Final Report Summary - WHETLAC (Transformation of the residual whey permeate from the cheese manufacture: lactic acid production)
Executive summary:
Overall objectives
The general objective of this project was the development of a new production technology for obtaining lactic acid from deproteinised whey at low cost. This is a new environmental friendly production technology based on green chemistry principles.
The whey is the liquid remaining after the separation of milk fat and casein from whole milk. Approximately 85 % of the total milk used for manufacturing cheese is discarded as whey. Most milk plants do not have proper treatment systems for the disposal of whey and the dumping of whey constitutes a significant loss of potential food and energy, as whey retains about 55 % of total milk nutrients. Amongst the most abundant of these nutrients are lactose, soluble proteins, lipids and mineral salts.
The potential market to produce lactic acid at a low cost with higher purity from whey, based on new production technologies will suppose a great increase in the demand and the evolution of new applications.
Project scientific and technical objectives attained
(a) fermentation of whey permeate into lactic acid by means of using immobilised fermentative bacteria in polyvinyl alcohol gel particles;
(b) implementation of near-infrared (NIR) technology to monitor the pre-treatment and fermentation process, from the raw material (permeate whey) to fermentation stream;
(c) supercritical fluid technology application in the purification step;
(d) application of simultaneous extraction and reaction of lactic acid as a novel purification process: final purity of obtained lactic acid above 90 %;
(e) use of heterogeneous catalysis: conversion attained was complete.
Main conclusions
The initial project hypothesis has been confirmed from the technical point of view. It has been possible to obtain pure lactic acid by means of the proposed technologies.
Although this technology could suppose the elimination of process wastes if compared with the traditional approach, the economic balance obtained shows that the final price is still 2.5 times above similar marketable products.
Partners:
(1) Fundación CARTIF (Spain)
(2) Porto Conte Ricerche (Italy)
(3) Natex Prozesstecnologie Gesmbh (Austria)
(4) Hijos de Salvador Rodriguez S.A. (Spain)
(5) Fratelli Pinna Industria Casearia S.p.A. (Italy)
(6) Highland Fine Cheesses (United Kingdom)
(7) Indlacto Mures SRL (Rumania)
(8) Ragactives (Spain)
(9) Biofarmitalia SPA (Italy).
Project context and objectives:
Project context
The whey is the liquid remaining after the separation of milk fat and casein from whole milk. Approximately 85 % of the total milk used for manufacturing cheese and paneer is discarded as whey. Most milk plants do not have proper treatment systems for the disposal of whey and the dumping of whey constitutes a significant loss of potential food and energy, as whey retains about 55 % of total milk nutrients. Amongst the most abundant of these nutrients are lactose, soluble proteins, lipids and mineral salts.
Whey and whey components are used by the food industry in a wide variety of applications on the basis of their excellent nutritional and functional properties.
The dairy industry provides a broad variety of dairy products containing whey and its ingredients such as yoghurts, milk drinks and ice cream. Whey and its components are also appreciated as a value-added ingredient in many other food products including meat and fish products, bakery, confectionery, snack foods and infant formula. Furthermore, whey is used for many applications in feed.
The manufacture of dairy products in the European Union (EU) generated EUR 18 billion of value added in 2003, representing 9.4 % of the total recorded for food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing. The 390 000 people employed in the manufacture of dairy products across the EU in 2003 represented 8.7 % of the workforce in the food, beverages and tobacco sector as a whole.
The cheese making and dairies subsector within the manufacture of dairy products, was the principal activity both in terms of employment (340 800 people across the EU) and value added.
The cheese making subsector is composed of a diverse range of companies from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (having less than 249 employees) to large companies. SMEs make up 99.1 % of the cheese making business population. These companies generate 47.8 % of cheese making turnover and employ 61.3 % of the cheese making workforce.
Nowadays, over 25 % of the whey production in the European Union is utilised for human consumption and forecasts indicate that human applications of whey and whey products may surpass its utilisation as feed in the near future.
Traditionally, whey was a by-product with a negative value from the cheese production but today sophisticated technology for manufacturing highly valuable whey derivatives has upped profitability from cheese production. High value-added whey derivatives are already important food ingredients for industries ranging from infant formula to medical foods.
Although several possibilities of cheese whey utilisation have been explored, an important portion of the world cheese whey production is discarded as effluent, especially when proteins are removed. Dairy industries all over the world generate ample amounts of whey, depending upon the processes employed, products manufactured and housekeeping exercised.
As estimation it can be accepted that there is a great variability in the way in which the different countries use their whey. It can be assumed that only about 70 % of total world cheese-whey production is treated and transformed into various food products. From this quantity, about 45 % is used directly in liquid form, 30 % in the form of powdered cheese whey, 15 % to produce lactose and by-products, and the rest as cheese-whey-protein concentrates.
Therefore, 30 % of total whey is disposed of as waste, and that requires a large amount of capital investment for the treatment and management.
It should be considered that whey economics is characterised by strong price variations during the year depending in how closely the demand for whey matches the supply of whey. When the supply of whey overwhelms the demand for whey, the price drops to very low levels. Since whey handling costs use to be increased with time, then whey becomes a cyclic economic liability. As a consequence of that, the management of whey implies a deep unfavourable situation.
The increased values of whey products have contributed to cheese production economic success but it is not an industry economic windfall. The increased value and revenues it is still covering part of the cost of technical innovation but it is needed to increase revenues over the costs by the production of new high-added value products such as lactic acid and / or its derivate compounds.
The disposal of this waste is a major problem for the dairy industry, which demands simple and economical solutions. To overcome this problem, a better alternative is subjecting deproteinised whey to processes through which value added products can be manufactured, and which may contribute wholly to reduce the disposal costs.
Project objectives
The general objective of the WHETLAC project was the development of a new production technology for obtaining lactic acid from deproteinised whey at low cost. This new environmentally-friendly technology has been based on green chemistry principles.
This target has been reached through the attainment of the following scientific objectives:
(1) Optimisation of the fermentation process of the whey permeate to produce lactic acid: (a) use of polyvinyl alcohol gel particles as immobilisation carrier of the fermentative bacteria;
(b) development of models and design of a bioreactor adapted to this process.
(2) Implementation of NIR technology to monitor the pre-treatment and fermentation process.
(3) Supercritical fluid technology application in the purification step:
(a) application of simultaneous extraction and reaction of lactic acid as a novel purification process;
(b) use of heterogeneous catalysis in tuneable mediums.
Project results:
To achieve results, the work of the WHETLAC project was broken down into 8 work packages (WPs). 6 of these WPs were of technical nature; one was focus on dissemination and exploitation activities, and the final WP was devoted to the management role.
In this section, a brief description of the WP objectives and obtained results is presented. It is expected to give a more comprehensive view about the project.
