To eliminate the disposal of salty whey from a dairy industry into the sewer in an environmental, social and economical way – a case study from dairy farmers, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
by Kartik Venkatraman, Muralidharan Achi
International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management (IJETM), Vol. 4, No. 4, 2004

Abstract: The paper is mainly based on the effluent discharged by dairy industries, with a special focus on Dairy Farmers (Toowoomba, Australia) and the problems faced by the industry in discharging the waste. Dairy Farmers, Toowoomba is basically a cheese-manufacturing unit. The major problem with the effluent discharged from the industry is the presence of a high concentration of salty whey. Due to this, the council have become very stringent with effluent disposal into the sewer. Dairy Farmers, Toowoomba, is a very old unit and produces cheese by the old conventional method. This could be one of the major reasons for the generation of a high concentration of salty whey. To date, the effluent generated from here was being discharged into the sewer without prior treatment, but for the last couple of years, there has been a major conflict between the council and the management of the company regarding the discharging of waste-water into the sewer. This report mainly contains some cost-effective solutions and recommendations that will help the industry to reduce or dispose of the effluent in an environmentally-safe manner so as to reduce the load of the council. Disposal of salty whey has always been a problem from cheese-manufacturing units. This salty whey is produced from the cheese making vats. This report will be a short-term as well as a long-term solution for cheese-manufacturing units. During cheese manufacturing, a byproduct called whey is produced. In the past, whey had been considered as waste. The addition of salt during biochemical action causes more whey to be separated off. Due to this, excess salt is present in this whey. Reduction in the generation of salty whey would reduce the disposal cost. Whey should be recovered and reused if possible. This will have less effect on the environmental and social aspects.

Online publication date: Sun, 28-Nov-2004

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