IE80607B1 - A process for the manufacture of animal feed supplements - Google Patents

Abstract

A dust free powder like composite feed additive supplement which contains 0.25% - 2.0% mineral oil by weight is prepared by metering and delivering a desired quantity of bulking carrier material to a mixer (6) via a batch weighing hopper (4). Individual feed additives are weighed and delivered to the mixer (6). An aerosol of mineral oil and air is formed and during mixing of the dry ingredients the aerosol is injected into the mixer (6). The droplets of mineral oil adhere to the dust of the material producing a particle size in the range 400-1000 microns. Apparatus for preparing such a supplement is also described .

Description

A process for the manufacture of animal feed supplements Introduction The present invention relates to a novel process for the manufacture of animal feed supplements.

Animal feed supplement formulations are used extensively with conventional animal feeds to ensure that the animal receives the right balance of nutrients and minerals. These supplements are used to correct imbalances in diet and include additives such as for example vitamin E, copper sulphate, zinc oxide, folic acid and calcined magnesite, the latter being regularly used for cattle feeds.

A major problem arises in the manufacture of such animal supplements in that many of the additives are free flowing powders which often create dust problems in areas where they are produced and used. It is a major health hazard in the workplace particularly, and indeed to improve the handling of the additives it has become desirable to in some way provide means of ensuring that relatively little dust is formed and that the additive is in a powder-like dust-free form. Various ways have been suggested to provide such powder-like substantially dust-free formulations. One of the ways that is used extensively is to add molasses to the additives as a binding agent. Unfortunately the molasses reacts with certain of the most commonly used ingredients in particular calcined magnesite so as to form heavy lumps or coagulations of material. Thus, molasses, when placed in mixers, causes the mixers to be coated so that there is increased power utilisation and eventually after relatively short periods, mixers have to be stripped down and cleaned of the offending material. The molasses itself also does not provide a homogenous material as there is often formed in the mixture lumps of molasses with the additives.

Other additives have been suggested such as tallow which was found in many ways to be an effective dust suppressant. However, tallow has been used more where it has been desired to palletise the product. There are also problems with tallow in that with calcium salt, tallow powders mixtures have been found to cake into hard lumps during storage. A further problem is in degeneration of the material with oxidative degradation of fats. This degradation in the presence of some of these salts causes rancidity in the feed supplement. Also, as tallow is solid at room temperature it must be liquefied by heating, resulting in added energy and insulation costs. Many attempts have been made to replace tallow with other more oxidatively stable fats. These attempts have had varying degrees of success.

A further problem in the mixing of such additives is the necessity to ensure that the additives are uniformly mixed and subsequently that the feed additive supplement can in turn be uniformly dispersed within the feed itself. Most feed additive supplements usually consist of a mixture of active ingredient in individual feed additives and a suitable bulking carrier material. This leads to a further problem of ensuring that the active ingredients in the feed additives are firstly adequately mixed with their own carrier material and then that the composite additive material, namely the feed supplement, is in turn adequately mixed within the feed to which it is subsequently added. There is thus a need for a lessfine powder-like or granular-like feed additive supplement that will not deteriorate over time, that will not tend to coagulate during the production process, will not form hard lumps or large pelletised lumps of material over time during storage and finally as mentioned already will not be subject to oxidative degradation.

In addition to the general health hazard, there is also the serious safety requirement to ensure that there is no dust within the production process which is likely to cause an explosion. A further problem is that when the feed additive supplement is in dust-like form there is a considerable loss of product, not alone in the factory itself due to dust having to be extracted and not being reusable because it will already have been in the mixer, but the additional problem that on site or in use a considerable amount of the feed additive is lost. It is estimated that within the factory environment itself somewhat of the order of 4-5% of the active ingredients of the feed additive supplement are lost during manufacture having to be disposed of at further cost and that additionally a considerable loss of product occurs in use.

