Industrial Pollution Prevention

Reduction of Milk Losses at:

Misr Company for Dairy and Food, Mansoura, Egypt

INTRODUCTION
A range of pollution prevention opportunities have been identified and are
currently being implemented by Misr Company for Dairy and Food in
Mansoura, Egypt. To date, this has involved a total investment of LE113,250
and resulting in annual savings of LE 309,250.
A summary of how these improvements were identified and the underlying
problems solved, follows.

THE FACTORY
This factory is one of nine owned by the public sector company Misr for Dairy
and Food and is one of the largest producers of dairy products in Egypt. The
Mansoura factory was built in 1965 and has a workforce of around 420.
The factory annually processes an average of 7,200 tons of milk, producing
mainly pasteurised milk, white cheese, blue cheese and mish. Yoghurt, sour
cream, ghee and processed cheese are also produced.

Process Description
Outline of Main Processes
The main process units present in the factory are outlined below:
Milk Receivi ng, Preparation and Storage - raw milk is delivered from
collection centres to the factorys reception area where it is tested and graded.
If it is of a suitable quality it is then accepted and refrigerated prior to use.
Project Milk Pasteurisation - the received milk is pasteurised by being rapidly heated
and cooled. It is then either sent for packaging or for further processing.
White Cheese Manufacturing - white cheese is produced from the milk
concentrate produced by the ultra-filtration of pasteurised milk, which is then
curded, packaged and sold.
Ghee Manufacturing - initially, cream is separated from the raw milk and
blended with artificial ghee and salt and then cooked. This mixture is then
incubated for a day and then packed. Morta is a generated as a by-product of
this process (0.05%), which is also packed and sold.
Roquefort Cheese Manufacturing - the pasteurised milk is placed in basins,
where it is curded, incubated, and refrigerated, followed by punching. It is
stored for one month to allow the blue colour to develop and then packed and
stored for dispatch. 20% of the milk used in this process is lost as whey.
Processed Cheese Manufacturing - Quark and Roquefort cheese are minced
and cooked with skimmed milk, whey protein and some additives such as salts
and emulsifiers, followed by cooling and packing.
Yoghurt and Sour Cream Manufacturing - milk and fixing agents are mixed
to produce yoghurt, which is then automatically packed in small cartons,
incubated and refrigerated for dispatch.
Mish (Salty Cheese Mix) Manufacturing - this is produced using dairy
products rejects. These are mixed, ground and filtered to separate the solids
from the whey. Preservatives are added and the product is packaged.
June 1998
Service Units 4. Oils used in the car and truck maintenance facilities was
Factory service units include tin can manufacturing, drained to factory sewers, encouraging drain blockage and
refrigeration and storage, a boiler station, a quality control consequent development of foul odours.
laboratory, a warehouse and maintenance workshops. 5. Excessive consumption of mazot in the boiler house,
Water Consumption due to poorly tuned boilers. This also resulted in
excessive air emissions (mainly smoke and carbon
The factory uses about 37,080 m3/year of water from the
monoxide) being discharged from the boiler stacks.
Mansoura City potable water supply;
v Processing - 2,880 m3/year. CLEANER PRODUCTION APPLICATIONS
v Equipment and floor washing - 20,160 m3/year. During the audit stage, particular attention was paid to
those improvements which could be carried out at low or
v Boiler feed and cooling water - 6,840 m3/year.
no cost to the factory. These were given a high priority
v Domestic use - 7,200 m3/year .
as they are easy to implement and often entail significant
Wastewater Characteristics savings.
v Volume: 30,240 m3/year of industrial wastewater The measures which have already been implemented by
from different factory streams, the factory or under implementation through the Cleaner
v BOD: 13,160ppm,
Production Demonstration Projects of the SEAM Project
are briefly outlined below.
v COD: 18,800ppm,
v TSS: 10,640ppm.

