German dairy products group to make bioethanol from whey
A major advantage of biofuels is that they can be made from a wide variety of biomass feedstocks, including agro-industrial waste-streams. German dairy products group Theo Müller now adds a feedstock by announcing [*German] that it will start to produce bioethanol from whey (lactoserum), a byproduct from cheese production. The group with its seat in Leppersdorf near Dresden, will start the construction of a dedicated ethanol plant this month.
The company is investing €20/US$27 million in the complex, which will be the first to make biofuel from whey. Stefan Müller, CEO of the group, says that by the end of 2007 production will come online and when maximum capacity is reached, the plant will make 10 million liters (2.64 million gallons) of ethanol per year.
Whey or milk plasma is the acidic liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained; it is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein. Typically every 100 kg of milk will give about 10-20 kg of cheese depending on the variety, and about 80-90 kg of liquid whey. Its disposal is a major problem for the dairy industry, partly due to its composition. It has a low solids content and a very unfavorable lactose : protein ratio which makes it difficult to utilize as-is. The biological oxygen demand (BOD) is 32,000 to 60,000 ppm, which creates a very severe disposal problem.
Despite continuing efforts to find uses for the whey, either as-is or in dry form, or its major components (high quality protein and lactose), it is estimated that as much as 40-50% of the whey produced is disposed off as sewage, with the rest being used primarily for animal feed or human food. World production is estimated at 80 to 130 million tons per year:
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: milk :: whey :: dairy :: cheese :: ethanol :: Germany ::
Given this waste problem, scientists been looking into ways to utilise the resource, and since the 1980s they have been hinting at the fact that there is an opportunity to use whey as an ethanol feedstock. Global interest in the biofuel and high oil prices now make commercial production viable.
Whey ethanol production is similar to that relying on starchy feedstocks. The lactose present in whey is yeast fermented and the resultant ethanol is distilled off and then purified to one of eight grades depending on its intended end use.
For the German dairy products group, whey is a biofuel feedstock that comes at a very low cost because it produces a vast quantity of it that poses a waste problem. "For this reason, we are very competitive and independent of the price developments on the biofuels market", says Müller.
There is a small body of research on the production of ethanol from whey.
More information:
Scott L. Terrell, Alain Bernard, and Richard B. Bailey, "Ethanol from Whey: Continuous Fermentation with a Catabolite Repression-Resistant Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mutant", Appl Environ Microbiol. 1984 September; 48(3): 577–580.
Ron Hamilton (AnchorProducts, Tirau): The Manufacture of Ethanol from Whey [*.pdf] - s.d. New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.
The company is investing €20/US$27 million in the complex, which will be the first to make biofuel from whey. Stefan Müller, CEO of the group, says that by the end of 2007 production will come online and when maximum capacity is reached, the plant will make 10 million liters (2.64 million gallons) of ethanol per year.
Whey or milk plasma is the acidic liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained; it is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein. Typically every 100 kg of milk will give about 10-20 kg of cheese depending on the variety, and about 80-90 kg of liquid whey. Its disposal is a major problem for the dairy industry, partly due to its composition. It has a low solids content and a very unfavorable lactose : protein ratio which makes it difficult to utilize as-is. The biological oxygen demand (BOD) is 32,000 to 60,000 ppm, which creates a very severe disposal problem.
Despite continuing efforts to find uses for the whey, either as-is or in dry form, or its major components (high quality protein and lactose), it is estimated that as much as 40-50% of the whey produced is disposed off as sewage, with the rest being used primarily for animal feed or human food. World production is estimated at 80 to 130 million tons per year:
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: milk :: whey :: dairy :: cheese :: ethanol :: Germany ::
Given this waste problem, scientists been looking into ways to utilise the resource, and since the 1980s they have been hinting at the fact that there is an opportunity to use whey as an ethanol feedstock. Global interest in the biofuel and high oil prices now make commercial production viable.
Whey ethanol production is similar to that relying on starchy feedstocks. The lactose present in whey is yeast fermented and the resultant ethanol is distilled off and then purified to one of eight grades depending on its intended end use.
For the German dairy products group, whey is a biofuel feedstock that comes at a very low cost because it produces a vast quantity of it that poses a waste problem. "For this reason, we are very competitive and independent of the price developments on the biofuels market", says Müller.
There is a small body of research on the production of ethanol from whey.
More information:
Scott L. Terrell, Alain Bernard, and Richard B. Bailey, "Ethanol from Whey: Continuous Fermentation with a Catabolite Repression-Resistant Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mutant", Appl Environ Microbiol. 1984 September; 48(3): 577–580.
Ron Hamilton (AnchorProducts, Tirau): The Manufacture of Ethanol from Whey [*.pdf] - s.d. New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home