WP1 - Material characterisation
This WP1 was aimed at gathering the pre-treatment procedures to get a suitable and homogeneous raw material and the analytical proceedings to carry out the required measurements along the fermentation step.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 1.1: Pre-treatment of whey
Defining the pre-treatment methods to adequate the raw whey to the subsequent fermentation step:
(a) a centrifugation procedure to separate the fat from the whey;
(b) an ultrafiltration method to remove the proteins from the whey;
(c) the disinfection conditions to decrease the microbiological content of the whey and to prevent contamination problems in the following fermentation processes.
Task 1.2: Quality control definition and methods
To select required quality control procedures to ensure the proper handle of materials, the next methods to monitorise the processes along the whole project have been defined:
(a) a proper chromatographic method to monitorise in the same run the lactose consumed and the lactic acid produced in the fermentation experiments has been designed;
(b) a spectrophotometric method (Bradford method) has been chosen to achieve the total protein quantification before and after the ultrafiltration process;
(c) application of NIRs to process control (developed in the WP4);
(d) enzymatic methods: quantitative determination of the enantiomers D/L- lactic acid;
(e) a microbiology control has been carry out to demonstrate that the pasteurisation procedure proposed is adequate.
WP2: Fermentation
The objective of the WP2 was to optimise the fermentation process from deproteinised whey to transform lactose in lactic acid. After a sum up of trials an immobilisation method has been developed as well as the characterisation of the main aspects of the biological process.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 2.1: Strain selection
The aim of this task was to select the most highly performing strain to carry out the lactic fermentation process.
Firstly, four lactic acid bacteria were pre-selected among different homolactic bacteria strains from several culture collections based in scientific knowledge: Lactobacillus helveticus and Streptococcus thermophilus was selected by Porto Conte Richerche, and two different strains of Lactobacillus casei (Lc1, Lc2) by CARTIF.
Secondly, the four lactic bacteria strains pre-selected were subjected to different fermentation conditions (pH, temperature, shaking speed, nutrient content, carbon source and growth activators concentration).
Finally, the strain that showed a significant greater yield, as well as the higher conversion rate from lactose to lactic acid was selected: Lactobacillus casei Lc1.
Task 2.2: Free-cell fermentation
The optimum conditions for the process parameters (temperature, initial lactose concentration, pH, shaking, inoculum level) in order to develop a free cells fermentation stage were set.
The operation values that showed a significant greater yield, as well as the higher effect on the conversion rate from lactose to lactic acid were selected: pH range, temperature, stirring and nutrients.
Task 2.3: Immobilised-cell fermentation
A new immobilisation method to entrap the lactic bacteria in lenticular-shape particles of a polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel has been defined. This aim has been achieved through the attainment of the optimisation of two parameters: particle size and inoculum load
Task 2.4: Comparative study of both methods (free and immobilised systems)
According to the improvement achieved applying the immobilised system versus the free-cell one a comparative assessment has been done. Advantages and disadvantages between both treatments have been identified.
Task 2.5: Kinetic characterisation of the fermentation process
The intended purpose of the task was to determine the kinetic parameters of the biological process in order to size the reactor and to define the process cycle time. In fact, the following parameters were characterised:
(a) inhibition by substrate;
(b) inhibition by product;
(c) specific rate of growth;
(d) specific rate of lactic acid production;
(e) specific rate of lactose consumption.
Two different models for the description of the process were considered. The first one defined initial stage, when the biomass presented growth inside the particle. The second one was focus on the evolution of the biomass once it is stabilised within the particle.
Task 2.6: Continuous fermentation system and laboratory bioreactor design
As it was is commented in the description of work, the intended purpose of the task was the design and building up a lab scale bioreactor according to the kinetic characterisation obtained in task 2.5. In order to assist to the design it was defined some models for the selection and sizing of the final bioreactor.
Finally it was selected the CSTR bioreactor for the processing of lactic acid. A bioreactor was finally constructed based in this working principle. Final dimensions were: 260 x 390 x 300 mm with a weight of 20 kg.
WP3: Simultaneous reaction and extraction in supercritical medium
WP3 aimed at the characterisation of parameters affecting isolation of lactic acid from fermented whey using supercritical carbon dioxide as solvent. This WP includes the adaptation of laboratory equipment, a selection of solid catalyst to perform an esterification reaction to improve the solubility of lactic acid in supercritical solvent, study of hydrolysis reaction to produce back the lactic acid from its esters, validation of the intended separation process versus up-to-date technologies and also results integration.
In its execution 6 partners participated: CARTIF, PCR, NATEX, ILM, RAGA, BIOFARMA.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 3.1: Adaptation of laboratory equipment
It was decided that the adaptations and modifications should consider the following possibilities to study the process in the project:
(a) simultaneous reaction and extraction at high pressure;
(b) reaction under standard conditions and extraction with supercritical medium;
(c) reverse reaction or hydrolysis for the recovery.
Two different pilot plant lay out were defined and prepared to perform the research.
Task 3.2: Solid catalyst selection (kinetic characterisation of reaction)
In this task, it was considered different factors that could affect the process. These factors were:
(a) catalyst type;
(b) types of alcohol to use in the process;
(c) raw material preparation;
(e) Reaction / extraction conditions.
It was studied the performance of different types of catalyst: organic and inorganic. Figure 3 shows some details of the catalyst used.
Finally, an organic catalyst was successfully selected for its use in the process.
Task 3.3: Non aqueous hydrolysis performance
Part of the process required a hydrolysis reaction stage. Here, the efficacy of the hydrolysis reaction has been studied using different working conditions. The influence of the catalyst and other parameters was observed.
Finally it was obtained a 100% yield in the reaction for this stage.
Task 3.4: Process validation versus the up-to date technologies
Experimental works in this task were focus on the performance of reactive distillation under normal conditions. The figure 4 shows obtained results using normal conditions and different catalyst: Complete lactic acid conversion was not achieved this time regardless the conditions for reactive distillation.
It was also compared the WHETLAC process with up to date technologies of the sector. From the point of view of the technology the main aspect related with the production of lactic acid is the purification stage. The selected technologies to compare with were: reactive distillation, reactive extraction, electrodialysis, adsorption on exchange resins and membrane based processes.
Task 3.5: Result integration and scale-up
As a consequence of the development of this task it could be concluded:
(a) the effect of the initial concentration of lactic acid in the efficiency of the project;
(b) which factors are affecting the solubility of lactate in the supercritical phase;
(c) factors influencing the conversion rate;
(d) number of minimal stages for process;
(e) the reaction conditions depending on pressure and temperature. Effect of alcohol type.
The concluding remarks of this WP could be that the obtained process is coherent and there is a chance for the industrial use.
