Joumul of Food Engineering 32 (1997) 179- 198

0 1997 Elsevier Science Limited. All rights reserved

Printed in Great Britain
PI I: SO260-8774(97)00022-S 0260-8774197 $17.00 + 0.00

Cheese Manufacture as a Separation and Reaction Process

Ken R. Morison
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch,
New Zealand

(Received 11 January 1996; accepted 25 March 1997)

ABSTRACT

This paper defines the separations and chemical reactions in the cheesemaking
process as a system of equations. Mass balances are formally defined for milk
separation and cheesemaking in terms of input and output streams, each with
a number of components. Pasteurisation and the coagulation of milk during
curd production are discussed as chemical reactions. From the model,
expressions are derived for cheese yield. The modelling process reveals a number
of assumptions which require testing and verification by experimentation. The
model provides a means by which process engineers can more easily understand
and analyse the cheesemaking process and it also provides a framework which
enables comparison of research on cheese yields. The sensitivities of cheese yield
to some of the assumptions are calculated and discussed. 0 1997 Elsevirr
Science Limited

INTRODUCTION

Some types of cheese are now mass produced in quantities of tens of tonnes per
hour. On this scale the process becomes of greater interest to process engineers and
technologists. In chemical engineering the standard approach for analysing systems
has involved the use of unit operations, each explained in terms of heat and mass
balances, physical separations, reactions and equilibria (e.g., Coulson et al., 1983).
Historically mass balances for cheese production have been reported in numerical
terms, e.g., Emmons (1994), or perhaps as a single yield equation (Emmons et al.,
1990, 1993a, 1993b). It can be more useful to express the mass balance as a system
of equations, thus enabling the use of process flow-sheeting tools to evaluate the
effect of various parameters on the process and its yield. The scope of this paper is
limited to the processes which affect the mass balances of the cheesemaking. Ched-
dar cheese is used as the example on which specific details are based but the
179
180 K. R. Morison

framework can be changed easily to suit other mass-produced cheeses. Changes in

the energy of the streams are not be considered here.
The yield of the cheesemaking process is usually defined as the mass of cheese
produced from a given mass of standardised cheese milk. It is expressed in units of
kilograms of cheese per 100 kg of milk (e.g., Emmons, 1993). Yield calculation has
been a useful control tool to monitor the effectiveness of the process but some have
argued that the natural variability in composition, causing variability in yield, is so
great that yield is not a useful control tool, but rather measurements of losses are
more effective (Parkin, 1982).

ELEMENTS OF UNIT OPERATIONS

For any unit operation a number of elements must be defined.

The system boundary is the first element which must be defined. In the case of
cheesemaking the process is defined as starting at the pipe exiting from of the raw
milk silo. The end of the process will be defined as the end of the cheese curd
draining and salting system. Auxiliary operations such as the supply of energy,
chemical and water utilities will not be included. Thus we can consider the process
as shown in Fig. 1.
It is useful to divide any process into a number of unit operations, each of which
can be described by a system of equations. In this case, the unit operations are those
shown in Fig. 1. While it is possible to integrate the pasteurisation, separation and
standardisation operations so as to achieve better energy efficiency, the three opera-
tions will be considered independently in this work. The results of the analysis are
identical to those of the integrated process. The last two operations of curd produc-
tion and curd draining and salting will be considered together to avoid the need to
define the composition of the intermediate product.
Each unit operation will have streams flowing into and out of it and each stream
will have a number of components, each component being a defined mass fraction
of the total. In general the overall flow rate of the stream may be defined as a
constant or as a variable.
Each unit operation consists of some physical and/or biochemical process for
which a mathematical model is written. The simplifications and assumptions used in
the model are an essential component in defining the scope and accuracy of the
model.

Desludge Excess Cream Whey Whey

Fig. 1. The Cheddar cheesemaking process showing the defined system boundary and unit
operations.
 Cheese manufacture as a separation and reaction process 181

The processes of interest to us in the cheesemaking process are:

(1) Heating and cooling (pasteurisation)

(2) Liquid phase separation (cream separation)

[a{
(3
Chemical reaction (of casein protein)
Chemical equilibrium (of protein and minerals)
Solids/liquid separation (of curd from whey)

NOMENCLATURE

The following symbols will be used:

6 Flow rate of stream j (kg/s)
$.I Mass fraction of component i in stream j
II Number of components
m Number of streams

GENERAL MASS BALANCE

In any process a steady state mass balance can be defined. Consider a process with
a number of streams in and out (Fig. 2).
An overall mass balance applies to the process, and if all flows are defined to be
positive;
CFin = CF,,ut (1)

In an aqueous system we might say there are n components of which n - 1 are

dissolved or suspended components and component II is water. A component mass
balance applies within each of m streams and it may be expressed as
x /.,,= I- c
,=l.Iz+ I
x,. , for each stream ,j = 1. m (2)

Thus there will be m individual equations defined by eqn (2). A component mass
balance applies over the process for each component:

X X,.,Fi,l,,= C x,.;F,,,,~., i=l.n-1 (3)

, = I. 111,,, i= I. u,,.l,,

There will be n - 1 individual equations defined by eqn (3).

