IE77520B1 - A process for producing an aninal feed - Google Patents

Abstract

Selected dry ingredient materials (209) are received, stored and delivered from associated storage bins (202-205) to a grinder (208) to grind the dry ingredient to a desired particle size. Dry ingredient materials are blended, weighed and passed through a microingredient adder (401). Microingredients are added to the blended materials in a continuous stream as they pass through the adder (401) and are mixed, sieved and delivered to a feed conditioner (502). The feed conditioner (502), has a brief dwell time in which the feed is conditioned by the addition of preset quantities of liquid ingredient materials such as steam and molasses and provides a continuous supply of conditioned feed to a press (503) for extruding pellets. The pellets are cooled sieved and delivered to bulk storage bins (701).

Description

A process for producing an animal feed Introduction The present invention relates to a process for producing an animal feed, and particularly for producing a pelletised animal feed and a crumb animal feed.

It is known to use a variety of methods to produce animal feeds to a required standard ensuring that the feed is pelletised in a uniform fashion, that it does not have fines and dust in it, and generally has a pleasing feel and appearance. Additionally before the animal feed is pelletised, it is essential that dry ingredient materials such as wheat, maize, meat meal, fish meal and bone meal etc. are blended uniformly mixed with required amounts of liquid fat, water and molasses.

Current processes for the production of animal feeds present producers with significant material handling difficulties requiring a number of separate storage areas. This interim storage of material requires the provision of expensive equipment and space. It further reduces plant productivity as processing must be conducted in several discrete stages.

It is also known to produce pelletised animal feeds to the required standard by using two separate pelletising presses in series. This method produces a high quality animal feed, however, the provision of a second pelleting press increases both capital and production costs .

It is an object of the invention to provide a process for producing a high quality animal feed in an efficient manner while minimising production costs.

According to the invention there is provided a process for producing an animal feed comprising the steps of: receiving selected dry ingredient materials, storing each dry ingredient material in an associated storage bin, delivering a desired amount of each dry ingredient material from the storage bins to a pre-blending bin, each dry ingredient material being delivered in turn through a pre-grind hopper for controlling delivery of the dry ingredient material to a grinder for grinding the dry ingredient material to a preset desired particle size prior to delivering the dry ingredient material to the pre-blending bin, delivering two or more selected dry ingredient materials in a pre-selected ratio from the preblending bins to a weigher and weighing the dry ingredient materials, passing the weighed dry ingredient materials through a microingredient adder downstream of the weigher, delivering a quantity of microingredient additive to the dry ingredient materials in a controlled manner, the quantity of microingredient additive being controlled in response to the sensed weight of dry ingredient materials, the microingredient material being evenly dispersed in a gravity fed stream throughout the batch of dry ingredient materials as the dry ingredient materials are passed through the microingredient adder, mixing and blending the microingredient additive with the dry ingredient material in a mixer, adding a desired amount of a liquid ingredient to the mixer, and passing material discharged from the mixer through a sieve downstream of the mixer.

Thus a high quality animal feed is produced relatively quickly as the number of interim storage areas is significantly reduced. Additionally the gravity fed stream of microingredient additive ensures an even distribution of microingredient guaranteeing a homogenous mixture and reducing mixing time.

In one embodiment the microingredient material includes a carrier material and is delivered to the dryingredient material in a gravity fed stream. A gravity fed stream of this type eliminates the risk of cross contamination by carrying over of micro-ingredient materials .

In a preferred arrangement the process includes the steps of delivering the sieved material to a feed conditioner, passing the sieved material through the feed conditioner, controlling the flow of material between an inlet and an outlet of the feed conditioner, retaining the material in the feed conditioner for a pre-set dwell time, discharging a continuous output of conditioned feed from the feed conditioner, conveying the conditioned feed from the feed conditioner to a press for extruding and pelletising the conditioned feed to form pellets; delivering the pellets to an air cooler; cooling the pellets; passing the cooled pellets over a pellet sieve to remove fines; and delivering the dry pelletised animal feed to bulk storage bins .