WP4 - APPLICATION OF INFRARED (NIR) SPECTROSCOPY TO PROCESS CONTROL
The objective of this WP was to develop NIR methods to analyse different parameters to control the fermentation process. The methodology to apply is based in the following points: development of a calibration of based on samples of known composition, development of calibration model based on obtained data, validation of the model against new samples of known composition and finally to apply the use.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 4.1 Spectroscopic analysis of the calibration samples.
The calibration set have been formed with 94 samples of whey permeate. Samples have been collected at different moments along the fermentation process in order to obtain samples with different values of the calibration parameters, lactose and lactic acid.
Task 4.2 Development of the calibration model
The correlation coefficients of calibration for all measured quantities were quite high. That means mean that the calibration models work well and the predicted values for the calibration samples match to the value obtained by the reference method.
The regression method selected was used to obtain calibration models for lactose and lactic acid. Applicability of the method was assessed by cross validation.
Task 4.3 Validation of the development methods
Several calibration models have been developed and the best ones have been selected based on the correlation coefficient (R2) and on the root mean standard error (RMSECV) obtained in cross validation.
Models have showed R2 higher than 0,94 and low errors of prediction. The best results have been obtained with a fiber optic probe, concretely, in the model to lactose. An external validation was performed in order to evaluate the prediction capacity of the developed models. Nevertheless, calibration models could be improved by means of the addition of new samples in the calibration set, fundamentally for property values scarcely represented.
Significant results
According to the obtained results it can be followed that NIR spectroscopy is very useful for the control of lactose and lactic acid evolution during the fermentation process. This is a non destructive method in which no sample preparation is necessary.
WP5 - Scale up and process demonstration
The aim of the work was to select the most suitable process on behalf of available experimental data elaborated in WP3 and design/adapt suitable equipment to produce lactic acid at larger scale. Furthermore, a production plant was designed for industrial application. General flow scheme and mass balances for material inputs and also energy balances were elaborated.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 5.1 Definition of process units and Task 5.2 Adaptation and starting up of equipment
Two supercritical extraction pilot plants were used in this WP: The supercritical plant of Porto Conte and NATEX extraction unit. The figure 5 shows a general view of these facilities:
Concept-based adaptations were necessary to fulfill all requirements of the project work.
Task 5.3 Plants operation and production series of lactic acid according the selected grade
In this task it was performed several trials using synthetic mixtures and real fermented whey samples. According to the acquired experience, it was necessary to concentrate enough quantity of fermented whey previously to make the process work properly.
Significant results
Anyhow, by means of the execution of the tasks of this WP it was possible to gather relevant information for the Project. In brief it can be highlighted the more relevant information obtained:
- The production capacity of the plant: The production capacity of the plant should be oriented on the production price of the kg of lactic acid and the ester. The current prices on the market are dependent on lactic acid content and purity. So, the production rate of the plant requires to be adjusted to achieve marketable prices.
- Operating mode: The plant should work in a continuous operating mode. The depressurisation of reactor chamber should take place only in the case of changing/renewing of the catalyst.
- Life-time and price of the catalyst: The price for the catalyst on an industrial scale was set to 10 euro / kg but it is clear that the life-time of the catalyst could affect the whole economy of the process.
- Recovery of the ethanol: Alcohol type plays an important role in the process, as an esterification agent of the lactic acid. Its inclusion into the process is a strategic aspect of the process.
- Mass balance: A complete mass balance of the pilot plant was obtained for scaling-up. The numbers of the streams were also defined.
WP6 - FINAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT AND COST STIMATION
General objective of this part of this document is to present an overview of the process scale-up and feasibility study of the proposed industrial scale plant for simultaneous reaction/extraction of lactic acid from concentrated fermented whey.
Task 6.1 Process cost estimation
Basic data were collected for their use in process cost estimation. With these basic data a scale-up and flow-sheet for a lactic acid extraction plant was evaluated. The following aspects were evaluated (among others):
(a) feed tank for fermentation broth;
(b) reactor;
(c) CO2 cycle;
(d) mass balances.
Production costs regarding produced lactic acid and lactic esters obtained are 11,18 /kg lactic acid. The production price for one kg of lactic acid obtained is quite higher compared to the wished production costs and compared to the prices of lactic acid, which are available on the market at the moment.
The effect on the production capacity was also evaluated.
Significant results
The economic calculations carried out based on the data obtained for the developed WHETLAC process, could be concluded in the following points:
(a) the total investment costs for such a plant was estimated;
(b) the total production capacity of such plant would be between 112 and 157 tons of lactic acid per year;
(c) production hours 4800h/year;
(d) the processing price depending on plant capacity was also determined;
(e) the production price for 1kg of lactic acid depending on capacity was also evaluated.
WP7 - EXPLOITATION AND DISSEMINATION
The main objective of this WP is to achieve a general and concise understanding of the market related with the lactic acid. It will be identified also new possible uses of lactic acid and their esters that could be of some interest for the exploitation of results.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 7.1 Study of socioeconomic aspects, user needs and potential market
It has been analysed the Lactic acid market. The more significant results related with this task can be summarised in the following points:
(a) An estimation of the marketable prices for each of the final products has been obtained.
(b) Target groups potentially interested in the technology / products developed in the project are defined. These target groups come mainly form industrial sectors at regional, national and European level.
(c) Socio-economic aspects of the market has been studied and the provisional market defined: mainly food and feed industry (but not only).
(d) One important result is that the lactic acid sector is highly dominated by few companies which are bulk producer of this commodity. A possible chance to reinforce the process could be the selling of the know-how of the whole process or its single part.
Task 7.2: Exploitation plan
The possible commercialisation and use of the results is understood as the following possibilities:
(a) patent and licensing the process for another uses;
(b) partnering: to sell the "know how" to a third stakeholder related with production of lactic acid and/or to establish possible alliances of collaboration.
At this moment, it can be stated that, the exploitation is foreseen jointly by the SMEs, through transfer/licensing part of the new technological process to third parties. The main objective for this approach is to study possible further developments to make finally profitable the results.
The proposed action plan would be:
- Phase 1: Definition of the final agreement by the SME concerning the partnering approach. To gather written objections and permissions among involved parts.
- Phase 2: Contact with possible partners (Enterprised related with the production of lactic acid at large scale). Negotiation and deal making. Seek for financial and possible investors.
- Phase 3: Plan execution.
Task 7.3: Dissemination of the results
The main objective of this task was to successfully achieve the different dissemination actions. Briefly, the technical work during the project includes the elaboration website brochures, newsletters and scientific paper reporting.
A project website was designed and implemented. The page can be visited at: http://www.WHETLAC.cartif.com.es/
Apart from that the project has been promoted in local press as well as in specialised papers and reviews. It will highlighted the publication of a tree pages doc in International Innovation published by Research Media, with an expected impact on 39,000 stakeholders.
