Energy / exergy and thermoeconomic analysis of yogurt production facility

Energy, exergy and thermoeconomic analysis are of great importance in the milk and milk derivatives production facility. Detailed comprehensive Energy, Exergy and thermoeconomic analysis is made to investigate the production of yogurt in the milk and milk derivatives facility which is industrial-scale plant located in Çorum province, in the middle of Black Sea Region of Turkey. The whole of the production line of the facility is detailed as step by step. Energy, exergy and thermoeconomic analyzes of each device in the production line were made and also comparative analyzes were made on the graphs. According to provided data, the highest stages of energy and exergy efficiencies were in the renewal (98.15%) and the first cooler (81.07%) respectvely. However, the highest energy loss stage in the line of yogurt production was in the water tank(41.799 kW). In the thermoeconomic analysis, considering initial installation cost value of each stage in the production plant, calculations were performed and obtain the results. The highest cost of yogurt production was arisen in the milk storage tank. In the taking the consideration of calculations, it was shown that material processing was the most expensive in the milk storage tank (67.16%), followed by pumps, milk balance tank, heating tank, cream separator and heat exchanger stages in sequence. In the total operating and maintenance cost analysis, the highest value was found in the first cooler stage. Morever the first cooler stage was followed by the heat exchanger and renewal stage. Total operation cost of first cooler tank was constituted of 72.99% in the thermoeconomic analysis. Among the main units of the facility, the renewal stage constitutes of 10.78% and the heating stage constitutes of 4.94%.