Water balance modeling Borculo

The motto “Nourishing by Nature” of FrieslandCampina (RFC) highlights providing a better and more sustainable planet to future generations. The RFC’s Lead with a sustainability theme stimulates the protection of water resources from the undesirable outcomes of climate change, just as the drought observed in the Netherlands in 2022. In this respect, several future changes in the Borculo site of FrieslandCampina are planned for the sustainability scope, minimization of Vitens (potable) water consumption, and the efficient use of the generated water side-streams: RO water and condensate.
First of all, the general water balance of RFC Borculo is achieved with an error margin of 4.4% to check the data’s reliability. After performing general mass balance, this project aims to implement the new updates and all water streams (steam, condensates, cooling water, Vitens water (potable water), well water, CIP, RO water, and wastewater) in RFC Borculo Site on the existing plant model performed in Diamond platform; which solely includes feedstocks and products in terms of material balances. This model comprises the protein, lactose derivatives, and feed products in the whey factory, not the products in the milk factory. The modified Diamond model results are consistent with the targeted production capacity of the current plant, with a margin of less than 5% for most of the products. In addition, the Diamond model achieves the prediction of water need for dilution and diafiltration processes in the whey protein isolate (WPI) unit with 15% accuracy. Therefore, the study performed in Diamond is able to model the annual Borculo process.
The updated model is also used to evaluate several scenarios for future processes. The thicker whey supplied to the plant results in less storage and trucks in terms of logistics and more energy savings. In this respect, Scenario studies suggest energy and storage savings opportunities for the sustainability goals. The first scenario emphasizes the doubled demand for the WPI line to 75 ktons DM annually. The main changes are observed in the amounts of RO water, whey permeate from the WPI line, and condensate generated from the pre-evaporators. Vitens water consumption is increased by 20% for the doubled-size WPI line plant compared to the current situation (base case). Doubling WPI line capacity also leads to an increase in condensate and wastewater production by 5 and 25%, respectively.
The second and third scenario studies investigate the effect of thicker whey (16 and 25% in DM) and change in DM content in the whey permeate (15 and 22% in DM). Scenario 2 provides 11 ktons of RO water as a surplus, while the double WPI line case requires additional 85 ktons of Vitens water to standardize whey to 9%. For Vitens and well water inbounds and wastewater streams, Scenario 2 is limited by the water regulations. Scenario 3 can stay below the limitations for all water kinds; however, the gap between the legal limitations is tight. However, Scenario 3 has significant deviations in the product targets up to 40%. Scenario studies present some challenges in terms of water resources while aiming for more efficient logistics and lower carbon emissions. Scenario 2 can be implemented in the system within the legal limitations despite some production target deviation.