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Bridging the Gap for Whey Permeate

Proliant Dairy Ingredients receives whey permeate from MWC’s concentrate process via a pipe bridge, where it is dried on the world’s largest permeate dryer of its kind. The collaboration provides environmental savings and maximum return for both.

At Proliant Dairy Ingredients’ new facility in St. Johns, Mich., a pipe bridge conveys liquid milk permeate and whey permeate from the adjacent MWC plant for producing dry ingredients for feed and food applications. Photo by Thomas Kirby
At Proliant Dairy Ingredients’ new facility in St. Johns, Mich.,
a pipe bridge conveys liquid milk permeate and whey permeate from the adjacent MWC plant for producing dry ingredients for feed and food applications. Photo by Thomas Kirby

Central Michigan has a giant milk supply. In fact, Proliant Dairy Ingredients chose it as the location for the company’s second facility for producing dry ingredients for feed and food applications largely for that reason.

Founded in 1975, Proliant is part of the Lauridsen Group, a privately owned holding company consisting of seven independent companies. Its 100,000-sq-ft greenfield facility in St. Johns, Mich., is located adjacent to the new MWC cheese and whey processing plant. Proliant’s plant provides a needed outlet for the by-product from the adjoining MWC facility. 

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Maximum return on investment

The site for MWC and Proliant was conceived as part of an agricultural campus. The concept materialized when Proliant agreed to acquire the neighboring site and connect the facilities via a bridge that brings whey permeate from the MWC plant to the Proliant facility. This ensures costs associated with shipping valuable whey permeate are kept to a minimum, providing maximum return for both plants.

The pipe bridge connecting Proliant with MWC is supported by 30-ft diameter caissons, columns, and long span joists, according to Paul Christensen, project executive for Miron Construction. “It stretches approximately 265 ft between the buildings,” he says. “It was critical for the two separate projects to coordinate the orientation of the pipe bridge and start/stop points between the different piping systems including COW [condensate of whey] water, steam, steam condensate, CIP [clean-in-place] return, permeate, and process water.” 

INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast
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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast