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Exhibition
SMM
SMM 07.09 2010 - 10.09 2010
Hamburg, Germany
Hall A3 , Stand 240
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Clarified Whey and Whey Cream

Whey is defined as the liquid which forms in cheese-making after the casein and fat have been separated when the milk clots. Depending on the type of casein separation, three kinds of whey may form:

  • Rennet whey (sweet whey)
  • Sour whey
  • Technical whey 

Whereas in the early 1970s, using whey economically was hardly even considered, the situation has fundamentally changed in subsequent decade, due to a marked rise in cheese production, more stringent water industry demands and associated disposal costs – leading to the desire for an economic use of this by-product.

 

Intensive research and development led to efficient processes for the continued processing of whey into products such as

  • Whey concentrate
  • Whey protein concentrate
  • Whey powder
  • Lactose 

For optimum onward processing in terms of process technology and economy, however, milk fat and cheese fines must be removed from whey in advance. GEA Westfalia Separator centrifuges successfully perform this key step.

Process line for producing clarified whey and whey cream

Process line for producing clarified whey and whey cream

The separators not only fulfill their separation duties, but also make a considerable contribution to the overall profitability of processing companies by recovering and conditioning valuable constituents such as cheese dust or lactalbumin.

 

Lactalbumin is a mixture of various whey proteins. It is traditionally recovered by heat denaturation of wheys from various origins, primarily from cheese wheys. Once the lactalbumin has become insoluble, it can be centrifuged by separators and dried in a spray-drying tower to form a powder. Lactalbumin has a high nutritional value. 

 

The obtaining and further processing of unwanted products from whey can also be demonstrated by the example of cheese dust: cheese dust is defined as very fine cheese particles of a few μm to 1 mm in size which are formed during the cutting, agitating and pumping of curd. These protein particles get into the whey during the separation of curd and whey or when draining the cheese molds and pressing them. Many large dairies separate the cheese dust from the whey with clarifiers from GEA Westfalia Separator and then use decanters to remove more moisture from the concentrate thus obtained to form a free-flowing cheese mass with a dry matter of around 40 percent. This mass can then be made into processed cheese.