We Could, So We Did: Working With the World's Largest Whey Permeate Drying Facility

Proliant Dairy Ingredients is home to the largest whey permeate drying facility in the world. When production is down, it’s imperative that they find fast-acting solutions that ensure the highest quality standards and capability for their machinery.

About Proliant Dairy Ingredients

High-quality product innovation and versatility are at the heart of Proliant Dairy ingredients. They serve as a resource for manufacturing and developing strategic applications for food and feed products. With over 30 years in the business, Proliant has experienced immense growth in capacity and demand, requiring state-of-the-art equipment geared toward producing the best whey permeate anywhere in the world.

Proliant is known for collaborating to solve unique challenges. In 2020, Proliant partnered with the adjacent MWC cheese and whey processing plant to create a needed outlet for MWC's by-product via a pipe bridge that connects the two plants. It was this focus on collaboration that brought Proliant to AGC.

The Obstacle of Equipment Fouling

At their St. Johns, Michigan facility, Proliant was ramping up their production process. As a result, their heat exchanger was experiencing premature fouling due to their unique process and high production volume.

Fouling is typically caused when particles build up and stick to the heat exchanger plates, and only the proper configuration of heat exchanger plates is able to reduce the possibility of fouling. Proliant wanted to maximize their production run before needing to stop for CIP. But this premature fouling resulted in a loss in production time, ultimately impacting their bottom line.

AGC Responds With Confidence and Competence

A first-of-its-kind heat exchanger requires a first-of-its-kind solution — and that's what AGC Heat Transfer set out to achieve. While Proliant had all of the right equipment, resolving their fouling issue was much like rearranging the pieces of a puzzle to make everything work together as planned.

AGC willingly accepted the challenge and immediately got to work strategizing the best solution for Proliant. Our team of engineers and designers worked closely with Proliant's integrator to implement a more effective plate configuration to minimize fouling as Proliant continued to ramp up their processes.

We were committed to finding the right set of design alterations that would not only fix the issue but also provide the boost their equipment needed to run beyond its initial capacity. By designing for both the present and the future, we helped make sure their equipment was optimized to keep pace with the facility's long-term growth plans.

Mission Accomplished

This challenge required us to walk into the unknown and do something that had never been done. Through collaboration and real-time feedback, our team took calculated measures to ensure the job was done right, eliminating any unwanted downtime previously experienced in production.

Their St. Johns plant now achieves as many hours as they were originally aiming for in their production schedule, and Proliant has a lasting relationship with AGC.

Let Us Make a Difference

AGC's existing relationship with the integrator put us in the right spot to successfully troubleshoot and address Proliant's premature fouling issue. At the end of the day, we resolved the issue because we had the right equipment, engineers, and tools to create a solution for Proliant's unique machine.

If your business is experiencing heat exchanger complications of any size, AGC Heat Transfer is ready and willing to offer innovative solutions. Contact someone from our team for full-service manufacturing and support on any type of heat exchangers (even if they’re not our brand). We don’t shy away from a challenge — we embrace it!