Life cycle assessment of milk powder spray drying system in China

ABSTRACT

With the growth of the demand for milk powder, the production capacity of milk powder is increased, and the impact on the environment is also increased. The research on the environmental impact of the equipment for milk powder production is essential for the sustainable development of the milk powder industry. Spray drying is an energy-consuming process in milk powder production. Therefore, in this study, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is adopted, and 12 environmental impact categories are selected to estimate the environmental impact of the milk powder spray drying (MPSD) system. The results show that the use stage of the system has a significant impact on the environment, accounting for 14.1% to 99.86% in different categories, of which steam consumption contributes the most. The effect of the maintenance of the system on the eutrophication potential reached 64.34%. The recycling of stainless steel in the end-of-life of the system has apparent positive effects on the environment in terms of eco-toxicity, water depletion and land occupation. This research will help the manufacturers to deeply understand the environmental impact of the milk powder spray drying system and determine the focus of action from the perspective of sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Life cycle assessment
• milk powder
• environmental impact
• spray drying
• sustainability

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Peng Zhang, Meng Xing, Xianhao Meng, Xiuling Gao and Ting Cao for their guidance and help in life cycle assessment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Major Research Project of Philosophy and Social Science of the Ministry of Education of China under Grant 16JZD014.