**Author details**

In membrane separation processes, besides the treated effluent being reused as reuse water within the processes, there is the possibility of concentration of the material retained by the membrane and its reuse in the manufacture of new products. This allows the valuation of the resources of the industry. Studies such as Brião and Tavares' [36] that used ultrafiltration as a process of treatment and reuse of dairy effluents found the possibility of reusing the permeate in the cleaning of equipment and the concentrate, after pasteurization, in the production of

The use of coagulation associated with membrane separation processes allows high removal of contaminants from the effluents. In this sense, Schimitt et al. [37] used effluent from the process of cleaning pasteurizers from a dairy industry. The UF membrane used was ceramic, with a pore size of 0.1 μm and molar retention of 4 kDa. They found removals of COD and turbidity above 96% for treatments using UF associated with *Moringa oleifera* coagulation.

The authors Kumar et al. [38] fabricated a low-cost ceramic microfiltration membrane and used it in the treatment of dairy effluent. They found that, by increasing permeate flow and pressure, there is a decrease in the removal of chemical oxygen demand. They attributed this fact to the greater pressure and flow force the structure of the membrane, which allows the greater passage of pollutants through it. They achieved a 91% removal efficiency of COD (135 mg L−1), which was below the limit allowed for effluent discharge, concluding that the

Galvão [39] studied microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes in posttreatment of dairy effluent. It found that the efficiency of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membrane separation processes proved to be quite considerable, both in the retention of organic matter and microorganisms and in the removal of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. As a complementary treatment of dairy effluent, after the treatment by the physical–chemical float, the MF membrane presented a considerable improvement in the effluent quality in both COD

Dairy industries, as potential polluters, need to seek improvements in processes and technologies, to remain competitive and to meet quality requirements in a sustainable way.

Membrane separation processes have been studied and used in the dairy industry, mainly aimed at treating effluents for reuse water generation, which ends up contributing to the preservation of water resources, generates savings for industries, and contributes to sustainability. The possibilities of study are broadened in the case of membranes, as there is the possibility of reusing the permeate and the concentrate, allowing the reuse of water and materials for the production of byproducts. The studies presented demonstrate the relevance of membrane separation processes and their efficiency in the production of quality reuse water and the pos-

retention, as well as in the retention of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

dairy byproducts such as milk candy.

174 Technological Approaches for Novel Applications in Dairy Processing

and BOD<sup>5</sup>

**3. Final considerations**

low-cost membrane was successful in treating the effluent.

sibility of concentrating, separating, and purifying substances.

Douglas Felipe Galvão

Address all correspondence to: fgdoug@gmail.com

Federal Technological University of Paraná, Paraná, Brazil

## **References**


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[31] Vidal CMS, Campos JR. Coagulação associada à microfiltração para o tratamento avan-

[32] Chmiel H, Mavrov V, Belières E. Reuse of vapour condensate from milk processing

[33] Khider K, Akretche DE, Larbot A. Purification of water effluent from a milk factory by

[34] Baldasso C. Concentração, purificação e fracionamento das proteínas do Soro Lácteo através da Tecnologia de Separação por Membranas [dissertation]. Porto Alegre:

[35] Luo J. Treatment of dairy effluent by shear-enhanced membrane filtration: The role of

[36] Brião VB, Tavares CRG. Ultrafiltração como processo de tratamento para o reúso de efluentes de laticínios. Revista de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental. 2007;**12**:134-138 [37] Schimitt DMF et al. Ultrafiltration combined with coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation using Moringa oleifera as coagulant to treat dairy industry wastewater. Water, Air,

[38] Kumar RV, Goswami L, Pakshirajan K, Pugazhenthi G. Dairy wastewater treatment using a novel low cost tubular ceramic membrane and membrane fouling mechanism using pore blocking models. Journal of Water Process Engineering. 2016;**13**:168-175 [39] Galvão DF. Pós-tratamento de efluentes por processos de separação por membranas e reúso de água em uma indústria de laticínios [dissertation]. Medianeira: Programa de

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Ambiental. Porto Alegre: Rio Grande do Sul; 2010