.-___..-._..--- ..___..-__.a_._)

Fin Process F out

_) e
.~__._._..__..- ..___---_______)

Fig. 2. A general process.

182 K. R. Morison

DEGREES OF FREEDOM

Within a process, there are usually some variables which are free to be set. The
number of such variables is the number of degrees of freedom, which is well defined
by Co&on et al. (1983) as the total number of variables minus the number of
unique equations which define the process. One variable is defined for each compo-
nent fraction in each stream and for the stream flow rate. Thus the number of
variables for a mass balance only is given by
Variables = Streams x (Components+ 1)
and hence the number of degrees of freedom is defined.

MILK: THE FEED MATERIAL

For the process of cheesemaking the feed material is generally cows’ milk. The basic
components and typical mass fractions in cows’ milk are given in Table 1.
More detailed explanation of the components can be found in Walstra & Jenness
(1984). Casein protein is defined as the protein which precipitates when the pH is
reduced to 4.6. The remaining protein in the milk or whey stream is referred to as
whey protein. Fat, casein protein and whey protein do not have fixed molecular
structures and thus there may be variation within these species.
The composition of milk has been found to vary between species, within a species,
from day to day and from month to month (see, for example, Walstra & Jenness,
1984). Banks & Tamine (1987) showed that the seasonal variation in the composi-
tion of milk affected cheese yields in that the proportion of casein retained in the
cheese varied from 95% to 99% and the proportion of fat retained varied from 89%
to 93%. This indicates that some of the reactions and separations in the process are
affected by composition.
Other components of milk will be introduced in the discussion on cheesemaking.

PASTEURISATION

Pasteurisation may be carried out before or after separation and standardisation but
it is considered first here. Within the pasteurisation process, the raw milk is heated

TABLE 1
The Basic Components of Milk (Walstra & Jenness, 1984)
Component Typical mass Range
fraction (TO)

Fat 3.9 2.4-5.5

Lactose 3.8-5.3
Casein protein ;.: 1.7-3.5
Whey protein 0:65 0.6-0.9
Minerals 0.65 0.53-0.80
Miscellaneous 0.32
Water 87.3 85.5-88.7
 Cheese manufacture as a separation and reaction process 183

from about 10°C to at least 72°C is held for 15 s, and then is usually cooled to the
separation temperature of about 55°C. Pasteurisation is carried out to kill bacteria
in the milk. The mass of bacteria in milk is so small that it will be considered
insignificant in this analysis.

Reactions during pasteurisation

There is an anecdotal belief that higher pasteurisation temperatures cause an

increase in yield and this is supported by findings that during the pasteurisation
heating step some of the whey proteins form a complex with the casein proteins.
Lau et al. (1990) reported that when milk was pasteurised at 63°C for 30 min, 5% of
the whey protein, which they presumed to be fl-lactoglobulin, became associated
with the casein protein. De Jong & van der Linden (1992) considered the denatura-
tion of /Hactoglobulin as a reaction process, especially as part of the fouling
process. The denaturation of fl-lactoglobulin (variants A and B) and a-lactalbumin
during heating to 70-150°C for 2-5400 s was examined by Dannenberg & Kessler
(1988). They found that /I-lactoglobulin B had the highest rate of denaturation so
this protein is used here as the worst case. The data they obtained for temperatures
in the range 70-90°C will fit a rate equation for the denaturation of fi-lactoglobulin
(P-LG) with an order of between 1.5 and 2.0. The best fit for the data given was
found by the current author to be
- r = kC/;?9LG B (4)
where C is the concentration (kmol m-‘), r is the rate of reaction (kmol me3 ss’)
and k ((km01 m-3))0.79 ss’) is given by the Arrhenius law:

