GEA Dairy Evaporator eZero

The GEA Dairy Evaporator eZero is designed to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions for producing whole/skim milk powder, infant food formula and whey powder.

Evaporators are among the largest energy consumers in dairies. They are used in the production of whole and skim milk powder, infant formula and whey powder. Reducing their energy consumption can have a significant impact on both energy costs and overall plant sustainability.

Depending on plant operation specifics, resources and the electricity emission factor, the system is claimed to be able to reduce energy consumption by up to 60% and eliminates CO₂ emissions entirely compared to conventional mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) evaporators.

Thermal vapour recompression (TVR) is typically applied to multi-effect evaporators powered by live steam, while mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) is more energy efficient and uses electricity to recompress and recycle product vapour in single-effect evaporators. Both technologies rely on steam for heating products before evaporation. The eZero evaporator is compatible with MVR systems and can also be applied to TVR evaporators after conversion to MVR technology. It is also adaptable to new and existing systems.

To convert an existing TVR evaporator to use the eZero, the thermocompressor is replaced by a standard compressor, while reusing the evaporator’s calandria and the high-speed mechanical compressor for the evaporation process.

The eZero evaporator takes a further step by integrating an ammonia heat pump to transfer the heat from the vapour at the condenser to a low-pressure steam generator or flash vessel. This process naturally creates two loops of water: a cold loop (approximately 35–45°C) that cools the condenser water loop, and a hot loop (approximately 80–90°C) that provides heat for the heat treatment system. Hot water is flashed to produce low-pressure steam, which is then recompressed to higher pressure for efficient product heating.