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 Centrifugal cream separation serves to make cream and skim milk, to obtain some
cream from whey or sweet-cream buttermilk, and to standardize milk and milk
products to a desired fat content.
 It is applied in the industrial manufacture of nearly all dairy products.
 Because of the difference in density between milk plasma and fat globules, the
globules tend to rise. This property is of great importance because it causes
(undesirable) creaming during storage, and it enables milk to be separated into cream
and skim milk. Creaming is much enhanced if the fat globules have been aggregated
into floccules or clusters
 As compared to natural creaming, centrifugal separation is far quicker (hence, also
more hygienic) and far more complete.
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 This is achieved by (1) making it a flow-through process; (2) causing the fat globules to move
very much faster by means of a high centrifugal acceleration; and (3) by greatly limiting the
distance over which the fat globules have to move. The latter is achieved by dividing the
room in which creaming occurs into very thin compartments.
 Principle: The milk enters the machine along the central axis and flows into the revolving
bowl through three or more openings in the bowl.
 It then enters a stack of conical disks with matching openings and the flow is divided over
the numerous slits between disks.
 The centrifugal force drives the fat globules in each slit towards the lower disk, from where
they move upwards and inwards in the form of cream.
 The skim milk, i.e., milk plasma containing some small fat globules that have escaped
separation, moves outwards.
 Both streams then move up and remain separated by the ‘cream disk’, before being
discharged from the centrifuge.
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 The machines employ different kinds of discharge of cream and skim milk.
 The one is called a semiopen or half-hermetic separator.
 The liquids have a high kinetic energy due to the fast spinning of the bowl (generally, at least 5000
r.p.m.) and are forced into centripetal pumps, also called paring disks, that cause discharge under
pressure. Thus, the revolving and the static part of the machinery are separate.
 In a hermetic separator, the discharge pipes are connected to the revolving parts by seals that contain
a flexible packing ring that can withstand the pressure of the liquid; the milk inlet is also connected in
this way.
 The separator is thus part of a closed system, further consisting of pump, pipelines, heat exchanger, etc.
 The capacity of a separator is, e.g., 20,000 l of milk per hour
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 Separation efficiency is generally the main concern in the manufacture of skim milk powder, in skimming cheese
whey, etc.
 Factors affecting the proportion of the globular fat escaping separation follow partly from the Stoke’s equation for
the velocity v of a fat globule relative to the surrounding liquid. For centrifugal sedimentation of fat globules, the
velocity can be written as

 where R is the effective radius of the centrifuge (i.e., the radial distance between the fat globule considered and
the spinning axis), w is the revolution rate in radians per second (which equals π/30 times the number of
revolutions per minute), P is the density, and n is the viscosity; the subscripts p and f refer to milk plasma and fat
globules, respectively.
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 The following are the main factors determining the creaming efficiency:
 1. The centrifugal acceleration Rw2: This is usually about 6000 g, where g is the acceleration due to gravity.
 2. The distance over which the fat globules must move: The discs divide the room in the separator into a great
number of spacings. The separation therefore occurs over only about 0.5 mm.
 3. Time available for separation: This results from the volume and the geometry of the part of the centrifuge in
which separation occurs and from the flow rate.
 4. The size distribution of the fat globules: The critical diameter of fat globules that are just recovered by
centrifugation is about 0.7 μm. This can be deduced from the constructional details of the separator, the
operational conditions, and the properties of milk, by using Equation. Accordingly, the amount of fat present in
small fat globules is of paramount importance. In addition, some nonglobular fat is present in milk (about 0.025%).
All in all, at 45°C, a fat content in the separated milk of 0.04 to 0.05% can usually be obtained.
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 5. Temperature: Above all, temperature affects np, and also Pf, Pp, and, slightly, d. These variables can be lumped in an
efficiency factor, i.e., the velocity calculated from Equation 8.1 divided by the velocity at 20°C. The influence of the
separation temperature on this factor and on the fat content of the separated milk is shown in Figure 8.2B. If milk
is to be separated at a low temperature, say at 4°C, a specially constructed separator (cold-milk separator) may
be used, where the fat content of the resulting skim milk usually amounts to 0.07 to 0.1%.
