Energy 194 (2020) 116799

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Energy
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Estimation of thermodynamic characteristics for comprehensive dairy

food processing plant: An energetic and exergetic approach
Gurjeet Singh a, **, V.V. Tyagi b, *, P.J. Singh a, A.K. Pandey c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Punjab Engineering Collage, Chandigarh, 160012, India
b
School of Energy Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu (J&K), 182320, India
c
Research Centre for Nano-Materials and Energy Technology (RCNMET), School of Science and Technology, Sunway University, No. 5, Jalan Universiti,
Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya, 47500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: India produces and consumes an array of traditional and modern dairy products. The value added milk
Received 15 July 2019 derivatives such as cream, butter, ghee, yogurt, ice cream and other condensed forms of milks etc, forms
Received in revised form 54% of the total dairy consumption with an annual energy consumption of 0.4 Mtoe in the year 2018. In
11 December 2019
view of 3.6% annual growth of this sector, the exergetic estimation of comprehensive dairy processing
Accepted 17 December 2019
Available online 18 December 2019
plant which primarily includes milk pasteurisation, cream pasteurisation and ghee manufacturing units
are highly imperative for better utilization of energy resource. The present study determined first and
second law performances, exergy destruction and exergy improvement potential in specific values for
Keywords:
Dairy processing plant
complete dairy processing plant consisting of aforementioned units; as 90%, 82.13%, 612.77 kJ/kg and
Energy efficiency 410.12 kJ/kg respectively. The highest contribution to specific exergy destruction was found at ghee
Exergy efficiency production unit (410.10 kJ/kg) followed by cream pasteurisation unit (117.68 kJ/kg). Similarly specific
Exergy destruction exergy improvement potential was reported to be highest in ghee production unit (291.14 kJ/kg) followed
Exergy improvement potential by cream pasteurisation unit (74.31 kJ/kg). The total amount of electrical and thermal energy con-
sumption was ascertained to be 322.25 kW and 171.64 kW respectively.
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Milk and its fat enriched products such as cream, butter and
ghee; with functional ingredients have proven beneficial effects on
various human diseases apart from its treatment as sacred food in
Indian subcontinent [1]. Dairy sector has become the highest gross
value segment in agriculture sector with higher prices and corre-
spondingly higher values of milk derivatives [2]. Substantial
amount of energy is consumed in conversion of raw milk to pas-
teurised milk, pasteurised cream, clarified butter (ghee) or in any
other value added dairy product [3]. Majority of energy re-
quirements of dairy sector are materialised by consumption of
conventional energy resources which however, are creating serious
ecological imbalance [4]. The rate of consumption of traditional as
well as innovative milk products is continuously rising, which
* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: gurjeetsingh@pec.ac.in (G. Singh), vtyagi16@gmail.com
(V.V. Tyagi).
complicates the energy conservation scenario and put more bur-
dens on the naturally available fuels. Besides that, 30e35% of dairy
manufacturing cost was associated with energy requirements.
Further, in the dairy sector; on an average basis, 11% of thermal and
7.5% of electrical energy could be saved. Moreover, 2e3% of thermal
energy could be recovered through effluent treatment of dairy
waste as part of CIP activity [5]. The present work deals with
comprehensive dairy food processing plant which manufacture
products such as pasteurised skim milk, pasteurised whole milk,
pasteurised cream and clarified butter (Ghee) etc. Milk or cream
pasteurisation is characterised by subtle time-temperature com-
bination i.e. 720C-15s and 900C-1s respectively, while on the other
hand ghee production is systematic process of elimination of
complete moisture content from butter with the help of thermal
energy. The butter is produced by subjecting the pasteurised cream
to severe churning in butter churner arrangement [6]. The afore-
mentioned dairy activities are highly energy intensive operations
and are involved with huge amount of fossil fuel consumption.
The profitability under the said circumstances depends upon
energy management and degree of renewability in relation to
implementation of solar energy initiatives. Therefore, it has become

