Dairy Wastewater Treatment
Wastewater treatment for the dairy industry
At Berghof Membranes, we specialize in advanced dairy wastewater treatment solutions tailored to the unique needs of the dairy industry. Our systems provide effective wastewater treatment for dairy industry operations, ensuring compliance with strict regulations.
Did you know that the dairy industry is the largest producer of wastewater within the food industry? By processing just 1 m³ of milk, up to double the amount of wastewater is generated. Most of this comes from cleaning processes. In addition, dairy wastewater contains raw materials from spills and tank unloading operations. Effective dairy wastewater treatment is crucial to managing this environmental impact, ensuring that waste is treated efficiently and sustainably.
But what exactly covers the sector? Dairy processing covers the transformation of raw milk into several products such as pasteurized milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, and ice cream. The global consumption of these goods is huge and ever-increasing. And so is the amount of wastewater produced.
Dairy wastewater is characterized by a wide variability in composition and flow, partly due to over production and seasonal spikes. Up to 90% of the organic matter in dairy wastewater comes from the milk components, such as fat, proteins, and lactose. As a result, dairy wastewater is highly biodegradable, with BOD5 and COD ratios up to 0.8.
In conclusion the dairy industry has a high impact on the environment and thus regulations are leading to high disposal costs. To overcome this there is a real need for more advanced technologies, such as biological treatment with ultrafiltration membranes. There are three main reasons to decide which technologies fits best: The tighter discharge limits and taxes, growing need for water reuse and the water scarcity in some regions.
Challenges for wastewater treatment in the dairy industry
Variability
High variability in quality and quantity of wastewater.
High levels of BOD and COD
Which need to be reduced before discharged to municipal treatment facilities.
FOG
Presence of FOG and dissolved salts.
Toxicity
Presence of cleaning and sanitizing products, with potential toxicity and inhibitory effect.
Hampering
Poor sludge settleability, hampering the conventional activated sludge processed
Tubular membrane solutions for dairy wastewater treatment
Berghofs Membranes are designed for dairy industry wastewater treatment, offering sustainable and reliable solutions for diverse dairy operations.
Managing the variability of dairy wastewater, while maintaining the effluent quality required for discharge or reuse can be a real challenge. Thus the implementation of advanced and robust biological treatment technologies with tubular membranes can make a real change.
Tubular UF membranes are known to provide the reliability and robustness required for treating the high-loaded dairy wastewater. Nowadays, more than 20 million m3 of dairy wastewater are treated every year with external MBRs based on Berghof tubular membranes. Some of these installations are anaerobic MBRs in waste – to – energy systems, promoting a more sustainable dairy activity day after day.
Worldwide leading OEMs specialized in the dairy industry have put their confidence in Berghof’s technology. Milk, cheese, butter and other dairy factories are using our technology with great success.
Applications of tubular UF membrane technology in dairy industry
MBR | Wastewater treatment
AnMBR | Wastewater treatment
Direct Filtration | Effluent polishing
Please choose the application that applies to you.
Is your application not listed? Then please contact us.
Project References
Take a look at our case studies
Water softening | New Material Industry
Project Details
Capacity: 200 m3/d
Membrane: 8mm PVDF, CR
Location: Huguan County (China)
AnMBR & MBR | Dairy Industry
Project Details
Membrane: 8mm, PVDF, backwashable
Capacity: 1,900 m3/day
COD load: 9,000 to 18,000 kg/day
Location: Wisconsin
AnMBR | Creamery
Project Details
Membrane: 8mm, PVDF, backwashable
Capacity: 155 m3/day
BOD load: 1,587 kg/day
Location: Menomonie, Wisconsin
Manufactured in Germany
Tubular UF Membrane Modules
To prevent fouling and clogging, Berghof Membranes developed its line of robust tubular UF (ultrafiltration) membrane modules based on inside-out crossflow filtration.
Membrane Skid systems
Berghof Membranes developed B-SMART®, a customizable external membrane filtration system that can be designed with various features and functionalities.
Pilot systems & Lab testing
Bridging the gap between lab-scale testing and manufacturing. Our experts gives you the confidence to apply the technology for your specific wastewater challenges.
B-CARE® Service and Support
The B-CARE® program is an end-to-end comprehensive program developed to support our OEM partners from the piloting/engineering phase to operational system monitoring.