There is no industrial wastewater treatment facility and Improve Housekeeping

the wastewater is disposed into the city sewerage system. In-plant housekeeping of factory units and buildings was
improved, factory drainage,
Summary of Cost Benefits sewers, and manholes were
maintained and upgraded to
Capital and Yearly Payback eliminate blockage and overflow
Action Operation Savings Period
Factory Unit problems. In-plant roadways
Costs (LE) (LE) (month)
were paved and signposts added
Improve Housekeeping and 120,000
All 13,000 1 to allow for better traffic flow of
Solid Waste Removal
factory vehicles. Unattended
Milk Packaging Rationalise Milk Packaging areas were planted with trees and
and Increase Milk 26,500 39,600 8
and Storage greened. Overall, the factory has
Refrigeration Efficiency
improved its image and
White Cheese Reuse Whey 0 2,000 Immediate cleanliness.
Implementation Cost: LE 10,000
Upgrade Boiler and Restore <1
Boiler House 2,000 18,750
Softening Unit Used Garage Oil: Collection for
Garage Collect Used Oil 500 2,500 <3 Resale
Pollution loads from the garage
Milk Receiving Milk Tank Level Controls 10,250 and workshops constitute the
and highest level of suspended solids
Food Quality Valves 64,000 126,000 7
Pasteurisation (9,148ppm), and the only source
Total 116,250 308,850 <5 of mineral oil and grease
(1,245ppm) generated in the
factory. Oil, grease and lubricants are now collected
POLLUTION PREVENTION OPPORTUNITIES
instead of being disposed to the sewer, with the
Pollution prevention opportunities were identified by following benefits:
means of an industrial audit. This identified various
v Approximately 0.75 tons of oil are accumulated
improvement opportunities; a description of the most
monthly and sold at LE275 per ton.
important being:
v reducing the strength of wastewater,
1. Different solid wastes stored haphazardly in open v improving the cleanliness of the garage and
areas and roads, constituting a fire risk and impairing workshops,
the general appearance of the premises. v the prevention of serious blockage of sewers and
2. Considerable amounts of milk were wasted due to overflow (as oil and grease tend to solidify milk
overflow during the filling of storage and service products if mixed in sewers).
tanks. Implementation Cost: LE 500
3. Milk leakages in the milk packaging and refrigeration Annual Savings: LE 2,500
units.
Solid Waste: Collection and Sale 3.3tons/month, corresponding tp monthly savings of
LE3,330.
Solid wastes generated by the factory were initially
segregated and then either disposed or sold: Implementation Cost: LE 26,500
Annual Savings: LE 39,600
v Garbage and packaging wastes are trucked out daily
and disposed a Whey Reuse in White Cheese Manufacturing
v Solid wastes such as scrap iron and metal objects are 4.4m3 of permeate with a high lactose concentration
sold in auctions or to special scrap dealers. (4.5%) is generated as a by-product from ultra-filtration
in this process. Originally, this was disposed directly to
This action has achieved an efficient removal of wastes the sewer. The factory now reuse 50% of this in the
from the site, and improved the cleanliness of the factory cheese packaging stage, in place of fresh water.
premi
from the sale of solid wastes. This has resulted in a 50% drop in the organic load
generated from the white cheese unit from 5,800ppm to
Implementation Cost: LE 3,000
about 3,000ppm. Almost 2,200m 3 of water are saved on
Savings: LE 120,000
an annual basis.
Water and Energy Conservation Implementation Cost: none
Boiler Tune-Up and Upgrade Annual Savings: LE 2,000
The ratio of air to mazot was optimised to increase the Installation of New Equipment
efficiency of the boilers, hence reducing mazot
consumption and gas emissions. Benefits of this measure Total losses from the factory in both raw milk and
include: products was shown to be 0.80 tons/day. The receiving
and pasteurisation processes were the greatest sources of
v Mazot consumption has been reduced by 60 tons/year,
wastage, with milk losses of up to 0.7 tons/day, valued at
saving LE 10,740. LE252,000 per year.
v Solar consumption has been reduced by 12 tons/year,
saving LE 4,980. The Problem: Raw milk coming into the factory is
transferred directly from the delivery vehicles into the
v Electricity consumption has been reduced by 12,775
storage tanks. As the were no level gauges or controls
kWh/year, saving LE 2,500.
on the tanks, overfilling and spillage frequently occurred.
Restoration of Softening Unit
The Solution: Installation of Level Controls - milk
The softening unit was restored to prevent the scaling of storage tanks were equipped with level sensors and
the boiler by chemical treatment of the feedwater. stopcocks to prevent overflow particularly during the
As a result of implementing this improvement, tuning receiving stage. This type of sensor was selected rather
and upgrading the boilers, steam generation from 1m 3 of than infra-red sensors, as foaming of the milk as it is
water has increased from 1 ton to 1.16 tons, transferred can result in inaccurate readings and
corresponding to a 16% increase in boiler efficiency. subsequent overflow.