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.116799
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2 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799
Nomenclature
cp Specific Heat (kJ/kg K)
 h
Ex Exergy Rate (kW)
ExD Exergy Destruction (kW)
ExIP Exergy Improvement Potential (kW)
Exb, k Relative Exergy Destruction Ratio (%)
ExF, k Exergetic Factor (%)
ex Specific Exergy (kJ/kg)
h Specific Enthalpy (kJ/kg)
m Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)
MF Milk Fat
T Temperature (K)
s Specific Entropy (kJ/kg K)
S Entropy (kJ/K)
SI Sustainability Index
TPD Tons per day
SUBSCRIPTS
n Specific Volume (m3/kg)
highly needful to determine the exact value of energy and exergy
derivatives; so that the same could help in quantifying monetary
benefits; the availability of which is secured by adopting energy
saving approaches provided by solar technologies [7]. In continu-
ation to the same, Munir et al. [8] assessed the thermal perfor-
mance of solar thermal energy assisted bakery unit; the universal
exergy efficiency of which was adjudged to be 59.26% with an
exergy improvement potential of 0.134 kW. In another similar kind
of attempt, Panchal et al. [9] proposed a direct as well as sus-
tainable method of milk pasteurisation with the help of solar ra-
diation for a temperature range of 63
Ce78
C, wherein,
pasteurisation was performed by involving fresnel solar concen-
trator. Similarly, in another thermodynamic analysis, Prabhakar
et al. [10] applied energy analysis to compute the amount of energy
consumed during production of various value added dairy prod-
ucts. Steam consumption as well as amount of water required for
production of dairy products was also ascertained as part of this
study. Additionally, Zisopoulos et al. [11] developed review plat-
form for user of exergy indicators for food processing industry,
wherein; availability in combination with Grassman diagrams was
adjudged as a novel tool for qualitative and quantitative assessment
of sustainability features of food products. In another significant
study; Goot et al., [12] presented an overview of available tech-
niques of production and processing of food products and its in-
gredients, wherein; primary focus of paper was upon improvement
in process efficiency, higher production rates, waste minimization
and disposal, technical developments, along with healthier pro-
duction of foods in more sustainable way. Further, by incorporating
redesign feature in production line; conservation of natural re-
sources could be sought. As far as thermal analysis of tea produc-
tion process was concerned; Pelvan and Ozilgen [13] enumerated
their performances in terms of three different sustainability in-
dicators i.e. cumulative degree of perfection (CDP), cumulative
carbon dioxide emission (CCO2E), and renewability indictor (RI).
The variation of CDP and RI in positive and negative sense recorded
the improvement in sustainability characteristics of tea production
process subjected to waste valorisation. Furthermore, Genc et al.
[14] assessed the specific exergy loss as 5080.20 kW/kg of red wine
production against their corresponding thermal indices i.e. energy
and exergy efficiencies as 57.20% and 41.80% respectively. Also,
GREEK LETTERS
R Universal Gas Constant (8.314 kJ/mol K)
r Density (kg/m3)
Energy Efficiency (%)
J Exergy Efficiency (%)
0 Dead State
R Indian National Rupee
in Inlet
k Any Component
Mtoe Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent
out Outlet
T Total
CPU Cream Pasteurisation Unit
CHEPU Cheese Production Unit
GPU Ghee Production Unit
SMPU Skim Milk Pasteurisation Unit
WMPU Whole Milk Pasteurisation Unit
YDPU Yogurt drink Production Unit
YPU Yogurt Production Unit
open fermented and pneumatic press were identified as subunits
involved with highest value of exergetic degradations i.e.
333.60 kW and 2003 kW respectively. In another exergy survey
Soufiyan et al. [15] ascertained the exergetic performance of yogurt
drink production plant and computed the value of specific
destruction in availability content of energy as 442 kJ/kg of yogurt
drink with boiler as key constituent involved with highest exergy
destruction i.e. 56% of its specific counterpart.
Likewise, Aghbashlo et al. [16] recorded exergetic assessment
of milk pasteurisation plants, wherein; highest value of specific
exergy destruction was determined for steam generation unit
(60.70%) followed by above zero refrigeration (15.80%) and UHT
milk pasteurisation unit (14.34%); however least magnitude was
found for regular pasteurisation unit (9.15%) respectively. In a
recent exergy and exergoeconomic evaluation, Singh et al. [17e19]
ascertained the values of specific exergy destruction for UHT milk
pasteurisation plant, ghee production plant and cream pasteurisa-
tion plant as 137.61 kJ kg, 438.61 kJ/kg and 56.71 kJ/kg respectively
at an hourly total operating cost rates of 8143.90 V, Rs. 3400.41 and
Rs. 1649.10 respectively. Besides that Nasiri et al. [20] presented
detailed exergetic survey of cheese production plant wherein;
highest value of specific exergy destruction was computed for
steam generation unit (57.40%) followed by above zero refrigeration
(16.57%) and ultrafiltrated cheese production line (13.88%); how-
ever least magnitude was found for regular pasteurisation unit
(12.14%) respectively. Similarly, Ozdil and Tantekin [21] identified
second law efficiency and associated thermal degradation as 69.10%
and 4341.03 kW respectively in electricity generation system in-
tegrated with running wastewater treatment system. Further, in
line of same analysis, Ghaisi et al. [22] found dry steam cycle as the
key thermodynamic entity responsible for optimum energy and
exergy efficiency of geothermal energy system. Continuing with the
same concept, Madlool et al. [23] reported a broad overview of
cement processing industries in terms of thermodynamic defi-
ciency of plants which was enumerated to be in the range of 51%e
82%. Again Aghbashlo et al. [24] nicely developed a thorough re-
view of previous works executed in the areas of food product
drying by involving exergy concept in connection with their envi-
ronmental concerns. Correspondingly, Ozilgen [25] has given an
exhaustive coverage to estimate nutritional energy and exergy
 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799
values of food products along with cumulative specific energy and
exergy utilization during the production and processing activities.
Interestingly, some of the most recent research endeavours
[26e29] comprehended or provided rational extension to exergy
concept by proposing exergoeconoenvironmental analysis for
evaluation of design and construction eco-costs/value ratio in
relation to its counterpart; exergy destruction eco-costs/value ratio
in order to establish healthier link between exergetic degradation
and operating parameters so as get informative insights about
sustainability characteristics, economic and environmental effec-
tiveness of energy conversion systems. In the same way, Dogbe
et al. [30] presented formulations for overall irreversibility and
functional exergy efficiency for each constituent of sugar produc-
tion plant; and with the help of Aspen software; theses quantities
were ascertained as 15 MW and 9.7% respectively. In a like manner,
Buhler et al. [31] generated significant outcomes for milk pro-
cessing plant; by implementing pinch analysis and energy mapping
tools for exact estimation of heat integration, avoidable and un-
avoidable exergy content along with a clear picture of possible
improvements.
As far as novel aspect of present work is concerned; previous
research reviews [15e20] were devoid of exergy analysis of
completely systematic dairy plant consisting of stage wise pro-
cessing of milk or its derivative i.e. cream or butter so as to get final
output as ghee. Although, stand alone exergy analysis of milk
pasteurisation units has been performed in previous few attempt
[9,15,16,17&19]], but as discussed above; an accomplished milk
processing plant collectively consisting of skim milk pasteurisation,
whole milk pasteurisation, cream pasteurisation and ghee pro-
duction plant, has never been explored from thermodynamic
viewpoint, in the past, in any of aforementioned literature reviews.
Taking cue from the above fact, the purpose of present study is to
carry out thermodynamic evaluation of comprehensive milk plant
and related irreversibilities so that the insight of which; would
provide necessary guidance to plant officials, managers and de-
signers; for development of optimal architecture of plant.
2. Plant description
The dairy processing unit considered in present research work,
consisted of skim as well as whole milk pasteurisation unit, milk
cream pasteurisation unit and ghee production unit. In order to
obtain the final derivative of milk i.e. ghee, raw milk obtained from
various sources; is pasteurised and retained in storage tanks at a
temperature below 4e5
C in order to completely arrest the bac-
terial germination. The said activity is performed by milk or cream
pasteuriser. The product thus obtained is stored and subsequently
processed for manufacturing of variety of dairy product depending
upon their fat content. Each of the above mentioned units has been
explained in subsequent sections.
2.1. Skim or whole milk pasteurisation unit
The skim milk pasteurisation line of the dairy processing unit is
represented by Fig. 1. The milk pasteuriser performs activities such
as regeneration, chilling and heating for materialising high tem-
perature and short time pasteurisation. Additionally, aforemen-
tioned process is performed with the help of plate heat exchangers.
Milk first passed through the initial chiller where milk is sub-
cooled to the level of 1e1.5
C and stored in the storage tank in
bulk quantities for its further processing as and when required. In
order to obtain necessary level of fat content in skim milk before
pasteurisation, milk cream is either removed with the help of
cream separator from raw milk in suitable proportion at a tem-
perature of 550e57
C or added if deficient in already stored milk.
3
Fig. 1. Schematic of high temperature short time skim milk pasteurisation unit
(SMPU).
The skim milk thus obtained is passed through other sections of
pasteuriser as mentioned above for accomplishment of milk pas-
teurisation. The necessary residency requirement of milk is
accomplished by holding the milk for around 15s in the holding
tube of certain length through which complete elimination of
micro-organism from the milk is realized. The milk at such a high
temperature is vulnerable to the diseases and the same is required
to be cooled down to less than 4
C as early as possible.
The skim milk in the return line submits its energy to the
regeneration units and finally brought to the required temperature
(<4
C) by the final chiller. Unlike, skim milk pasteurisation, the
pasteurisation of whole milk is performed by using similar kind of
arrangement except there is an arrangement for whole milk fat
standardisation and its subsequent homogenisation at high pres-
sure with the help of homogeniser as shown in Fig. 2. Homogeni-
sation is a universal practice of stabilizing the fat emulsion against
the gravity separation. Homogenisation causes the disruption of fat
globules (3e4 mm) into much smaller ones (1 mm) which conse-
quently eliminates the tendency of creaming or clumping. Essen-
tially, homogenisation of milk or other valued added products is
achieved by mechanical means. The product is forced through a
small passage at high velocity which imparts four to six-fold in-
crements in fat/plasma interfacial area and there are some 15
billion globules per ml of milk. The processing of cold (<10
C) and
partially solidified milk (i.e. 300e35
C) results into an incomplete
dispersion of fat phase. Homogenisation is most effective when the
fat is in a liquid state and in normal concentrations of milk. Cream
with fat content higher than 12% cannot normally be homogenized.
The high-pressure homogenisation procedure causes turbulence
and cavitation which results into small fat globules and whole milk
of low viscosity. The prominent advantages of homogenisation are
no cream line formation, reduced sensitivity to fat oxidation and
better stability of value-added products.
2.2. Cream pasteurisation unit
In process of cream pasteurisation, cream bearing variable fat
content is readjusted for required fat settings with the help of
manual or automatic control system. The cream with new fat set-
tings is prone to pathogenic disability if not adequately pasteurised.
Therefore, in view of complete safety of milk from the action of
micro-organisms; the raw cream of thermally treated in the tem-
perature range of 850e90
C for different residence time settings.
The high temperature short time cream pasteurisation line is
shown in Fig. 3. The unit consists of cream storage tank, cream
pasteuriser, heat exchanger, cooling tower, pumping and water
storage units. The cream pasteuriser consists of heating, cooling,
4 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799

Fig. 2. Schematic of high temperature short time whole milk pasteurisation unit.

