Consumi energetici in diverse tipologie di minicaseifici

Recent regulations about the food health and safety and methods of milk processing obliged most sheep farmers not to process it on their own. Therefore, in Sicily most sheep breeders sold their milk to some small dairies. On the contrary, if sheep breeders had modern plants for processing also small amounts of milk in some suitable farm rooms, they could earn the additional value, due to cheese and ricotta sale. The agricultural Mechanics and Food Industry Sections of the Department of Engineering and Technologies in Agriculture and Forestry (ITAF) of Palermo University measured and assessed the consumptions of fuel electrical energy in some small dairies of 200 and 300 l capacity, in order to establish if these plants could be profitable for small and medium milk producers. This research is part of the project "Dairy innovations for improving the quality of Sicilian typical milk products: study of technical, operational and productive problems", sponsored by the Sicilian Region (POP) with EU funding. The results showed that small diaries powered by diesel fuel have less energy consumptions rather than those powered by liquide propane gas (GPL); moreover the small dairies equipped with tank having bottom and side serpentines showed the highest thermal energy developed per processed milk volume.