ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE April 2024 43 Raw Material Intake Materials delivered 2 Raw Material Storage silos Materials stored prior to use 1 Weighing Materials weighed 3 Mixer constituents mixed 4 Milling Mixed Material ground to meal 5 Conditioning Extruding/Pelleting Material extruded to pellets 6 Drying Pellets dried for durability 7 Coating Fat coating added Cooling Cool to storage temperature. 8 Packaging/Storage Hydronix produces a range of microwave sensors that meet all these requirements whilst also being robust enough to withstand the toughest industry conditions and can offer worldwide support, training, and service. WHERE TO MEASURE MOISTURE? End-to-end moisture control can now be achieved, efficiently and cost effectively, by installing sensors throughout the process. In locations such as shown in figure 1. 1. Raw Material Intake: Materials delivered from the supplier Measurement between the raw material intake and storage silos enables quality control of incoming materials. This also allows for material storage to be managed, or material to be rejected, to reduce risk of spoilage by mycotoxins. This also allows supplier performance to be automatically monitored, for example when purchasing by dry weight. 2. Weighing: Materials weighed to achieve correct formulation Measuring between the storage silos and weigh hoppers ensures raw materials are correctly proportioned, compensating for the varying moisture levels in individual materials. 3. Mixing: Water addition into mixer Measurement in the mixer allows the correct addition of water and other moisture dependant additives to ensure material sent to the hammer mill has the correct moisture. 4. Milling: Prior and post milling Measuring before milling ensures that optimum conditioning has been achieved to maximise milling performance, as the moisture content affects the final size and shape of the milled material. As milling is an energy intensive process which affects the moisture in the material, measuring after the mill also allows the moisture loss that occurs to be monitored. Measuring both before and after allows for complete monitoring of the real-time efficiency of the process. 5. Conditioning: Correcting the moisture of raw materials Incorrect conditioning will cause issues with the pelletising process with variations in moisture effecting equipment wear and tear and energy consumption of the machines. High moisture can result in soft or poorly formed pellets making them more likely to block the pellet machine or create sticky pellets, often with drastic consequences, such as damage to the die. Low moisture gives reduced binding properties and pellet breakage. Figure 1. Suggested moisture measurement locations in a typical aquafeed production plant
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