Fig. 3. Schematics of high temperature short time cream pasteurisation unit.

chilling and regeneration sections; with the help of which complete
cream pasteurisation is materialised. In order to manufacture va-
riety of value added dairy delicacies such as ice cream, butter and
ghee etc; pasteurised cream is stored in huge quantities. However,
it is noteworthy that milk or cream pasteurisation is perfectly
characterised by phosphate test for milk and storch’s peroxide test
for cream; their corresponding time e temperature combinations
are defined as 15s 72
C and 1s - 90
C to arrest the enzymatic
activity in them respectively.
2.3. Ghee production unit
Depending upon the kind of product to be manufactured, the
heat treated cream is stored at a temperature below 10
C and kept
at the said thermal condition for time till is employed for
manufacturing activity. In addition to above, the ghee
manufacturing unit of dairy plant is displayed in Fig. 4. The pas-
teurised cream is received in butter churner via centrifugal cream
feed pump wherein, turbulations caused by baffles or beaters for a
duration of 45 min at 40 rpm develop solid butter and butter milk
mainly as a result of phase inversion of cream. Further, as the milk
fat globule membranes are dispersed, due to severe churning,
globule coalesce to form thick solid clarified butter and butter milk
comes out form continuous phase of globule membrane. Now, the
solid butter mass is shifted manually to butter melter with the help
of butter trolley in the required amount or it is stored for its later
 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799 5

Fig. 4. Schematics of ghee production units.

use. The configuration of butter melter is that of a heat exchanger;
which mainly incorporate metallic coils with many numbers of
turns through which hot water bearing temperature more than
90
C is circulated and whereby temperature of liquid butter rose
up to 80
C. The butter in its hot liquid form is transferred to butter
boiler arrangement which is often called as ghee boiler; and is
heated till the time it gets completely clarified i.e. traces of moisture
is completely removed from crystal lattice of liquid butter. The ghee
thus produced is bound to have impurities (crud formation); which
are removed by ghee clarifier; installed after ghee boiler in process
line.
3. Thermodynamic analysis
Basically, thermodynamics define the status of any dairy pro-
cessing unit in comparatively better way particularly when second
law is considered for its evaluation. The information related to
exergetic degradation and improvement potential in each of sub-
units, is the outcome of aforementioned approach; which however,
cannot be procured from conventional approach; neither it is of any
significant use. Thus, it is quite obvious that second law is rather
better approach in predicting zones of exergy destruction and
improvement thereof in a food processing plant.

3.1. Exergy analysis

2.4. Methodology
The mass balance equation for present analysis may be written
as follows:
In order to determine thermodynamic derivatives; i.e. to secure
X X
the goal of exergy analysis, the necessary technical data set was min ¼ mout (I)
procured from nearby milkfood processing units; in which
20000 kg/h of skim or whole milk and 3000 kg/h cream is pas- The subscript ‘in’ and ‘out’ stand for input and output
teurised; in addition to ghee production capacity of 4.5 tonnes per respectively.
day. The technical information such as temperature, mass flow rate, The energy equilibrium equation for the present analysis may be
pressure has been recorded for all state points for each of the expressed as follows:
processing units as shown in Figs. 1, Fig.2, Fig.3, and Fig.4. The
  X  X 
followings are the key assumptions for the present thermodynamic Q W ¼ m out hout  m in hin (II)
net;in net;out
analysis:
Similarly, exergy balance equation for present analysis may be
I. The ingredients of each of the dairy processing units have incorporated as:
been operated under steady state condition.
 
II. The exergy analysis does not consider the magnitudes of E xin  E xout ¼ ExD (III)
kinetic and potential energies primarily because of their
negligible contribution [16]. The exergy efficiency for the present analysis may be defined as
III. The reference state pressure and temperature were taken as follows:
101.325 kPa and 298.15 K respectively. 
IV. The fat and crud formation has no contribution towards E xout
exergy formation or destruction respectively [16]. j¼   100 (IV)
V. The variation in reference state conditions was disregarded. E xin
6 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799

The values of physical exergy rates at state points of flow

4:1757  T
streams were ascertained as follows: rfat ¼ 9:2559  102  (XII)
10

     
T
E x ¼ m cp T  T0  T0 ln þ n P  P0 (V) 3:1046  T
T0 rcarbohydrate ¼ 1:5991  103  (XIII)
10
The key thermodynamic derivatives for all the subunits of the
plant have been tabulated in Table 1. 2:8063  T
The mathematical formulations for thermodynamic derivatives
rash ¼ 2:4238  103  (XIV)
10
of Skim/Whole Milk Pasteurisation Unit (SMPU/WMPU), Cream
Pasteurisation Unit (CPU) and Ghee Production Units (GPU) of 3:1439  T 3:7574  T 2
Comprehensive Dairy Processing Plant have been given in Table 2, rwater ¼ 9:9718  103 þ  (XV)
103 103
Table 3 and Table 4 respectively.
In addition to above mentioned thermodynamic formulations; Furthermore, equations required for the determination of
the values of specific heat and specific volume of milk or its de- overall value of specific heat and specific volume of milk or its
rivatives at various states points of processing plant are dependent derivatives at various state points are given as:
upon temperature of the particular state point as well as the XXi
composition of milk derivative under consideration. Milk or any of n¼ (XVI)
its derivatives is a composition of protein, fat, carbohydrate, ash and i
ri
water for which the corresponding values of specific heats are
X
governed by equations as [16]: cp ¼ Xi  cp;i (XVII)
i
1:2089  T 1:3129  T 2
cp;protein ¼ 2:0082 þ  (VI) Moreover, the composition of milk and its derivatives used in
103 106 computation of specific heat capacity and specific volume is given
in Table 5.
1:4733  T 4:808  T 2
cp;fat ¼ 21:9842 þ  (VII) 3.2. Uncertainty analysis
103 106

The uncertainty analysis was accomplished using the strategy

1:9625  T 5:9399  T 2 developed by the Holman [34] to manifest the replication and
cp;carbohydrate ¼ 1:5488 þ  (VIII)
103 106 characterization of exploratory figures.
 
vF vF vF
1:8896  T 3:6817  T 2 U¼ u þ u ………: þ un (XVIII)
cp;ash ¼ 1:0926 þ  (IX) vz1 1 vz2 2 vzn
103 106

9:0864  T 5:4731  T 2
cp;water ¼ 4:1762 þ  (X) 4. Result and discussion
103 106
Similarly; the governing equations [16] required for determi- In this section, the thermodynamic diagnosis of the plant has
nation of density values for sub constituents of milk or its de- been explored to ascertain parameters such as exergy destruction,
rivatives at various state points of the plant are reproduced as: second law efficiency, exergy recoverable potential, relative exergy
destruction ratio, exergetic factor, and sustainability index. The
5:184  T main aim of exergy analysis is to extract prominent information
rprotein ¼ 2:0082  103  (XI) regarding the degradation in executable work potential of different
10
constituents of the plant.

