Dairy-Milk production needed ice water to proceed

The Challenge
Keeping milk at optimum temperature
The Solution
Ice water at a stable 1oC for round the clock milk production
The impact
Milk kept in tip top condition throughout the process

Sectors:Food and Beverage

The Challenge

Keeping milk at optimum temperature

When the chiller plant at a large dairy broke down, it could have resulted in thousands of litres of spoiled milk, a loss of production and revenue. As the site’s process cooling system used ice water, we needed to find a way to keep this at a steady 1oC, to maintain the milk’s temperature between 3-4oC. Too warm and the milk would spoil – too cold and the water would freeze.

1800 kW chiller

+/- 0,3 Constant temperature range

24/7Round the clock milk production

The Solution

Ice water at a stable 1°C for round the clock milk production

We came up with a plan to link into the site’s water cooling process using a heat exchanger. This accepted the ice water from one side and we attached a three way valve to the other. This then linked into our 800 kW chiller, which delivered water at a constant set point of 1⁰C.

We installed a sensitive temperature gauge to the three way valve to monitor the water temperature leaving the heat exchanger. The valve opened and closed to cool and heat the water as its temperature rose and fell – keeping it between +/-0.3⁰C of 1⁰C.