By Carmen Coetzee, Product Manager, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health
Feed processing is a complex operation, and feed manufacturers are continuously seeking ways to improve efficacy and profitability while ensuring feed safety. This drives the need for innovation in feed processing to meet the increasing demands for food of animal origin, including fish, meat, milk and eggs. The options to improve feed manufacturing are countless, and it is noted that advancements made in feed processing are impacting productivity, pellet quality, feed safety and profitability. Incorporating sustainable practices to mitigate the impact on the environment has gained more focus over the years. Kemin’s feed processing and feed safety programme with process optimisation practices such as millSMART has been adopted in the feed industry has gained attention due to its beneficial effects seen in productivity, feed quality and safety. The variability of moisture in feed raw materials, in processing feed has seen to increase cost by up to 50%. Practices implemented to monitor process fluctuations, and reduce their variability brings benefits for the feed mill manager to ensure a uniform product, and quality of feed is produced, while ensuring safety. Moisture targets for feed materials in the mixer are reached with the millSMART programme. The pre-conditioning solution, is a solution with a reduced surface tension, known as Opti CURB which contains either Sal CURB, Myco CURB or KEM WET products. The science behind the surfactants responsible for improving the preconditioning solutions capillarity, and therefore its movability within the feed matrix, ensures uniform penetration and dispersion of the solution throughout the batch of feed treated. Moreover, feed safety is ensured, as the surface-active solution contains either anti-microbial and mould inhibitor compounds and controlling moulds and pathogens is achieved by covering the full surface area of the feed. The Opti CURB solution is added with engineering application technology to ensure maximum efficacy in feed processing improvements. This pre-conditioning step ensures the feed particles are saturated and ready for steam conditioning and compaction. Pre-conditioning of the mash feed in the mixer followed by steam conditioning, has therefore formed a synergy, which ensures the current objectives and benefits of conditioning are further maximised. Saturated steam is applied to the feed matrix, with the assumption that the steam is absorbed fully and uniformly. Technically this is seen in both the transfer of moisture and heat into the feed particles in the conditioner. The speed at which heat, and moisture are transferred is different, this is due to the different behaviours of both and to the limited retention time of the feed particles in the conditioner, as they pass through. Conditioning is one of the most important steps in feed processing. The advantages of steam conditioning are not only preparing feed for compaction, but ensuring pathogen kill-off with other effects seen on nutrient digestibility improved due to starch gelatinisation, plasticised proteins and overall feed quality. The cooking of these nutrients creates a type of natural adhesive with positive effects seen on the PDI, which is an indicator of pellet quality and how effectively that pellet will endure transport and handling before final consumption. The quality of steam is often overlooked or not fully understood in its effects on compaction and the final pellet quality. Saturated steam or dry steam versus wet steam and super-heated steam is the desired quality of steam required for optimum conditioning practices. Heat transfer for saturated steam is more efficient compared to wet steam. During pelleting, the feed material is compacted to form good quality pellets. It is essential that frictional heat is minimised as the mash is rolled and the newly formed pellets moves through the die holes. Feed throughput and energy consumption are important key performance indicators. In the millSMART programme, the mash feed matrix is well conditioned, ensuring smooth transfer through the pellet die, as feed particles are well lubricated. This reduces the frictional heat generated, feed throughput is improved, and energy consumption is reduced. It is essential as part of feed hygiene that conditioning and pelleting temperatures required to kill pathogenic moulds and bacteria such as Salmonella are reached. Depending on the diet type, the temperatures may exceed 85°C, or be as low as 60°C. Excessive temperatures may have detrimental effects on essential nutrients or bioactive compounds. Temperatures which are too high give rise to a higher risk of condensation thereafter and therefore a risk ofmicrobial contamination impacting feed safety. Temperatures which and accurately measuring all these variables is the first step to are too low reduce the microbial log reductions, and feed safety is at risk. Feed safety is a core value in the millSMART programme, ensuring either the antimicrobial Sal CURB or the mould inhibitor Myco CURB in the Opti CURB dispersing solution is added which kills upon contact, additionally works in synergy with heat treatment to reach microbial kill-off. The pellets enter the cooler, with the objective to effectively cool the pellet. Heat in the pellets is lost due to both evaporation and convection, through the manipulation of both the air fan speed and pellet cooler retention time. If cooling is done too quickly or ineffectively, an unstable poor-quality pellet remains, with the risk of condensation and microbial re-contamination. If pellets are left too long in the cooler, over cooling results in over drying which is costly when considering feed inventories and feed yield output. millSMART is a tool to effectively manage cooling practices to ensure a cool pellet with a targeted moisture content achieved. Standardising feed processing is a challenge, due to the impact of many variables affecting the productivity and quality of feed produced. To fully understand the effects, it is important to trace a produced batch of feed, from the initial reception of all the raw materials used to produce that batch of feed through to final loading and storage of the finished pelleted feed. Variables impacting feed processing are specific to the location in feed processing. Identifying understand their impact on feed processing for what millSMART is a useful support. Process targets and key performance indicators are set with millSMART to ensure feed quality is reached during processing. The quality is essentially how much variation there is around that target or specification. In other words, reducing process variation is a measure of quality in a feed operation. This can be evaluated starting at raw materials intake, however interventions applied at other steps such as in the mixer are more commonly seen. In principle, the sooner efforts are made to reduce variation in the process, the more the optimised effect will be carried through during subsequent steps in feed processing. Process variation is minimised within a batch of feed. The variation between subsequent batches of feed produced is managed with process automation technologies such as seen in the millSMART online programme,. Large process fluctuations are eliminated, reducing variability and improving quality of process operations and pellets.
millSMART online provides key benefits and insights for effective feed processing, contributing to the sustainable development of feed operations and environmental protection for a happier, more prosperous and healthier world.
MillSMARTTM improves Feed Mill Efficiency by measuring, analysing and controlling the Efficiency Critical Control Points hence reducing the cost of production of feed while enhancing the pellet quality. During the last two decades of working and partnering with feed mills, we at Kemin have identified eighteen (18) such efficiency critical control points. All these ECCP’s are to be maintained within the standard range to achieve maximum efficiency in feed milling.
MillSMARTTM – Three phases for improving feed milling efficiency
- MillSCAN - In this phase a certified feed mill engineer visits the targeted feed mill and measures various Efficiency Critical Control Points. In this process engineers utilise Kemin’s Customer Laboratory Services to accurately measure the Efficiency Critical Control Points.
- MillSCORE - Our engineering team utilises various sophisticated tools such as the MillSCORE app to ascertain the current score of the feed mill in terms of its efficiency. Kemin engineering team will make and submit a MillSCORE report comparing all 18 ECCPs against their standard value.
- MillCONTROL - In this phase, we’ll suggest corrective actions to bring all ECCPs within the standard range. We achieve MillCONTROL by using PPP model: where our People & Product improve the Processes
Improving Starch Gelatinization in Animal Feed
