Heat Recovery in a Dairy
Regeneration effectiveness is the dairy's most valuable maintenance number; around it sit evaporator vapour, condensate and desuperheat recovery.
10 min read ยท Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead ยท Last reviewed July 2026
Dairy heat recovery starts from an unusual position: the sector's biggest recovery device is already installed. Every pasteuriser's regeneration section recovers ninety-odd percent of the largest thermal duty on site, which means the first job is not adding recovery but defending what exists, because regeneration degrades silently and expensively. Around that core sit the foundations course's recurring matches, with dairy-specific streams: evaporator heat, cow water, and an ammonia plant rejecting heat beside a CIP system that buys it. This lesson works through the recovery hierarchy as a dairy auditor should.