Wellness & Nourishment • GMP • Advanced ... - Mælkeritidende

Figure 4: Different types of LeanCreme.Figure 5: LeanCreme TM applications.• LeanCreme Neutral made from sweet whey• LeanCreme Lactic made from lactic acid whey• LeanCreme Acid made from HCI or acid whey• LeanCreme Ideal made from ’ideal’ whey• LeanCreme Plus with cream• LeanCreme Mix with protein powder• LeanCreme ’grades’ from 28 to 80 (TOP/TS)• Pressed, soft and fresh cheeses• Acidified milk products and desserts• Protein enriched milk drinks and yoghurt• Dressings, sauces and mayonnaise• Ice cream, chocolate and confectionery• Bakery products• Nutraceuticals and powdered ingredientsThe ASA has already demonstratedits unique abilities. Four Lean-Creme pilot plants have been inoperation over a longer period, andseven commercial plants have beensold during the last year. Many arealready in operation, including anMP2000 plant (Fig. 3), which hasbeen successfully producing Lean-Creme Neutral from WPC 60 forcheese products since August, 2005.Figure 6: Payback time in months as a function of whey price and volume.WheyWhey volume m 3 /day PriceEuro cent/liter 150 300 6000.67 6 4 31.35 10 5 42.02 21 10 62.69 - 90 32Products and applicationsThe enormous flexibility that theASA brings to the LeanCremeprocess enables the production of along line of different LeanCremeproducts designed for a variety ofapplications in the dairy, food andneutraceutical industries, includinghigh-quality “wellness” productswith reduced fat content.Figure 4 provides an overview overLeanCreme product types producedon the basis of various whey types/rawmaterials. Figure 5 shows examples ofthe wide choice of applications. While“in-house” applications will use Lean-Creme as a fresh-made concentrate,it can also be spray-dried to make aLeanCreme powder ingredient.But does it pay?There are two aspects to this question.One is objective capitalisationbased on the cost of whey raw materialcosts compared to skim milk andthe cost of producing LeanCremeproducts. The other is the opportu-nity to make high-quality cheesesand other dairy and food products.This aspect is a subjective one anddifficult to capitalize. However, itdoes represent a potential for premiumprice products by meetingincreasing consumer demand forhigh-quality wellness products.The economics of using Lean-Creme can be directly assessed onthe basis of the protein compositionor the added amount of protein. Ittakes about 5.5 kg of whey to makeone litre of WPC 35 - or a skim milkequivalent corresponding in compositionto one litre of skim milk.Assuming a skim milk price of Eurocent 16.00 per litre and a whey priceof 1.35 per litre, the skim milk equivalentwhey price is Euro cent 7.40,representing a reduced raw materialcost of Euro cent 8.70 per litre.Figure 6 illustrates ROI for variousvolumes of whey and at whey pricescorresponding to a skim milk priceof Euro cent 16.00 per litre. Assumption:360 production days a year,three shifts per day, and return oncapital of 5 per cent p.a. over threeyears excluding scrap value. Theplant comprises UF for the productionof WPC and the LeanCremeplant configuration delivered andrunning.The conclusion is that the Lean-Creme process represents a “CashCow” for dairies with additionalearnings potential by exploiting theexcellent opportunities for productionof the high-quality wellnessproducts that consumers are waitingfor. ■42 Danish Dairy & Food Industry... worldwide 2006 NR. 16