Potential Impact:
The general view of global competitive market (milk and their products included whey) is becoming shaped by an increasing number of multinational companies that have their origins in countries that are not among the most advanced from a technological point of view or from a brand country reputation.
These companies use different strategies (ranging from setting strategic alliances to subsidiary rights acquisitions) to operate at international level. Some of these multinationals are small sized, while others are large and even diversified into several product lines and even different industries types. Despite the fact that they do not possess advanced technologies in their field, they have expanded at world scale by means of innovative business formulas.
The new multinationals are a heterogeneous set and, as a result of this, in this heterogeneity lays their international success. The growing preference of the consumers for the diversity, concerning to product differentiation and brand availability, allows the presence of several competitors in the market, even those with weak technological and marketing capabilities.
Globalisation has favoured this process as well as the occurrence of narrow niche markets in very different countries. In this scenario of global segmentation it can be highlighted two key aspects which determine the strategies of these new multinationals:
- First: some of these have adopted the strategy of operate in specific markets segments, while others have adopted a general approach.
- Second: Some enterprises had adopted a multi-local approach, adapting the strategy to the features of every country; On the other hand, another group had used the same strategy in all the countries where they were expanding.
Regardless of the previous comments, according to some market surveys, the major players in the whey and lactose ingredient industry are the leading dairy and cheese companies in the world such as Lactalis, Friesland, Campina, Fonterra, Arla Foods, Glanbia, Murray Goulburn and Hilmar.
Specialist whey and lactose ingredient companies such as Meggle, Euroserum, Milei and Davisco also play a significant role, particularly in various specialty products. It is also interesting to mention that Nestlé and Danone (two of the largest dairy companies) are not actual producers but users of whey and lactose ingredients.
Any case, EU-27 and the US are the major markets and producers for whey products. At the same time, Asia is rapidly increasing its lactose market. It seems that Asian region (China included) will present the highest growth both in absolute and relative terms in the near term.
It can be highlighted some clear product trends. For whey, the high-end protein products are growing fast. Value for whey powder and other low-end products are stagnating or even dropping. Lactose derivative galactooligosaccharides and pharmaceutical lactose is showing some kind of growth.
The global market for lactic acid has been not very affected by global crisis of previous years, even it is showing consistent growth with a projection for some years. It seems that the volume growth is achieved by:
(a) rise in demand from existing end-use markets; and
(b) emergence of new product applications and sectors (such as bioplastics).
As in the case of whey, Asia has become nearly equivalent to Western Europe as a consumer of lactic acid products. All three major regions-the United States, Western Europe and Asia (driven mainly by China) could show a good growth in the next few years.
Growth in demand for lactic acid, its salts and esters in industrial applications will be driven mainly by lactic acid-based biodegradable polymers and, to a lesser degree, lactate solvents. In this sense, the WHETLAC process is capable of produce high purity grade lactic acid based solvents.
The main obstacles to large-scale use of biodegradable lactic acid-based polymers in packaging applications is the cost. Also, there is controversy about the true amount of energy (often in the form of fossil fuels) consumed to produce PLA from raw materials such as corn. Proposed process here could help to shift this situation to a greener solution.
Regarding prince, large-scale production could help to make that decline; however, lactic acid-based biodegradable polymers are expected to remain more expensive than commodity polymers in the near future. It is still not clear if further improvements in the WHETLAC process could override this situation.
Regarding the set of products derived from lactic acid and the different possible applications, the WHETLAC process would allow the possibility of producing several different types with small changes in the process configuration.
The WHETLAC project has increased transnational technological cooperation amongst SMEs and between SMEs and technological research centres. The following aspects were somehow considered within the project:
There are many affected SMEs: The European sector of cheese is fragmented with a high quantity of SMEs providing products that vary greatly from place to place, even when taking into account the consumer habits of each country. It was found during the project that the developed technology is capable of be used in most of the whey types produced.
The cheese product sector is firmly-established in all European countries, which provides the project with a broad potential for dissemination and social and economic impact. In fact the dissemination has been executed not only in the participating countries but also at a world scale.
Give European cheese SMEs access to specialist developers in the different fields of activity, which would not be otherwise possible. This is due to the fact that these enterprises are isolated in rural communities remote from these centres or even in the case of their rare closeness, the cheese SMEs limited by their lack of human and financial resources. In this sense, the access to the technology could be compromised due to facilities costs. The setting of strategic alliances among stakeholders could overcome this situation.
The RTD Performers contributed with their pilot plants. This has been very important for the SMEs because it allowed an intermediate validation before the industrialisation phase. The efficiency in the use of those specialised research facilities has been increased this way.
The technology was test under different situations, by testing the whey produced from different types of cheese from different european regions. This has ensured checking of the new process under whey with different quality characteristics, and determining of possible effects on the acid lactic production.
WHETLAC developed a new use for whey from the dairy enterprises. Although the production costs for the by-product commercialisation is still higher. It is still possible to increase returns to the cheese manufacturers by means of technology transfer to third parties, or even to develop further the technology to finally adapt the results.
One distinctive aspect of the whey and its derivate market is that related sector companies are forging strategic alliances in order to overcome technology obstacles and barriers to gain market access. Examples of the high grade of interrelation of these companies have been observed during the execution of WHETLAC project. Among them it will highlighted an interesting alliance that has appeared: DMK. DMK (future merger of NORDMILCH and Humana) and Arla Foods will establish a 50/50 pct. joint venture to start a whey processing partnership for the global food manufacturing industry. The name of the new joint venture will be ArNoCo GmbH & Co. KG, and the two partners will invest a total of 44 million Euros, of which 35 million Euro will be used to build a whey processing plant at DMK's cheese plant at Nordhackstedt in Northern Germany (and nine million Euro will be spent at Arla Foods' plant Danmark Protein in Nr. Vium, Denmark).
So in brief, the recent evolution of the market is characterised by the appearance of merging and alliances constitutions. This situation is quite similar to other food products sectors. In this sense, a reliable opportunity could be obtained by means of setting up the same concept extended to the WHETLACT process. Share of knowledge and risks for further development could be a chance to implant at a high scale the process.
According to the Project evolution and results obtained, SMEs had been concluded the following ideas which in turn have defined the final business concept.
During cheese manufacturing the production of by-products is inevitable (as it happens in most food productions). Traditionally such products have been considered as waste and dumped as sewage. With more attention in recent years to environmental issues, such sewage may even be an expense for industry.
However, quite often developments in processing technology and market demands make it economically attractive to process and market such by-products as ingredients. Efforts aimed to reuse the by-products are not only related with the process but also the application and marketing of these products require skills different from those normally found within the traditional dairy business.
The challenge is to get access to the right information in order to be able to judge the alternatives to disposal of the by-products. And this vision can be applied for the present WHETLAC project but also as a general approach for dairy SME strategies.
