Process and system for drying acid whey
AssigneeProliant Dairy, Inc.
InventorA. Kent Keller
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Abstract
A process comprises concentrating a whey composition to at least about 75 weight % solids in one or more evaporators connected in series to form a concentrated whey composition, wherein at least one of the evaporators comprises an evaporator configured to agitate the whey composition within the at least one evaporator, crystallizing at least a portion of the lactose in the concentrated whey composition in a crystallization cascade comprising one or more crystallizing stages to form an at least partially-crystallized whey composition and drying the at least partially-crystallized whey composition to form a dried whey product.
Claims25
A process comprising:
- concentrating a whey composition to at least about 75 weight % solids in one or more evaporators connected in series to form a concentrated whey composition, wherein at least one of the evaporators comprises an evaporator configured to agitate the whey composition within the at least one evaporator;
- crystallizing at least a portion of the lactose in the concentrated whey composition in a crystallization cascade comprising one or more crystallizing stages to form an at least partially-crystallized whey composition;
- and
- drying the at least partially-crystallized whey composition to form a dried whey product.
A process comprising:
- providing or receiving a whey feed composition comprising less than about 70 weight % lactose on a dry basis and greater than or equal to about 2.5 weight % lactic acid on a dry basis;
- concentrating the whey feed composition to at least about 85 weight % total solids in a plurality of evaporators connected in series to form a concentrated whey composition, wherein a last evaporator in the series of evaporators comprises a swept-surface evaporator;
- cooling the concentrated whey composition in a crystallization cascade to crystallize at least a portion of the lactose in the concentrated whey composition, the crystallization cascade comprising a plurality of crystallizing stages connected in series to form an at least partially-crystallized whey composition;
- adding a neutralizing compound to the last stage in the series of crystallizing stages to form a mixture of the at least partially-crystallized whey and the neutralizing compound, wherein the neutralizing compound is a compound that reacts with at least a portion of lactic acid in the whey composition to form a reaction product that is at least one of less hygroscopic than lactic acid and less soluble in water than lactic acid;
- and
- drying the mixture to form a dried whey product.
A system for processing a whey composition, the system comprising:
- a supply system for supplying a whey composition;
- one or more evaporators connected in series, wherein at least one of the evaporators comprises an evaporator configured to agitate the whey composition within the at least one evaporator, the one or more evaporators configured to concentrate the whey composition to at least about 75 weight % solids to form a concentrated whey composition;
- a crystallization cascade including one or more crystallizing stages configured to crystallize at least a portion of the lactose in the concentrated whey composition to form an at least partially-crystallized whey composition;
- and
- a dryer configured to dry the mixture to form a dried product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.