 6. Proper operation of the separator: This implies no vibrations, no leakage, etc. The construction considerably affects
the result because it determines the variation in holdup time and in effective radius. Another aspect is the
disruption of fat globules into smaller ones in the separator, which decreases separation efficiency. This can
especially occur at higher temperatures, the effect greatly depends on constructional details of the machine.
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 If a separator is only used for standardization, separation efficiency is not of major concern. More
important variables then are a high capacity, even at the cost of a higher fat content of the skim milk,
and a long operation time. The latter is limited by the deposition of solid (‘dirt’) particles on the disks,
which can locally obstruct the flow through the bowl. Deposit formation strongly depends on the
concentration and type of particles in the milk; at least part of the particles can be removed by
microfiltration.
 At conditions in which the casein micelles are unstable, e.g., at a decreased pH or at a high calcium ion
activity, caseinate can be deposited. Most of the dirt, and possibly some caseinate, will be deposited as
sludge in the holding space.
 At low operation temperatures, fatty deposits resulting from partial coalescence of fat globules may
from at other places.
 The extent and locations of deposit formation also depend on constructional details of the separator.
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 Another important variable is the proportion of the milk that is discharged as cream, which
determines, together with the milk fat content, the fat content of the cream. This is achieved by the
use of a throttling valve in the cream discharge line. When using a semiopen separator, there is a limit
to the fat content that can be reached, say 35%. In a hermetic separator, far higher cream fat contents
can be obtained. To obtain ‘plastic cream,’ i.e., fat content over about 65%, a specially designed
separator is usually needed.
 Removal of Particles:
 Particles that have a density larger than that of milk plasma can also be removed by centrifugation. It
concerns dirt particles, somatic cells, and even microorganisms. The rate of removal strongly depends
on temperature because the value of ηp greatly decreases with increasing temperature. Moreover, in
raw or thermalized milk, somatic cells and several bacteria participate in the cold agglutination of fat
globules. This then means that most of these cells are removed with the cream, more being removed
the further the temperature falls below 35°C.
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 Removal of dirt particles and somatic cells is a subsidiary result of centrifugal cream separation as usually applied,
say at 40°C. In a traditional separator, sludge is collected in a holding space, and it is removed after stopping the
operation. In the current machines, the deposit can be removed through small valves in the outer wall of the
bowl; the valves can be opened and flushed with water at intervals without interrupting the separation process.
 Some centrifuges, sometimes called clarifiers, are specifically built for the removal of solid particles. The liquid
enters the bowl at the periphery to movebetween the disks to the center, from where it is discharged (there are
thus no inlet holes in the disks). This improves separation efficiency by giving the particles a longer time to
sediment. Often, the dirt is continuously removed from the bowl through a number of small holes. Clarifiers are
rarely used in the dairy except for one specific purpose.
 Bactofugation, which is usually applied to remove spores from products that are low-pasteurized. This may involve
removal of spores of Bacillus cereus from beverage milk or of Clostridium tyrobutyricum and related species from
cheese milk. Spores are quite small, for the most part 1 to 1.5 μm, but the density difference with plasma is larger
than that of bacteria, and at separation temperatures of 60 to 65°C, a substantial proportion can be removed,
generally 90 to 95%. By using two bactofuges in series, a reduction by over 99% can generally be attained.
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 The centrifuges used are hermetic. Two types are currently used: One is like a normal clarifier, with
either continuous or intermittent discharge of sludge. The sludge makes up less than 0.2% of the milk.
The other type is more like a cream separator, in that it has two outlets at the top, one for the
cleaned milk and the other for the portion (about 3%) that contains the particles including spores. It
also has an enhanced content of casein micelles.
 Generally, the spore-rich liquid is sterilized and returned to the cleaned milk. If this is done with the
sludge, it should first be diluted by adding milk.
 It should be noted that bactofugation is by no means equivalent to sterilization: the product still
contains heat-resistant bacteria and a small number of spores.