In (k) = 100.4- s

where the activation energy, E A, is 291.5 kJ/mol. Thus the extent of reaction is
dependent on the temperature and duration of the heat treatment.The concentra-
tion of all variants of P-lactoglobulin in whey is about 180 x lo-’ kmol/m” (3.2 g/kg)
(Walstra & Jenness, 1984). Using this information it was predicted that for a 73”C,
15 s holding time, pasteurisation would denature 0.7% of the fl-lactoglobulin (0.02 g/
kg milk). This is less than 0.1% of the amount of casein in the milk (26 g/kg), so at
typical pasteurisation temperatures the denaturation of [&lactoglobulin and other
whey proteins can be considered insignificant. There is some discussion in the
literature about the effectiveness of coagulation of the /I-lactoglobulin-casein com-
plex, possibly leading to lower yields (see Banks & Muir, 1985). For the purposes of
this paper it will be assumed that a small amount of denatured P-lactoglobclin acts
in the same manner as casein.
Lau et al. (1990) did not find any evidence that pasteurisation affected the fat in
the milk but Sharma & Dalgleish (1994) showed that during heat treatment whey
proteins can be incorporated into the fat globule membrane at a level of up to
0.5 mg/m*. At 75°C for 15 s, the data indicates that 0.01 mg/m’ would b$- incor-
porated. Using their fat globule size, after homogenisation, of 300 pm the total
incorporation can be calculated to be 0.00024 g of whey protein per gram c;f fat.
Assuming that all this protein is retained in the cheese we can estimate that neat
treatment may cause an increase in yield of less than 0.01%. Thus we can conclude
184 K. R. Morison

that the incorporation of whey protein in the fat globule membrane is not signifi-
cant.
It will also be assumed that no other components of milk are altered during
pasteurisation.
We conclude that, despite the anecdotal belief, it seems unlikely that typical
HTST pasteurisation will increase cheese yield.

SEPARATION

Centrifugal separators are used to remove fat from whole milk. Practically all the fat
in milk is contained within fat globules which are surrounded by a protein-based fat
globule membrane. It is more accurate to consider that separators remove fat
globules, rather than fat, from whole milk. The entire fat globule is less dense than
the remainder of the milk. Within the separation process skim milk can be con-
sidered as the heavy component and fat globules as the light component. The heavy
stream contains only about 0.06% of the light component while the light stream
(cream) contains a mixture of light and heavy components.
There is a further stream in the separation process, which is the desludge material
containing unwanted particulate matter.
Thus there is one stream flowing into the separator and three streams leaving the
separator, as shown in Fig. 3.
The overall mass balance for separation is
F,, = Fsm+F,r+Fdesi (6)
where the subscripts wm, sm, cr and desl refer to whole milk, skim milk, cream and
desludge respectively. Component mass balances for the milk solids components are
F,,x,,, i = F,,-G,, i+F,,x,r, i+Fdes&esl, i i = 1, n - 1 (7)
The water fraction is defined by eqn (2) for each of the four streams:
X ,. II= 1 - ;=,J$_, XJ,; j= bm, sm, cr, desll (8)

The three equations (6) (7) and (8) p rovide between them n+4 individual equa-
tions. The variables include the four flow rates and IZ mass fractions in each of the
four flows, i.e., a total of 4(n+l) variables. In this system there are 3n degrees of
freedom so 3n variables need to be specified in some manner.

whole milk @ci

Fig. 3. The separation process has one feed stream and three outlet streams.
 Cheese manufacture a.s a separation and reaction process 1x5

Whole milk stream

The separation process is usually the first separation process in a dairy factory, so
the whole milk is defined by the average of what is delivered to the factory. The
composition given in Table 1 will be used here. From this we shall use seven
components (n = 7). This provides six mass fractions of the whole milk components;
the fraction of the seventh component, water, being specified by eqn (8).
The whole milk flow rate is not always specified.

Desludge

The amount of desludge is set by the operator or manager depending on the quality
of the milk. A typical separator desludges about every 10 min with a mass of about
20 kg per desludge. It is convenient to consider this as a continuous flow of 120 kg’h
or about 0.3% of a typical feed flow. When a desludge occurs, the contents of the
separator bowl are emptied complete with any particulate matter which has col-
lected within the separator. The amount of particulate matter in this stream is very
small on a mass basis so it is normally assumed the particulate matter is insigniii-
cant. It is further assumed that the desludge stream has the same composition as the
feed as any differences will have an insignificant contribution to the mass balance,
i.e.:
-Y<le\l.
I = &v”,. I i=l,n-1 (‘4

Skim milk

By design, and when used within the specified operating range, the amount of fat in
the skim milk is in the range 0.04 to 0.10%. The amount of fat in the skim milk
depends on the fat globule size distribution, the milk temperature (and hence
viscosity), the separator speed, fat globule damage before separation and the physi-
cal design of the separator. Details of the centrifugal separation can be found in
Kessler (1981). A value of 0.06% fat in the skim milk was used for the mass balance
in this paper.
Separators can be operated as skimmers, where the cream flow is adjusted so that
only a fraction of the fat is removed from the skimmed milk stream. That use of
separators will not be considered here.