List of websites: http://www.WHETLAC.cartif.com.es/
Overall objectives
The general objective of this project was the development of a new production technology for obtaining lactic acid from deproteinised whey at low cost. This is a new environmental friendly production technology based on green chemistry principles.
The whey is the liquid remaining after the separation of milk fat and casein from whole milk. Approximately 85 % of the total milk used for manufacturing cheese is discarded as whey. Most milk plants do not have proper treatment systems for the disposal of whey and the dumping of whey constitutes a significant loss of potential food and energy, as whey retains about 55 % of total milk nutrients. Amongst the most abundant of these nutrients are lactose, soluble proteins, lipids and mineral salts.
The potential market to produce lactic acid at a low cost with higher purity from whey, based on new production technologies will suppose a great increase in the demand and the evolution of new applications.
Project scientific and technical objectives attained
(a) fermentation of whey permeate into lactic acid by means of using immobilised fermentative bacteria in polyvinyl alcohol gel particles;
(b) implementation of near-infrared (NIR) technology to monitor the pre-treatment and fermentation process, from the raw material (permeate whey) to fermentation stream;
(c) supercritical fluid technology application in the purification step;
(d) application of simultaneous extraction and reaction of lactic acid as a novel purification process: final purity of obtained lactic acid above 90 %;
(e) use of heterogeneous catalysis: conversion attained was complete.
Main conclusions
The initial project hypothesis has been confirmed from the technical point of view. It has been possible to obtain pure lactic acid by means of the proposed technologies.
Although this technology could suppose the elimination of process wastes if compared with the traditional approach, the economic balance obtained shows that the final price is still 2.5 times above similar marketable products.
Partners:
(1) Fundación CARTIF (Spain)
(2) Porto Conte Ricerche (Italy)
(3) Natex Prozesstecnologie Gesmbh (Austria)
(4) Hijos de Salvador Rodriguez S.A. (Spain)
(5) Fratelli Pinna Industria Casearia S.p.A. (Italy)
(6) Highland Fine Cheesses (United Kingdom)
(7) Indlacto Mures SRL (Rumania)
(8) Ragactives (Spain)
(9) Biofarmitalia SPA (Italy).
Project context and objectives:
Project context
The whey is the liquid remaining after the separation of milk fat and casein from whole milk. Approximately 85 % of the total milk used for manufacturing cheese and paneer is discarded as whey. Most milk plants do not have proper treatment systems for the disposal of whey and the dumping of whey constitutes a significant loss of potential food and energy, as whey retains about 55 % of total milk nutrients. Amongst the most abundant of these nutrients are lactose, soluble proteins, lipids and mineral salts.
Whey and whey components are used by the food industry in a wide variety of applications on the basis of their excellent nutritional and functional properties.
The dairy industry provides a broad variety of dairy products containing whey and its ingredients such as yoghurts, milk drinks and ice cream. Whey and its components are also appreciated as a value-added ingredient in many other food products including meat and fish products, bakery, confectionery, snack foods and infant formula. Furthermore, whey is used for many applications in feed.
The manufacture of dairy products in the European Union (EU) generated EUR 18 billion of value added in 2003, representing 9.4 % of the total recorded for food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing. The 390 000 people employed in the manufacture of dairy products across the EU in 2003 represented 8.7 % of the workforce in the food, beverages and tobacco sector as a whole.
The cheese making and dairies subsector within the manufacture of dairy products, was the principal activity both in terms of employment (340 800 people across the EU) and value added.
The cheese making subsector is composed of a diverse range of companies from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (having less than 249 employees) to large companies. SMEs make up 99.1 % of the cheese making business population. These companies generate 47.8 % of cheese making turnover and employ 61.3 % of the cheese making workforce.
Nowadays, over 25 % of the whey production in the European Union is utilised for human consumption and forecasts indicate that human applications of whey and whey products may surpass its utilisation as feed in the near future.
Traditionally, whey was a by-product with a negative value from the cheese production but today sophisticated technology for manufacturing highly valuable whey derivatives has upped profitability from cheese production. High value-added whey derivatives are already important food ingredients for industries ranging from infant formula to medical foods.
Although several possibilities of cheese whey utilisation have been explored, an important portion of the world cheese whey production is discarded as effluent, especially when proteins are removed. Dairy industries all over the world generate ample amounts of whey, depending upon the processes employed, products manufactured and housekeeping exercised.
As estimation it can be accepted that there is a great variability in the way in which the different countries use their whey. It can be assumed that only about 70 % of total world cheese-whey production is treated and transformed into various food products. From this quantity, about 45 % is used directly in liquid form, 30 % in the form of powdered cheese whey, 15 % to produce lactose and by-products, and the rest as cheese-whey-protein concentrates.
Therefore, 30 % of total whey is disposed of as waste, and that requires a large amount of capital investment for the treatment and management.
It should be considered that whey economics is characterised by strong price variations during the year depending in how closely the demand for whey matches the supply of whey. When the supply of whey overwhelms the demand for whey, the price drops to very low levels. Since whey handling costs use to be increased with time, then whey becomes a cyclic economic liability. As a consequence of that, the management of whey implies a deep unfavourable situation.
The increased values of whey products have contributed to cheese production economic success but it is not an industry economic windfall. The increased value and revenues it is still covering part of the cost of technical innovation but it is needed to increase revenues over the costs by the production of new high-added value products such as lactic acid and / or its derivate compounds.
The disposal of this waste is a major problem for the dairy industry, which demands simple and economical solutions. To overcome this problem, a better alternative is subjecting deproteinised whey to processes through which value added products can be manufactured, and which may contribute wholly to reduce the disposal costs.
Project objectives
The general objective of the WHETLAC project was the development of a new production technology for obtaining lactic acid from deproteinised whey at low cost. This new environmentally-friendly technology has been based on green chemistry principles.
This target has been reached through the attainment of the following scientific objectives:
(1) Optimisation of the fermentation process of the whey permeate to produce lactic acid: (a) use of polyvinyl alcohol gel particles as immobilisation carrier of the fermentative bacteria;
(b) development of models and design of a bioreactor adapted to this process.
(2) Implementation of NIR technology to monitor the pre-treatment and fermentation process.
(3) Supercritical fluid technology application in the purification step:
(a) application of simultaneous extraction and reaction of lactic acid as a novel purification process;
(b) use of heterogeneous catalysis in tuneable mediums.
Project results:
To achieve results, the work of the WHETLAC project was broken down into 8 work packages (WPs). 6 of these WPs were of technical nature; one was focus on dissemination and exploitation activities, and the final WP was devoted to the management role.
In this section, a brief description of the WP objectives and obtained results is presented. It is expected to give a more comprehensive view about the project.