An animal feed formed in accordance with this process provides improved results over existing production processes. The delivered pellets from this process were measured using the Holmen durability test and performed substantially better than other pellets. Pellets scoring well in this test are considerably more durable and therefore are easier to handle. The production is further accelerated as it reduces the number of interim storage areas required by enabling the feed to be pumped directly through the feed conditioner. Additionally as there is a continuous supply of conditioned feed and no interim storage of warm conditioned feed hygiene is significantly improved.

Preferably the flow of sieved material through the feed conditioner is controlled for regulating the preset dwell time of material in the conditioner to between one and five minutes.

Ideally the flow of sieved material through the feed conditioner is controlled for regulating the preset dwell time in the conditioner to between two and three minutes. This facilitates the provision of a production line process as the throughput time for conditioning the animal feed in the feed conditioner is relatively short.

Ideally the process includes the step of extracting fines from the pellet sieve downstream of the air cooler and returning extracted fines to the inlet of the feed conditioner thereby reducing waste from the production process reducing production costs.

In a preferred embodiment the step of conditioning the feed includes injecting steam and molasses in a controlled manner into the feed conditioner for conditioning the material travelling through the feed conditioner. Thus, the overall system is very hygienic as the heated area is fully contained, therefore the probability of contamination is greatly reduced. Beneficially it also reduces production costs as the quantity of steam required is reduced as there is relatively little heat loss in the feed conditioner.

Ideally there is performed the additional steps of: delivering pellets collected from the air cooler to a crumbier, crumbling the pellets to produce an animal feed crumb, delivering the animal feed crumb to a bagging plant, and passing the animal feed crumb over a crumb sieve mounted intermediate the crumbier and the bagging plant for selecting animal feed crumb of a preset desirable crumb size prior to delivery to the bagging plant.

Preferably the particle size of the sieved animal feed crumb is less than 10 mm.

Ideally the particle size of the sieved animal feed crumb is between 0.5 mm and 3 mm thus, the delivered crumb is of uniform size and consistently high quality.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a process for producing an animal feed comprising the steps of:receiving pre-ground selected dry ingredient materials , delivering desired quantities of selected preground dry ingredient material to a pre-blending bin, delivering two or more selected dry ingredient materials in a pre-selected ratio from the preblending bins to a weigher, weighing the dry ingredient materials, passing the weighed dry ingredient materials through a microingredient adder downstream of the weigher, delivering a quantity of microingredient additive to the dry ingredient materials in a controlled manner, the quantity of microingredient additive being controlled in response to the sensed weight of dry ingredient materials, the microingredient material being evenly dispersed in a gravity fed stream throughout the batch of dry ingredient materials as the dry ingredient materials are passed through the microingredient adder, mixing and blending the microingredient additive with the dry ingredient materials in a mixer for a preset mix time, adding a desired amount of liquid to the mixer, conveying material discharged from the mixer to a sieve downstream of the mixer, delivering the sieved material to a feed conditioner, passing the sieved material through the feed conditioner, controlling the flow of material between an inlet and an outlet of the feed conditioner, retaining the material in the feed conditioner for a pre-set dwell time, discharging a continuous output of conditioned feed from the feed conditioner, conveying the conditioned feed from the feed conditioner to a press for extruding and pelletising the conditioned feed to form pellets; delivering the dried pellets to an air cooler; cooling the pellets; delivering the cooled pellets to a sieve; and delivering the dry pelletised animal feed to bulk storage bins .

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided an animal feed whenever produced by the process above. Ί Detailed Description of the Invention The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart illustrating an animal feed production process according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an intake apparatus used in the process; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a blending apparatus used in the process; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a microingredient adder and mixer apparatus used in the process; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a feed conditioner and press apparatus used in the process; Figs. 6a and 6b are perspective views of the feed conditioner of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a bulk storage apparatus used in the process; and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of a crumbier apparatus used in the process.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Fig. 1 there is illustrated a flow chart showing the movement of materials between stages in a process for producing an animal feed according to the invention.

