A whey separator separates milk into cream and skimmed whey. It does this by using centrifugal force based on the difference in densities of milk and cream. This process is a vital step in the production of low-fat dairy products such as skimmed milk, yoghurt and cream. Traditionally, it was common practice for farmers to separate their own milk on farms in the past by leaving the raw milk in containers and skimming off the cream as it naturally separated from the rest of the milk by gravity. Today, most of this separation is done in industrial dairy plants.유청분리기추천
A separator acts as a clarifier and is used to remove any solids in the milk, which are heavier than the cream. The centrifugal force of the spinning bowl forces heavy particles to the outside of the bowl while the lighter cream collects inside the separating walls. These particles are known as separator sludge and are discharged periodically, often automatically, from the separator. The sludge is typically comprised of cheese solids, somatic cells and some bacteria.
In order to improve the quality of the cheese produced, a separator is also capable of removing bacteria. The separator sludge is then dried to create whey powder that can be sold or used as an ingredient in other dairy products such as quark/Greek yogurt, sour cream and butter.
Centrifuges that are used for milk separation must be able to process both cold and hot milk. The reason for this is that the proteins in cold milk are more dense than those in warm milk, which increases their viscosity. This can lead to reduced capacity and slows down the milk separation process. However, it is possible to increase the capacity of centrifuges by heating the milk before processing.
This is a common technique that can be employed in a number of different dairy plants. At smaller dairies that make a limited number of cheeses, they may have to heat the milk they use in order to meet their production volumes. However, larger cheese plants that produce a wide variety of different cheeses might not have the capacity to heat all their milk. In these cases, they can purchase milk from other sources and use a centrifuge to separate it into cream and whey to ensure they can meet their production volumes.
GEA’s bacteria removal separators have been designed to extend the ejection interval during production by up to six-fold compared with traditional separation systems. This enables consistent loss minimization and improved protein yield from the milk that is processed. This can significantly improve the quality of the cheese that is produced and lead to significant savings in fresh milk consumption, waste water creation and maintenance costs. In addition, bacteria removal can be achieved without the need to pre-filter the whey prior to separation. This combines clarification and skimming in one step, reducing investment and installation costs. This is particularly important for cheese-making processes, where the quality of the whey is critical to the final cheese quality and consistency.베어그릭스