The value added WHEY

The resourcefulness to turn byproductsinto value-added products ranks amongthe food industry’s most impressiveachievements. Companies that pioneerthose processes a l so rewr ite their economic models and enjoy huge competitive advantages.Whey protein concentrate (WPC) is agood example. The bulk of raw milkused in cheesemaking ends up as whey,and the cost of disposing of whey hasdriven some cheesemakers out of busi-ness. European dairy processors havebeen converting whey into WPC foryears, and their American counterpartsrapidly are following suit as food formu-lators find new uses for this ingredient.But most WPC processes only boost protein content to 35 percent, and theyleave behind significant amounts ofBy Kevin T. Higgins, Senior Editorthevalue-addedWHEYWhey is the lemon of cheese production. Cabot Creameryleveraged modern technology to turn it into lemonadeThe whey processing facility’scontrol room features RS Viewtouchscreens that provide anoverview to the PLC-controlled equipment.waste with high BOD loading.More efficient processing is possible,and cheesemakers in states withstrict environmental protection lawsare taking the lead in applying state-of-the-art technologies.Cabot Creamery of Vermont is apr ime example. The division ofAgri-Mark Inc. remains one of ahandful of firms worldwide that hasperfected a technique to extractlactoferrin from whey. Cabot’s Mid-dlebury,Vt., facility began fraction-at ing lactofer r in in 1997. Anutritional supplement for bodybuilders and an ingredient in infantformula, lactoferrin wasrecently approved foruse as a natural antimi-crobial treatment inmeat process ing, anapplication that likelywill increase demandand push prices beyondthe $350 per kilogramlactofer r in cur rentlyfetches.Lactoferr in consti-tutes less than 1 percentof cow’s milk. In thec h e d d a r - m a k i n gprocess, about 10 per-cent of milk ends up ascheese, and another 1percent is skimmed offin a whey separator asbutter. Consequently,more than 1.3 millionof the 1.5 mil l ion lbs . of milkreceived each day at the Middleburyplant used to remain as byproduct,even after lactoferrin was recovered.When the Ver mont Whey Co.announced it would shut downoperations in September 1999,Cabot and every other cheesemakerin the state f aced a potential lyruinous problem.“Whether or not you lose moneyon whey disposal depends on howfar you have to ship it,” points outRichard Langworthy, senior vicepresident of manufacturing opera-tions at Cabot’s Lawrence, Mass.-based parent, Agri-Mark Inc. “AfterVermont Whey shut down, we wereshipping it as far as Louisville, Ky.”Ag r i-Mark eng ineer s were tackling the whey disposal issuebefore Wyeth Nutr i t ional sannounced it would pull the plugon Vermont Whey, but that develop-ment lent new urgency to the project. Extracting 80 percent protein concentrate was financiallyattractive, but it would still leavehuge quantities of byproduct. In theend, management decided to pro-duce both WPC and deproteinatedwhey permeate in a USDA-certifiedfacility so that both products couldbe sold for human consumption.Team-building solutionThe Middlebury plant was built in1975 by Kraft as a Swiss cheesefacility. Capacity limits eventuallyforced Kraft to mothball the unit,and in 1994 Agri-Mark invested $12million to convert it to cheddar production for its fast-growingCabot division, a farmer-ownedDried permeate is bagged in 1,000-lb. totes or 25-kilogram bags on anadjacent Avapac bag line. About 14totes are filled a day.David Brault (left) and Richard Langworthy review operations data for Agri-Mark’sMiddlebury, Vt., Cabot Creamery plant. The two played key roles in the plant’s wheyprocessing project.cooperative that merged with Agri-Mark two years earlier.Specialty cheeses requiring hand-work at finishing tables continue tobe made in the Cabot,Vt., plant,while Middlebury serves as the co-op’s volume workhorse. Fullyautomated processes enable Middle-bury to produce 50 mil-l ion lbs. of cheddar ayear, most of it in 700 lb.blocks.That capacity hasfed a tripling of Cabot’ssales since the merger.A rising film evapora-tor had been modified toboost total solids in thewhey to 50 percent, butproduction growth wascreating pressure to find abetter solution. Addi-tionally, the Cabot plantwas shipping whey thatwas 82 percent water,adding significantly tofreight costs. Ray Dyke,Agri-Mark’s vice presi-dent of technology,head-ed a team that wasworking with researchcenters and dryer manu-facturers for a total wheysolution. Extensive calculations hadto be performed to determineequipment capacity needs to handlethe plant’s whey.The team includedproject engineer David Brault.A 54,400-sq.