It also should be appreciated that in use, users are becoming extremely wary of having dust-like substances not alone in environments where humans are but also for the animals themselves. Environmental protection laws are being enforced very rigidly throughout Europe and the United States whereby factories giving rise to noxious emissions such as dust from animal feed supplement manufacture are in danger of being prevented from operating. The handling difficulties are also quite noticeable when handling small bags of material, but even more so when there is bulk loading and handling. It is not possible generally to carry or transport the feed additive supplement in open or loosely closed lorry bodies, but they have to be carried in much more expensive bulk storage tanks. In turn when they are then downloaded on site, elaborate loading and handling equipment has to be provided. If however the feed additive supplement can be provided in a relatively dust-free powder-like form then normal mechanical handling and transporting equipment can be used such as lightly covered lorries and loading chutes. Indeed in the market many users are refusing to accept feed additive supplements with a high dust content. Thus, if those who provide such supplements cannot provide substantially dust-free feed additive supplements, they may be out of business.

Indeed, heretofore people when trying to overcome this problem apparently proceeded on the basis of the dust suppressant agent being of itself a feed supplement or additive. They have not appreciated that the problem to be solved was the suppression of dust and the addition of useful feed material or additives is an entirely secondary consideration.

Accordingly, therefore there are many environmental, health, safety and economic reasons for providing a feed supplement material in a powder-like essentially dust-free form.

Statements of Invention In accordance with the invention there is provided a process for producing a substantially dust-free powderlike composite feed additive supplement comprising: metering material; a desired quantity of bulking carrier delivering hopper; the carrier material to a batch weighing delivering hopper to the carrier material from a mixer; the batch weighing selecting the desired quantities of individual feed additive; delivering and weighing the individual feed additive into the batch weighing hopper; repeating the selecting and weighing of individual feed additives until the desired feed additive mixture is provided; delivering the feed additives mixture to the mixer; determining the amount of mineral oil required within a range of 0.25% to 2.0% by weight of the combined bulking carrier material and feed additives mixture; delivering the mineral oil to a separate distributor chamber; injecting pressurised air into the distributor chamber to form an aerosol of air and mineral oil; operating the mixer to form a suspension of fine dust of material of which 75% by weight has a particle size below 400 microns; simultaneously injecting the aerosol into the mixer so that the droplets of mineral oil adhere to the dust of the material; and continuing the mixing process until a substantial amount of the composite feed additive supplement has a particle size within the range 400 to 1000 microns.

This process has some very surprising results. It has been extremely successful in producing an animal feed supplement that is relatively dust-free. This has been done without the drawbacks inherent in the present formulations. For example, all the problems inherent in the use of molasses, which is the most popular dust suppressant agent and other similar natural products have been totally eliminated.

Additionally the invention provides a powder-like composite feed additive supplement produced by the processes of the invention in which at least 75% of the material by weight has a particle size within the range 400 to 1000 microns. Such a feed additive supplement is particularly useful for the user in that the hazards attendant on finer feeds as are more normally the case without treatment, such as those having a particle size below 250 are much reduced.

Additionally the invention also provides an apparatus for the manufacture of a substantially dust-free powder-like composite feed additive supplement which in combination comprises: an additive storage hopper for each individual feed additive; a batch weighing hopper; screw augers associated with each additive storage hopper for feeding the batch weighing hopper; a bulking carrier material silo; a screw auger between the bulk carrier material silo and the batch weighing hopper; a mixer incorporating a drum and radially arranged blending arms; Ί an associated screw conveyor between the batch weighing hopper and the mixer; a mineral oil storage tank; a distributor chamber connected to the storage tank; a pressurised air supply for the distributor chamber; spraying means within the mixer drum; and a pipe connecting the distributor chamber and the associated spraying means within the mixer drum.

This apparatus is particularly advantageous in that 10 maintenance and down time is substantially reduced, the cost of maintenance has been reduced and the power requirements in operating the mixer are generally reduced because of the lack of build-up of materials within the mixer.