In accordance with the invention, there is a dry ingredient handling stage having equipment indicated generally by the reference numeral 200 from which ground dry ingredient material is sent to a pre-blending stage with pre-blending plant indicated generally by the reference numeral 300.

The dry ingredient material is then delivered to a mixing and blending stage having equipment indicated generally by the reference numeral 400.

Mixed and blended material is then sent directly to a conditioning stage having equipment which is indicated generally by the reference numeral 500 where feed is conditioned and pelletised.

From the conditioning stage the pelletised animal feed is sent to a storage stage, the equipment being indicated generally by the reference numeral 700, or to a crumbling stage where the plant is indicated generally by the reference numeral 800.

Referring now to Fig. 2 there is illustrated the dry ingredient handling equipment 200 for receiving selected dry ingredient materials 209, such as wheat, maize, meat meal, fish meal, bone meal, etc. The equipment 2 00 comprises a main intake hopper 201, a secondary intake hopper 207, four storage bins 202, 203, 204, 205, a pregrind hopper 206 and a grinder 208.

The main intake hopper 201 is connected to the storage bins 202-205 by a conveyor lift 210 and a chain conveyor belt 211. Dry ingredient materials are directed to the correct storage bin 202-205 by operation of pneumatic slide valves 212, 213.

Delivery of the dry ingredient material 209 from the storage bins 202-205 to the pre-grind hopper 206 is controlled by control valves 222-225 at an outlet of each of the storage bins 202-205. Each control valve 222-225 is actuated by a process controller (not shown) to deliver a desired amount of dry ingredient material to a screw conveyor 227 and belt conveyor lift 228 and thus to the pre-grind hopper 206.

One-off, specialist requirements or materials not suitable for storage in a storage bin may also be required and such materials may be routed directly to the pre-grind bin 206 using the secondary intake hopper 207 and the conveyor lift 228.

Referring now to Fig. 3 there is shown a pre-blending stage where the pre-blending plant 300 has fifteen blending bins 301 for receiving ground dry material with a nominal grind particle size in the range of 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm discharged from the grinder 208 using a screw conveyor 302 and a belt and bucket elevator 303.

When pre-ground dry ingredient materials are received they are delivered directly to the blending bins 301 using the main intake hopper 201 and the conveyer 211.

Delivery of each appropriate ground dry material to the correct pre-blending bin 301 is controlled by a valve system 310. The plant 300 also has a suspended load cell weigher 311 for weighing dry materials delivered from the pre-blending bins 301 through a screw conveyor 312.

Referring now to Fig. 4 there is illustrated the mixing stage where the equipment 400 includes a microingredient adder 401, a mixer 402, underhopper 403 and a sieve 404.

Ground dry material is passed beneath the microingredient adder 401 on a conveyor 410 allowing an appropriate amount of microingredient additive, to be added in a continuous gravity fed stream as the dry material passes through. The amount of microingredient additive delivered is controlled in response to the quantity of sieved ground dry materials passing under the microingredient adder 401 thus ensuring a generally even distribution of the microingredients in the material before mixing and blending.

The raicroingredient additives and the dry ingredient materials are then delivered to the mixer 402 by the conveyor 410 where it is mixed and blended together with liquid fat and water added through two liquid inlets 411, 412 for approximately 3.5 minutes.

Material discharged from the mixer 402 is conveyed to the sieve 404 through the underhopper 403 and by screw conveyor 414 and conveyor lift 413 combination.

Referring now to Figs. 5 and 6 there is illustrated a conditioning equipment 500 having a closed feed conditioner 502, a press 503, an air cooler 504, a cyclone 505 driven by a fan 506. Sieved material is delivered to the feed conditioner 502 from the sieve 404 by a screw conveyor 501. Conditioned feed is fed from the feed conditioner 502 by a downpipe 510 to the press 503 where the conditioned feed is extruded and pelletised to form pellets. The pellets are then delivered to the air cooler 504 and dust is extracted using the cyclone 505 and the fan 506.