WP1 - Material characterisation
This WP1 was aimed at gathering the pre-treatment procedures to get a suitable and homogeneous raw material and the analytical proceedings to carry out the required measurements along the fermentation step.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 1.1: Pre-treatment of whey
Defining the pre-treatment methods to adequate the raw whey to the subsequent fermentation step:
(a) a centrifugation procedure to separate the fat from the whey;
(b) an ultrafiltration method to remove the proteins from the whey;
(c) the disinfection conditions to decrease the microbiological content of the whey and to prevent contamination problems in the following fermentation processes.
Task 1.2: Quality control definition and methods
To select required quality control procedures to ensure the proper handle of materials, the next methods to monitorise the processes along the whole project have been defined:
(a) a proper chromatographic method to monitorise in the same run the lactose consumed and the lactic acid produced in the fermentation experiments has been designed;
(b) a spectrophotometric method (Bradford method) has been chosen to achieve the total protein quantification before and after the ultrafiltration process;
(c) application of NIRs to process control (developed in the WP4);
(d) enzymatic methods: quantitative determination of the enantiomers D/L- lactic acid;
(e) a microbiology control has been carry out to demonstrate that the pasteurisation procedure proposed is adequate.
WP2: Fermentation
The objective of the WP2 was to optimise the fermentation process from deproteinised whey to transform lactose in lactic acid. After a sum up of trials an immobilisation method has been developed as well as the characterisation of the main aspects of the biological process.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 2.1: Strain selection
The aim of this task was to select the most highly performing strain to carry out the lactic fermentation process.
Firstly, four lactic acid bacteria were pre-selected among different homolactic bacteria strains from several culture collections based in scientific knowledge: Lactobacillus helveticus and Streptococcus thermophilus was selected by Porto Conte Richerche, and two different strains of Lactobacillus casei (Lc1, Lc2) by CARTIF.
Secondly, the four lactic bacteria strains pre-selected were subjected to different fermentation conditions (pH, temperature, shaking speed, nutrient content, carbon source and growth activators concentration).
Finally, the strain that showed a significant greater yield, as well as the higher conversion rate from lactose to lactic acid was selected: Lactobacillus casei Lc1.
Task 2.2: Free-cell fermentation
The optimum conditions for the process parameters (temperature, initial lactose concentration, pH, shaking, inoculum level) in order to develop a free cells fermentation stage were set.
The operation values that showed a significant greater yield, as well as the higher effect on the conversion rate from lactose to lactic acid were selected: pH range, temperature, stirring and nutrients.
Task 2.3: Immobilised-cell fermentation
A new immobilisation method to entrap the lactic bacteria in lenticular-shape particles of a polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel has been defined. This aim has been achieved through the attainment of the optimisation of two parameters: particle size and inoculum load
Task 2.4: Comparative study of both methods (free and immobilised systems)
According to the improvement achieved applying the immobilised system versus the free-cell one a comparative assessment has been done. Advantages and disadvantages between both treatments have been identified.
Task 2.5: Kinetic characterisation of the fermentation process
The intended purpose of the task was to determine the kinetic parameters of the biological process in order to size the reactor and to define the process cycle time. In fact, the following parameters were characterised:
(a) inhibition by substrate;
(b) inhibition by product;
(c) specific rate of growth;
(d) specific rate of lactic acid production;
(e) specific rate of lactose consumption.
Two different models for the description of the process were considered. The first one defined initial stage, when the biomass presented growth inside the particle. The second one was focus on the evolution of the biomass once it is stabilised within the particle.
Task 2.6: Continuous fermentation system and laboratory bioreactor design
As it was is commented in the description of work, the intended purpose of the task was the design and building up a lab scale bioreactor according to the kinetic characterisation obtained in task 2.5. In order to assist to the design it was defined some models for the selection and sizing of the final bioreactor.
Finally it was selected the CSTR bioreactor for the processing of lactic acid. A bioreactor was finally constructed based in this working principle. Final dimensions were: 260 x 390 x 300 mm with a weight of 20 kg.
WP3: Simultaneous reaction and extraction in supercritical medium
WP3 aimed at the characterisation of parameters affecting isolation of lactic acid from fermented whey using supercritical carbon dioxide as solvent. This WP includes the adaptation of laboratory equipment, a selection of solid catalyst to perform an esterification reaction to improve the solubility of lactic acid in supercritical solvent, study of hydrolysis reaction to produce back the lactic acid from its esters, validation of the intended separation process versus up-to-date technologies and also results integration.
In its execution 6 partners participated: CARTIF, PCR, NATEX, ILM, RAGA, BIOFARMA.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 3.1: Adaptation of laboratory equipment
It was decided that the adaptations and modifications should consider the following possibilities to study the process in the project:
(a) simultaneous reaction and extraction at high pressure;
(b) reaction under standard conditions and extraction with supercritical medium;
(c) reverse reaction or hydrolysis for the recovery.
Two different pilot plant lay out were defined and prepared to perform the research.
Task 3.2: Solid catalyst selection (kinetic characterisation of reaction)
In this task, it was considered different factors that could affect the process. These factors were:
(a) catalyst type;
(b) types of alcohol to use in the process;
(c) raw material preparation;
(e) Reaction / extraction conditions.
It was studied the performance of different types of catalyst: organic and inorganic. Figure 3 shows some details of the catalyst used.
Finally, an organic catalyst was successfully selected for its use in the process.
Task 3.3: Non aqueous hydrolysis performance
Part of the process required a hydrolysis reaction stage. Here, the efficacy of the hydrolysis reaction has been studied using different working conditions. The influence of the catalyst and other parameters was observed.
Finally it was obtained a 100% yield in the reaction for this stage.
Task 3.4: Process validation versus the up-to date technologies
Experimental works in this task were focus on the performance of reactive distillation under normal conditions. The figure 4 shows obtained results using normal conditions and different catalyst: Complete lactic acid conversion was not achieved this time regardless the conditions for reactive distillation.
It was also compared the WHETLAC process with up to date technologies of the sector. From the point of view of the technology the main aspect related with the production of lactic acid is the purification stage. The selected technologies to compare with were: reactive distillation, reactive extraction, electrodialysis, adsorption on exchange resins and membrane based processes.
Task 3.5: Result integration and scale-up
As a consequence of the development of this task it could be concluded:
(a) the effect of the initial concentration of lactic acid in the efficiency of the project;
(b) which factors are affecting the solubility of lactate in the supercritical phase;
(c) factors influencing the conversion rate;
(d) number of minimal stages for process;
(e) the reaction conditions depending on pressure and temperature. Effect of alcohol type.
The concluding remarks of this WP could be that the obtained process is coherent and there is a chance for the industrial use.
