Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1380119
June 2021 / 17 PBE Case history | Milling pharmaceutical-grade lactose Air classifier mill helps Wisconsin cheese and whey producer utilize valuable by-product W isconsin Whey Protein, based in Darlington, WI, is a manufacturer of cheese, whey protein, and lac- tose products for the food, infant, medical, health, and wellness industries. In 2017, the company expanded its Darlington cheese and whey processing facility and added a new edible lactose plant to make use of the whey perme- ate the company produces as a by-product of its whey protein con- centrate and whey protein isolate production. Whey permeate (also called dairy product solids, depro- teinized whey, or modified whey) contains approximately 80 percent lactose and is a primary source of lactose for a variety of industries, including the beverage, confection- ary, bakery, dairy, infant formula, and pharmaceutical industries. Wisconsin Whey Protein's sis- ter company, Stainless Technolo- gies, was charged with sourcing or fabricating and installing all the processing equipment for the new lactose plant. One of the final pro- cessing steps in lactose production is milling the dried lactose pow- der to achieve the optimal particle size distribution for the product's intended application. For the mill- ing equipment, Stainless Technolo- gies turned to Sturtevant, a supplier of particle size reduction equipment based in Hanover, MA. Sturtevant has been supplying milling equip- ment for more than 130 years to a wide range of industries, including aggregates, animal feed, chemicals, cosmetics, fly ash, foods, pharma- ceuticals, and pigments. Stainless Technologies had pre- viously worked with the supplier The FCM 650 is a midsized, high-speed impact mill with an internal air classifier and features a pressure-shock-resistant mill chamber and a 75-kilowatt (100-horsepower) main drive motor.