GEA to build Asia’s largest milk production facility for Amul in India

GEA is set to build a new dairy plant in India for AmulFed Dairy that, when completed, will be the largest skim milk powder and dairy whitener plant in Asia.

Located in Gandhinagar, Gujurat, AmulFed Dairy is a unit of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF, also known as Amul).

The plant, to be installed on a turnkey basis by GEA, will process around 90,000 liters per hour of milk to produce multiple value-added products.

The plant will produce 150 tonnes per day of skim milk powder and 120 tonnes per day of dairy whitener/baby food.

The milk powder plant is scheduled to begin production in 2018.

The company markets its milk and milk products under the Amul brand and its baby milk powder under the name of Amul Spray.

AmulFed already has two milk powder plants in same location supplied by GEA.  Together they make AmulFed the largest plant in Asia at a single location.

Plant details

The plant will use a GEA mechanical vapor re-compression system in the evaporation plant.

MVR continuously recycles energy by recompressing the vapor within the evaporator. This reduces energy costs and the CO2 footprint to minimize the environmental load.

A reverse osmosis polisher will treat the milk condensate from the evaporation plant and recycle the water for reuse within the plant, which reduces water usage and approaches a zero liquid discharge concept.

A clarifying separator will ensure a supply of bacteria-free milk, while the inclusion of GEA SANICIP bag filters in series with cyclones to collect powder fines, both save product and reduce emissions to the atmosphere.

It will also be equipped with powder packing and a conveying system from GEA.

Abhay Chaudhari, GEA country managing director, India cluster, said the Gandhinagar AmulFed milk powder plant will not only be the largest in Asia, but it will also be the most environment friendly.