WP4 - APPLICATION OF INFRARED (NIR) SPECTROSCOPY TO PROCESS CONTROL
The objective of this WP was to develop NIR methods to analyse different parameters to control the fermentation process. The methodology to apply is based in the following points: development of a calibration of based on samples of known composition, development of calibration model based on obtained data, validation of the model against new samples of known composition and finally to apply the use.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 4.1 Spectroscopic analysis of the calibration samples.
The calibration set have been formed with 94 samples of whey permeate. Samples have been collected at different moments along the fermentation process in order to obtain samples with different values of the calibration parameters, lactose and lactic acid.
Task 4.2 Development of the calibration model
The correlation coefficients of calibration for all measured quantities were quite high. That means mean that the calibration models work well and the predicted values for the calibration samples match to the value obtained by the reference method.
The regression method selected was used to obtain calibration models for lactose and lactic acid. Applicability of the method was assessed by cross validation.
Task 4.3 Validation of the development methods
Several calibration models have been developed and the best ones have been selected based on the correlation coefficient (R2) and on the root mean standard error (RMSECV) obtained in cross validation.
Models have showed R2 higher than 0,94 and low errors of prediction. The best results have been obtained with a fiber optic probe, concretely, in the model to lactose. An external validation was performed in order to evaluate the prediction capacity of the developed models. Nevertheless, calibration models could be improved by means of the addition of new samples in the calibration set, fundamentally for property values scarcely represented.
Significant results
According to the obtained results it can be followed that NIR spectroscopy is very useful for the control of lactose and lactic acid evolution during the fermentation process. This is a non destructive method in which no sample preparation is necessary.
WP5 - Scale up and process demonstration
The aim of the work was to select the most suitable process on behalf of available experimental data elaborated in WP3 and design/adapt suitable equipment to produce lactic acid at larger scale. Furthermore, a production plant was designed for industrial application. General flow scheme and mass balances for material inputs and also energy balances were elaborated.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 5.1 Definition of process units and Task 5.2 Adaptation and starting up of equipment
Two supercritical extraction pilot plants were used in this WP: The supercritical plant of Porto Conte and NATEX extraction unit. The figure 5 shows a general view of these facilities:
Concept-based adaptations were necessary to fulfill all requirements of the project work.
Task 5.3 Plants operation and production series of lactic acid according the selected grade
In this task it was performed several trials using synthetic mixtures and real fermented whey samples. According to the acquired experience, it was necessary to concentrate enough quantity of fermented whey previously to make the process work properly.
Significant results
Anyhow, by means of the execution of the tasks of this WP it was possible to gather relevant information for the Project. In brief it can be highlighted the more relevant information obtained:
- The production capacity of the plant: The production capacity of the plant should be oriented on the production price of the kg of lactic acid and the ester. The current prices on the market are dependent on lactic acid content and purity. So, the production rate of the plant requires to be adjusted to achieve marketable prices.
- Operating mode: The plant should work in a continuous operating mode. The depressurisation of reactor chamber should take place only in the case of changing/renewing of the catalyst.
- Life-time and price of the catalyst: The price for the catalyst on an industrial scale was set to 10 euro / kg but it is clear that the life-time of the catalyst could affect the whole economy of the process.
- Recovery of the ethanol: Alcohol type plays an important role in the process, as an esterification agent of the lactic acid. Its inclusion into the process is a strategic aspect of the process.
- Mass balance: A complete mass balance of the pilot plant was obtained for scaling-up. The numbers of the streams were also defined.
WP6 - FINAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT AND COST STIMATION
General objective of this part of this document is to present an overview of the process scale-up and feasibility study of the proposed industrial scale plant for simultaneous reaction/extraction of lactic acid from concentrated fermented whey.
Task 6.1 Process cost estimation
Basic data were collected for their use in process cost estimation. With these basic data a scale-up and flow-sheet for a lactic acid extraction plant was evaluated. The following aspects were evaluated (among others):
(a) feed tank for fermentation broth;
(b) reactor;
(c) CO2 cycle;
(d) mass balances.
Production costs regarding produced lactic acid and lactic esters obtained are 11,18 /kg lactic acid. The production price for one kg of lactic acid obtained is quite higher compared to the wished production costs and compared to the prices of lactic acid, which are available on the market at the moment.
The effect on the production capacity was also evaluated.
Significant results
The economic calculations carried out based on the data obtained for the developed WHETLAC process, could be concluded in the following points:
(a) the total investment costs for such a plant was estimated;
(b) the total production capacity of such plant would be between 112 and 157 tons of lactic acid per year;
(c) production hours 4800h/year;
(d) the processing price depending on plant capacity was also determined;
(e) the production price for 1kg of lactic acid depending on capacity was also evaluated.
WP7 - EXPLOITATION AND DISSEMINATION
The main objective of this WP is to achieve a general and concise understanding of the market related with the lactic acid. It will be identified also new possible uses of lactic acid and their esters that could be of some interest for the exploitation of results.
Summary of progress towards the objectives
Task 7.1 Study of socioeconomic aspects, user needs and potential market
It has been analysed the Lactic acid market. The more significant results related with this task can be summarised in the following points:
(a) An estimation of the marketable prices for each of the final products has been obtained.
(b) Target groups potentially interested in the technology / products developed in the project are defined. These target groups come mainly form industrial sectors at regional, national and European level.
(c) Socio-economic aspects of the market has been studied and the provisional market defined: mainly food and feed industry (but not only).
(d) One important result is that the lactic acid sector is highly dominated by few companies which are bulk producer of this commodity. A possible chance to reinforce the process could be the selling of the know-how of the whole process or its single part.
Task 7.2: Exploitation plan
The possible commercialisation and use of the results is understood as the following possibilities:
(a) patent and licensing the process for another uses;
(b) partnering: to sell the "know how" to a third stakeholder related with production of lactic acid and/or to establish possible alliances of collaboration.
At this moment, it can be stated that, the exploitation is foreseen jointly by the SMEs, through transfer/licensing part of the new technological process to third parties. The main objective for this approach is to study possible further developments to make finally profitable the results.
The proposed action plan would be:
- Phase 1: Definition of the final agreement by the SME concerning the partnering approach. To gather written objections and permissions among involved parts.
- Phase 2: Contact with possible partners (Enterprised related with the production of lactic acid at large scale). Negotiation and deal making. Seek for financial and possible investors.
- Phase 3: Plan execution.
Task 7.3: Dissemination of the results
The main objective of this task was to successfully achieve the different dissemination actions. Briefly, the technical work during the project includes the elaboration website brochures, newsletters and scientific paper reporting.
A project website was designed and implemented. The page can be visited at: http://www.WHETLAC.cartif.com.es/
Apart from that the project has been promoted in local press as well as in specialised papers and reviews. It will highlighted the publication of a tree pages doc in International Innovation published by Research Media, with an expected impact on 39,000 stakeholders.