Detailed Description The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of a process for carrying out the invention described with reference to the enclosed drawings of a typical plant layout for carrying out the invention in which:Fig. 1 is a perspective diagrammatic elevation of the animal feed supplement processing plant; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of the remainder of the plant; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the layout of the plant. comprising a hoppers 2 each Referring to the drawings it is important initially to appreciate that Figs. 1 and 2 have to be viewed together as covering the layout of the plant. There is provided an animal feed supplement processing plant indicated generally by the reference numeral plurality of feed additive storage connected by screw augers 3 to a batch weighing hopper 4 which in turn feeds through a screw conveyor 5 to a mixer assembly indicated generally by the reference numeral 6 which will be described in more detail later. A bulking carrier material silo 7 also feeds the batch weighing hopper 4 through a screw conveyor 8. The bulking carrier material silo 7 is in turn charged with a suitable bulking material through a further screw conveyor 9 and associated delivery hopper (not shown). It will be noted that the screw conveyor 5 is illustrated leading out of the portion of the plant illustrated in Fig. 1 to form the input to the portion in Fig. 2 and is further highlighted by the letter X in each of Figs. 1 and 2. The mixer assembly 6 in turn feeds, by means of further screw conveyors 10 and 11, a bagging plant 12 and a bulk storage silo 13.

Referring in particular to Fig. 2, the mixer assembly 6 comprises a ribbon type blender 20 having a casing 21 within which is mounted a shaft 22 having radially arranged blending arms 23. The shaft 22 is driven by a motor and associated gearbox 24. The ribbon type blender 20 has an inlet hopper 25 and a discharge chute 26 each with associated doors, (not shown). Mounted within the casing is a spray bar 29 connected by a pipe 30 and associated control valve 31 to a distributor chamber 32. The distributor chamber 32 comprises an upper oil storage compartment 33, an intermediate charging compartment 34 fed by gravity from the upper oil storage compartment 33 through an upper charging valve 35 and a lower dispenser compartment 36 fed by gravity from the intermediate charging compartment 34 through a lower charging valve 37 .

The upper charging valve 35 and the lower charging valve 37 are linked by control means 38 whereby when the upper charging valve 35 is opened, the lower charging valve 37 is closed and vice versa. Pressurised air is provided to the lower dispensing compartment 36 by a fan 39 and associated air pipe 40. A mineral oil storage header tank 41 feeds the upper oil storage compartment 33 through a pipe 42.

A complete dust extraction system is provided for the plant, however for clarity in the drawings only portion of the dust extraction system, indicated generally by the reference numeral 50, is illustrated and comprises a plurality of air ducts 51, extractor heads 52 and associated fans and hoppers (not shown).

The bagging plant 12 comprises a storage hopper 60 feeding a conventional metering and filling head 61 above a bag conveyor 6 2.

In use, the desired amount of bulking carrier material is delivered from the bulking carrier material silo 7 through the screw conveyor 8 into the batch weighing hopper 4. When the batch weighing hopper 4 has the correct amount of bulk carrier material it is delivered through the screw conveyor 5 into the inlet hopper 25 of the mixer assembly 6. The desired feed formulation for the feed additive supplement is determined and the individual feed additives are delivered from each feed additive storage hopper 2 by the screw augers 3 to the batch weighing hopper 4. When the batch weighing hopper 4 has the correct feed additives supplement mixture it is delivered through the screw conveyor 5 to the inlet hopper 25 and hence into the ribbon type blender 20. Alternatively, the feed additives and the bulk carrier material may be weighed together in the batch weighing hopper 4 and delivered to the mixer assembly 6 simultaneously. The desired amount of mineral oil is delivered from the upper oil storage compartment 33 into the intermediate charging compartment 34 by opening the upper charging valve 35. The desired quantity of mineral oil is thus contained in the intermediate charging compartment 34. The mixer assembly 6 is operated and the shaft 22 and blending arms 23 rotated to blend the feed additives mixture and the bulking carrier material to form a suspension of fine dust material of which generally about 75% by weight has a particle size below 400 microns. The lower charging valve 37 is opened and the oil is delivered into the lower dispensing compartment 36 where pressurised air is delivered through the pipe 40 by the fan 39 to lie as a separate layer above the mineral oil within the lower dispensing compartment 36 thus forming a two-phase type aerosol. The air acts as the propellent gas. Then the control valve 31 is opened and an aerosol mix is delivered to the pipe and spray bar 29 into the blender 20. The pressurised air from the fan 39 acts as a propellant for the aerosol and a fine mist is formed so that the droplets of mineral oil adhere to the dust of the material. The mixing and blending is continued until a substantial amount of the composite feed additive supplement has a particle size within the range 400 to 1000 microns.