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**Chapter 10**

**Provisional chapter**

**Physico-Chemical Treatment of Dairy Industry**

**Physico-Chemical Treatment of Dairy Industry** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.77110

Dairy industries have grown in most countries because of the demand in milk and milk products. This rise has led to the growth of dairy industries. The wastewaters discharged from this industry contain high concentrations of nutrients, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS) and organic and inorganic contents, which can cause serious environmental problems if not properly treated. The conventional biological treatment methods are suitable for dairy wastewaters due to its high biodegradability. However, long chain fatty acids formed during the hydrolysis of lipids show the inhibitory action during anaerobic treatment. Sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and up flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) systems seem to be the most promising technology for the biological treatment of dairy wastewaters. Several research papers have been published on the application of aerobic and anaerobic treatment technologies for dairy industry wastewater, but both treatment methods still have some disadvantages. The most important challenge is to find costefficient and environmentally sustainable approaches to enable water reuse and waste management. Therefore, alternative treatment technologies against biological treatment methods such as coagulation, adsorption, membrane and electrolysis processes are under investigation. This chapter provides a critical review focusing on physico-

> © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Industrialisation has a big role for development of a country which causes serious pollution problems throughout the earth [1]. With increase in demand for milk and milk products, dairy industries

**Wastewaters: A Review**

**Wastewaters: A Review**

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77110

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

Taner Yonar, Özge Sivrioğlu and Nihan Özengin

chemical treatment technologies of dairy wastewater.

**Keywords:** dairy, wastewater treatment, physicochemical

Taner Yonar, Özge Sivrioğlu and Nihan Özengin

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

#### **Physico-Chemical Treatment of Dairy Industry Wastewaters: A Review Physico-Chemical Treatment of Dairy Industry Wastewaters: A Review**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.77110

Taner Yonar, Özge Sivrioğlu and Nihan Özengin Taner Yonar, Özge Sivrioğlu and Nihan Özengin

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77110

#### **Abstract**

Dairy industries have grown in most countries because of the demand in milk and milk products. This rise has led to the growth of dairy industries. The wastewaters discharged from this industry contain high concentrations of nutrients, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS) and organic and inorganic contents, which can cause serious environmental problems if not properly treated. The conventional biological treatment methods are suitable for dairy wastewaters due to its high biodegradability. However, long chain fatty acids formed during the hydrolysis of lipids show the inhibitory action during anaerobic treatment. Sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and up flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) systems seem to be the most promising technology for the biological treatment of dairy wastewaters. Several research papers have been published on the application of aerobic and anaerobic treatment technologies for dairy industry wastewater, but both treatment methods still have some disadvantages. The most important challenge is to find costefficient and environmentally sustainable approaches to enable water reuse and waste management. Therefore, alternative treatment technologies against biological treatment methods such as coagulation, adsorption, membrane and electrolysis processes are under investigation. This chapter provides a critical review focusing on physicochemical treatment technologies of dairy wastewater.

**Keywords:** dairy, wastewater treatment, physicochemical

## **1. Introduction**

Industrialisation has a big role for development of a country which causes serious pollution problems throughout the earth [1]. With increase in demand for milk and milk products, dairy industries

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

have shown enormous growth in number and size in many countries all around the world [2]. The total milk production was estimated 818 million tonnes according to the İnternational Dairy Federation's World Dairy Report 2016, approximately 2% more than 2014 [3].

Dairy industry is the major source of food processing which has one of the highest consumption of water which used through every steps of dairy industry [4–6]. Therewith the amount of wastewater discharged from dairy industry has also raised [2]. For this reason, treatment of dairy wastes becomes very important before disposal [7]. Therefore, it is necessary to know how the processes take place in dairy industry.

In the dairy industry, the products are very diverse, which are mainly pasteurised and sterilised milk, yogurt, ayran, cheese, cream, butter, ice cream, and milk powder. Wastewater is produced both from production of products and from packaging units.

In the milking process, raw milk is collected from the producers, samples are taken and sent to the factory. Wastewater arises from the water coming from milk cans, storage tanks, washing places and cooling systems.

In the packaging unit, wastewater occurs during the cleaning of bottles, jars, tanks and related equipment with packaging.

In the cream production unit, butter is made with sweet cream and sour cream. Milk is centrifuged to separate the cream from the milk. While the cream-free milk is sent to the needed processes, butter is produced by churning the remaining cream. Wastewater is formed during the washing of the places and the cleaning of the tools.

