For many food producers, consumption of water and cleaning-in-place (CIP) chemicals has become an issue of growing importance. Especially in regions with a scarcity of clean drinking water, businesses must be increasingly mindful of the water they send down the drain, or potentially risk stiff penalties. The question is clear: how can you maximise the value of every litre of water used in production?
Filtration technologies offer potential to recover and re-use process water and cleaning chemicals. We have extensive experience developing and integrating membrane filtration solutions for food and beverage processing, which you can put to use for reducing the consumption of water, chemicals and other liquid resources in your factory.
For liquid separation, reverse osmosis is the tightest possible membrane process. It concentrates total solids, allowing only water to pass through the membrane. All dissolved and suspended material is rejected, resulting in cleaned water that can be cycled back into your processes for further re-use.
With nanofiltration technology, it’s possible to separate out many types of molecules from a liquid. In dairy applications, for example, it can be used to filter out protein, lactose and other suspended solids, with water and certain target minerals passing through the nanofilter membrane.
Traditionally, spent caustic liquid that has been used to clean evaporators, dryers and UHT sterilisers in dairy applications is sent to the drain for disposal. With our nanofiltration technology, it’s instead possible to recover up to 90% of the caustic liquid used for CIP (cleaning-in-place), enabling significant reductions of both water and cleaning chemical consumption.
After final cleaning, the filter separates out dirt and remnants of the dairy products, allowing only water and caustic CIP chemicals to pass through. The recovered caustic liquid can then be used for pre-cleaning or even sent back to the central CIP station for future re-use. In this way, the solution helps you to optimise your CIP processes, reducing the amount of new cleaning chemicals and tap water needed for your plant.
Mammen Dairies has been producing high-quality Danish cheeses for over a century. Today, they also sell whey protein as a valuable by-product of their production. We worked with them to integrate a reverse osmosis membrane filtration system to concentrate the whey, and thereby recover water from the process. As a result, the dairy has reduced tap water consumption by 143 tonnes daily – in addition to further environmental benefits.
Watch the video to learn more.
Mammen Dairies has been producing high-quality Danish cheeses for over a century. Today, they also sell whey protein as a valuable by-product of their production. We worked with them to integrate a reverse osmosis membrane filtration system to concentrate the whey, and thereby recover water from the process. As a result, the dairy has reduced tap water consumption by 143 tonnes daily – in addition to further environmental benefits.
Watch the video to learn more.
Food and beverage producers face growing challenges in energy, water, and waste management. Addressing them requires a combination of technology and food expertise, tailored to your operations. Our comprehensive portfolio of products and services, backed by decades of experience in food applications, can help you reduce your energy, water, and waste while simultaneously delivering cost benefits.