The time taken for mixing and the order in which the mixing takes place and the time during the mixing process in which the mineral oil is injected into the mixer is to a certain extent a matter for trial and error. The amount of oil and the length and the time taken to mix will vary depending on the materials used.

The amount of mineral oil required will depend on the mineral oil being used but will be within the range 0.25% to 2.0% by weight of the combined bulking carrier material and feed additives mixture. Ideally the amount of mineral oil will be within the range 0.25% to 0.75% by weight of the combined weight of the bulking carrier material and feed additives mixture.

When the feed additive supplement has been sufficiently mixed and blended it is delivered through the chute 26 through either of the screw conveyors 10 and 11 to the bagging plant 12 or bulk storage silo 13. It is then either bagged or delivered directly into a truck.

It is also envisaged that flavouring agents may be added to the mineral oil prior to use. Such suitable flavouring agents are Aniseed, Fenugreek and Neosperidine.

It is envisaged that suitable mineral oils are for example USP mineral oil and technical grade white mineral oil, in particular the FINA LYRAN range of highly-refined technical white mineral oils.

It will be appreciated that many animal feed supplements can be made according to the invention and listed below are some examples of such formulations. If the amount of mineral oil becomes substantial, problems arise in relation to taste, particularly with cattle and therefore the need for suitable flavouring agents becomes very important.

