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Exergy analysis of an industrial-scale ultrafiltrated (UF) cheese production plant: a detailed survey

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Abstract

In this study, a detailed exergy analysis of an industrial-scale ultrafiltrated (UF) cheese production plant was conducted based on actual operational data in order to provide more comprehensive insights into the performance of the whole plant and its main subcomponents. The plant included four main subsystems, i.e., steam generator (I), above-zero refrigeration system (II), Bactocatch-assisted pasteurization line (III), and UF cheese production line (IV). In addition, this analysis was aimed at quantifying the exergy destroyed in processing a known quantity of the UF cheese using the mass allocation method. The specific exergy destruction of the UF cheese production was determined at 2330.42 kJ/kg. The contributions of the subsystems I, II, III, and IV to the specific exergy destruction of the UF cheese production were computed as 1337.67, 386.18, 283.05, and 323.51 kJ/kg, respectively. Additionally, it was observed through the analysis that the steam generation system had the largest contribution to the thermodynamic inefficiency of the UF cheese production, accounting for 57.40 % of the specific exergy destruction. Generally, the outcomes of this survey further manifested the benefits of applying exergy analysis for design, analysis, and optimization of industrial-scale dairy processing plants to achieve the most cost-effective and environmentally-benign production strategies.

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Abbreviations

a :

Carbon number of hydrocarbon fuels (–)

A :

Fat-plasma interfacial area per kg milk (m2/kg)

b :

Hydrogen number of hydrocarbon fuels (–)

C p :

Specific heat capacity (kJ/kg K)

ex :

Specific exergy (kJ/kg)

\(\dot{E}x\) :

Exergy rate (kW or kJ/s)

G :

Gibbs free energy (kJ/kg)

h :

Specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)

\(K_{B}\) :

Boltzmann constant (1.38 × 10−23 J/K)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

\(n\) :

Specific mole number (mol/kg)

\({\mathbb{N}}\) :

Number of droplets of dispersed phase per kg milk (1/kg)

\(P\) :

Pressure (kPa)

\(PR\) :

Pressure reducer

\(q_{LHV}\) :

Lower heating value (kJ/kg)

\(\dot{Q}\) :

Heat transfer (kJ/s)

\(s\) :

Specific entropy (kJ/kg K)

\({\text{S}}\) :

Entropy (kJ/K)

\(T\) :

Temperature (K)

\(\dot{V}\) :

Volume flow rate (m3/s)

\(\dot{W}\) :

Work rate (kW)

\(x\) :

Mole fraction (–)

\(Y\) :

Mass fraction (–)

\({\Re }\) :

Universal gas constant (8.314 J/mol K)

\({\mathcal{R}}\) :

Gas constant (J/kg K)

\(\varphi\) :

Fuel quality factor (–)

\(\varepsilon\) :

Standard chemical exergy (kJ/mol)

\(\psi\) :

Exergy efficiency

\({\mathcal{M}}\) :

Molar mass (g/mol)

\(\omega\) :

Humidity ratio (kg water/kg dry air)

\(\upsilon\) :

Specific volume (m3/kg)

\(\rho\) :

Density (kg/m3)

\(\gamma_{AB}\) :

Interfacial tension between phases A and B (kJ/m2)

\(\emptyset\) :

Dispersed phase volume fraction

0:

Dead state

a :

Air

ch :

Chemical

conf :

Configurational entropy

fo :

Fat-formation exergy

i :

Numerator

ph :

Physical

QL :

Heat loss

v :

Vapor

w :

Water

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to financial support provided by the University of Tehran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

    Farshid Nasiri, Mortaza Aghbashlo & Shahin Rafiee

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  1. Farshid Nasiri
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  2. Mortaza Aghbashlo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mortaza Aghbashlo.

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Nasiri, F., Aghbashlo, M. & Rafiee, S. Exergy analysis of an industrial-scale ultrafiltrated (UF) cheese production plant: a detailed survey. Heat Mass Transfer 53, 407–424 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-016-1824-3

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