Cream

The amount of fat in the cream is usually specitied by the manager in charge of the
separator. Separators are capable of producing cream with a fat content ranging
from that of whole milk to about 45%. Above this the fat content of the skim milk
increases excessively. Typically the manager will specify 40% or 41% as being a level
which can be achieved consistently, while still giving low fat contents in the skim
milk.
During separation, it is assumed that there is no significant separation of compo-
nents other than the fat globules. For accuracy, the protein and other minor non-fat
components associated with the fat globule membrane in cream should be
accounted for. About 98.7% of the fat globule mass is milk fat, about 0.9%) is
186 K. R. Morison

protein and 0.3% is water (Walstra & Jenness, 1984). The proteins have not been
well identified but we will assume that all the milk fat globule membrane protein is
incorporated in cheese curd, so we can consider it to be the same as casein protein
for the mass balance. No special consideration will be given to the water in the fat
globule. A similar correction for the fat globule components in skim milk is
unnecessary because of the very low levels of fat in skim milk.
Thus, as a good approximation, the composition of cream on a fat globule free
basis is the same as the composition of skim milk on a fat-free basis:.
&,, i xsm, i
for i = (whey protein, lactose, minerals, misc.}
(1 -&r, fat globules > = (1 -&n,fat)

(10)
but for casein the extra protein in the fat globule membrane is taken into account:
&r, casein -O-Oo9xcr,fat globules xsm, casein
(11)
(1 - xc,, fat globules 1 = (1 -hll,fat)

where the fraction of fat globules is calculated from the typical fat globule composi-
tion given above:
xc,,fat
xc,, fat globules - o.987 (12)
It is assumed here that, within cream, fat exists only within fat globules but in fact
a small amount of fat (0.015%) exists outside of the globules. In eqns (10) and (11)
the fat content, rather than the fat globule content, of skim is used. At the low levels
in the skim the difference is negligible and is ignored.This provides an additional
n - 1, (i.e., 6), equations and one additional variable (x,,, fat giObuies).

THE SEPARATION SYSTEM

Thus we have, for a seven-component separation:

Variables Compositions 28
Fat globule fraction 1
Flows 4
Total 33

Equations Mass balance (6) 1

Components (7) 4
Component balances (8)
Desludge (9) :
Skim components (10) 4
Skim casein (11) 1
Fat globule fraction (12) 1
Total 23

Variables specified Desludge flow rate 1

Skim milk fat content 1
Total 2
 Cheese manufacture as a separation and reaction process 18’7

SqiiiJzq czs;; )

Fig. 4. Milk standardisation.

From this we see that there are eight degrees of freedom (33-(23+2)) in the
system as it has been specified. It is normal to specify the fat content of the cream
and the flow rate of the whole milk or skim milk. The composition of either the raw
milk or the standardised milk is then specified and the system can be solved.

STANDARDISATION

Within the standardisation operation, cream and skim from the separation step are
mixed together to produce cheese milk with the required fat content, or fat to casein
ratio (Fig. 4). The operation consists of miscible mixing only. Simple overall and
component balances as specified by eqns (1) (2) and (3) apply.
Some standardisation systems use ultrafiltration to enrich the amount of protein
in the milk and hence are able to independently standardise both the fat and protein
fraction in cheese milk. These systems will not be considered here.
The system of equations for separation and standardisation can be solved together
to give standardised cheese milk with the composition specified in Table 2. The
system can be solved using any standard algebraic equation solver. For this analysis
the Microsoft package Excel Solver was used. The sum of the squares of residuals
from each equation was minimised until it was less than 10e9. Typical values for the
compositions and flow rates of the streams are given in Table 3.

TABLE 2
Components of Standardised Cheese Milk and Cheese
Components Typical fraction in standardised cheese milk’

Fat 0.036
Lactose 0.045
Casein 0.02464
Whey protein 0.0065
Casein-bound minerals 0.002
Soluble minerals 0.0045
Miscellaneous 0.0032
Sodium chloride 0.0
Water 0.878
‘Based on Emmons et al. (1990).
188 K. R. Morison

TABLE 3
Calculated Compositions and Flow Rates in Separation and Standardisation. Variables Speci-
fied a @on’ are Shown in Italics
Stream Feed Separated cream Skim milk Desludge Standardised milk

Mass Flow Mass Flow Mass Flow Mass Flow Mass Flow
fraction rate j-action (ran) fraction rate fraction rate fraction rate
(kgls) S &IS) (WS) MS)

