Assessment of Whole Milk Powder Production by a Cumulative Exergy Consumption Approach

Esmanur Uçal, Hasan Yildizhan, Arman Ameen () and Zafer Erbay
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Esmanur Uçal: Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Adana Alparslan Turkes Science and Technology University, Adana 01250, Turkey
Hasan Yildizhan: Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Adana Alparslan Turkes Science and Technology University, Adana 01250, Turkey
Arman Ameen: Department of Building Engineering, Energy Systems and Sustainability Science, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden
Zafer Erbay: Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Adana Alparslan Turkes Science and Technology University, Adana 01250, Turkey

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: The production of food is a sector that consumes a significant amount of energy and encompasses both agricultural and industrial processes. In this study, the energy consumption of whole milk powder production, which is known to be particularly energy-intensive, was examined. The study used a cumulative exergy consumption approach to evaluate the overall production process of whole milk powder, including the dairy farm (raw milk production) and dairy factory (powder production) stages. The results showed that raw milk production dominated energy and exergy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. An amount of 68.3% of the total net cumulative exergy consumption in the system was calculated for raw milk production. In the dairy factory process, the highest energy/exergy consumption occurred during spray drying, followed by evaporation and pasteurization. In these three processes, 98.3% of the total energy consumption, 94.6% of the total exergy consumption, and 95.7% of the total carbon dioxide emissions in powder production were realized. To investigate the improvement potentials in the system, replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources and using pasture feeding in animal husbandry were evaluated. While using alternative energy sources highly influenced powder production, pasture feeding had a high impact on consumption in raw milk production. By using renewable energy and pasture feeding, the exergy efficiency, cumulative degree of perfection, renewability index, and exergetic sustainability index values for the overall process increased from 40.5%, 0.282, −0.22, and 0.68 to 68.9%, 0.433, 0.65, and 2.21, respectively.

Keywords: dairy; exergy; spray drying; carbon dioxide emission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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