General information about the sector

In the European Union (EU) there are allocated more than 12,000 dairy processing sites where 300,000 direct jobs are involved. Worldwide, five of the ten top dairy companies are European. According to the information provided in the BREF document “Food, Drink and Milk Industries” (January 2017), the European industry of milk production brings more than 9.3 billion euros to the EU trade. In 2014, in EU-28 there were produced almost 164.8 million tonnes of milk, 96.8% of which was cows’ milk, while a percentage of 3.2% of the total production was derived from ewes, goats and buffalos. Dairy industries were the main receiver of the produced milk while the rest was used on farms. The production of cows’ milk increased by 3.8% between years 2013 and 2014, while the dairy cows increased by 0.4%. The number of cows that produce milk for dairies is 23.6 millions with an average yield of 6,777 kg per head.

 Industrial Activity (NACE Code C10.5)

Brine effluent in cheese production

The processes of ice-cream, butter, whey and cheese production result all in wastewater generation. However, cheese production is the one, found to generate saline effluents (with the presence of salts and minerals) as a result of the brining process. In the following table are summarized the key parameters to take into consideration in order to characterize the cheese brine wastewater.

Key parameters for cheese processing brine wastewater characterization