Resumen:

Centrifugal separation technology is a byword for economy and quality and an important process stage in the milk industry. Applications include

· Skimming of milk and whey

· Clarification and purifying of milk and whey

· Bacteria and somatic cells removing  of milk

· Concentration of milk fat ( butteroil)

· Production of fresh cheese, lactose, casein,etc…

Since the 80ths the Dairy Industry is developing economically and diversifying the product lines quite significantly. In this context a large number of ideas have been presented, some of them disappeared already, others have approved and are still in used even after years and may stay still for a log long time.  As example can be mentioned several design changes of the centrifuges resulting in a significant reduction of production, operation and maintenance costs. Down breaking them further we will find the Protein Plus, for sure one the most important developments in the last 2 decades for the dairy industry, allowing today the application of purifying processes such as the bacteria removing with a minimal products loss, assuring the great benefit of it, meaning yield increase of several processes and considerable quality improvement of the finish products. Also design improvement of the centrifuges for the production of fresh and soft cheese, like the Petit Suisse and Cream Cheese, shall not be forgotten, which has lead to the development of larger market segment for these high value aggregated products with a unique nutrition value.

The main target of this work is to present details and functional principles of the latest developments of the centrifuge technology, highlighting also the economical and environmental impact of it for the worldwide dairy industry.

Key Words

Protein Plus, bacteria removing, fresh cheese types such as Petit Suisse e Cream Cheese, AMF (Anhydros Milk fat), energy savings, environmental impact, reduction of production and maintenance costs, new opportunities as well as economical perspectives for the dairy industry.