In cheese making process, there are many steps. These include coagulation of the milk, cutting of the curd, cooking, when draining, placing curd in cheese moulds, and pressing the moulds. The cheese in the moulds is shaped and packaged. The most important wastewater source in the state is whey. However, whey can be re-used by mostly drying. For this reason, it is used again in ready-made food production (biscuit, chocolate, etc.) from being given as wastewater [8].

industries use clean in place (CIP) system which uses caustic, phosphoric/nitric, sodium hypochlorite solutions for cleaning, and these chemicals became a part of wastewater [1].

Physico-Chemical Treatment of Dairy Industry Wastewaters: A Review

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77110

181

Dairy industry wastewaters contain suspended and dissolved solids, soluble and trace organics, nutrients, fats, chlorides, sulphate, lactose, and they are characterised by high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) [2, 12–14]. The wastewater may also contain germicides, detergents and other types of chemicals [10]. These all have significant impact on wastewater. The characteristics and standards for discharge of dairy effluents

The characteristics of dairy wastewaters have shown variable effluent composition and differ from industry to industry. This makes it hard to use same methods for each wastewater for

Traditional approaches (aerobic and anaerobic processes) for the treatment of dairy wastewater have many disadvantages such as land cost, climatic conditions, need of sludge recycling, and so on [7]. The most preferred treatment method for dairy wastewater is a biological method including processes such as activated sludge, tricking filters, aerated lagoons, sequential batch reactor (SBR), upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), anaerobic filters, and so on. Aerobic processes are high energy intensive, but they have to be combined with anaerobic processes to achieve discharge standards [2, 16]. On the other hand, physicochemical methods are promis-

are given in **Table 2**.

ing and effective methods for wastewater treatment.

**Table 1.** The sources of the dairy industry wastewater [15].

treatment.

In the ice cream production unit, milk, additives, sugar and thickeners are mixed. After being pasteurised and cooled, aromas are added and packaged afterwards. Detergents and disinfectant-containing wastewaters form during cleaning and disinfection at the unit.

In condensed milk production, heated milk is evaporated and homogenised to yield sugar free milk. Sweet condensed milk is also produced using this method.

In the production of milk powder, it is obtained by applying vacuum evaporation and then spray drying.

The sources of the dairy industry wastewater are given in **Table 1**.

Operating methods, production program, type of product being processed, water management being applied and design of the processing plant are effecting the composition and concentration of dairy effluents. Processing waters, cleaning wastewaters and sanitary wastewater are the three major sources of dairy industry wastewaters [9]. Most of milk processing


**Table 1.** The sources of the dairy industry wastewater [15].

have shown enormous growth in number and size in many countries all around the world [2]. The total milk production was estimated 818 million tonnes according to the İnternational Dairy

Dairy industry is the major source of food processing which has one of the highest consumption of water which used through every steps of dairy industry [4–6]. Therewith the amount of wastewater discharged from dairy industry has also raised [2]. For this reason, treatment of dairy wastes becomes very important before disposal [7]. Therefore, it is necessary to know

In the dairy industry, the products are very diverse, which are mainly pasteurised and sterilised milk, yogurt, ayran, cheese, cream, butter, ice cream, and milk powder. Wastewater is

In the milking process, raw milk is collected from the producers, samples are taken and sent to the factory. Wastewater arises from the water coming from milk cans, storage tanks, wash-

In the packaging unit, wastewater occurs during the cleaning of bottles, jars, tanks and related

In the cream production unit, butter is made with sweet cream and sour cream. Milk is centrifuged to separate the cream from the milk. While the cream-free milk is sent to the needed processes, butter is produced by churning the remaining cream. Wastewater is formed during

In cheese making process, there are many steps. These include coagulation of the milk, cutting of the curd, cooking, when draining, placing curd in cheese moulds, and pressing the moulds. The cheese in the moulds is shaped and packaged. The most important wastewater source in the state is whey. However, whey can be re-used by mostly drying. For this reason, it is used again in ready-made food production (biscuit, chocolate, etc.) from being given as

In the ice cream production unit, milk, additives, sugar and thickeners are mixed. After being pasteurised and cooled, aromas are added and packaged afterwards. Detergents and disinfec-

In condensed milk production, heated milk is evaporated and homogenised to yield sugar

In the production of milk powder, it is obtained by applying vacuum evaporation and then

Operating methods, production program, type of product being processed, water management being applied and design of the processing plant are effecting the composition and concentration of dairy effluents. Processing waters, cleaning wastewaters and sanitary wastewater are the three major sources of dairy industry wastewaters [9]. Most of milk processing

tant-containing wastewaters form during cleaning and disinfection at the unit.

free milk. Sweet condensed milk is also produced using this method.