4.1. Thermodynamic analysis

Table 1
Key factors related to exergy analysis of plant constituents [32,33]. The type of fluid and its state parameters such as pressure,
S. No Name of Exergy Derivative Thermodynamic Formulation temperature and mass flow rates for the skim milk pasteurisation,

whole milk pasteurisation, cream pasteurisation unit and ghee
1 Exergy Efficiency
j ¼
E xout;k
 100
production units are given in Tables 6, 8, 10 and 12, based on their

E xin;k state numbers; displayed in Figs. 1, Fig. 2, Figs. 3 and 4 respectively.
2 Exergy Destructiossn   With the help of thermodynamic data shown in the Tables 7, 9, 11
ExD ¼ E xin  E xout
3 Exergy Improvement Potential ExIP ¼ ð1  jÞ  ExD and 13; the corresponding derivatives may be computed for each of
4 Relative Irreversibility Factor ExD;k the constituents of above mentioned processing units of compre-
Exb;k ¼ P  100
ExD;T hensive dairy plant.
5 Exergetic Factor 
E xin;k
ExF;k ¼ P   100
E xin;k
4.1.1. Results and comparative analysis
6 Sustainability Index 1 The highest value of exergy efficiency was reported for SMPU i.e.
SI ¼
1j 88.32%, followed by WMPU, CPU and GPU as 81.50%, 52.28% and
7 Exergy Efficiency of Plant P 37.73% respectively (Fig. 5). More number of regeneration units in
Ex
Jp ¼ P  out;k  100 SMPU and WMPU were mainly responsible for higher level of
E xin;k
exergetic performances compared to CPU and GPU. The lower
 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799 7

Table 2
Exergetic relations for key units of skim/whole milk pasteurisation unit (SMPU/WMPU).

S$NO Component Formulation for Exergy Destruction & Exergy Efficiency

1 Initial Chiller    
ExD ¼ ð Ex2 þ E x30 Þ  ðE x3 þ E x31 Þ
 
E x3 þ E x31
j ¼    100
E x2 þ E x30
2 Regeneration-1    
ExD ¼ ðE x12 þ E x16 Þ  ðE x13 þ E x17 Þ
 
E x13 þ E x17
j ¼    100
E x12 þ E x16
3 Regeneration-2    
ExD ¼ ðE x9 þ E x17 Þ  ðE x11 þ E x18 Þ
 
E x11 þ E x18
j ¼    100
E x9 þ E x17
4 Regeneration-3    
ExD ¼ ðE x7 þ E x18 Þ  ðE x8 þ E x19 Þ
 
E x8 þ E x19
j ¼    100
E x7 þ E x18
5 Heating Section-1    
ExD ¼ ðE x13 þ E x24 Þ  ðE x14 þ E x28 Þ
 
E x14 þ E x28
j ¼    100
E x13 þ E x24
6 Heating Section-2    
ExD ¼ ðE x15 þ E x22 Þ  ðE x16 þ E x21 Þ
 
E x16 þ E x21
j ¼    100
E x15 þ E x22
7 Cream Separation   
ExD ¼ ðE x7 þ Wx42 Þ  ðE x10 þ E x9 Þ
  
E x10 þ E x9  E x8
j ¼  100
W42
8 Milk Chiller    
ExD ¼ ðE x11 þ E x25 Þ  ðE x12 þ E x26 Þ
 
E x12 þ E x26
j ¼    100
E x11 þ E x25
9 Heat Exchanger    
ExD ¼ ðE x27 þ E x36 Þ  ðE x37 þ E x22 Þ
 
E x37 þ E x22
j ¼    100
E x27 þ E x36
10 Milk Homogeniser   
ExD ¼ ðE x33 þ E x10 þ W49 Þ  ðE x11 Þ
  
ð Ex11 Þ  ðE x10 þ E x33 Þ
j ¼  100
W53

Table 3
Exergetic relations for key units of cream pasteurisation unit (CPU).

S$NO Component Formulation for Exergy Destruction & Exergy Efficiency

1 Cooling Section    
ExD ¼ ðE x9 þ E x12 Þ  ðE x10 þ E x14 Þ
 
E x10 þ E x14
j ¼    100
E x9 þ E x12
2 Regeneration Section    
ExD ¼ ðE x5 þ E x8 Þ  ðE x9 þ E x6 Þ
 
E x9 þ E x6
j ¼    100
E x5 þ E x8
3 Heating Section    
ExD ¼ ðE x7 þ E x15 Þ  ðE x8 þ E x16 Þ
 
E x7 þ E x15
j ¼    100
E x8 þ E x16
4 Heat Exchanger    
ExD ¼ ðE x18 þ E x25 Þ  ðE x26 þ E x15 Þ
 
E x18 þ E x25
j ¼    100
E x15 þ E x26
5 Chilling Section    
ExD ¼ ðE x10 þ E x20 Þ  ðE x11 þ E x21 Þ
 
E x10 þ E x20
j ¼    100
E x11 þ E x21
6 Condenser & Fan Combination     
ExD ¼ ðE x12 þ E x22 þ E x24 Þ  ðE x13 þ E x23 Þ
 
E x13 þ E x23
j ¼     100
E x12 þ E x22 þ E x24 þ W33
8 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799

Table 4
Exergetic relations for key units of ghee production unit (GPU).

S$NO Component Formulation for Exergy Destruction & Exergy Efficiency

1 Butter Churner    
ExD ¼ ðE x3 þ E x24 Þ  ðE x4 þ E x27 Þ
 
E x4 þ E x27
j ¼    100
E x3 þ E x24
2 Regeneration Section      
ExD ¼ ð Ex6 þ E x17 þ E x26 Þ  ð Ex7 þ E x18 þ E x28 Þ
  
E x7 þ E x18 þ E x28
j ¼     100
E x6 þ E x17 þ E x26

exergetic performances of subunits such as heating section, cooling
section and cooling tower mainly led to poor thermodynamic
characteristics of cream pasteurisation unit. Similarly, subunits
such as butter churner, butter melter, ghee boiler and ghee clarifier
generated an exergy deficient picture of ghee production unit.
Additionally, the aforementioned thermodynamic derivative (J)
has also been compared with [20,35,36]. Since, exergy efficiencies
of SMPU, WMPU, CPU and GPU followed a decreasing pattern of
exergy efficiency; correspondingly; specific exergy destruction
would follow an increasing pattern for the above said units as
33.32 kJ/kg, 51.67 kJ/kg, 117.68 kJ/kg, 410.10 kJ/kg, respectively as
displayed in Fig. 6.

Table 5
Composition of Milk and its Derivatives [16].

Constituents Buttermilk Composition (3.25% Fraction in 4.2% Fat Fraction in 10.2% Cream Composition 38% Butter Composition 85% Ghee Composition (99.4%
Fat Milk) Milk Fat Milk Fat Milk Fat Milk Fat Milk)

Water 0.8811 0.8662 0.8075 0.5515 0.1267 0.0030

Fat 0.0325 0.0420 0.1020 0.3800 0.8500 0.9940
Carbohydrate 0.0471 0.0488 0.0479 0.0335 0.0005 0.0000
Protein 0.0321 0.0356 0.0359 0.0252 0.0053 0.0020
Ash 0.0072 0.0074 0.0077 0.0098 0.0175 0.0010

Table 6
List of exergy values at various state points of SMPU.

