2023 Agenda

For several years, the UW Center for Dairy Research (CDR) has been utilizing spiral nanofiltration (NF) to conduct fractionation research on acid whey and sweet whey UF permeates’. That research is for peer reviewed publication and confidential industry clients. Our most recent NF research has utilized Ceramic elements containing three NF pore sizes.

 

Sustainable production of nutritious food could serve the dual purpose of adequately feeding the growing population and reducing the energy load and carbon footprint. Recent trending alternative sources of proteins such as plant based, insect derived or those obtained by precision fermentation and cell-based culturing have the potential to provide food security while adhering to reduced carbon emissions. Understanding the specific and distinctive roles of membrane filtration as well as related innovation in the processing and manufacturing of alternative proteins is part of this exercise.

 

Have you ever wondered why is my chemical provider recommending the products or procedure that they do? Have you every wondered why do I need to take so many pH and concentration checks during my washes? Well, you are in luck. This presentation will try and answer those questions you may have by revealing the science behind those recommendations. We will go over the interaction of soil and chemistries and show why cleaning companies recommend what they recommend.

Traditional cleaning of dairy membranes requires harsh chemicals, high temperatures, and long CIP time leading to substantial economic costs. Utilizing enzymatic based cleaners for dairy membranes can lower these costs by reducing water, energy, and time, while also being an eco-friendly product. We have developed a more robust enzyme concentrate that works synergistically with a new buffered alkaline. This combination results in greater cleaning efficiency and increased proteolytic activity, allowing for more efficient CIP. In addition to these chemistries, we will be introducing a new rapid field test used for validating the enzyme activity of our products.

Realco developed the PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION PROGRAM (POP), a patented tool to identify fouling in membrane systems and recommend the most appropriate enzyme-based solutions. By targeting fouling accurately with tailormade cleaning processes and replacing conventional chemical products with sustainable solutions, this approach enables systems to be cleaned effectively to recover water flux, maximize production performance, extend membrane life, and decrease cleaning and operating costs.

This panel discussion features experts from the membrane, cleaning, and dairy processing industry. Come and learn about their day-to-day operations, challenges, and ways to troubleshoot common and uncommon issues. Also get a sneak peek at what’s in store for the future of membrane processing. Looking for solutions for your own technical issues? Bring your questions and get answers in real time from these subject matter experts.

 

The global membrane separation technology market continues to grow at a significant rate driven by expanded usage in process applications and growing environmental restrictions on untreated wastewater discharge. It is forecasted that more than 165,000 tons of waste will be created globally in 2022 from more than 12 million used elements, most of which will be disposed of in landfills. This number is expected to double by 2030 based on recent market analyses. As was discussed at last year’s Membrane Technology Forum, the need for alternative options to landfilling used elements has become increasingly important. Two persisting challenges of element recycle are the complexity of the mix of materials used in the manufacture of membrane separation elements and the complexity of residual materials left in the element at the end of life. Join Solecta as we share what we are doing to address this very important topic and the steps we’re taking to provide leadership and meaningful solutions to counter the landfill disposal option.

 

Porifera’s PFO products are ideal for concentrating streams with high osmotic pressures and suspended solids in both waste and food and beverage applications, such as fruit juice, coffee, and beer. Porifera’s innovations include a new high flux, high selectivity forward osmosis (FO) membrane combined with a new element design for FO processing. The advantages of Porifera’s PFO technology include low head-loss, reduced footprint, and both co-current and counter-current processing. Porifera has also developed FO membrane systems with draw recovery for high osmotic pressure processing, competing with thermal evaporators. This talk will provide the latest information on Porifera's PFO technology and our focus on beer concentration that produces a 6x beer concentrate

Low alcohol beverages are typically produced by taking full-strength beer then processing using a thermal process to remove or “boil off” the alcohol. To reduce the heat vacuum evaporation is used; however, the beer is still heated that can alter the organoleptic properties of the beverage. Other techniques such as low sugar content grains or limited fermentation can produce low alcohol beverages, but the limited or no fermentation doesn’t allow the taste and nutritional value to fully develop. Maintaining the organoleptic properties of the original full-strength fully fermented beverage is desired. One way to meet that goal is to use membranes that can operate at relatively low pressure and temperature that maintains the flavor profile. This paper looks at different membranes that can be used to produce low alcohol beverages.

 

As wastewater regulations become stricter and corporations implement sustainability initiatives, dairy processors are searching for solutions to achieve their environmental goals and reduce wastewater costs. High-strength dairy wastewater discharge often results in expensive municipal surcharges due to elevated concentrations of fats, oils, greases, and organic material. Traditional wastewater management options such as dissolved air flotation systems (DAFs) and hauling each present their own limitations and do not produce clean water for onsite reuse. The development of zwitterionic superfiltration (SF) membranes that are immune to irreversible organic fouling is creating new opportunities in dairy wastewater reuse by providing superior protection to downstream reverse osmosis (RO) systems. This presentation reviews a dairy processor case study of a novel, on-site SF-RO wastewater treatment process. The SF-RO process was selected over other alternatives due to its smaller footprint and high quality effluent. This work provides insight to the SF-RO technology operational characteristics, with particular focus on how the SF membrane improves downstream RO operations. As a result of implementing this solution, this facility has significantly reduced its hauling costs. This SF-RO process can be used throughout the dairy industry to enable compliance with discharge permits while reducing wastewater costs and enabling water reuse.

This presentation will explore the latest membrane technologies being deployed for MLD/ZLD applications, including membrane bioreactors, hollow fiber ultrafiltration, advanced recovery reverse osmosis, concentrate recycle reverses, and advanced vacuum membrane distillation. Examples will detail specific membrane designs and outcomes for projects involving wastewater from dairy product producers, biofuels manufacturers, and industrial facilities, highlighting how Aquatech’s membrane technologies help reduce total installed and lifecycle costs.

The Probst Group propose to share their collective experiences related to the successful application of membrane bioreactor technology in aerobic and anaerobic industrial wastewater treatment processes. Our team can provide unique understanding covering project implementation from conceptual design through construction, optimization, long-term operation and innovation across several membrane types and configurations gaining popularity in the Food and Beverage wastewater market space.