Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2023
27th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Thermal performance of a low-cost cooling tower installed in a cheese production facility
Submission Author:
Igino Guerra , PE
Co-Authors:
Igino Guerra, Lorena Guimarães, vania lemos, Emmanuel Dutra, Luis Arturo Gómez Malagón
Presenter: Lorena Guimarães
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2023.COB2023-1328
Abstract
Cheese is a product obtained by processing milk, which passes through the heating, pasteurization, cooling, fermentation, and coagulation stages. For small producers, specifically the ones located in the Northeast region of Brazil, these tasks are performed in a double jacket tank, made of stainless steel, with a capacity to process up to 300 liters of milk per batch. The milk is heated from room temperature to 63°C. The typical heat source comes from Liquified Petroleum Gas (LGP) stoves installed below the double jacket tank, which is filled with water to produce steam. After the stoves are turned off, the milk stays in the tank for 30 min to complete the pasteurization process. Then, it is cooled to 37°C, by filling and flowing tap water at room temperature through the jacket in a single-pass configuration. Finally, fermentation and coagulation occur in the tank, where a solid mass and whey are obtained to be pressed and drained respectively. Once the mass is pressed, the product remains in a brine tank for some minutes, and after that, it is stored in a maturation chamber. It is important to note that, the cooling process does not reuse the water, that is discharged into the sewage line. Therefore, to improve the cooling process, this work proposes the use of a low-cost cooling tower. An induced draft counterflow tower with fill was made using a recycled plastic storage tank of 200 liters, an exhaust fan, a water pump, and polyethylene corrugated plastic tubing as packed material. During the cooling process, temperature measurements of the milk and water at the inlet and outlet of the cooling tower were obtained using PT-100 temperature sensors. The signals were collected by a datalogger. Results showed that the use of a cooling tower integrated with the double jacket tank contributes to a decrease in the cooling time per liter by about 65% and reuses almost 100% of the cooling water that would be discharged. Water losses were limited to evaporation and drain in safety valves. Therefore, the use of a low-cost cooling tower in small facilities leads to an increase in productivity due to the time reduction and also mitigates operational costs and negative environmental impacts due to water reuse.
Keywords
Milk Processing, Pasteurization, Cheese Production, Cooling system, cooling tower