S$NO State cp (kJ/kg K) r (kg/m3) T (K) P (bar) m (kg/s) Exergy Rate (kW)

1 4.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 283.15 1 8.62 13.06

2 4.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 283.15 2.75 8.62 14.53
3 4.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 2.25 8.62 27.01
4 4.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 1.25 5.57 16.92
5 4.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 2.75 5.57 17.73
6 4.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 2.75 5.57 17.73
7 4.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 4.48 5.57 18.66
8 4.2% Fat Milk 3.948 1016 327.15 2.48 5.57 29.95
9 0.05% Fat Milk 3.948 1016 325.15 3.48 5 23.99
10 Cream 38% Fat Milk 3.200 986 325.15 4.18 0.57 2.29
11 0.05% Fat Milk 3.965 1011 332.15 3.83 5 37.14
12 0.05% Fat Milk 3.965 1011 332.15 6 5 38.21
13 0.05% Fat Milk 3.921 1023 343.15 5.75 5 62.88
14 0.05% Fat Milk 3.921 1023 349.65 4.75 5 80.14
15 0.05% Fat Milk 3.921 1023 347.65 4.65 5 74.41
16 0.05% Fat Milk 3.921 1023 348.65 3.65 5 76.73
17 0.05% Fat Milk 3.965 1011 335.15 3.41 5 43.26
18 0.05% Fat Milk 3.948 1016 323.15 3.06 5 20.62
19 0.05% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 285.32 2.55 5 6.27
20 0.05% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 276.65 1.43 5 16.02
21 Hot Water 4.182 1000 349.75 3.3 6.67 113.43
22 Hot Water 4.182 1000 349.15 2.4 6.67 110.37
23 Hot Water 4.182 1000 348.15 2.05 6.67 106.10
24 Hot Water 4.182 1000 324.15 1.35 6.67 30.15
25 Hot Water 4.182 1000 345.15 1.25 13.33 187.56
26 Hot Water 4.182 1000 345.15 4 13.33 191.22
27 Hot Water 4.182 1000 345.15 3.8 6.67 95.55
28 Hot Water 4.182 1000 345.15 3.9 6.67 95.62
29 Fresh Water 4.182 1000 300.15 1 1.15 0.03
30 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 275.15 2.67 11.11 45.36
31 Cold Water 4.182 1000 278.29 1.67 11.11 32.94
32 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 275.06 2.5 11.11 45.52
33 Cold Water 4.182 1000 278.29 1.8 11.11 33.08
34 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 275.06 2.5 7.5 30.73
35 Cold Water 4.182 1000 278.29 1.8 7.5 22.33
36 Steam … … 412.15 3.5 0.05 27.88
37 Condensate … … 400.15 2.92 0.05 5.22
 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799 9

Table 7
Exergy analysis of various components of SMPU.

S$NO ITEM Exin (kW) Exout (kW) ExD (kW) J (%) ExIP(kW) Exb,k (%) ExF,k (%) SIk

1 Centrifugal Pump-1 20.56 14.53 6.03 19.60 4.85 3.59 1.43 1.24
2 Chiller-1 60.24 57.07 3.17 94.74 0.17 1.89 4.19 19.00
3 Storage Tank-1 61.74 39.25 22.49 63.57 8.19 13.38 4.29 2.75
4 Centrifugal Pump-2 19.12 17.73 1.39 36.82 0.88 0.83 1.33 1.58
5 Balance Tank 17.73 17.73 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 1.23 0.00
6 Centrifugal Pump-3 21.73 18.66 3.07 23.25 2.36 1.83 1.51 1.30
7 Regeneration Section-3 39.28 36.17 3.11 92.08 0.25 1.85 2.73 12.63
8 Regeneration Section-2 60.89 57.76 3.13 94.86 0.16 1.86 4.23 19.45
9 Regeneration Section-1 114.94 106.14 8.80 92.34 0.67 5.23 7.99 13.06
10 Heating Section-2 158.50 110.29 48.21 69.58 14.66 28.68 11.01 3.29
11 Heating Section-1 202.24 191.22 11.02 94.55 0.60 6.56 14.05 18.35
12 Cream Separator 59.95 26.28 33.67 43.84 18.91 20.03 4.17 1.78
13 Centrifugal Pump-4 42.77 38.31 4.46 14.22 3.83 2.65 2.97 1.17
14 Centrifugal Pump-5 195.06 191.22 3.84 48.80 1.97 2.28 13.55 1.95
15 Plate Heat Exchanger 122.04 119.05 2.99 97.55 0.07 1.78 8.48 40.82
16 Chilling Section 51.79 49.10 2.69 94.81 0.14 1.60 3.60 19.25
17 Water Tank 110.40 106.10 4.30 96.11 0.17 2.56 7.67 25.67
18 Holding Coil 80.14 74.41 5.73 92.85 0.41 3.41 5.57 13.99

Table 8
List of exergy values at various state points of WMPU.

S$NO STATE cp (kJ/kg K) r (kg/m3) T (K) P (bar) m (kg/s) Exergy Rate (kW)

1 3.8% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 283.15 1 8.62 13.06

2 3.8% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 283.15 2.75 8.62 14.53
3 3.8% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 276.15 2.25 8.62 29.61
4 3.8% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 1.25 5.57 16.92
5 3.8% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 2.75 5.57 17.73
6 3.8% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 2.75 5.57 17.73
7 3.8% Fat Milk 3.881 1031 277.15 5.75 5.57 19.35
8 3.8% Fat Milk 3.948 1016 323.15 3.75 5.57 23.34
9 3.8% Fat Milk 3.948 1016 325.15 3 5.57 26.46
10 3.8% Fat Milk 3.948 1016 320.15 5.5 5.57 19.48
11 10.2% Fat Milk 3.965 1011 333.15 6.5 5.99 48.54
12 10.2% Fat Milk 3.982 1006 345.75 6.27 5.99 85.15
13 10.2% Fat Milk 3.999 1000 343.75 5.27 5.99 78.44
14 10.2% Fat Milk 3.982 1006 343.75 5.17 5.99 78.04
15 10.2% Fat Milk 3.982 1000 348.15 4.17 5.99 91.96
16 10.2% Fat Milk 3.965 1011 335.15 3.93 5.99 52.13
17 10.2% Fat Milk 3.965 1011 333.75 3.58 5.99 48.32
18 10.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1000 281.15 3.07 5.99 12.95
19 10.2% Fat Milk 3.881 1000 278.15 1.79 5.99 16.80
20 Hot Water 4.182 1000 350.15 3.3 6.94 119.75
21 Hot Water 4.182 1000 345.75 2.4 6.94 100.83
22 Hot Water 4.182 1000 345.15 2.05 6.94 98.20
23 Hot Water 4.182 1000 348.15 1.35 6.94 109.91
24 Hot Water 4.182 1000 347.75 1.25 13.89 216.51
25 Hot Water 4.182 1000 347.75 4 13.89 220.33
26 Hot Water 4.182 1000 347.75 3.8 6.94 109.94
27 Hot Water 4.182 1000 347.75 3.9 6.94 110.01
28 Fresh Water 4.182 1000 300.15 1 1.18 0.03
29 85% Fat Basis 2.720 1000 323.15 1 0.42 1.13
30 85% Fat Basis 2.720 1000 323.15 1 0.42 1.13
31 85% Fat Basis 2.720 1000 323.15 2.5 0.42 1.20
32 85% Fat Basis 2.720 1000 323.15 2 0.42 1.18
33 85% Fat Basis 2.720 1000 323.15 3 0.42 1.22
34 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 275.06 2.67 11.11 45.71
35 Cold Water 4.182 1000 280.15 1.67 11.11 27.07
36 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 275.06 2.5 11.38 46.62
37 Cold Water 4.182 1000 277.15 1.8 11.38 37.88
38 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 275.06 2.67 8.36 34.39
39 Cold Water 4.182 1000 280.15 1.67 8.36 20.37
40 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 275.06 2.67 0.63 2.59
41 Cold Water 4.182 1000 280.15 1.67 0.63 1.54
42 Steam … … 412.15 3.5 0.05 27.88
43 Condensate … … 400.15 2.92 0.05 5.22
10 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799

Table 9
Exergy Analysis of various components of WMPU.