The sources of the dairy industry wastewater are given in **Table 1**.

Federation's World Dairy Report 2016, approximately 2% more than 2014 [3].

produced both from production of products and from packaging units.

how the processes take place in dairy industry.

180 Technological Approaches for Novel Applications in Dairy Processing

the washing of the places and the cleaning of the tools.

ing places and cooling systems.

equipment with packaging.

wastewater [8].

spray drying.

industries use clean in place (CIP) system which uses caustic, phosphoric/nitric, sodium hypochlorite solutions for cleaning, and these chemicals became a part of wastewater [1].

Dairy industry wastewaters contain suspended and dissolved solids, soluble and trace organics, nutrients, fats, chlorides, sulphate, lactose, and they are characterised by high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) [2, 12–14]. The wastewater may also contain germicides, detergents and other types of chemicals [10]. These all have significant impact on wastewater. The characteristics and standards for discharge of dairy effluents are given in **Table 2**.

The characteristics of dairy wastewaters have shown variable effluent composition and differ from industry to industry. This makes it hard to use same methods for each wastewater for treatment.

Traditional approaches (aerobic and anaerobic processes) for the treatment of dairy wastewater have many disadvantages such as land cost, climatic conditions, need of sludge recycling, and so on [7]. The most preferred treatment method for dairy wastewater is a biological method including processes such as activated sludge, tricking filters, aerated lagoons, sequential batch reactor (SBR), upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), anaerobic filters, and so on. Aerobic processes are high energy intensive, but they have to be combined with anaerobic processes to achieve discharge standards [2, 16]. On the other hand, physicochemical methods are promising and effective methods for wastewater treatment.


Chemical precipitation involves the addition of chemicals to separate the dissolved and suspended solids by sedimentation and used for primary settling facilities. In current practice, phosphorus and heavy metal removal can be realised. Many substances have been used as precipitants over the years such as alum, ferric sulphate, ferrous sulphate, and so on. They are used primarily for the treatment of metallic cations, anions, organic molecules, detergents

Coagulation/flocculation processes are used basically to separate suspended, colloidal and dissolved contents from wastewater and they applied directly to raw wastewater [45]. The process can be divided into two categories. The first one named coagulation is the process where chemicals (coagulant agents) such as iron or aluminium are used to overcome the factors which promote the stability of the system. The second process named flocculation makes destabilised particles come together and they can be separated easily through gravity settling [46]. A few studies have been studied in the literature for the coagulation of dairy wastewater.

Adsorption has been found to be attractive for the removal of organic compounds from wastewater [47]. There are many types of adsorbents including activated carbon, synthetic polymeric

**Treatment process Characterisation Remove/removal efficiency (%) References**

used

BOD: 64% (ferrous sulphate) and 85%

Physico-Chemical Treatment of Dairy Industry Wastewaters: A Review

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183

Alum was more effective than ferrous sulphate and it removed 5% more COD than ferrous sulphate.

Calcium hydroxide: organic matter: 40%, suspended solid: 94%,

Addition of 0.10–0.15 mg FeCl<sup>3</sup>

O/mg COD, or about 0.20 mg

Maximum removal efficiencies of

)3 :

O/mg COD, was sufficient to obtain good removal of

phosphorus: 89%

organic matter.

67–90% total COD

ve Fe2(SO4

6H2

Al<sup>2</sup> (SO4 )3 .18H2

FeCl3

COD: >70% Alum: COD: >65%

High COD removal [26]

[25]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]


(ferric chloride)

and oily emulsions [44].

**2.2. Adsorption process**

The literature studies are summarised at **Table 3**.

Chemical precipitation Ferrous sulphate and ferric

Coagulation Alum and ferrous sulphate

Coagulation Iron chloride, aluminium

Chemical precipitation Pre-treatment

Coagulation FeCl3

Coagulation/flocculation FeCl3

chloride as coagulant

sulphate and calcium chloride as coagulant

as coagulant

and FeSO4

Ca(OH)2

as coagulant

Pre-treatment

, Fe2 (SO4 ) 3 and alum

Pre-treatment

**Table 2.** Characteristics of some dairy industry wastewaters and discharge standards of dairy effluents (adapted from [2, 14]).
