Optimisation of consolidation and whey drainage during the process of Paneer pressing

Test cells of various profiles (circular, square, rectangle) were designed to conduct experiments to evaluate consolidation mechanism and drainage of whey during Paneer pressing. The milk coagulum was subjected to different pressure levels (1.0-3.5 kg/cm(2)) for different time periods (300, 600, 900 s). The non-dimensional whey expression ratio (WER) during pressing followed an exponential relationship with pressure, and the maximum value for WER ranged from 20.5 to 23.0 for the test cells. The visco-elastic consolidation process was adequately described using Kevin-Voigt models. The void ratio, porosity and consolidation ratio were estimated by the Terzaghi consolidation test.