S$NO ITEM Exin (kW) Exout (kW) ExD (kW) J (%) ExIP(kW) Exb,k (%) ExF,k (%) SIk

1 Centrifugal Pump-1 20.56 13.06 7.5 19.60 6.03 2.42 1.17 1.24
2 Chiller-1 60.24 56.68 3.56 94.09 0.21 1.15 3.44 16.92
3 Storage Tank-1 68 37.29 30.71 54.84 13.87 9.91 3.88 2.21
4 Centrifugal Pump-2 19.12 17.73 1.39 36.82 0.88 0.45 1.09 1.58
5 Balance Tank 17.72 17.72 0 100.00 0.00 0.00 1.01 1.00
6 Centrifugal Pump-3 21.72 19.35 2.37 40.75 1.40 0.76 1.24 1.69
7 Regeneration Section-3 67.67 36.29 31.38 53.63 14.55 10.12 3.86 2.16
8 Regeneration Section-2 75.47 66.43 9.04 88.02 1.08 2.92 4.31 8.35
9 Regeneration Section-1 140.5 137.28 3.22 97.71 0.07 1.04 8.02 43.63
10 Heating Section-2 197.79 192.79 5 97.47 0.13 1.61 11.29 39.56
11 Heating Section-1 195.16 188.35 6.81 96.51 0.24 2.20 11.14 28.66
12 Homogeniser 219.48 48.54 170.94 14.53 146.10 55.15 12.53 1.17
13 Centrifugal Pump-4 25.61 19.48 6.13 18.27 5.01 1.98 1.46 1.22
14 Centrifugal Pump-5 223.85 220.17 3.68 50.93 1.81 1.19 12.78 2.04
15 Plate Heat Exchanger 137.82 124.97 12.85 90.68 1.20 4.15 7.87 10.73
16 Chilling Section 59.57 54.68 4.89 91.79 0.40 1.58 3.40 12.18
17 Water Tank 99.89 97.47 2.42 97.58 0.06 0.78 5.70 41.28
18 Balance Tank-2 9.83 9.83 0 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.56 1.00
19 Screw Pump-P7 3.38 1.22 2.16 36.09 1.38 0.70 0.19 1.56
20 Centrifugal Pump-P6 4.13 1.2 2.93 29.06 2.08 0.95 0.24 1.41
21 Storage Tank-2 5.22 2.67 2.55 51.15 1.25 0.82 0.30 2.05
22 Holding Coil 78.44 78.04 0.4 99.49 0.00 0.13 4.48 196.10

Table 10
List of exergy values at various state points of CPU.

S$NO STATE cp (kJ/kg K) r (kg/m3) T (K) P (bar) m (kg/s) Exergy Rate (kW)

1 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 952 325.15 1 0.833 3.21

2 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 952 325.15 1 0.833 3.21
3 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 952 325.15 2 0.833 3.30
4 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 952 325.15 1 0.833 3.21
5 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 952 325.15 3.5 0.833 3.43
6 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 944 349.15 2.5 0.833 11.04
7 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 944 349.15 5 0.833 11.26
8 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 913 361.15 4.5 0.833 16.58
9 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 944 333.15 3.5 0.833 5.52
10 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 960 306.15 3 0.833 0.47
11 38% F Milk Cream 3.340 965 280.15 2.5 0.833 1.70
12 Hot Water 4.182 1000 306.15 2.5 2.5 1.48
13 Water 4.182 1000 301.15 1 2.5 0.16
14 Water 4.182 1000 301.15 3.5 2.5 0.78
15 Hot Water 4.182 1000 373.15 2.5 0.25 8.51
16 Water 4.182 1000 330.15 2 0.25 1.70
17 Water 4.182 1000 329.15 1 0.25 1.58
18 Water 4.182 1000 329.15 3 0.25 1.63
19 Water 4.182 1000 298.15 1.5 0.00031 0.00
20 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 274.65 3 2.5 10.73
21 Cold Water 4.182 1000 279.15 2.5 2.5 6.99
22 Air (RH ¼ 28%) 1.005 1.225 298.15 1 0.012 0.00
23 Air (RH ¼ 100%) 1.005 1.225 300.15 1 0.012 0.00
24 Water 4.182 1000 298.15 1.5 0.000087 0.00
25 Steam … … 397.12 2.25 0.025 15.14
26 Condensate … … 393.15 1.75 0.025 2.53

The highest value of specific steam consumption was reported
for GPU (0.66 kg/kg) followed by that of SMPU or WMPU and CPU
as 0.01 kg/kg and 0.04 kg/kg respectively (Fig. 7). Moreover, Fig. 7
also displays the specific steam consumption of milk processing
units available from previous research surveys [20,35,36].
In continuation of same, the highest value of specific thermal
exergy consumption (kJ/kg) was recorded for GPU i.e. 195.43 kJ/kg,
followed by CPU, WPMU and SMPU as 28.91 kJ/kg, 11.71 kJ/kg and
10.06 kJ/kg respectively as given in Fig. 8, apart from their com-
parison with available literature works [20,35,36].
The highest value of specific electrical exergy consumption was
reported for GPU (114.28 kJ/kg) followed by that of WMPU, SMPU
and CPU as 42.76 kJ/kg, 21.96 kJ/kg and 10.32 kJ/kg respectively
(Fig. 9). Moreover, Fig. 9 also displays the specific electrical exergy
consumption of milk processing units available from previous
literature [20,35,36].
In addition to above, the percentage value of thermal and
electrical exergy consumption for each of the above stated units has
been determined and represented in Fig. 10.
The thermal exergy consumption (%) was reported to be highest
for GPU (71.78%) followed by CPU (56.84%), SMPU (49.35%) and
WMPU (21.49%) respectively, whereas specific electrical exergy
consumption was reported to be highest for WMPU (78.51%) fol-
lowed by SMPU (50.65%), CPU (43.16%) and GPU (28.22%) respec-
tively as shown in Fig. 10.
 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799 11

Table 11
Exergy Analysis of various components of CPU.

S$NO ITEM Exin (kW) Exout (kW) ExD (kW) J (%) ExIP(kW) Exb,k (%) ExF,k (%) SIk

1 Storage Tank 14.44 10.2 4.24 70.64 1.24 4.33 7.03 3.41
2 Pump-1 4.71 3.3 1.41 6.00 1.33 1.44 2.29 1.06
3 Balance Tank 3.3 3.21 0.09 97.27 0.00 0.09 1.61 36.67
4 Pump-2 5.46 3.43 2.03 9.78 1.83 2.07 2.66 1.11
5 Regeneration Section 20.01 16.56 3.45 82.76 0.59 3.52 9.74 5.80
6 Pump-3 16.04 11.26 4.78 4.40 4.57 4.88 7.81 1.05
7 Heating Section 96.38 33.61 62.77 34.87 40.88 64.03 46.91 1.54
8 Cooling Section 6.21 1.96 4.25 31.56 2.91 4.34 3.02 1.46
9 Final Chilling 11.2 8.69 2.51 77.59 0.56 2.56 5.45 4.46
10 Heat Exchanger 16.77 11.04 5.73 65.83 1.96 5.85 8.16 2.93
11 Pump-5 3.83 1.63 2.2 1.78 2.16 2.24 1.86 1.02
12 Water Tank 1.7 1.58 0.12 92.94 0.01 0.12 0.83 14.17
13 Pump-4 2.41 0.78 1.63 27.55 1.18 1.66 1.17 1.38
14 Condenser And Fan Combination 2.98 0.16 2.82 5.37 2.67 2.88 1.45 1.06

Table 12
List of exergy values at various state points of GPU.