TABLE 1 Formulation of Animal Feed Additive Supplement for Sows I Feed Additives Kfl Vitamin A + Dj (500/100) 2.000 5 Vitamin K 0.200 Vitamin B, 0.050 Vitamin B2 0.500 Vitamin B6 0.050 Vitamin BIZ 1.500 10 Biotin (2%) 1.000 Panto 100 1.000 Nicotinic Acid 1.200 Folic Acid 0.200 Calcium Iodate (62%) 0.320 15 Sodium Selenite (4.5%) 0.670 Vitamin E (50%) 15.000 Copper Sulphate (25%) 8.000 Zinc Oxide (72%) 13.890 Manganese Oxide (62%) 4.840 20 Iron Sulphate (20%) 50.000 Choline Chloride 20.000 Bulking Carrier Material Limestone Flour 111.730 Kipgyal Oil 25 White Mineral Oil Flavouring Agent 2.500 Neosperidine Q-..250 TOTAL 503.170 Analysis of Feed Additive Supplement 30 1. Compositional Feed Additives 23.93% Bulking Carrier Material 75.52% Mineral Oil 0.51% Flavouring 0.05% 35 2. Particle Size > 700 microns 12% 400 - 700 microns 67% 250 - 400 microns 12% 100 - 250 microns 6% 40 < 100 microns 3% TABLE 2 Formulation of Animal Feed Additive Supplement for Dairy Eved Additives E3 Vitamin A + D3 (500/100) 1.600 5 Vitamin E (50%) 2.000 Vitamin Dj 500 0.280 Calcium Iodate (62%) 1.610 Cobalt Sulphate (21%) 0.670 Sodium Selenite (4.5%) 1.780 10 Copper Sulphate (25%) 28.000 Zinc Oxide (72%) 11.110 Manganese Oxide (62%) 10.480 Bulking Carrier Material Limestone Flour 501.000 15 Salt 375.000 Spanish Granular Calmag 66.000 Mineral Oil White Mineral Oil 6.000 Elaypurinq Agent 20 Fenugreek 0-5QQ TOTAL 1006.030 Analysis of Feed Additive Supplement 1. Compositional Feed Additives 5.71% 25 Bulking Carrier Material 93.64% Mineral Oil 0.59% Flavouring 0.065% 2. Particle Size > 700 microns 18% 30 400 - 700 microns 63% 250 - 400 microns 11% 100 - 250 microns 6% < 100 microns 2% TABLE_1 Formulation of Animal Feed Additive Supplement for Broiler Feed Additives Es Vitamin A + D3 (500/100) 1.600 5 Vitamin K 0.400 Vitamin Dj 500 0.640 Vitamin Bt 0.300 Vitamin B2 1.000 Vitamin B6 0.300 10 Vitamin Bl2 2.500 Biotin (2%) 1.000 Panto 100 1.900 Folic Acid 0.200 Calcium Iodate (62%) 0.320 15 Cobalt Sulphate (21%) 0.960 Sodium Selenite (4.5%) 1.120 Vitamin E (50%) 12.000 Nicotinic Acid 6.000 Copper Sulphate (25%) 16.000 20 Zinc Oxide (72%) 19.440 Manganese Oxide (62%) 32.260 Iron Sulphate (20%) 25.000 Elancoban 100.000 Methionine 300.000 25 Anotan 100 19.240 Choline Chloride 60.000 Bulkina Carrier Material Limestone Flour 395.000 Mineral Oil 30 White Mineral Oil 5.500 Flavourina Aaent Aniseed Q^SQQ TOTAL 1006.380 Analysis of Feed Additive Supplement Compositional Feed Additives 60.15% Bulking Carrier Material 39.25% Mineral Oil 0.54% Flavouring 0.06% Particle Size > 700 microns 12% 400 - 700 microns 70% 250 - 400 microns 8% 100 - 250 microns 7% < 100 microns 3% Formulation of Animal Feed Additive Supplement for Sows feed Additives Ea Vitamin A + D, (500/100) 1.400 5 Vitamin K 0.140 Vitamin A300 0.280 Vitamin Bj 0.070 Vitamin B2 0.350 Vitamin B6 0.070 10 Vitamin Bn 2.100 Biotin (2%) 1.050 Cal-Pan (100%) 1.050 Nicotinic Acid 1.260 Folic Acid 0.210 15 Calcium Iodate (62%) 0.224 Cobalt Sulphate (21%) 0.168 Sodium Selenite (4.5%) 0.700 Vitamin E (50%) 14.000 Copper Sulphate (25%) 4.200 20 Zinc Oxide (72%) 9.720 Manganese Oxide (62%) 4.520 Iron Sulphate (20%) 35.000 Deodorase 8.400 Choline Chloride 24.500 25 BwlXing Carrier.Material Limestone Flour 731.000 Salt 210.000 WineKal-flAl FINA LYRAN C80 B 15.750 30 Flavouring Agent Neosperidine 0.630 TOTAL 1066.790 Analysis of Feed Additive Supplement 1. Compositional Feed Additives 10.260 % Bulking Carrier Material 88.210 % Mineral Oil 1.470 % Flavouring 0.060 % Particle Size > 700 microns 11% 400 - 700 microns 67% 250 - 400 microns 15% 100 - 250 microns 5% < 100 microns 2% TABLE 5 Formulation of Animal Feed Additive Supplement for Feed Additives Vitamin A + D3 (500/100) Kg 1.600 5 Vitamin E (50%) 4.000 Vitamin D3 500 0.280 Calcium Iodate (62%) 1.610 Cobalt Sulphate (21%) 0.480 Sodium Selenite (4.5%) 1.560 10 Zinc Oxide (72%) 11.110 Manganese Oxide (62%) 10.480 Bulkina Carrier Material Limestone Flour 469.000 Salt 500.000 15 Mineral-Oil FINA LYRAN C 100 B 5.000 Flavouring Age.nl Aniseed -0.,603 TOTAL 1005.723 20 Analysis of Feed Additive Supplement 1. Compositional Feed Additives 3. 090% Bulking Carrier Material 96. 350% Mineral Oil 0. 490% 25 Flavouring 0. 070% 2. Particle Size > 700 microns 12% 400 - 700 microns 71% 250 - 400 microns 11% 30 100 - 250 microns 4% < 100 microns 2% It will be seen from the examples above that certain of the feed additives are added in minute quantities as is the common practice in the industry, these feed additives are not metered out of storage tanks but are blended separately and added to the mixture.

