Filtration group eyes European dairy potential
Complete Filtration Resources (CFR) says that the inauguration of a European divisional office in London, along with manufacturing operations in Italy, will allow the company to supply demand for filtration products geared to the changing needs of dairy groups.
According to the manufacturer, which has already been operating in Eastern Europe for two years, the new offices will allow offer technical support for European demand in Ultrafiltration (UF), Nanofiltration (NF), Microfiltration (MF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology.
Dairy development
In areas such as dairy processing, CFR president John Park said the different technologies could be used in a number of important process areas such as cheese brine recovery.
The company said that its UF membranes could help clarify cheese brine in order to cut down on wastage and possible contamination from dirty brine.
“The UF membranes concentrate all the proteins and fats that are present in the brine, while producing a crystal clear salt brine permeate,” stated Park
In terms of general milk processing, the company claims that UF and RO systems also have uses in producing standardised milk products to ensure consistent quality of components reaching vats, regardless of raw ingredient sourcing.
Whey to go
All four of the filtration systems being offered by the group to European producers can have uses inwhey protein fractionation, says the supplier.
“We use UF systems to remove lactose from whey, MF systems to remove fat from whey and RO systems for final concentration of whey products,” Park added.
The company says the process can aid the production of Whey Protein Concentrates (WPC) and Whey Protein Isolates (WPI), which are increasingly being used in added-value goods like sports and nutrition products.
By focusing on Europe, the company said that it could now tailor its process technologies for various plants by taking into account floor space and the different feed streams that often have widely different components.
Park told DairyReporter.com that although the company would partly manufacture its goods in the US alongside its Italy-based manufacturing operations, CFR said there would be no problems in meeting European standards.
In looking at design variances between products bound for Europe and the US, Park suggested that there was few significant differences, with electrical and sanitary designs being minor focuses.
“Electrical design is based upon the voltage and frequency available at the plant,” he stated. “Sanitary design is based upon the requirements laid out by the EU for the location in which we are installing the equipment.”
CFR said that issues in areas such as process controls, which tend to differ between Seimens components in the EU and Allen Bradley controls in the US, could be dealt with fairly easily at the design stage. The company added that it could overcome similar hurdles in its push into Europe.
“The team that we are adding in Europe has many years of experience designing, building, and installing these filtration systems in the EU, so this should be a seamless transition for our company,” stated Park.