S$NO STATE cp (kJ/kg K) r (kg/m3) T (K) P (bar) m (kg/s) Exergy Rate (kW)

1 38% Fat Cream 3.34 986 282.65 1.5 0.15 0.22

2 38% Fat Cream 3.34 986 280.15 1 0.15 0.28
3 38% Fat Cream 3.34 986 279.15 2.5 0.15 0.34
4 82% Fat Butter 2.11 860 289.15 1 0.124 0.04
5 82% Fat Butter 2.11 860 369.15 1 0.124 1.91
6 82% Fat Butter 2.11 860 369.15 1.5 0.124 1.92
7 99.4% Fat Ghee 1.672 887 384.15 1 0.105 1.83
8 99.4% Fat Ghee 1.672 887 384.15 2.5 0.105 1.85
9 99.4% Fat Ghee 1.672 887 349.15 1.5 0.105 0.69
10 99.4% Fat Ghee 1.672 887 348.15 1.3 0.105 0.67
11 99.4% Fat Ghee 1.672 887 349.15 1 0.105 0.69
12 Chilled Water 4.182 1000 274.15 2.5 0.087 0.38
13 Cold Water 4.182 1000 276.15 2 0.087 0.32
14 Steam e e 404.93 2.85 0.0135 8.84
15 Water 4.182 1000 298.15 1.25 0.158 0.00
16 Condensate e e 307.15 1.25 0.1715 0.10
17 Steam e e 409.43 3.25 0.054 35.53
18 Condensate e e 385.15 1.25 0.054 15.09
19 Steam e e 397.36 2.25 0.0023 1.36
20 Water 4.182 1000 298.15 1.25 0.865 0.02
21 Condensate e e 300.15 1 0.867 0.02
27 3.25% 3.812 1022 289.15 1 0.026 0.01
Fat Buttermilk
28 Water Vapour 1.864 804 380.15 1 0.019 0.34

Table 13
Exergy Analysis of all components of GPU.

S$NO ITEM Exin (kW) Exout (kW) ExD (kW) J (%) ExIP(kW) Exb,k (%) ExF,k (%) SIk

1 Cream Storage Tank 1.35 0.6 0.75 44.44 0.42 1.74 1.95 1.80
2 Pump-1 1.78 0.34 1.44 4.00 1.38 3.34 2.57 1.04
3 Butter Churner 5.84 0.05 5.79 0.86 5.74 13.45 8.45 1.01
4 Butter Melter 9.38 2.01 7.37 21.43 5.79 17.12 13.57 1.27
5 Pump-2 3.41 1.92 1.49 0.66 1.48 3.46 4.93 1.01
6 Ghee Boiler 37.95 17.26 20.69 45.48 11.28 48.06 54.90 1.83
7 Pump-3 3.33 1.85 1.48 1.33 1.46 3.44 4.82 1.01
8 Ghee Storage Tank 3.23 0.71 2.52 21.98 1.97 5.85 4.67 1.28
9 Ghee Clarifier 2.19 0.67 1.52 30.59 1.05 3.53 3.17 1.44
10 Balance Tank 0.67 0.67 0 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.97 1.00

4.2. Technical discussion
Significant amount of exergy destruction has been reported
(33.67 kW) in SMPU, mainly because of involvement of cream
separator in cream separation activity which necessitate excessive
amount of electrical energy in separation of fat from milk plasma.
Severity of centrifugal forces in cream separator, is held responsible
for the aforementioned activity i.e. procurement of skim milk
(0.04%e0.07%) from whole milk (Milk Fat > 3%) and milk cream is
derived as secondary gain through the disc stacks of centrifugal
separator is employed as key ingredient for many other value
added dairy product. This is quite noteworthy that homogeniser
being one of the key constituent of WMPU maintains least level of
exergetic performances (14.53%) owing to requirement of huge
amounts of high grade energy potential for materialising multi-fold
decrement in fat globule size from diameter 20 mme1 mm. The joint
12 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799

Fig. 5. Comparative analysis of exergy efficiency (%) with available literature. Fig. 8. Comparative analysis of specific thermal exergy consumption (%) with available
literature.

Fig. 6. Comparative analysis of specific exergy destruction (%) with available literature.
Fig. 9. Comparative analysis of specific electrical exergy consumption (%) with avail-
able literature.

Fig. 7. Comparative analysis of specific steam consumption (%) with available

literature. Fig. 10. Comparative analysis of percentage thermal and electrical exergy
consumption.

