#World's largest milk powder drier nears full capacity

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The world’s largest milk powder drier at Fonterra’s $500 million Darfield site will hit full capacity over the next few weeks.
Whole milk powder production began last week with the first batches to be exported worldwide, including to the Middle East, China and Southeast Asia.
 
The D2 dryer has a design capacity of processing 4.5 million litres of milk a day for 30.8 tonnes of powder an hour to overshadow the world’s previously largest dryer, E4 which produces 28t/hr, also owned by Fonterra, at its Edendale site in Southland.
Darfield’s new operation sits alongside its sister D1 dryer commissioned last year at Darfield. By mid-October when the spring peak of milk comes through, a total of about 6.5-7 million litres will be processed a day.
Fonterra logistics network director Robert Spurway said the new dryer was an important milestone for Fonterra’s $500m investment in Canterbury.
The world’s largest dryer underpinned the co-operative’s strategy of optimising its New Zealand milk business to meet growing demand for dairy nutrition globally, he said.
«Let’s bear in mind New Zealand is the world’s largest dairy trader so it’s not too surprising that we are efficient at converting milk into milk powder to satisfy global demand.»
The dryer would run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at the peak of the season and produce more than 700 tonnes a day – the equivalent of 45 shipping containers, he said.
«The demand for dairy nutrition around the world, especially for whole milk powder, is still strong. Dryer D2 will ensure that Fonterra has the capacity to meet this demand and to process ongoing milk growth in Canterbury, the fastest-growing dairy region in New Zealand.»
Darfield site managers are at the early stages of testing milk processing and plan to ramp this up in a few weeks. The first run of whole milk powder was successfully carried out for a few hours last week and backed up earlier tests of water running through the system.
Fresh milk is being sourced from farms within a 65-kilometre radius from the site. The milk is collected from farmers and delivered by tankers to Darfield, then processed into whole milk powder and packed into 25-kilogram bags. These bags are then packed onto pallets, loaded into containers and delivered to Lyttelton port via the site’s rail link for export.
The dryer’s first production run marked the completion of Fonterra’s development of its Darfield site over the past three years.
Stage one of the plant on 650-hectare grounds was completed in August last year and included D1, a 15t/hr dryer initially thought to be capable of processing more than 2.2 million litres of milk into 380 tonnes of powder daily.
Darfield managers have since pushed D1 to process nearly 2.5 million litres a day.
Coal generates steam to power the drying process, with much of the steam recycled to the boiler. Excess water extracted from milk is used to irrigate a «cut and carry» operation at the site for chopped silage, hay and baleage.
 
Source: Stuff

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Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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