Product category:
Plant Design and Construction
News Release from: APV | Subject: Cheese
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 12 March 2004
New cheese plant boosts capacity and
reduces costs
Invensys APV has won a Danish Kroner multi-million contract to build a new cheese production plant in Denmark, boosting production capacity and reducing cooling water usage and effluent
Invensys APV has won a Danish Kroner multi-million contract to build a new cheese production plant at the Them Co-operative Dairy in Silkeborg, Denmark When production begins on 1 October, 2004, the 1000 m2 plant will be capable of manufacturing over 14 tonnes of cheese per day, including the local speciality cheese known as Faetter Kras
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 15 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The new plant will also help decrease waste water treatment costs by reducing the effluent discharge from the cooling of cheeses.
The dairy's original cheese plant suffered from a lack of space that led to poor working conditions, particularly because of the need for manual lifting of heavy loads during the cheese making process.
"We did not expect to end up with a completely new plant," explained Dairy Manager Svend Andersen.
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"The main problem was a bottleneck when the cheese was brined.
This was caused by the relatively low capacity of our existing production equipment.
In addition, we realised that the heavy lifting involved with moving the cheese from one rack to another during surface treatment needed to be automated.
As the new lifting equipment could not fit into the existing space, we eventually decided that an entirely new plant was needed".
Invensys APV has already built a strong reputation in the European pressed cheese market and has long experience of the processes involved, including milk treatment, starter culture addition, curd making, cooling/brining, and finishing/storage.
In the new plant, the process begins with curdmaking, the purpose of which is to transform the cheese milk into quality cheese curd with the highest possible yield.
The curd and remaining whey is then pumped to the APV OPD PrePress System.
Here, the curd is distributed using an automatic distributor, before being pre-pressed into a cheese cake and the whey drained off.
The cheese cake is then cut into blocks, which are conveyed to the APV SaniPress system for final pressing in cheese moulds before being transferred for cooling, brining and ripening.
The OPD PrePress System and the SaniPress System are part of a new generation of equipment providing high sanitary standards and flexibility of size, composition and type of cheese.
The SaniPress System has been designed around the concept of pressing the cheese in a closed pressing tunnel by means of cylinders.
The cheese moulds travel via the outfeed conveyor to the mould emptier, from where the blocks are conveyed to the cheese weigher.
Empty cheese moulds are washed with the APV patented pressure cleaning system.
APV also supplied the cheese block brining system.
This consists of a filler for brining racks, the brining racks themselves, loading system, cooling/brining vats, automatic unloading system, rack conveying and washing system, overhead crane for rack transfer, and a brine buffer/cooling system.
A second special automatic lifting system is used for the final ripening and storage of the cheese.
In addition, Invensys APV supplied mixing and treatment plant for the brine solution, a pasteuriser and a complete CIP plant.
Control of the new plant relies on an Invensys InTouch system.
"One of the main features is the recipe handling system because it allows numerous cheese making recipes," said Bent M Ipsen, the Invensys APV Product Group Manager for Cheese.
"To begin with we didn't think there would be so many recipes involved, but as it turned out, this was not the case.
Cheese recipes change according to season and it is therefore necessary to be able to produce a wide variety.
With InTouch, the new plant will be equipped with sufficient flexibility to respond to future growth requirements," he added.
As well as providing a better working environment for the dairy staff, the new plant will offer extra capacity and production flexibility.
According to Svend Andersen, "Another advantage is that Invensys APV technology allows cooling water to be reused.
As a result we expect to cut between 10% and 15% off our Danish Kroner 700,000 annual water treatment supply bill.".
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