Life Cycle Assessment for Cheese Plants FX Milani UW-Madison Wisconsin Dairy Products Association September 28, 2010

FIL/IDF, UN-FAO dairy report World dairy contributes 4% of all manmade green house gases

Nat’l Project Cheese & Whey LCA

Wisconsin cheese and whey Who: Rural development is VERY interested in the contribution of cheese/dairy manufacturing What: Concern about sustainability issues, want to find “hot spots” and new potential returns

Where: Wisconsin based manufacturing When: This year and next spring, beyond? Why: Ultimately, dairy manufacturing is vital How: Survey work to get baseline concerns and data, model potential ideas, investigate best ideas Wisconsin cheese and whey

The projects: 3 this year ◦ Sustain Metrics:  UW Food Science, CDR,UW Biological Systems Engineering  F. Milani, D. Reinemann, D. Sommer, students  Modeling, Survey audits, Outreach program, Reports ◦ Whey Disposal:  UW Food Science, CDR, Industrial Partners  F. Milani, M. Molitor, D. Sommer, Contractors  Survey audits, Whey/permeate data, Waste water data, Reports/potential ◦ Sustainability Outreach:  UW Food Science, Biological Systems Engineering  F. Milani, A. Newenhouse  Short course, Involvement with 2011 WCMA LaCrosse, Outreach materials, Bus trips

Specific information to collect Energy use: gas, electric, wood, LP, etc Transportation use Refrigerant use Raw material, chemical use Packaging use Water use, wastewater generated Pounds and types of cheese produced

Milk composition Water87.8% Fat (emulsion) 3.7 Protein 3.1 ( colloidal suspension) Casein(2.5) (true solution) Lactoglobulin(0.3) “Lactalbumin(0.07) “Others(0.22) Lactose 4.7 Minerals (ash) 0.7

Cheese Yield 10%, ~50% solids loss to whey Percent milk constituents

Milk is high in phosphorous Food itemmg of P / Liter Milk 930 Cream 710 Eggs1800 USDA Handbook 8

Cheese P loss to whey (50-90%) Cheese Typemg of P / Liter Cheddar546 Colby526 Jack575 Mozzarella519 Swiss447 Brick465 (Wendorff & Matzke, 1993)

The 4 F’s of whey FOOD Feed Fuel Fertilizer High Value Low Value $ $

Options for whey Sell to aggregate processor Land spread Concentrate and sell (wet or dry) UF concentrate, sell wet protein ◦ Permeate: sell wet or land spread UF concentrate, sell dry protein ◦ Permeate: sell dry lactose, dry/landspd wet DLP ◦ (note: lactose market is very volatile) UF concentrate, sell wet protein ◦ Permeate: biogas, dump minerals

Average Wisconsin cheese plant 44.7 M pound cheddar cheese annually 28.8 M pounds sweet whey equivalent 447 M pounds milk (1.2 M pounds per day) 116 k gal per day water use, high vary 230 k gal per day wastewater flow, med vary 14,355 kWhr per day electric 6568 therms per day natural gas 459,801 pounds of caustic annual use Citations listed at end of presentation

Wastewater and Carbon Footprint Short Courses, November 9-11

Citations for average cheese plant Cheese production: Publications/Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/annbull_2008.pd f Cheese production: Publications/Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/annbull_2008.pd f Whey conversion: USDA Handbook 8 Milk Input: Van Slyke equation for cheddar cheese Water use: Fietz et al. Int. J. LCA 12(2) , 2007 Wastewater output: Danalewich, et al. Wat. Res. 32(12) , 1998 Electric and natural gas use: C. Ling et al. USDA report, 2004 Sodium Hydroxide use: Fernadez, et al. J. Food Eng 97, , 2010

How much energy is in permeate? Yield of pure carbohydrate is 0.38 cubic meter methane per kg lactose 1 kg lactose is 13,300 BTU, or therm 1 therm is $ kg lactose is $0.063, or $0.029 per pound Current market lactose is $ , less drying cost at about $0.19, plus operational 3-12 cents, profitable now, but… Wet permeate is 4.5% lactose

Carbon credits with lactose 1 kg lactose produces 0.38 cubic meters methane, and 0.74 kg CO kg of lactose produces mton CO2 Assume EU trading at $15 per mton, get additional $ per kg lactose ($ per pound) $50,287 per year new revenue Consumer milk is burdened with1.2 CO2 per kg milk. Milk contains 45 g lactose, potential kg CO2 / kg milk carbon credit from lactose

Whey processing steps Clarified whey Separator Whey Cream Pasteurization ROEvaporator Condensed Whey To Processor Drained Whey Fines Saver Cheese Fines

Whey Processing steps Crystallizer Spray Dryer Condensed Whey Dry Sweet Whey

Whey Protein Concentrate

Permeate processing

Important nutrients in whey

Benefits to landspreading Nutrient recycling Residual fertility Soil physical properties Cost effectiveness Pollution reduction

Land spreading, Chloride, WI

Issues with landspreading Nitrogen content Salt concentration Soil oxygen levels Odors Soil limitations Seasonal limitations (injection)