Implementation Cost: LE 2,000 Implementation Cost: LE 10,250
Annual Savings: LE 18,750 The Problem: Leakages of milk from valves throughout
Reuse and Recycling the system were common, resulting in milk loss and an
increased organic load of the final effluent.
Increase Refrigeration Efficiency and Rationalise Milk
Packaging The Solution: Installation of Control Valves - the
installation of food quality, stainless steel control valves
Raw milk storage units and the refrigeration room of the were installed throughout the factory where required,
packaged milk products were upgraded to prevent including the milk receiving, storage and pasteurisation
spoilage and loss. This was achieved through investment areas. Forty valves were required.
in a refrigeration system which permitted temperature to
Implementation Cost: LE 64,000
be fully controlled. The benefits from this intervention
include: The implementation of the above improvements has
v increased production capacity. resulted in daily savings of 350 kilograms of milk. A
v improved process efficiency.
total of 126 tons of milk are recovered annually resulting
v improved quality control.
in savings of LE126,000 per year. Additional benefits
v reduced reject rates of the final product.
include:
v reduced pollution loads,
The packaging unit was relocated from a restricted area v the elimination of floor spills,
to be adjacent to the refrigeration facility thus preventing
v improved hygiene and safety.
handling losses. This has reduced milk losses by
ECONOMICS The SEAM Project
Throughout industry, pollution prevention and environmental Support for Environmental Assessment and
protection measures can offer real financial benefits in terms of: Management (SEAM), is a multi-disciplinary
v reduced raw materials consumption; Department for International Development
v waste minimisation and (DFID). This project is being implemented by
v reuse or recycling of in-plant materials. the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency
(EEAA) through the Technical Co-operation
Implementing these measures will also result in reduced Office for the Environment (TCOE) and Entec, a
environmental pollution and movement towards discharge UK engineering and environmental consultancy.
consent limits.
The total capital and operation costs invested in the cleaner SEAM: Pollution Prevention
production measures at the Mansoura factory amounts to LE This is being implemented under the National
116,250. This has produced total savings of over LE 308,850, Industrial Pollution Prevention Programme
with an average payback period of around 4 months. (NIPPP). NIPPP focuses on the introduction and
promotion of low-cost improvement measures,
BENEFITS AND ACHIEVEMENTS which can be easily and quickly implemented
by factories. It also emphasises the importance
v Recovery solutions and better quality control of milk of economic benefits of any such intervention,
products and by-products has recovered 166 tons of particularly those with short pay-back periods.
milk/year (2.3%), which was previously wasted.
v Water consumption has dropped by 6%. Methodology - A Description
v Mazout consumption has decreased by 10%. Pollution prevention opportunities can be
v Solar consumption has decreased by 5%. identified through an industrial audit1. This
v Electricity consumption has been reduced by 9%.
and processes, focusing on reducing waste,
improving efficiency and alleviating pollution.
This aims to identify and prevent losses from
CONTACTS
occurring in the first place, rather than resorting
v Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) immediately to a treatment facility.
Technical Co-operation Office for the Environment
(TCOE) The SEAM Project has carried out audits in 32
30 Misr Helwan Agricultural Road factories in the food, textile and oil and soap
sectors, which identified a wide range of low-
5th floor, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt cost pollution prevention opportunities,
Tel.: 20 2 525 6452 including water and energy conservation, the
Fax: 20 2 525 6457 importance of good housekeeping, in-process
email: [email protected] modification and hazardous materials
substitution. The SEAM Project is presently
v SEAM/Entec implementing 23 of these opportunities as
30 Misr Helwan Agricultural Road demonstration projects.
4th floor, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
Benefits of Pollution Prevention
Tel.: 20 2 525 6452
Fax: 20 2 349 9795 It can REDUCE :
email: [email protected] Ø production costs;
Ø losses of valuable raw materials;
v Misr Milk and Food Company Ø on site treatment costs;
Engineering Affairs and Projects Department Ø energy and water costs;
25 Alsawah Street, Alsawah, Cairo, Egypt Ø the volume of solid and liquid wastes
Tel.: 20 2 257 1417/9450 generated;
Ø the risk of spills and accidents.
Fax: 20 2 257 7207
. . . and IMPROVE :
June 1998 Ø overall operating efficiency;
Ø generation of income through reuse and
recycling of wastes;
Ø this approach can be easily replicated in sister
factories to achieve similar savings;
Ø safety of employees;
Ø legislative compliance;
Ø company image.

1 Guidelines for Industrial Audits have been prepared by the

SEAM Project.