-ft. refr igeratedwarehouse project to consolidatecheddar aging in Middlebury wascompleted in 1999. Stahlman Engi-neering Corp. worked on that proj-ect, and John A. Russell Corp.served as general contractor. Agri-Mark managers invited the twofirms to participate on the fast-trackwhey project , which requiredextensive negotiations with stateofficials on permit requirements.The goal was to complete design,construction and permitting in littlemore than a year’s time.“Russell Corp. really drove it,”according to Brault, an electricalengineer by training and tempera-ment. “Their construction manage-ment skills are tremendous.” Morethan 600 people were involved inthe project, with as many as 110construction workers reportingeach day beginning in November1999. Str ict sa fety rules wereenforced, with stiff fines and dis-missal from the job site accruing toviolators.The payoff was a smoothstart-up and validation in Septem-ber 2000, with no repor tableinjuries during the project.Turnkey systems for both WPCand permeate drying are nonexist-ent, so project managers piecedtogether a multivendor solution.Hudson,Wis.-based Niro Inc. pro-vided all the membrane filtrationand packaging equipment, C.E.Rogers Co. of Mora, Minn., fabri-cated the dryers, Columbia, Md.’sZimmer Evaporation supplied theevaporators and DCI Inc. of St.Cloud, Minn., delivered the crystal-lizers. Integration work was per-formed by Sherping Systems Inc.,Winstead, Minn.Separation and extractionRecent advancements in membranetechnology made the project com-mercially viable. Some membranespermeate water and retain all thesolids; others retain protein butallow water and minerals, includingsugars, to pass for further processing.Multiple membrane systems such asCabot’s leave cow’s water as the onlybyproduct.After whey has been clarified andProtein dryers appear moderately sized compared to the permeate dryer (center right),which measures 18 feet in diameter at its widest point and extends 90 feet in height.f ines removed,f luid i s routedthrough a pasteur-izer and into1 0 , 0 0 0 - g a l l o nstorage tanks.Thewhey then goesthrough an ultra-filtration systemthat boosts pro-tein to 35 percent.The resulting pro-tein concentrateundergoes chromatographic separa-tion to extract and concentratelactoferrin. The 35 percent WPCthen is pumped to a diafiltration system to increase protein concen-tration to 80 percent.The filtrationsystem’s PLCs feed data via an Ethernet connection to the plant’scontrol room. Flow meters on theshop floor are clearly marked andcoded, and flow direction throughevery pipe is labeled, simplifyingmaintenance and repair tasks.With protein content removed,the remaining fluid moves to a permeate pasteurizer before under-going reverse osmosis to removetwo-thirds of the water. The ROconcentrate then is brought to 60percent total solids with a fallingfilm TVR evaporator. Next, theconcentrate is pumped to one offive 6,000-gallon glycol-jacketedcrystallizers, where sugar crystalswill be formed in a highly viscousf luid. Signi f icant ag i ta t ion i sinvolved in this controlled coolingprocess, which takes 18 to 24 hours.“You’d think you were stirring upmolasses,” Langworthy says of theresulting fluid.“Separating the sugar and dryingit to create free-flowing sugar crys-tals is a challenge many have beenstymied by for years,” he adds.“This process has worked from day one, and tha t ’s qu i te an accomplishment.”Only six people, including two inpackaging, staff each shift, so thecontrol room is critical for monitor-ing conditions throughout the facil-i ty. Severa l communicat ionsprotocols had to be interfaced withthe various equip-ment manufactur-er s ’s control s .Brault applied hiselectrical expertiseto include anun in te r r up tedpower supply(UPS) to avoidany f a lse f aultsalong the multi-ple data high-ways . Powerdistribution to allmotors is accom-plished through anew electr ica lroom, where theUPS unit i shoused. Thewhey f aci l i tyrequired high-voltage service,including a 2,500 KVA transformerand main switchgear. One remoteI/O panel controls all the plant’spower.“There are miles and miles ofwire in this plant, and they’re allcontrolled here,” Brault points out.The electrical room accommo-dates 152 AC drives in 16 panels.Before work commenced, Braultcreated detailed draw-ings that tracked theprecise path that everywire in the field deviceswould take to the A three-stage C.E. Rogersfluid-bed dryer is the last stepin a process that reducesmoisture content from 94percent at the start to 2 to 4percent by packaging.GEA Filtration membraneswere used in the ultrafiltrationand diafiltration systems.Yellow stickers clearlyindicate flow direction, alabeling practice that iscarried throughout the plant.panels.The drawings removed anyguesswork for the 34 field electri-cians who worked on the project.