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US 12,648,577 B2Granted
Method for producing a milk or whey powder, and use of a germ-removing separator
AssigneeGEA Mechanical Equipment GmbH
InventorsChristian Becker, Daniel Bussmann, Lennart Beick, Thomas Veer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for producing a milk or whey powder, involves providing milk or whey, thickening the milk or whey using a first evaporation process or second evaporation process, and drying the thickened milk or whey to provide a milk or whey powder. After the first or second evaporation process, the milk or whey is sterilized using a centrifugal bacteria-removing separator.
Claims16
A method for producing a milk or whey powder, the method comprising:
- providing milk as skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey;
- determining the skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey has a number of bacteria per gram equal to or greater than 50,000 colony forming units;
- sterilizing, using a centrifugal germ-removing separator, the skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey responsive to the determining the skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey has a number of bacteria per gram equal to or greater than 50,000 colony forming units;
- thickening the skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey by a first evaporation process and a second evaporation process, wherein the first and second evaporation processes are performed in a respective evaporation column;
- sterilizing, using the centrifugal germ-removing separator after the first evaporation process and before a second evaporation process, the thickened skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey to produce sterilized, thickened skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey;
- and
- drying the sterilized, thickened skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey to provide a milk or whey powder.
4 more elements
A method for producing a whey powder, the method comprising:
- thickening whey using a first evaporation column by a first evaporation process to achieve a solids content of the thickened skimmed milk, whole milk, or whey of 16-26%;
- after the first evaporation process, sterilizing, using a centrifugal germ-removing separator at a temperature between 45-65° C., the thickened whey to produce sterilized, thickened whey;
- thickening the sterilized, thickened whey using a second evaporation column to produce sterilized, further thickened whey having a dry matter content of up to 50%;
- and
- sterilizing the sterilized, further thickened whey and then drying the sterilized, further thickened whey to provide the whey powder.
2 more elements
A method for producing a milk powder, the method comprising:
- storing, after milking, milk;
- receiving and pasteurizing the stored milk;
- sterilizing, using a centrifugal germ-removing separator, the milk, so that the sterilized milk has a number of bacteria per gram equal to or less than 30,000 colony forming units;
- thickening the pasteurized the milk in a first evaporation column in a first evaporation process to achieve thickened whole or skimmed milk with a solids content of the thicken whole or skimmed milk of 16-26%;
- sterilizing, using the centrifugal germ-removing separator after the first evaporation process, the thickened milk to produce sterilized, thickened milk;
- further thickening the sterilized, thickened milk in a second evaporation column in a second evaporation process to provide sterilized, further thickened milk having a dry matter content of up to 50%;
- and
- drying the sterilized, further thickened milk to provide the milk powder.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.