Potential Impact:
The general view of global competitive market (milk and their products included whey) is becoming shaped by an increasing number of multinational companies that have their origins in countries that are not among the most advanced from a technological point of view or from a brand country reputation.
These companies use different strategies (ranging from setting strategic alliances to subsidiary rights acquisitions) to operate at international level. Some of these multinationals are small sized, while others are large and even diversified into several product lines and even different industries types. Despite the fact that they do not possess advanced technologies in their field, they have expanded at world scale by means of innovative business formulas.
The new multinationals are a heterogeneous set and, as a result of this, in this heterogeneity lays their international success. The growing preference of the consumers for the diversity, concerning to product differentiation and brand availability, allows the presence of several competitors in the market, even those with weak technological and marketing capabilities.
Globalisation has favoured this process as well as the occurrence of narrow niche markets in very different countries. In this scenario of global segmentation it can be highlighted two key aspects which determine the strategies of these new multinationals:
- First: some of these have adopted the strategy of operate in specific markets segments, while others have adopted a general approach.
- Second: Some enterprises had adopted a multi-local approach, adapting the strategy to the features of every country; On the other hand, another group had used the same strategy in all the countries where they were expanding.
Regardless of the previous comments, according to some market surveys, the major players in the whey and lactose ingredient industry are the leading dairy and cheese companies in the world such as Lactalis, Friesland, Campina, Fonterra, Arla Foods, Glanbia, Murray Goulburn and Hilmar.
Specialist whey and lactose ingredient companies such as Meggle, Euroserum, Milei and Davisco also play a significant role, particularly in various specialty products. It is also interesting to mention that Nestlé and Danone (two of the largest dairy companies) are not actual producers but users of whey and lactose ingredients.
Any case, EU-27 and the US are the major markets and producers for whey products. At the same time, Asia is rapidly increasing its lactose market. It seems that Asian region (China included) will present the highest growth both in absolute and relative terms in the near term.
It can be highlighted some clear product trends. For whey, the high-end protein products are growing fast. Value for whey powder and other low-end products are stagnating or even dropping. Lactose derivative galactooligosaccharides and pharmaceutical lactose is showing some kind of growth.
The global market for lactic acid has been not very affected by global crisis of previous years, even it is showing consistent growth with a projection for some years. It seems that the volume growth is achieved by:
(a) rise in demand from existing end-use markets; and
(b) emergence of new product applications and sectors (such as bioplastics).
As in the case of whey, Asia has become nearly equivalent to Western Europe as a consumer of lactic acid products. All three major regions-the United States, Western Europe and Asia (driven mainly by China) could show a good growth in the next few years.
Growth in demand for lactic acid, its salts and esters in industrial applications will be driven mainly by lactic acid-based biodegradable polymers and, to a lesser degree, lactate solvents. In this sense, the WHETLAC process is capable of produce high purity grade lactic acid based solvents.
The main obstacles to large-scale use of biodegradable lactic acid-based polymers in packaging applications is the cost. Also, there is controversy about the true amount of energy (often in the form of fossil fuels) consumed to produce PLA from raw materials such as corn. Proposed process here could help to shift this situation to a greener solution.
Regarding prince, large-scale production could help to make that decline; however, lactic acid-based biodegradable polymers are expected to remain more expensive than commodity polymers in the near future. It is still not clear if further improvements in the WHETLAC process could override this situation.
Regarding the set of products derived from lactic acid and the different possible applications, the WHETLAC process would allow the possibility of producing several different types with small changes in the process configuration.
The WHETLAC project has increased transnational technological cooperation amongst SMEs and between SMEs and technological research centres. The following aspects were somehow considered within the project:
There are many affected SMEs: The European sector of cheese is fragmented with a high quantity of SMEs providing products that vary greatly from place to place, even when taking into account the consumer habits of each country. It was found during the project that the developed technology is capable of be used in most of the whey types produced.
The cheese product sector is firmly-established in all European countries, which provides the project with a broad potential for dissemination and social and economic impact. In fact the dissemination has been executed not only in the participating countries but also at a world scale.
Give European cheese SMEs access to specialist developers in the different fields of activity, which would not be otherwise possible. This is due to the fact that these enterprises are isolated in rural communities remote from these centres or even in the case of their rare closeness, the cheese SMEs limited by their lack of human and financial resources. In this sense, the access to the technology could be compromised due to facilities costs. The setting of strategic alliances among stakeholders could overcome this situation.
The RTD Performers contributed with their pilot plants. This has been very important for the SMEs because it allowed an intermediate validation before the industrialisation phase. The efficiency in the use of those specialised research facilities has been increased this way.
The technology was test under different situations, by testing the whey produced from different types of cheese from different european regions. This has ensured checking of the new process under whey with different quality characteristics, and determining of possible effects on the acid lactic production.
WHETLAC developed a new use for whey from the dairy enterprises. Although the production costs for the by-product commercialisation is still higher. It is still possible to increase returns to the cheese manufacturers by means of technology transfer to third parties, or even to develop further the technology to finally adapt the results.
One distinctive aspect of the whey and its derivate market is that related sector companies are forging strategic alliances in order to overcome technology obstacles and barriers to gain market access. Examples of the high grade of interrelation of these companies have been observed during the execution of WHETLAC project. Among them it will highlighted an interesting alliance that has appeared: DMK. DMK (future merger of NORDMILCH and Humana) and Arla Foods will establish a 50/50 pct. joint venture to start a whey processing partnership for the global food manufacturing industry. The name of the new joint venture will be ArNoCo GmbH & Co. KG, and the two partners will invest a total of 44 million Euros, of which 35 million Euro will be used to build a whey processing plant at DMK's cheese plant at Nordhackstedt in Northern Germany (and nine million Euro will be spent at Arla Foods' plant Danmark Protein in Nr. Vium, Denmark).
So in brief, the recent evolution of the market is characterised by the appearance of merging and alliances constitutions. This situation is quite similar to other food products sectors. In this sense, a reliable opportunity could be obtained by means of setting up the same concept extended to the WHETLACT process. Share of knowledge and risks for further development could be a chance to implant at a high scale the process.
According to the Project evolution and results obtained, SMEs had been concluded the following ideas which in turn have defined the final business concept.
During cheese manufacturing the production of by-products is inevitable (as it happens in most food productions). Traditionally such products have been considered as waste and dumped as sewage. With more attention in recent years to environmental issues, such sewage may even be an expense for industry.
However, quite often developments in processing technology and market demands make it economically attractive to process and market such by-products as ingredients. Efforts aimed to reuse the by-products are not only related with the process but also the application and marketing of these products require skills different from those normally found within the traditional dairy business.
The challenge is to get access to the right information in order to be able to judge the alternatives to disposal of the by-products. And this vision can be applied for the present WHETLAC project but also as a general approach for dairy SME strategies.
List of websites: http://www.WHETLAC.cartif.com.es/
