Opening a Cheese Factory in the Moscow Region: An Impulse for the Market

The opening of a modern cheese factory in the Chees Valley agro-industrial park in the Dmitrovsky district, scheduled for the third quarter of 2026, is a significant event not only for the food industry but also for related industries. The investment of 1.5 billion rubles in a facility with a capacity of 19,000 tons of products per year creates a significant demand for high-tech engineering infrastructure, with industrial refrigeration equipment being a key component.

For manufacturers and suppliers of such equipment, this project, as well as the development of the entire cluster with the prospect of five factories, is becoming an important driver of growth. It stimulates demand for complex, capital-intensive turnkey solutions that require individual design, installation, and subsequent service. The successful implementation of such a facility serves as a reference case, strengthening the supplier's reputation and opening up opportunities for further contracts in the rapidly growing segment of deep milk processing.

The technological cycle of cheese and dry dairy product production imposes strict and diverse requirements on temperature conditions. To ensure these conditions, the plant uses a complex of specialized refrigeration equipment.

1. Cheese ripening and storage chambers. This is the heart of any cheese production facility. They are isolated rooms with a multi-level climate control system.

• Functions: Ensuring slow fermentation and ripening of cheese heads at a strictly specified temperature (from +4°C to +14°C, depending on the variety) and humidity (85-95%). Long-term storage of finished products.
• Specifications: Equipped with powerful refrigeration units with air coolers, precise humidity control systems (humidifiers/dehumidifiers), forced ventilation for uniform parameter distribution, and multifunctional automation systems.

2. Industrial chillers and refrigeration units for process cooling.

• Functions: Cooling of milk after pasteurization before adding starter cultures, rapid cooling of cheese curds and whey, and ensuring the operation of heat exchangers.
• Specifications: Powerful water-cooling or glycol-cooling units (chiller units) with a capacity of hundreds of kW, working in conjunction with dry cooling towers or dry coolers for heat dissipation. They require high energy efficiency and reliability in a 24/7 mode.

3. Refrigerated milk storage tanks (tanks).

• Functions: Receiving and short-term storage of raw milk at a temperature of +2…+4°C to prevent souring.
• Specifications: Thermally insulated containers with a capacity of tens of thousands of liters, equipped with built-in or external refrigeration units with agitators for uniform cooling.

4. Production lines for dry dairy products and whey.

• Functions: Cooling the product after evaporation and before drying, as well as ensuring the operation of the condensers in vacuum-evaporator units.
• Specifications: Specialized crystallizers and intermediate heat exchangers are used, working in conjunction with powerful refrigeration compressor stations, often using ammonia (R717) or Freon R22/R404A, which are capable of operating at high temperature differences.

5. Low-temperature freezers and shock-freezing tunnels.

• Functions: Freezing of finished products (such as certain types of cheese or dry concentrate) for long-term storage and transportation.
• Specifications: Equipment capable of creating and maintaining temperatures ranging from -25°C to -35°C, with a high heat dissipation rate to preserve product quality.

Thus, the new plant in the Moscow region is not just a production facility, but a complex organism whose viability depends on the smooth and precise operation of all the refrigeration chain links. The implementation of such projects brings the entire market along with it, promoting the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, digital monitoring systems, and automatic regulation, which ultimately sets new standards for the entire domestic food engineering industry.