The feed conditioner 502 receives sieved material from the sieve 404 at an inlet 601 and discharges it to the press 503 at an outlet 602. The feed conditioner has a molasses inlet 604 beside the inlet 601 for adding a controlled quantity of molasses and steam injectors 605 for injecting steam.

A dwell time for the feed in the conditioner 502 is provided by forwardly directed paddles 606 near the inlet 601 urging the feed toward the outlet 602 and oppositely directed paddles 607 for resisting the throughput of feed. In this way the feed conditioning is achieved much quicker than was possible heretofore as the conditioned feed is provided in a continuous stream instead of being done in a condition - pelletise batch process. Additionally the steam and heat generated is carefully contained providing significant reduction in production costs, more efficient material handling at the point where molasses is added and improvement in hygiene reducing the risk of contamination by salmonella or the like. Production times are also reduced as the conditioned feed is available to the press 503 in a continuous stream and correct conditioning of the feed is ensured by controlling the speed of the flow between the inlet 601 and the outlet 602 of the feed conditioner 502. By retaining the material in the feed conditioner 502 for a pre-set dwell time of approximately two and a half minutes and discharging a continuous output of conditioned feed the need for an interim storage required in batch processing techniques is eliminated accelerating the production process. Additionally as heat required to condition the feed is confined to one part of the process, there is no need to pre-heat the molasses or fats making the materials much easier to handle and eliminating the need for insulated or heated interim storage vessels necessary in other processes.

Referring now to Fig. 7 there is shown a storage stage where the equipment 700 has ten bulk storage bins 701 for receiving sieved pellets from a sieve 702 along a conveyor 703. Delivery of the pellets to the appropriate bulk storage bin 701 is controlled by a valve system 704. Pellets are delivered from the cooler 504 to the sieve 702 by a screw and lift conveyor 710 and fines from the sieve 702 are returned to the feed conditioner 502 by a conveyor (not shown).

Referring now to Fig. 8 the plant 800 includes a crumbier 801, a secondary sieve 802, a delivery conveyor belt 803 and a return bin 804. Pellets from the sieve are fed to the crumbier 801 through a down pipe 810, the flow of pellets being regulated by a valve 811. The crumbled pellets are then sieved by the sieve 802 and crumbs whose particle size is less than seven millimetres are passed to the delivery chute 803. Crumbs of particle size greater than seven millimetres are conveyed to the return bin 804 by a conveyor belt 812 and returned to the crumbier 801 by a screw conveyor 813. Using this double sieving process the crumb delivered is high quality and even consistency. The use of the conveyor belt 803 reduces the risk of damage to or breakdown of the crumbs during delivery to a storage area or bagging plant.

It will be appreciated that dry ingredient materials may be delivered directly to the pre-grind hopper without being stored in the storage bins to further accelerate the production process .

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail.

Claims (12)