Fat 0.0450 0.463 0.4000 0.456 0.0006 0.005 0.0450 0.0015 0.036 0.360
Lactose 0.0446 0.458 0.0278 0.032 0.0467 0.425 0.0446 0.0015 0.045 0.450
Casein 0.0245 0.252 0.0187 0.021 0.0252 0.230 0.0245 0.0008 0.02464 0.246
Whey 0.0064 0.066 0.0040 0.005 0.0067 0.061 0.0064 0.0002 0.0065 0.065
Minerals 0.0064 0.066 0.0040 0.005 0.0067 0.061 0.0064 0.0002 0.0065 0.065
Misc. 0.0032 0.033 0.0020 0.002 0.0033 0.030 0.0032 0.0001 0.0032 0.032
Water 0.8699 8.948 0.5436 0.620 0.9107 8.300 0.8699 0.0287 0.87816 8.782
Total 10.287 1.140 9.114 0.0330 1o.ouo

CURD PRODUCTION

The unit operation for curd production in the Cheddar process is shown in Fig. 5.
There are three streams flowing into the process and two streams coming from the
process.
Cheese milk (from the standardisation process) is fed to a cheese vat. Starter
culture and rennet enzyme are added to the cheese milk by flow ratio. Without loss
of accuracy we combine the rennet and starter culture streams.
Within the vat, the milk is coagulated by the action of the rennet and then the
coagulum is cut and heated to form the curds and whey. The curds and whey are
then separated by a flat screen and draining belt. In the case of dry-salted cheeses,
salt is added to the milled curd on the belt. The end of curd production is defined
as the end of the curd drainage and salting belt, just before packing.

OVERALL BALANCES

The usual overall mass balances and component mass balances apply. The overall
mass balance is given by
Fstan+Fcu~t+Fsait= Fch+Fwt,ey (13)

salt
cheese milk total feed cheese curd
+
starter culture draining belt
whey +
and rennet
Fig. 5. Cheddar cheese curd production.
 Cheese manufacture as a separation and reaction process IX9

where F is the mass flow rate of standardised cheese milk (Stan), starter culture and
rennet (cult), salt, cheese (ch) and whey. It is useful to define the feed stream as the
combined standardised cheese milk, starter culture and rennet:
Ffeed= Fstan+Fcu~t (14)
The compositions in the feed stream can be defined as

xst, iFs+xcult, #‘cult

Gxd, i = i=l,n-I (l-5)
FfWJ

Component balances for the milk solids components are defined:

Ffcedxfeed, ,+F\altxsalt,, = Fch&h, r+Fwhry.hhey,, (16)
for components except casein, whey, soluble minerals and water, which are defined
later. The water fraction is defined by one equation for each of the five flows:

Xl.,, =l- c j = (Stan, cult, ch, whey, feed} (17)

,‘l.II~I

THE SETTING PROCESS

Before defining all the components of milk, it is useful to understand the coagula-
tion processes. During coagulation the casein protein is hydrolysed by the action of
rennet following the reaction:
casein ‘para-casein +glyco macro peptide (GMP)
where casein can be thought of as a complex of sr,-casein, /3-casein and ti-casein.
The K-casein molecules exist predominantly on the exterior surfaces of the casein
micelle (a casein micelle is a group of casein molecules with associated calcium
phosphate) and give a structure that inhibits interaction between micelles. During
the reaction the k--casein is hydrolysed by chymosin in a rennet solution allowing
casein micelles to interact and coagulate. The hydrolysed part of k--casein is soluble
and is known as glyco macro peptide. It does not coagulate but becomes part of the
whey protein. It is estimated that the mass of glyco macro peptide formed during
cheesemaking is 5.5% of the mass of the original casein (Van Boekel, 1994). The
remainder of the casein is usually known as para-casein. In this paper we will refer
to para-casein as casein.
Van Hooydonk et al. (1984) found that the hydrolysis reaction could be described
bY
ds
- = kC,C,,,, (IT')
dt

where s is the substrate, which in this case is h--casein, C, is the concentration of the
substrate in gmol/l and C,,, is the concentration of the rennet solution containing
the chymosin enzyme (as percentage of rennet solution added to the milk). It was
found that k had a value of 0.078 s-’ %,A,,, and that k followed the Arrhenius law
with an activation energy of about 26 kJ/mol. The temperature history and type of
milk used affected the reaction kinetics. Typically the concentration of rennet used
190 K. R. Morison

is 0.03% (vol./mass). The proportion of rc-casein in all casein is about 9-Z% and
thus the concentration is typically 3.3 g/l. Using a molecular mass of about 19000
the concentration is about 0.000180 kmol/m3 (Walstra & Jenness, 1984). The casein
micelles start to aggregate when the reaction is about 85% complete (Dalgleish,
1982) and continue to aggregate over several minutes. The reaction is allowed to
continue until effective completion at about 50 min before the enzyme is inactivated
by raising the temperature above 40°C.
There is an additional complication in that one of the whey components, proteose
peptone, precipitates with the casein, essentially becoming casein. Van Boekel &
Crijns (1994) found that 0.9 g of proteose peptone per kilogram of milk precipitates
as curd, but they reported considerable uncertainty in this value. We can write the
precipitation reaction as
proteose peptone+casein-+casein
and we can write the casein mass balance:
-&hey, casFwhey+&h, casFch = (0.945+,d, cas.+@0009)Ffeed (18)

