed through evaporation. Condensate/Cream/Khoa For condensed milk and cream, a portion of the water is removed by evaporation. Khoa is a product typically found in India and neighbouring countries. It is produced by thermal evaporation of milk to 65-70% solid state and serves as base material for a variety of Indian sweets. Emissions 1. Solid waste 2. Wastewater 3. Air pollution

1. Solid waste Hardly any solid waste is produced by the dairy industry. The main solid waste produced by the dairy industry is the sludge resulting from wastewater purification. There are figures available about the amount of sludge production: in aerobic systems the sludge production is about 0.5 kg per kg of removed COD and in anaerobic systems about 0.1 kg per kg of removed COD. 2. Wastewater Wastewater from dairy industry may originate from the following sources: Milk receiving Wastewater results from tank, truck and storage tank washing, pipe line washing and sanitizing. It contains milk solids, detergents, sanitizers and milk wastes. Whole milk products Wastewater is mainly produced during cleaning operations. Especially when different types of product are produced in a specific production unit, clean-up operations between product changes are necessary. In developing countries, the main problem is pollution through spoilage of milk. Cheese/Whey/Curd Waste results mainly from the production of whey, wash water, curd particles etc. Cottage cheese curd for example is more fragile than rennet curd which is used for other types of cheese. Thus the whey and wash water from cottage cheese may contain appreciably more fine curd particles than that from other cheeses. The amount of fine particles in the wash water increases if mechanical washing processes are used. Butter/Ghee Butter washing steps produce wash water containing buttermilk. Skim milk and buttermilk can be used to produce skimmilk powder in the factory itself or itself or these materials may be shipped to another dairy food plant by tank truck. The continuous butter production process materially reduces the potential waste load by eliminating the buttermilk production and the washing steps. Milk powder Environmental problems are caused by high energy consumption (= emission of CO2, CO etc.), by cleaning and by emission of fine dust during the drying process. Condensed milk/Cream/Khoa Environmental problems related to the production of condensate and khoa are mainly caused by the high energy consumption during the evaporation process. The main suspended solids mentioned in the literature are coagulated milk and fine particles of cheese curd.
Type of product Wastewater volume BOD Average Range Average Range (1) Milk 3250 100 - 5400 4.2 0.20 - 7.8 Condensed milk 2100 1000 - 3000 7.6 0.20 - 13.3 Butter 800 0.85 Milkpowder 3700 1500 - 5900 2.2 0.02 - 4.6 Cottage cheese 6000 800 - 12400 34.0 1.30 - 71.2 (2)

Milk (canned) Condensed milk Butter Natural cheese Cottage cheese (3) Milk Cheese Butter/milkpowder Total

320 - 1870 800 - 7290 800 - 6550 200 - 5850 830 - 12540

0.02 - 1.13 0.17 - 1.48 0.19 - 1.91 0.30 - 4.04 1.30 - 42 0.2 - 4.0 0.9 0.3

4000

Waste generating processes of major significance include: - Washing, cleaning and sanitizing of pipelines (metals), pumps, processing equipment, tanks, tank, trucks and filling machines (high N load); - Start-up, product change over and shut down of HTST and UHT pasteurizers; - Breaking down of equipment and breaking of packages resulting in spilling during filling operations; - Lubrication of casers, stackers and conveyors.