Cheese whey is the main waste product of the dairy industry;
every year 120 million Mg of cheese whey are produced in the
world, 66% of which are generated in the EU and 25% in North
America (Nikodinovic-Runic et al., 2013). Cheese whey is a
green-yellowish liquid resulting from the precipitation and
removal of milk casein in the cheese making process. It has a high
carbon load (COD = 50–102 g L1) and it is composed of lactose
(39–60 g L1; about 90% of the organic load), fat and proteins
(0.99–10.58 g L1 and 27–60 g L1, respectively), and mineral salts
(4.6–8 g L1), mainly represented by NaCl, KCl and calcium phosphates
(Prazeres et al., 2012).