A mass balance applies for total casein and whey protein:

@whey, whey+-%hry, cas > Fwhey+(&h, whey+&h, .a,> Fch = bfeed, whey+-1Cfeed, .a,> Ffeed (19)
While cheese is setting, the starter bacteria grow and produce lactic acid, which
reduces the pH of the curd. The proportion of calcium, magnesium, phosphate and
citrate which is associated with the casein reduces as the pH drops, essentially
following the reaction:
casein.CaH,P04+casein+CaH,P0,
Davies & White (1960) found that 30% of the calcium in milk was in solution at
pH 6.77, 68% was dissolved at pH 5.60 and 97% was dissolved and at pH 4.6. The
relationship between pH and calcium solubility is not a simple equilibrium. Interpo-
lating their data, it was assumed here that when the curd and whey are separated at
a pH of about 6.3, 31% of th e minerals are retained in the curd. This can best be
expressed as 0.065 kg of bound minerals per kilogram of casein. Van den Berg
(1994) states that further research is required to find a more accurate value. Thus
xch, bound min = O.O65Xch, cas PO)

-&hey, hound min =O.O65&hey, cas (21)

and the component balance for the minerals is

(~~/,,so,u,,
,,ri,,+~,./r.t,r,ur,~/
,,rirr)F,.,r+(x,,.,r~,?..v~,,uh
rrr;,,+~~/,~~.~,~,~lrlrl
ir,irr)F,.,,,,
= (x /rr<l.hourrd r,,i,r+~f.r~d,\r,luhl‘~
,rri,r
1F f’rr<, (22)

Standardised cheese milk stream

Given a good model of the cheese process, a designer may specify the standardised
cheese milk composition required to achieve a desired cheese composition. Any
composition may be achieved by using ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, fat separation
or chemical addition. It is useful to use the nine components (n = 9) in Table 2. It
is assumed that all of the miscellaneous fraction is soluble. The sodium chloride is
 Cheese manufacture as a separation and reaction process 191

considered separately from the soluble minerals normally in milk and thus is zero
for all the streams except the salting stream and the cheese.

Starter culture and rennet

At a rate of 300 ml/m’ (0.03%) the rennet addition can be considered to be negli-
gible for the mass balance though not for the chemical reaction which occurs.
Starter culture generally consists of skim milk which has been sterilised by heating
and in which starter bacteria have been grown (see, for example, Heap & Lawrence,
1988).
The rate of starter culture addition is usually set at about 0.4% of the standard-
ised cheese milk flow. If necessary the starter cell concentration can be altered by
varying the starter growth conditions so that the 0.4% ratio can be maintained. Thus
Fcult = O.O04F,,,, (23)
The mass fraction of cells in the starter culture is small enough to be negligible in
the mass balance. The bacteria consume an unknown proportion of the lactose and
some protein and produce lactic acid which reduces the pH of the cheese. For this
model, it is assumed that the amount of lactose and protein consumed in the starter
milk is negligible in the overall mass balance. The heat sterilisation step is sufficient
to destroy all bacteria and is likely to denature all of the whey protein in the starter
milk. Banks & Muir (1985) found that about 84% of the nitrogen in skim milk
(about 88% of the whey and casein protein) used for starter was retained in the
cheese but for this model denaturation is not taken into account.

Cheese

The fat, casein and moisture content of the cheese can be defined for a particular
type of cheese. The moisture content of the curd can be affected by changes in
cutting, stirring, cooking, chipping and salting and these can be adjusted by the
cheesemaker to obtain the required moisture content. The protein and lactose
content of the cheese will change from the time starter bacteria are added until the
cheese is consumed. All the lactose in the Cheddar cheese will be consumed by the
bacteria within about seven days of making and protein will be hydrolysed over
longer periods. These changes are critically important to the flavour and texture of
the cheese but for the purposes of the mass balance it will be assumed that loss of
protein and lactose within the curd production process is negligible.

