Whey, Waste or Value?

Abstract

The dairy industry has effluents of different characteristics, according to the product obtained (yogurt, cheese, butter, milk, ice cream, etc.). By-products contain various valuable nutrients; thus, their reuse in the production process allows efficient exploitation of all nutrients available in raw milk. The processing of dairy products becomes a complex network of interrelated production processes. Often, production of a certain dairy product results in an additional residual dairy flow by-product. For instance, production of cheese results in additional production of whey and cream; production of butter results in additional buttermilk [1]. The cheese manufacturing industry produces vast volumes of aqueous wastes. It can be referred that for the production of 1 kg of cheese, 10 kg of milk are needed, originating 9 kg of cheese whey [2].