Application of membrane technology in the pretreatment of cheese dairies wastes and co-treatment in a municipal conventional biological unit

A great number of cheese dairies and dairy industries in Greece are disposing their wastes, mainly cheese whey, either on land or in surface receivers, in large quantities creating a major environmental problem. A typical agricultural and pastoral provincial town of 70,000 inhabitants, Trikala, became the starting point of this research. A co-treatment of the urban sewage and the dairy wastes in the municipal treatment plant was recommended. The successful application of the above statement is based primarily on the pretreatment of the cheese dairies wastes. So far for cheese whey the recovery of the lactose serum in the contemporary central unit applying membrane technology has been suggested. As far as the wastewaters of the washing and refrigeration are concerned a pretreatment is required for the defatting in a grease trap, the grating, the adjustment of pH and the equalisation in an appropriate tank. Finally, this research has also focussed on the importance of membrane technology in improving the quality of milk and cheese production.