- Client: Lactoprot Deutschland GmbH
- Location: Leezen, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
- Industry: Dairy
- Salttech technology: Dyvar® – Dynamic Vapor Recompression
- Commissioning date: December 2020
- Treatment capacity: 86 m³/day of reverse osmosis concentrate
- End products: Fertilizer and reusable process water
About Lactoprot
Lactoprot Deutschland GmbH is a specialized milk processor producing sour caseinates from pasteurized milk and whey. The company is committed to high resource efficiency and environmental responsibility, utilizing nearly all components of milk and whey to minimize waste streams. One of the few remaining waste streams is a reverse osmosis (RO) brine, rich in milk salts, chlorine and organic substances.
Due to tightening environmental regulations driven by growing concerns over drought and salinity, Lactoprot was no longer permitted to discharge its saline wastewater into the local municipal treatment plant. As a result, the company was forced to transport the brine by truck to larger municipal facilities in northern Germany, incurring high disposal costs and facing acceptance challenges. To address this issue, Lactoprot partnered with Salttech to implement a sustainable and compliant solution for managing its saline waste stream.
Goals for Lactroprot Deutschland GmbH
Facing stricter regulations and rising handling costs for RO concentrate, Lactoprot set out to turn this waste stream into value. The company saw potential to recover nutrients while drastically reducing the volume of the RO concentrate with help of the Dyvar technology. To make the project outcome-driven, Lactoprot defined specific goals for Salttech’s solution and tracked their performance. The targets: balance economics, compliance, and sustainability.
- Elimination of disposal costs of the RO concentrate
- Comply with regulations, prohibiting direct/indirect discharge of saline wastewater
- Improve operational efficiency and environmental performance
- Recover fresh water and valuable components (e.g. phosphate and potassium salts) to be used as an alternative fertilizer and reuse of produced condensate.
The brine challenge
Lactoprot was dealing with a particularly aggressive brine stream. The reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate contained more than 50 g/L TDS, had a low pH between 2 and 4, and showed highly variable COD levels exceeding 20 g/L. Previous testing confirmed that conventional evaporation technologies were not a viable option. They quickly suffered from fouling, clogging, and severe corrosion. This resulted in extended cleaning cycles, increased energy use, and frequent material replacements. Without a compliant and cost-effective alternative like Dyvar® , the only option was off-site trucking. This led to high disposal costs, complex logistics, and growing operational uncertainty.
Dyvar® – One-step concentration and crystallization
Salttech provided the Dyvar® system, a one-step dynamic vapor recompression technology
that combines efficient concentration and crystallization of saline streams. Implemented as a
compact, containerized unit, the setup is designed for reliability, corrosion resistance, and
remote operation.
System highlights:
- Containerized Dyvar® 60 system
- Titanium heat exchanger in the circulation loop
- Main process piping and evaporation cyclones in glass fiber reinforced polyester
- No scaling and no blockages since commissioning
- Fully automated operation with remote-controlled start, run, and stop
From brine to value: Nutrient concentrate & reusable water
The system delivers two output streams. First, a highly concentrated solution (about 10% of the input volume) of potassium chloride (KCl) and phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) at approximately pH 1 which is collected by a specialist and processed into fertilizer. Second, clean condensate that can be reused in the production plant’s secondary water system.
Ready to take the next step in your brine processing?
Want to explore Dyvar for your site? Or request a bench-scale test for a quick, data-driven feasibility check? Get in touch.
Phone: +31 (0)85 0072 208
Mail: sales@salttech.com
