ENG 1010

Project Title: Case Study 1: Yakult Production Plant

DATE: 15/9/2006

Lab Day: Thursday 1-3pm

Member Names ID
Rai Shaheryar Bhatti 20197217
Tan Sze Siang 20136692

LECTURER: Dr. Ooi Yong Wee

Introduction

Yakult is the worlds most famous cultured drink.Shirota strain in the Yakult cultured
drink was first introduced in the market by a young Japanese doctor and scientist named
Dr. Minoru Shirota in 1935 from his lab while he began work on Yakult in 1930.Finally
he made the Yakult company in 1935.Although Yakult is established in 25 countries
worldwide with their main head quarters in Japan, the company started its production in
Malaysia on February 2004. Yakult has committed millions of ringgit to establish and
operate its Malaysian manufacturing operations in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan and head
office in Glenmarie, Shah Alam. The case study was held in “Hicom Glenmarie Industrial
Park”. At the moment the function of this whole Plant is to prepare the Yakult cultured
drink .The preparation of this process involves 7 steps. These steps are as listed below:
1. Shirota strain is first cultured in seed tank at around 37˚C.
2. Raw materials (skim milk powder, sugar, glucose and filtered sterile water) are
mixed to make sweet milky solution.
3. The solution made in Step 2 is now added in a tank for sterilization where its
temperature is increased to 120 ˚C for 3-5 seconds for destroying any bacteria in
the solution.
4. The solution in step 3 is transferred to a 6m 3 culture tank where its temperature is
reduced from 120˚C to 37˚C and Shirota strain (Live lactobacillus casei)
produced in step 1 is added to the solution, and then for the fermentation process
the solution is left for 6-9 days so that the concentration of lactobacillus casei can
be achieved.
5. Then the solution in step 4 is added to a 12m3 Mixing and storage tank and its
temperature is reduced to 2˚C further in this step flavors and syrups solutions are
added.
6. De-mineralized water free of any dissolved chlorides and fluorides is produced by
a process called “Reverse osmosis”. The water is then UV-sterilised, after which it
is stored in 25,000L tank.
7. The De-mineralized water is added to solution in step 5 before the process of
bottling.

For safety purposes the factory environment is always kept clean and free from bacteria.

Answering Questions
A.
i.
 ii.
a) Steam: It is used to rise the temperature of the solution to
120˚C in the sterilization process and is also used for clearing
the pipes.
b) Water: Chilled Water is used to reduce the temperature of
solution in the 6m3 culture tank from 120˚C -37˚C, then it is
used to reduce the temperature of solution to 2˚C in mixing
and storage tank and lastly it is used to cool the refrigeration
room.
c) Refrigerant: It is used for cooling the water in the water
chilling plant.

iii. Safety Precautions taken by Yakult:

a) Protective Glass is placed in between the production area and
the common area.
b) Al the workers working in the production area are wearing
special dresses and there mouths are covered in order to
reduce any bacteria coming with them.
c) Walls of the production area are not at 90˚ to the floor so that
dust and bacteria accumulation in the corners can be
overcome.
d) Bottles are filled quickly i.e. at the rate of 600 bottles per
minute reducing the harm of contamination.
e) Air is cleaned in order to make it dust proof.

B.
i. As it is stated in the question the broth solution have the properties
similar to water so let us assume the density of whole solution be
pwater =1000kg/m3.
VT = Total volume=800ml =0.8L = 0.8 × 10-3 m3.
Cg = Initial Concentration of glucose in broth= 20g/l = 0.02kg/l
CL =Initial concentration of Lactobacillus casei in broth = 0.2g/l =
0.0002kg/l.
mwater = mtotal – mglucose – mLactobacillus casei
mwater = VT×pwater - VT×Cg - VT× CL
= (0.8 × 10-3) ×1000 – 0.8 × 0.02 - 0.8 × 0.0002
= 0.78384kg.

ii. Moles of glucose in initial solution = 0.8× 20

Mr of glucose
= 16
 (12×6+12+ 16×6)
=0.088889 moles.
As 95% of glucose has been consumed by bacteria and mole ratio of
glucose to lactic acid is 1:1 so amount of lactic acid produced is
= 0.088889 ×0.95 × (Mr of lactic acid)
= 0.084444 × (12×3+6+16×3)
=7.6 g.
=mf,lactic acid

iii. The number of moles of leftover glucose

= initial number of moles - number of moles used
=0.088889-0.95×0.088889
=0.00444 moles.

Amount of glucose in grams = 0.00444 × (12×6+12+6×16)

mf,glucose =0.8g.
Concentration of leftover glucose = 0.8
(Volume of broth)
= 0.8 g
(0.8L)
= 1 g/l.
iv. As total mass is conserved so :
mi,glucose + mi,lactic aicd mf,glucose + mf,lactic acid
+ mi,Lactobacillus casei = + mf,Lactobacillus casei
+ mi,water + mf,water

20×0.8 + 0+ 0.2×0.8 +783.8 = 0.8 + 7.6 + mf,Lactobacillus casei + 783.8

mf,Lactobacillus casei = 7.76 g.

final concentration of lactobacillus casei = mf,Lactobacillus casei

Total volume
= 7.76
0.8
= 9.7 g/l.

v. If the temperature of the liquid rises to room temperature the

concentration of glucose will start to decrease whereas the
concentration of lactobacillus casei and lactic acid will increase thus
making the flavour of the drink will become sour.

C. It is to be attached directly from the HYSYS.

Self Assessment

Process: Overall, we tackled each problem by first doing the questions individually
and then we discussed it together. This worked very well because we can
each identify our own mistakes and learn from them. Furthermore,
questions which we have obtained similar answers for ensures that the
answers are correct. However, a problem which we encountered for this
project was that some of us did not revise the topics which came out for
this project. Hence it slowed down our process of completing the project.
What we can do to improve in the future is to be more prepared on the
syllabus of the subject.

Contribution:All meetings had been attended by all group members. We each discussed
how the workload would be spread for this project and executed it
properly. After the project was completed, we double-checked it to ensure
that no mistakes we were aware of were made. The allocated tasks were
completed on time and were satisfactory.

Outcome: Our initial goal was to complete the project on time and to make sure that
each member learned something out of it. By the end, our goal was
achieved. Furthermore, this project has really brought a good sense of
teamwork and bond between 3 classmates whom we previously had not
known.

References

1. ENG1010 Process System Analysis Lecture Notes, Department of Chemical

Engineering Monash University.
2. http://www.yakult.com.my
3. http://www.yakult.com.au