Discover how a revolutionary microchip technology is poised to tackle the staggering problem of milk waste, reducing emissions and improving efficiency in the dairy industry.
Tackling the Milk Waste Crisis
The global food waste crisis is even more apt, and in 2022 the UN stated that an incredible number of 1.05 billion tonnes of food ended up in landfills, sewers, or elsewhere instead of ending up feeding people.
One of the hardest-hit products here is milk, which we waste approximately one in six liters of milk produced around the world according to a University of Edinburgh study. It’s at an early phase of production when dairies flush their pipes with fresh milk to ensure any residue-cleaning fluids don’t make it through into the next production run.
Every year, 10.000 liters of perfectly good milk is spilled by every dairy in the world, EVERY DAY! This not only leads to a huge financial loss but also significant damage to the environment. One of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions, milk production, approximately contributes 3.15 kg CO2 eq per liter globally And when you multiply those hundreds of liters to the thousands wasted each day, that carbon footprint becomes a truly huge number.
A Microchip Solution
A group of researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is working together with three companies to find a new, more efficient way of controlling milk production — thus preventing most of this vast waste.
A Lilliputian optical spectrometer is formed on a microchip which allows us to determine extremely accurately how much liquid, fat and proteins went through the pipes. By analyzing this sample, dairies can determine the presence or absence of any milk residues or cleaning products and avoid the necessity for flushing milk through a system just before each production run.
According to the researchers, new spectrometers are needed for dairies because existing ones that are used today in labs cost approximately €100,000 per unit and are large. That would be unhelpful as in that case, it is not practical to measure at multiple points in the production process. Instead, the new microchip versions will be so cheap and small that dairies should consider them for many more measurements on the contents of their pipes.
Integrating this technology, dairies can eliminate the wasteful practice of flushing fresh milk downpipes, resulting in saving millions of liters being poured to waste. This not only helps in preventing financial losses but is also a very big contribution to the betterment of the environment as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Conclusion
A game-changing microchip spectrometer technology developed by the Nexus consortium can shake up the dairy sector and positively address one of our most pressing issues — milk waste and its environmental footprint. The use of this technology could help dairies track production processes, and move both the sustainability and economics of the dairy industry forward.
