New cheese plant produces own power

A new production plant for the French AOC Pays du Maroilles cheese uses its whey and wastewater for the production of biogas.

Aerobic fermentation of the by-products produces methane for generation of some 400 MWh of electricity per year starting this summer. According to the cheese producers, this not only saves substantial power bills for the plant but also reduces the investment needed for treating the wastewater. Commissioned by the regional collective dairy, which uses milk from herds in the departments, Norde and l’Ainse, the new Pays du Maroilles plant has an annual production capacity for 70 tonnes of the strong-smelling orange Maroilles cheese plus another 130 tonnes of other local cheeses. Maroilles (45% fat) is matured for some three months and is formed in distinctive 13 cm squares weighing around 800g.