Pet Food: Bulk Material Handling Systems

The pet food industry has long searched for methods to control the movement of ingredients through to the manufacture of the finished product and from process to packaging in a reliable, inexpensive, maintenance-free system that yields little or no breakage.

Schenck Process provides a range of pneumatic and mechanical conveying solutions, bulk material feeders, sifters, screeners, mixers, mills and process controls for the world's most recognizable pet food brands. With a vast amount of experience in the pet food industry, Schenck Process is able to provide process solutions based on the company's core technologies and can advise and design the most suitable arrangement of equipment to improve the efficiency and production rates of most processes.

Aware of the need to produce the highest quality product together with minimal product degradation, the elimination of inefficiencies and ensuring product safety, Schenck Process can tailor the solution provided to the specific requirements of the client and the installation.

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Examples of recent installations for the Pet Food industry include:

• Truck or Railcar unloading and bulk storage systems of meal
• In-plant transfer systems for major, minor and micro ingredients
• Plant controls system upgrades
• Plant dust control systems
• Hammermill aspiration, convey and dust control
• Scaling systems for blenders and extruders
• Coatings handling systems
• Continuous dense phase transfer of finished products
• Emissions control systems for dryers and coolers
• Feeding of majors, minors and dry palatants
• Off-spec product reclaim and remill systems
• Extruder negative airlifts
• Odor abatement

The range of technologies available from Schenck Process includes the following:

E-finity® Low Pressure Continuous Dense Phase (LPCDP) Pneumatic Conveying systems deliver the least amount of airflow to convey the product with minimal degradation. The system is configured to have a smooth and lip-free connection on tube joints, diverters that reduce cross contamination and provide a smooth, full bore divert and the product is slowed to slide into the termination bin for a gentle landing.

Gardner Ribbon Mixers provide consistent batch and continuous blending of powders and granules. The mixers use low energy and provide gentle mixing action with minimal heat generation ensuring that minor ingredients are dispersed homogeneously without the need for pre-mixing. Models with capacities ranging from 50 to 20,000 liters are available.

GKM Screeners provide controlled screening, multi-deck classification and de-dusting of dry, powdered and granular products. The screener is particularly suitable for high feed rates, multi-deck separations of fines and difficult to screen lightweight products.

Global Cleanable Airlocks (GCA) are ideal for applications where dry raw or finished products are being handled in the process and where inspection or system clean-out are required. Because the GCA is designed for high process rates and possesses a number of features suited for sanitary processes the airlock is perfect for pet food applications.

Horizontal Material Separators are cyclones that separate conveyed material from the conveying airstream, minimizing the amount of air that exits with discharge material. The horizontal cyclone design is similar to a standard cyclone however; the main housing unit is turned 90° with both cylinder ends capped. The HMS has a vertical footprint that is 50% less than standard cyclones taking up less manufacturing space and is perfect for handling large and small kibble, large flakes and fish feed.

Kemutec Kek Cone Mills are versatile size reduction machines for powder processing applications. With an ability to process a wide range of feed material and produce an equally wide range of product make the cone mill ideal for sizing in both wet and dry granulation processes. The Kek Cone Mill provides a gentle, low energy form of size reduction and eliminates traditional milling problems including noise, dust and heat generation. The gentle grinding action is capable of control within fine limits while maintaining a close particle size distribution with minimal fines generation.

Kemutec Kek Sifters are designed for the removal of unwanted materials such as strings, packaging, and insects from bulk product or minor ingredients along with the removal of de-agglomerated hard lumps of product. Fitted with a cantilever shaft the Kek Sifter provides users with a high standard of hygiene and ease of operation. A 30-second screen change and no tools required for stripping the unit down make cleaning and maintenance quick and easy.

MCF PowerSaver® Dust Collectors save up to 50% of operational costs by using medium pressure air for the cleaning cycle. An integrated blower provides the 0.49 bar medium pressure air for cleaning which eliminates the need for plant compressed air in the filter and frees up existing compressed air capacity for use in other processes. The MCF PowerSaver provides excellent operational capabilities in high dust load applications.

MechaTron® Feeders are perfectly suited to handle a wide range of volumetric or gravimetric feeding applications. With the unique feature of complete disassembly from the non-process side, users can quickly clean, reconfigure or service the feeder. Sanitary 3-A models of the MechaTron® are also available. The MechTron is perfectly suited for feeding majors, minors and dry palatants.

ModuPlasma™ is an odor abatement system that uses direct treatment, which means the emission is led through the energy field, in opposition to other plasma solutions, where ozone is injected into the emission. This direct treatment results in oxidation 1 to 10 million times faster than in nature. Quick results and done in an environmentally safe manner.

MoveMaster® Chain Conveyors for the movement of bulk grain supplies from delivery vehicles into storage silos. The chain conveyors have a high tensile strength to handle a large volume of material together in a reliable and efficient manner with minimal maintenance requirements.

MULTICOR® Mass Flow Meter's accuracy, low profile, and dust tight solution make it ideal for extruder milled grain metering. Designed with a drive shaft and partitioned measuring wheel, the MULTICOR applies the science of Coriolis technology by accelerating the raw materials and their resultant forces to accurately measure flow rate.

MULTIDOS® DEA Open Frame Weighbelts are designed specifically for sanitary pet food and food processes. A tool-less, rapid belt removal for frequent cleaning cycles, an IP69K stainless steel load cell manufactured to withstand high pressure spray, a shaft mounted, wash-down drive system for simple power transmission, and product contact surfaces with 316 stainless steel make it ideal for sanitary weighing and feeding applications.

Supplied Air Extruder (SAE) Hood is a key component of the Schenck Process high feature Supplied Air Negative Airlift, which conveys extrudate from the extruder to the dryer with HEPA filtered or treated convey air instead of potentially contaminated air from the extruder room floor. This is important to all pet food producers concerned with avoiding finished product bacterial contamination after the extrusion kill step.

by Schenck Process

Source: All Extruded