OUR TECHNOLOGIES

The processing plants owned by ALIMA Group specialise in the production of the top-quality powders of diary origin, most importantly whey powders, using the most modern whey processing technologies.

Raw material storage

All raw materials are stored within a modern storage system until they are processed under refrigeration conditions to ensure that all their valuable nutrients are maintained and products of a very high hygienic quality are manufactured.

Microfiltration (MF) (Plant located in Złotów)

One of the most important processes during powder production is proper preparation of raw materials for further processes, mainly membrane-based processes, in terms of physical-chemical and microbiological properties.

As a standard, pasteurisation units are used to prepare the raw material; the units are combined with a fat removal and clarification system using appropriate centrifuges.

For this purpose, the plant features an innovative solution implementing a microfiltration process (MF) based on ceramic membranes. As a result, the use of pasteurisation and centrifuges was abandoned. The results of the MF process allow us to achieve the levels of purification, fat removal and reduction of the total number of microorganisms that cannot be achieved conventionally. The application of this process ensures that the finished products have very good quality characteristics in terms of both microbiological and physical-chemical properties.

Pasteurisation (Plant located in Góra)

The process consists in thermal treatment of the raw material to reduce the number of microorganisms.

Nanofiltration (NF)

In our plants, the nano-filtration process (NF) is implemented upstream of the evaporation process to perform initial concentration of the raw materials. This process is used to attain a concentration up to 28% dry matter (from the initial 5% to 5.5%) and to carry out partial demineralisation of the whey to a level of approximately 45% to 50%.

Treatment and management of permeates and condensate (RO-POL) (Plant located in Złotów)

Permeate and condensate treatment is carried out with the use of membrane technologies based on the reverse osmosis process, the so-called RO-polisher.

The applied technology is used to treat permeates downstream of after NF and condensate downstream of the evaporator to the obtain water quality providing completely microbiological safety and very good chemical quality./p>

The technology implemented at our plants also allows significant reduction in the amount of wastewater discharged, and thus a reduction in production costs and the negative environmental impact./p>

Protein content standardisation using ultrafiltration (UF) (Plant located in Złotów)

One of the basic indicators of powder quality is its appropriate content of protein in accordance with the requirements of standards as well as the requests of customers.

The only technology to standardise the protein content and thus maintain the same quality of powder obtained without additives is the ultrafiltration (UF) process that is implemented at our plants. Ultrafiltration removes a certain amount of the protein-free fraction (permeate) from the whey, and as such the protein content in the powder is controlled.

Concentration using evaporators and concentrate crystallisation

The final processes of whey powder production before the drying process is to thicken the concentrate downstream of NF using evaporator systems and the process of crystallisation. The concentration process in evaporators allows the water to evaporate under a reduced pressure to a level of 58% to 60% dry matter.

One of the most prominent features of whey powder is its non-hygroscopicity, i.e. lack of tendency to agglomerate during transport and storage. This is achieved by crystallising the concentrate downstream of the evaporation process. For this purpose, special process tanks, the so-called crystallisers, are used to cool down whey at a strictly defined rate. Such a process makes it possible to obtain practically non-hygroscopic whey and allows the drying process to be carried out smoothly.

Spray drying

The final stage of the whey powder production process is drying. For this purpose, the so-called spray driers are used where, using hot air, the whey is finally concentrated from an initial water content of 40% to 42% to a level of 3.0% to 4.0%. Such a low water content is a factor that makes it possible to store the finished product for up to several years without any organoleptic or physical-chemical changes, and health safety is maintained.

Packaging

Our modern 25 kg bag packaging line is equipped with a very accurate electronic weighing and bagging machine verified by the Office of Weights and Measures. The weighing and bagging machine is equipped with an extremely efficient probe to extract air from the product, which has a positive effect on the packaged product and prevents excessive aeration of the product and “drying” of the bag, which is then easy to palletise. The packaging line equipped with a welder and a sealer used to close the foil insert by welding and the entire bag be sewing. As a result, the bag is tight and aesthetically closed. In addition, each bag passes through a metal detector that verifies its cleanliness. The line is also equipped with a dust aspiration system to reduce any contamination at the packaging system. The packaging system is also equipped with a big bag packer for big bags weighing from 500 to 1000 kg.