1. A process for producing an animal feed comprising the steps of :receiving selected dry ingredient materials, storing each dry ingredient material in an associated storage bin, delivering a desired amount of each dry ingredient material from the storage bins to a pre-blending bin, each dry ingredient material being delivered in turn through a pre-grind hopper for controlling delivery of the dry ingredient material to a grinder for grinding the dry ingredient material to a preset desired particle size prior to delivering the dry ingredient material to the pre-blending bin, delivering two or more selected dry ingredient materials in a preselected ratio from the preblending bins to a weigher and weighing the dry ingredient materials, passing the weighed dry ingredient materials through a microingredient adder downstream of the weigher, delivering a quantity of microingredient additive to the dry ingredient material in a controlled manner, the quantity of microingredient additive being controlled in response to the sensed weight of dry ingredient materials, the microingredient material being evenly dispersed in a gravity fed stream throughout the batch of dry ingredient materials as the dry ingredient materials are passed through the microingredient adder, mixing and blending the microingredient additive with the dry ingredient materials in a mixer, adding a desired amount of a liquid ingredient to the mixer in a controller manner, and passing material discharged from the mixer through a sieve downstream of the mixer.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 including the steps of delivering the sieved material to a feed conditioner, passing the sieved material through the feed conditioner, controlling the flow of material between an inlet and an outlet of the feed conditioner, retaining the material in the feed conditioner for a pre-set dwell time, discharging a continuous output of conditioned feed from the feed conditioner, conveying the conditioned feed from the feed conditioner to a press for extruding and pelletising the conditioned feed to form pellets; delivering the pellets to an air cooler; cooling the pellets; passing the cooled pellets over a pellet sieve; and delivering the dry pelletised animal feed to bulk storage bins . A process as claimed in claim 2 in which the flow of sieved material through the feed conditioner is controlled for regulating the preset dwell time of

3. material in the conditioner to between one and five minutes .

4. A process as claimed in claim 3 in which the flow of sieved material through the feed conditioner is controlled for regulating the preset dwell time in the conditioner to between two and three minutes.

5. A process as claimed in any of claims 2 to 4 in which fines are collected from the air cooler and returned to the feed conditioner.

6. A process as claimed in any of claims 2 to 5 including the step of extracting fines from the pellet sieve downstream of the air cooler and returning extracted fines to the inlet of the feed conditioner.

7. A process as claimed in any of claims 2 to 6 in which the step of conditioning the feed includes injecting steam and molasses in a controlled manner into the feed conditioner for conditioning the material travelling through the feed conditioner.

8. A process as claimed in any of claims 2 to 7 in which there is performed the additional steps of delivering pellets from the air cooler to a crumbier, crumbling the pellets to produce an animal feed crumb, delivering the animal feed crumb to a bagging plant, and passing the animal feed crumb over a crumb sieve mounted intermediate the crumbier and the bagging plant for selecting animal feed crumb of a preset desirable crumb size prior to delivery to the bagging plant. A process as claimed in claim 8 particle size of the sieved animal less than 10 mm. in which the feed crumb is

9. 10. A process as claimed in claim 9 in which the particle size of the sieved animal feed crumb is between 0.5 mm and 3 mm.

10. 11. A process for producing an animal feed comprising the steps of :receiving pre-ground selected dry ingredient materials, delivering desired quantities of selected preground dry ingredient material to a preblending bin, delivering two or more selected dry ingredient materials in a pre-selected ratio from the pre-blending bins to a weigher, weighing the dry ingredient materials, passing the weighed dry ingredient materials through a microingredient adder downstream of the weigher, delivering a quantity of microingredient additive to the dry ingredient material in a controlled manner, the quantity of microingredient additive being controlled in response to the sensed weight of dry ingredient materials, the microingredient material being evenly dispersed in a gravity fed stream throughout the batch of dry ingredient materials as the dry ingredient material is passed through the microingredient adder, mixing and blending the microingredient additive with the dry ingredient materials in a mixer for a preset mix time,

11. 12.

12. 13. adding a desired amount of liquid to the mixer, conveying material discharged from the mixer to a sieve downstream of the mixer, delivering the sieved material to a feed conditioner, passing the sieved material through the feed conditioner, controlling the flow of material between an inlet and an outlet of the feed conditioner, retaining the material in the feed conditioner for a pre-set dwell time, discharging a continuous output of conditioned feed from the feed conditioner, conveying the conditioned feed from the feed conditioner to a press for extruding and pelletising the conditioned feed to form pellets; delivering the dried pellets to an air cooler; cooling the pellets; delivering the cooled pellets to a sieve; and delivering the dry pelletised animal feed to bulk storage bins . A process for producing an animal feed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. An animal feed as whenever produced by the process as claimed in any preceding claim.