increase font size
Fonterra has invested $40 million at its Tirau site to help concentrate whey permeate, making it more efficient to transport to its other sites to produce lactose.
Fonterra is eyeing an increase in lactose production.
The co-operative has just invested $40 million in a move to help concentrate whey permeate at its Tirau site to make it more efficient to transport to other sites to produce lactose.
It’s a move the co-operative says is a positive step forward, creating better value return than the ethanol produced previously at the Tirau site.
During the dairy season’s peak, the plant produces up to 2 million litres of milk each day.
According to Fonterra general manager Central North Island Tony Maclean, 2.5 million litres of ethanol is also potentially stored there, meaning the plant is designated as a major hazard facility.
Maclean says that when the Tirau plant was built, there were benefits to converting lactose into ethanol.
“When the plant was built, the benefit of generating ethanol was primarily… set up reduce the amount of lactose that went to a wastewater treatment plant,” he told Dairy News.
Maclean says that at that time, harvesting the lactose as ethanol was seen as better than sending it on to wastewater treatment ponds.
He says that now, however, lactose produces more earnings for the cooperative than ethanol.
“Ethanol has limited usage. I mean, they made industrial grade ethanol there which was made for things like solvents and sanitisers where lactose can be used in a whole raft of pharmaceutical applications.
“The profitability from lactose as a product was greater than ethanol was.”
Maclean says the investment also means a lot for the co-operative in terms of its sustainability goals.
“We have a massive energy production per year,” Maclean told Dairy News, adding that energy production totalled 15,000 megajoules per year.
He says the move away from ethanol production towards lactose production will see reductions in CO2, water usage, wastewater and general waste. “So, it’s some pretty impressive numbers around those reductions.”
Maclean says there’s great value for money in the move as well.
“If you look at spending our shareholders’ money on remediating an asset to be compliant, around making that redundant and investing money into a brand new asset, with a slightly different product mix… the savings from that as well as the ability to generate lactose, we have the ability to reduce energy, reduce carbon, reduce water, reduce wastewater and waste,” he says.
OPINION: There is zero chance that someone who joined Fonterra as a lobbyist, then served as a general manager of Fonterra's nutrient management programme, and sat on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand, doesn't understand that local butter (and milk and cheese) prices are set by the international commodity price.
Kiwis love their butter, and that's great because New Zealand produces some of the best butter in the world. But when the price of butter goes up, it's tough for some, particularly when many other grocery staples have also gone up and the heat goes on co-operative Fonterra, the country's main butter maker. Here the co-op explains why butter prices are so high right now.
An A$2 billion bid for Fonterra's Oceania business would be great news, according to Forsyth Barr senior analyst, equities, Matt Montgomerie.
The world's largest dairy company may be in pole position to acquire Fonterra's Australian assets.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Fresh produce grower and exporter T&G Global has overturned last year’s dismal performance by reporting a half year net profit of $1.7 million.
One of New Zealand’s largest fertiliser plants could be forced to shut down for four months as uncertainty looms over gas supply.
Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Bex Green says two public meetings held this week should have made it loud and clear that rural families and businesses are concerned about proposed staffing changes at NZ Police.
The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is consulting on a proposal to ban weedkillers containing chlorthal-dimethyl (DCPA).
August 6 marks Farm Worker Appreciation Day, a moment to recognise the dedication and hard mahi of dairy farm workers across Aotearoa - and DairyNZ is taking the opportunity to celebrate the skilled teams working on its two research farms.
OPINION: The Government has been seeking industry feedback on its proposed amendments to a range of Resource Management Act (RMA) national direction instruments.
OPINION: Sydney has a $12 million milk disposal problem.
OPINION: Canterbury milk processor Synlait's recovery seems to have hit another snag.