effect of turbulence and cavitation in combination of forced flow

through the narrow opening of homogeniser develop nearly six fold
rise in fat/plasma interfacial areas [37]. Quite obviously, there is
frequent occurrence of excessive amounts of destruction of high
grade in the said subunit for execution of said activity. The ex-
tremity of exergy demolition could be reduced by ways of either
performing homogenisation of milk in stages at low mass flow
rates. However, as a permission limit of 12% milk fat content, that a
homogeniser could contain; the triple effect evaporator may be
employed to reduce the water content thorough milk so that the
12% milk fat level could be retained and homogenisation which is
usually performed at 3e6% of milk fat content, could be performed
at 12% milk fat which is maximum possible limit.
The mass flow rates being fed to homogeniser may be reduced
to such a scale that for same level of resource consumption, a better
degree of homogenisation may be achieved. Further, depending
upon the desired fat content, pasteurised milk cream is added to
 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799
pasteurised milk for manufacturing of other value added products.
The pasteurisation assists in retention of cream at refrigerated
conditions for longer durations. Moreover, it also ensures complete
bacteriological control over milk cream. Also, quite importantly, to
ensure optimum better yield and texture quality, there is optimum
temperature range for retention of milk cream i.e. 80e12
C, as the
same also cooperate in reduction of fat loss during the process of
cream churning for production of solid mass of butter [38]. In order
to secure optimum yield of butter, there is requirement of affective
cream strength or appropriate level of crystallization, which can be
obtained by rapid rate of cooling of cream retained in storage tank.
The structural strength of cream or milk fat is mainly an outcome of
expeditious chilling action accompanied by smooth rotary agitation
in storage tank. The development high degree of partial coales-
cence among milk fat globules or Van der Waal’s forces of attraction
between the solid and liquid phases of fat content of milk cream is
established at the cost of demolition of cool exergy i.e. 5 kJ/kg of
pasteurised cream. The key parameters influencing the quality of
butter texture and yield of rich solid mass was purely dependent
upon thermo-mechanical parameters of butter churner, milk fat
content in cream and churner rpm. Similarly, apart from afore-
mentioned reasons, the high shearing effect caused by beaters was
directly responsible for demolition of Van der Waal’s force of
attraction existing amongst the milk fat globules and which obvi-
ously lead to controlled fat loss in butter milk [39,40]. However,
combined effect of above stated technical features as well as
requirement of high grade energy content in realising the above
phenomena; would automatically lead to higher level of exergetic
degradations. Neither vigorous nor too slow rpm of butter churner
is desirable as far as butter quality or stability of emulsion was
concerned. Additionally, churning speed, shearing effect, turbu-
lence and severity of cavitation, disrupts and coalesce the fat
globules which eventually discharge buttermilk as secondary
output. Thus, churner rpm usually recommended for said process is
45e60 rpm. The interaction and intermixing of fat globules or high
degree of inter-collision was always accompanied by high degree of
exergetic degradation i.e. 38.53 kJ/kg of pasteurised cream. There is
unexpected increment in magnitude of viscosity of multiphase
emulsion of fat post churning in butter churner; which is an
outcome of non-uniform aggregation of butter grains; which exists
as three dimensional arrangements in network of continuous phase
of milk fat composition [41,42]. Major portion of thermal and
electrical exergies available in butter melter equipment are dedi-
cated for decomposition of heterogeneous fatty acids which are
made up of glycerides; and in for evaporation of aqueous content
available in multiphase composition of milk fat respectively.
During entire process of ghee manufacturing, the ghee boiler
was one such units which has highest magnitude of thermal irre-
versibilities i.e. 197.04 kJ/kg of ghee production. There are basically
two main entities which assist in production of clarified butter i.e.
severe heat treatment of liquid butter and regular agitation
(15e20 rpm approximately) in ghee boiler. Further, it was quite
significant to observe that thermal penetration of butter was re-
ported to be lower than that of its cream counterpart owing to
higher value of Prandtl Number (two times) of butter. As a conse-
quence of the same; high grade thermal treatment was needed
along with uniform agitation to secure better thermal penetration
inside the continuous phase of milk fat content; whereby necessary
latent heat content could be provided for complete removal of
aqueous content dispersed inside it. There was requirement of high
thermal gradient mainly because of large gap in thermal conditions
of steam and liquid butter available from butter melter which might
be ascertained as key reason for exergetic destructions of highest
proportions in ghee boiler subunit. In addition to that, the con-
sumption of electrical exergy was estimated to be 14.47 kJ/kg of
13
ghee; which was essentially needed for removal of highly dense
solid particles present in ghee from ghee boiler. The action of
centrifugal forces existing in disk stack arrangement of centrifugal
clarifier pushes impurities towards outer side and clarified content
being lighter in nature move upwards of equipment and eventually
gets separated. The prominences of thermal exergy destruction at
elevated thermal conditions in butter processing section lead to
higher magnitudes of irreversibilities in comparison to its electrical
counterpart associated with cream processing section. The pump-
ing of cream, butter and clarified butter i.e. ghee needs extensive
amount of electrical energy resources; but due to unavailability of
variable frequency drives; the desired level of exergetic improve-
ment was not feasible. Thus, in order to secure significant exergetic
improvement; innovative practices such as exergy recuperation
approach wherein both latent and sensible exergies are extracted;
was required to be implemented. Indeed, exergy is very helpful tool
which guides us in development of better engineering design for
comprehensive milk plant. In the light of current scenario of pro-
duction and consumption of various dairy products in Indian
Subcontinent; the appropriate modifications in layout of plant,
proper heat integration amongst subunits of plant or retrofitting
with renewable energy technologies could lead to a significant
reduction in processing cost as well as resource consumption.
Therefore, engineering design has a major role to play in combi-
nation with exergoeconomic analysis of entire plant; whereby, key
exergoeconomic derivatives such as cost rate of exergy destruction,
total operating cost rate, percentage relative cost difference, exer-
goeconomic factor and specific manufacturing cost of end product;
would tell about possibilities of economic savings at various loca-
tions in relation to aforementioned engineering design initiatives.
4.3. Uncertainty analysis
The values of uncertainties for the key parameters of dairy food
processing plant are given in Table 14. The consequences reflected
that uncertainties associated all the thermal parameters were well
within the specified range i.e. less than 5%.
5. Conclusions
In the present research survey; thermodynamic estimation of a
comprehensive milk processing plant has been performed. It was
found that the idea of thermodynamic perfection lies with securing
highest possible savings in exergetic destructions; whereby fertility
and productivity of dairy plant may be magnified. The incorpora-
tion of constructional features, improved plant layout, installing
heat recovery options or appropriate integration of thermal energy
Table 14
The Uncertainty analysis for technical parameters of Milk Processing Plant [34].
S.No Parameter Total Uncertainty
1 Milk Temperature Measurement ±0:3275
2 Milk Pressure Measurement ±0:2115
3 Milk Mass Flow Rate Measurement ±1:0720
4 Uncertainty in Cream Temperature Measurement ±1:8036
5 Uncertainty in Cream Pressure Measurement ±0:3410
6 Uncertainty in Cream Mass Flow Rate Measurement ±0:0220
7 Uncertainty in Butter Temperature Measurement ±3:7622
8 Uncertainty in Butter Pressure Measurement ±0:4213
9 Uncertainty in Butter Mass Flow Rate Measurement ±0:0061
10 Uncertainty in Ghee Temperature Measurement ±2:8315
11 Uncertainty in Ghee Pressure Measurement ±0:0355
12 Uncertainty in Ghee Mass Flow Rate Measurement ±0:1190
13 Uncertainty in Steam Mass Flow Rate Measurement ±0:0042
14 Uncertainty in Steam Pressure Measurement ±0:0293
14 G. Singh et al. / Energy 194 (2020) 116799
amongst the subunits of plant; could help in realisation of uplift-
ment of overall thermoeconomic performance on entire dairy food
processing plant. The overall value of energy and exergy efficiencies
of comprehensive milk processing plant was ascertained as 92.72%
and 82.13% respectively. The highest value of exergy efficiency was
computed for skim milk pasteurisation unit (SMPU) as 88.32%;
followed by whole milk pasteurisation unit (WMPU: 81.50%), cream
pasteurisation unit (CPU: 52.28%) and ghee production unit
(GPU:37.73%) respectively. The highest value of specific exergy
destruction was determined for GPU as 410.10 kJ/kg; which form
66.92% portion of its overall counterpart. Similarly; specific exergy
destruction for CPU, WMPU and SMPU were reported as 117.68 kJ/
kg, 51.67 kJ/kg and 33.32 kJ/kg respectively.
Fat separation activity from milk plasma in SMPU, rapid ho-
mogenisation for realising multi-fold increment in fat globule size
in WMPU, instantaneous crystallization of cream in CPU, joint effect
of turbulence and cavitation, excessive shearing effect, intensive
heat transfer and fast phase change activity in GPU; were mainly
responsible for higher level of exergetic degradation in entire plant.
Similarly, the amounts of specific electrical and thermal exergies
consumption were determined as 189.32 kJ/kg and 246.11 kJ/kg
respectively. As far as steam consumption was concerned; it was
reported as highest in GPU as 0.66 kg/kg of ghee followed by CPU as
0.04 kg/kg of cream and SMPU/WMPU as 0.01 kg/kg of milk.
Additionally, sustainability characteristic of plant units were
calculated in terms of sustainability index and the same was found
to be quite excellent for SMPU (SI: 8.56); whereas its overall
counterpart associated with complete plant was found out to be
5.60. The significance of exergy approach has been accentuated
throughout the present research attempt for location and quanti-
fication of resource degradation coupled with milk processing
systems. Further, extended approaches such as exergoeconomic,
exergoenvironmental and emergy; which derive their basis from
exergy concept are essentially required to diagnose the eco-friendly
and cost effective energy conversion systems so as to secure better
thermodynamic and thermoeconomic performances in combina-
tion with improved ecological characteristics. As an extension to
approach discussed above, mechanism such as exergoeconomic
optimization, pinch analysis and life cycle judgement could
certainly assist in development of optimal plant architecture
whereby feasible rise in overall thermoeconomic performances
could be secured.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to acknowledge the technical support
provided by authorities at Verka Milk Plant, Mohali (India) and
sincerely appreciate the cooperation of technical manpower.
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