Modelling the butterfat crystallisation process

Milk fat exhibits seasonal variations in composition and properties which are undesirable for many subsequent applications. Thus techniques are sought to process dairy products in order to achieve a consistent quality. A brief introduction to milk fat presents its most important particularities, especially composition, seasonal variations, solid fat content, crystallisation and polymorphism. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis allows to estimate the solid fat content. Different methods have been developed to estimate more and more precisely the solid fat content which is certainly an important parameter in the description of the textural properties of butterfat. The industrial crystallisation process is modelled on the basis of pilot plant data. That model allows to approach the particular temperature profile in the scraped surface heat exchangers and to give a first explanation of the involved phenomena.