The amount of fat in the whey depends on the firmness of the coagulum at cutting
and on the amount of cutting. Phelan (1981) states that 85-93% of the fat is
retained in the curd. This fraction is strongly influenced by processing conditions
(Lawrence, 3993). A value of 90% will be used here. Hence
&h. fatFch = ~~9kxd. I.stFfced (24)
Practically all the casein is retained in the cheese except for casein in ‘fines’, which
are small pieces of curd that pass out with the whey. Emmons et al. (1990) indicates
192 K. R. Morison

that 0.9% of the casein is lost as fines in the whey, though Van den Berg (1994)
gives an estimate of 0.4%. The second value will be used here. Hence
&h, casFwh = @004xfeed, casFfeed (25)

NON-SOLUTE MOISTURE

The remaining components (whey, lactose, minerals, water) are water soluble and
we must make assumptions about their separation during curd formation.
Not all the water in milk is available as a solvent. Some is contained within or on
the surface of the casein protein and is not available as a solvent for whey, lactose
and minerals. The whey proteins are sufficiently large and are electrically charged in
such a way that they are repelled by the casein particles and thus some water,
known as steric exclusion water, is not used as a solvent for whey. Geurts et al.
(1974) found that 0.55 g of water per gram of casein is non-solvent for lactose. Van
Boekel & Walstra (1989) found that for every gram of casein protein in solution,
2.6 g of water is not available as solute water for whey proteins. Emmons et al.
(1993b) state that 0.1 g of water per gram of casein is not available as a solvent for
sodium chloride. In this paper this value will be used for all soluble minerals and the
miscellaneous fraction.
It is useful to define some new variables to specify the separation. We define x’ as
the mass fraction of the soluble components in the appropriate solute water for the
feed, cheese and whey streams. In general

x.j.i
Xi.;'
x,j,solute water for i

for components i = {lactose, soluble minerals, whey proteins, miscellaneous} and

streams j = {cheese, whey}. For example:

&vh, lactose
xwh, lactose = (26)
xv/h, solute water for lactose

where
x.i.SOlUttT Water for lactose = X,j, water-0.55Xj. cas (27)
Likewise:
X,, solute waterfor whey = X.j, water - 2.6x.j. cas P-9

Xj, solute water for soluble minerals = XI. water -O.lxj, cas (29)

x,j, solute water for misc. = xj, Water -O.lxj, cas (30)

Now we make the assumption that there is no significant separation of the water-
soluble components in the cheesemaking process, though it is not clear that this
assumption is valid (Emmons et al., 1990). With this assumption we state that the
fraction of the soluble components in solute water is the same in the cheese and as
in the whey.
 Cheese manufacture as a separation and reaction process 193

Gley, i = L. I (31)
for components i = {lactose, soluble minerals, whey proteins, miscellaneous}.

SALT ADDITION

In the dry-salted cheese process (e.g., for Cheddar production) the salt stream is
pure sodium chloride. The salt is blown onto the cheese as it passes along the belt.
Some of the salt is lost as whey is exuded by the curd after salting but for the
purposes of this paper we will consider only the salt that is absorbed by the cheese.
Thus there is no salt in the whey stream. Typically salt is added to achieve a salt to
moisture ratio in cheese of about 4.5. In this analysis the salt content of the cheese
will be set at 1.7%.

THE CHEESE SYSTEM

We have for a nine-component system with five streams (standardised cheese milk,
starter culture, feed, cheese, whey) and a pure salt stream:
Variables Compositions 54
Flows 5
Salt flow 1
Solute water component fractions 8
Solute water total fraction 8
Total 76

Equations Overall mass balance (13) 1

Feed flow rate (14)
Feed stream (15)
Stream components (16)
Component balances (17)
Casein balance (18)
Whey protein balance (19)
Minerals in cheese (20-22) 3
Starter culture flow rate (23)
Whey fat (24)
Whey casein (25)
Solute water fractions (26) 8
Solute water total fraction (27-30) 8
Cheese-whey solute components(31) 4
Total 46

Variables specified Starter culture composition 7

Zero salt in feed and whey 4
Salt stream is pure salt 9
Total 20
From this we see that there are 10 degrees of freedom (76-(46+20)) in the
system as it has been specified. It is normal to specify the flow rate of either the
194 K. R. Morison

cheese or standardised cheese milk stream and to specify the salt content of the
cheese. The choice of other variables depends on whether we are interested in
simulation of a known process or design of a new one. For example, for an existing
cheese plant we are likely to specify the flow rate of standardised cheese milk, the
seven solids components in the standardised cheese milk and perhaps the cheese
moisture content. With this information the system can be solved.

CHEESE YIELDS

In the cheese industry yield is defined as ‘kilograms of cheese per 100 kg of milk’
(Emmons, 1993)

Mass of Cheese
Industry Cheese Yield = x 100 (31)
Mass of Standardised Milk

He points out that comparisons between values of yield require correction for the
composition of milk and cheese. Emmons does not, however, mention the starter
culture flow and it appears from Banks & Muir (1985) that the starter culture
stream is not included in the yield equation. The yield could be expressed better as
the mass of cheese produced per mass of ingredients on a wet basis. The ingredients
would standardised cheese milk, starter culture and salt. Thus wet basis yield is
defined as:

Cheese Flow
Wet Basis Cheese Yield = (31)
Standard Milk Flow+Starter Flow+Salt Flow

It has no dimensions as it would normally be expressed as a fraction or percentage.

