Lactose Industry
Lactose is the natural sugar of milk contained in milk and dairy products. Lactose at the rate of 4-6% is obtained by processing whey. A significant part of the whey dry matter around 75% consists of lactose. Lactose has a high economic significance since it is only found in milk in the nature and used in many fields including medicine, pharmaceuticals, foodstuff, supply of energy.


Process
Whey is used as raw material for obtaining lactose. Whey which is separated from cream separators is ran through ultrafiltration and nanofiltration and the transferred to evaporation stage for concentration. It is then transferred to crystallization stage to ensure formation of lactose crystals and then fed to 1st decanter centrifuge (water can be fed) where lactose and liquid phase is separated from each other. Separated lactose is washed with water again to eliminate impurities and administered through 2nd decanter centrifuge to obtain pure lactose. Food grade lactose production is ensured by performing low temperature drying.