“Everything started up in about twoweeks,” Brault proudly notes.After leaving the crystallizer, fluidis sent to a multi-stage drying system. Dur ing thisprocess outside air isheated with propane and mixedwith atomized permeate that ispumped under pressure of 5,000 to6,000 psi to the top of a 90-ft.-talldrying chamber. Residence timedictates the height of the dryers,with somewhat shorter units neededfor WPC drying.The WPC dryersalso are narrower, with a 14 ft., 10in. diameter at their widest point.The permeate dryer measures 18 ft.in diameter.Cyclones recapture most of thepermeate that doesn’t fall to thebottom of the dryer.A timing belt atthe base of the dryer conveys per-meate through a fluid bed dryer,after which the material is pumpedpneumatically to the top of a storagesilo at a rate of 5,400 lbs. an hour.Atthis point, moisture content hasbeen reduced to about 3 percent,compared to 94 percent at thebeginning of the process. Permeateis packaged in 1,000 lb. totes and 25kilo bags. Fivedays a week,three trailer-loads of pack-aged permeateare hauledaway, to thetune of 35 mil-lion lbs. a year.By the endof the process,v ir tua l ly a l lso l ids havebeen removed,leaving only155,000 gal-lons of water.Some of thatwater is routedthrough a pol-i sher, thenthrough a UVsystem before being chlorinated foruse in plant washdown and in two900 HP Nebraska boiler s . Theremainder can be safely dischargedinto the municipal waste system.The WPC dryers were trucked tothe construction site, but the per-meate dryer had to be fabricated inMiddlebury.A 2,500-sq.-ft. slab wasconstructed next door for that purpose. It was built in two sectionsand erected when the building’ssteel frame reached 72 feet.“We built the dryer plant to bethe most efficient possible,” reflectsBrault.“In the future the technologywill be even more efficient, and Idon’t see us sitting still. For now,we’ve got one of the most modernfacilities in the world, it’s USDAcertified, and we’re putting out aquality product at a competitiveprice.”Before seeking the go-ahead forthe $21 million project from Agri-Mark’s board of directors, Langwor-thy had to establish that there was, infact, a market for sugar and mineralgranules, which essentially is whatpermeate is.That led to a partner-ship with Century Foods of Sparta,Wis.,which sells most of the perme-ate overseas. Uses include coatingsfor pills and Korean aphrodisiacs.Drying whey is an energy-inten-sive process, and permeate fetchespr ices one-tenth that of WPC.Nonetheless, Langworthy expects areturn on investment within a fewyears.And the project resolved issuesthat dog the entire cheese category.“If you’re a major cheese producer,you’re in the whey bus iness ,whether you want to be in it ornot,” he says.“Shipping it out wet istoo costly, and it leaves a lot ofmoney on the table. And we’redeveloping new applications anduses for permeate, such as a low-costfiller for some bakery products.”Other cheesemakers also are tak-ing advantage of the advances inwhey processing technology. Lepri-no Foods, for example, recentlyupdated the WPC and permeatedrying process a t i t s mass iveRoswell, N.M., mozzarella plant.But Leprino’s process produces a 35percent dry WPC or 60 percent liquid form.Who did it first or does it besti sn’t the point; rather, i t ’s thatprocessors are demonstrating thetechnological savvy to convert abyproduct that once was dumpedon farm fields and turning it into avalue-added product with new andexpanding uses. The reward forthose efforts is a new business modelthat will serve those companies wellin the 21st Century.Crystallizing the sugars in the permeate is a critical stepbefore the drying process begins. A battery of five DCIcrystallizers handles this phase, during which fluidtemperatures drop 40 degrees.Reprinted with permission from Food Engineering, February 2002 ? 2002 Business News Publishing Co., II, LLCGEA Filtration is a world-leading supplier ofMembrane FiltrationSystems to the FoodIndustry.Application experience includes:• Concentration of plant and vegetable proteins• Meat brine clarification/bacteria removal• Corn syrup clarification• Egg white concentration• Gelatin de-ashing and concentration• Cane and beet sugar clarification and de-colorization• Wastewater treatment and by-productrecoveryServices:• Engineering and process development• Process integration and automation• Manufacturing and installation• After-sales service and training• Spare parts and replacement membranesIncreased Yields, Cost Reduction,Optimized Operations, Better QualityMembrane Filtration SystemsNiro Inc.1600 O’Keefe RoadHudson, WI 54016Tel: +1 715 386 9371 • Fax: +1715 386 9376Email: info@geafiltration.comGEA Liquid Processing Scandinavia A/SNoerskovvej 1bDK-8660 Skanderborg, DenmarkTel: +45 70 15 22 00 • Fax: +45 70 15 22 44Email: post@gea-liquid.dkwww.geafiltration.comGEA Filtration