Given the natural variability in the moisture content of the standardised cheese milk
a dry basis yield would probably give the best indication of the efficiency of the
cheesemaking process.

Cheese solids
= (31)
Standardised Milk Solids + Starter Solids + Salt

Comparisons of the yield formulae are given below.

MODEL SOLUTIONS

The system defined above can be solved using any standard algebraic equation
solver. For this analysis the Microsoft package Excel Solver was used. The sum of
the squares of residuals from each equation was minimised until it was less than
10-9.
The standardised cheese milk composition used was that given in Table 2. In
addition to this, the cheese moisture content was set at 37%, the salt content at
1.7% and the standard milk flow rate 10 kg/s. Yields were calculated for the base
case and are shown in Table 4. The yields obtained here are within the range
 Cheese manufacture as a separation and reaction process 1Y5

TABLE 4
Yield Results
--
Industry yield 9.73%
Wet basis yield 9.h8%
Dry basis yield 49.5%
--

reported by Emmons ef al. (1990) of between 9.4% and 10.1% for similar condi-
tions.
The composition and flow rate of each stream are shown in Table 5.
Many of the model parameters and variables were then altered, one at a time.
and the effect on yield was calculated. The choice of size of perturbation was
somewhat arbitrary within the bounds of likely variation or uncertainty. The results,
shown in Table 6, show that composition of the standardised cheese milk and the
final cheese moisture affect yield as expected. The fat recovery and the amount of
minerals bound to the casein in the cheese have a large influence on yield.

DISCUSSION

One of the surprising results from the model was that there was no whey protein in
the cheese. This occurred because the amount of non-solvent water for whey is
greater than the amount of water in the cheese. Emmons et al. (1990) used a
general value of 0.5 g of non-solvent water for every gram of casein, compared with
2.6 g/g used here for whey proteins. The value needs to be less than 1.5 g/g for the

TABLE 5
Calculated Composition and Flow Rates in the Cheesemaking Process. Variables Specified a
priori are Shown in Italics

Srundardi.wl C’uhm Suit Cheesr WW

rnrlk
196 K. R. Morison

TABLE 6
Effect of Model Variables and Parameters on Calculated Cheese Yield
Relative change in yield

Variation/parameter Eqn Basis Variation Industry Wetbasis Dly basis

Fat in standardised 0.036 0.037 1.6% 1.6% 0.7%

milk
Casein in standardised 0.02464 0.0253 1.1% 1.1% 0.6%
milk
Cheese moisture 0.37 0.38 1.8% 1.8% 0.2%
Casein conversion 18 0.945 0.95 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%
Proteose peptone 18 0.0009 0.0005 - -0.7% -0.7% -0.7%
Bound mineral ratio 20,21 0.065 0.08 0.6% 0.6% 0.6%
Starter culture flow 23 0.004 0.008 0.2% -0.2% -0.1%
ratio
Fat recovery 24 0.091 0.6% 0.6% 0.6%
Casein fines loss Eo4 0.002 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
Lactose exclusion ;57 0:55 0.5 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
factor

model to predict whey incorporation in cheese. Given that cheese initially forms as
a coagulum with no volume change, then contracts as the casein binds the curd
together, it seems very likely that some whey protein will be trapped within the
cheese. Thus it seems that the amount of non-solvent water for whey proteins found
by Van Boekel & Walstra (1989) does not apply directly to cheesemaking.
The definition of cheese yield in all the papers reviewed does not seem to include
the milk which enters with the starter culture. The wet and dry basis definitions used
here better reflect the ingredients of the cheese. This is particularly obvious in the
case of starter culture flow ratio. As the ratio is increased the industry yield
increases, but the wet and dry basis yields decrease. The fraction of cheese solids in
the starter culture is less than in the cheese milk so a decrease in yield is sensible
from a chemical engineering point of view.
No attempt was made here to reduce the system to a single yield equation as has
been the practice in the literature. In the form that the mass balance is presented in
this paper, the assumptions, constituent equations and parameters can be easily
identified and changed. The same equations can be used to calculate the standard-
ised cheese milk composition required to achieve a desired cheese composition.
This model and previous studies show the need for more experimental data
relating to the effect of pH on the bound minerals. It also shows the need for better
data on non-solute water in the cheesemaking process especially relating to the
physical incorporation of whey proteins in cheese.

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