Butter & cheese production in the food & beverage industry

Fresh raw milk is the basic ingredient for butter and cheese production. It is a sensitive product that must be handled very carefully in order to reduce the growth of micro-organisms to a minimum. This is the only way to guarantee the quality of the end products. Therefore the milk is held in large cold tanks on the farm, and brought to the dairy in insulated tankers, where the receiving tanks are also refrigerated. The milk is then processed in several complex process steps.

The first steps are “Separation and Standardisation”, where the fat is removed by heating the milk in a centrifugal separator, and then a pre-defined fat content is set by adding cream or skimmed milk. During the subsequent “pasteurisation”, the milk is heated to such an extent that micro-organisms are safely killed. By adding a “starter”, the coagulation process begins after the mixture has been stirred briefly. The coagulating cheese milk is pumped into a sieve and the resulting whey is cut into small grains after a short time. After these process steps, the coagulated cheese is then processed into the end product, using a prepress, and a block cutting and moulding machine. Processing and storage require very precise monitoring and process management to achieve consistently high quality.

KROHNE offers precisely tailored measuring devices for these tasks. Fast, robust and extremely accurate temperature sensors, as well as ultra-compact and modularly expandable pressure transmitters for hygienic pressure and level measurement applications are available with a variety of hygienic connections. Electromagnetic and Coriolis mass flowmeters provide exact results for both simple and demanding hygienic applications. Thanks to the EGM™ technology by KROHNE (Entrained Gas Management), Coriolis devices can even do this with entrained gas proportions in the flowing mixtures of up to 100%. FMCW radar level measuring devices with a large selection of hygienic process connections enable reliable, continuous, non-contact level measurement. Capacitive level switches, which only require a short immersion depth in the process, are not confused by foam, condensate or deposits on the probe. All devices are EHEDG and 3-A certified and meet the requirements of FDA and EC1935 / 2004.