Division 4.1 Energy efficiency

United Kingdom

BAT 21. In order to increase energy efficiency, BAT is to use an appropriate combination of the techniques specified in BAT 6 and of the techniques given below.

Technique		Description
(a)	Partial milk homogenisation	The cream is homogenised together with a small proportion of skimmed milk. The size of the homogeniser can be significantly reduced, leading to energy savings.
(b)	Energy-efficient homogeniser	The homogeniser’s working pressure is reduced through optimised design and thus the associated electrical energy needed to drive the system is also reduced.
(c)	Use of continuous pasteurisers	Flow-through heat exchangers are used (e.g. tubular, plate and frame). The pasteurisation time is much shorter than that of batch systems.
(d)	Regenerative heat exchange in pasteurisation	The incoming milk is preheated by the hot milk leaving the pasteurisation section.
(e)	Ultra-high-temperature (UHT) processing of milk without intermediate pasteurisation	UHT milk is produced in one step from raw milk, thus avoiding the energy needed for pasteurisation.
(f)	Multi-stage drying in powder production	A spray-drying process is used in combination with a downstream dryer, e.g. fluidised bed dryer.
(g)	Precooling of ice-water	When ice-water is used, the returning ice-water is precooled (e.g. with a plate heat exchanger), prior to final cooling in an accumulating ice-water tank with a coil evaporator.

Table 8

Indicative environmental performance levels for specific energy consumption

Main product (at least 80 % of the production)	Unit	Specific energy consumption (yearly average)
The specific energy consumption level may not apply when raw materials other than milk are used.
Market milk	MWh/tonne of raw materials	0,1-0,6
Cheese		0,10-0,22 ^f1
Powder		0,2-0,5
Fermented milk		0,2-1,6

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: The specific energy consumption level may not apply when raw materials other than milk are used.