It has been found with the feed additive supplements, examples of which are given above, that the storage, use and other properties of the feed supplement far exceeded those of hitherto produced products.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments, examples as given above but may be varied within the scope of the claims in both construction, detail and operational parameters and sequences.

Claims (14)

1. CLAIKS

1. A process for producing a substantially dust-free powder-like composite feed additive supplement comprising: metering a desired quantity of bulking carrier material; delivering the carrier material to a batch weighing hopper; delivering the carrier material from the batch weighing hopper to a mixer; selecting the desired quantities of individual feed additive; delivering and weighing the individual feed additive into the batch weighing hopper; repeating the selecting and weighing of individual feed additives until the desired feed additive mixture is provided; delivering the feed additives mixture to the mixer; determining the amount of mineral oil required within a range of 0.25% to 2.0% by weight of the combined bulking carrier material and feed additives mixture; delivering the mineral oil to a separate distributor chamber; injecting pressurised air into the distributor chamber to form an aerosol of air and mineral oil; operating the mixer to form a suspension of fine dust of material of which 75% by weight has a particle size below 400 microns; simultaneously injecting the aerosol into the mixer so that the droplets of mineral oil adhere to the dust of the material; and continuing the mixing process until a substantial amount of the composite feed additive supplement has a particle size within the range 400 to 1000 microns.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 in which the step of injecting the aerosol is carried out after the bulking carrier material has been delivered to the mixer and prior to delivery of the feed additives mixture.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 in which in sequence: the bulking carrier material and the feed additives mixture are delivered to the mixer; the mixer is operated; and the aerosol is injected into the mixer.

4. A process as claimed in any preceding claim in which the mineral oil forms between 0.25% and 0.75% by weight of the combined bulking carrier material and feed additives mixture.

5. A process as claimed in any preceding claim in which the mineral oil is one of: technical grade white oil; USP mineral oil.

6. A process as claimed in any preceding claim in which a flavouring agent is added to the mineral oil prior to injection of the aerosol into the mixer.

7. A process as claimed in claim 6 in which the flavouring agent is one of: Aniseed; Fenugreek; or Neosperidine.

8. A process for producing a substantially dust-free powder-like composite feed additive supplement substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

9. A powder-like composite feed additive supplement produced by the process of any of claims 1 to 8 in which at least 75% of the material by weight has a particle size within the range 400 to 1000 microns.

10. Apparatus for carrying out the process as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 in combination: a feed additive storage hopper for each individual feed additive; a batch weighing hopper; screw augers associated with each additive storage hopper for feeding the batch weighing hopper; a bulking carrier material silo; a screw auger between the bulk carrier material silo and the batch weighing hopper; a mixer incorporating a drum and radially arranged blending arms; an associated screw conveyor between the batch weighing hopper and the mixer; 5 a mineral oil storage tank; a distributor chamber connected to the storage tank; a pressurised air supply for the distributor chamber; 10 spraying means within the mixer drum; and a pipe connecting the distributor chamber and the associated spraying means within the mixer drum.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 in which the spraying means comprises an elongate spray bar having 15 a plurality of spaced apart injection nozzles, said spray bar extending along and spaced apart from the blending arms .

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 or 11 in which the distributor chamber comprises: 20 an upper oil storage compartment; an intermediate charging compartment fed by gravity from the upper oil storage compartment through an upper charging valve; and a lower dispenser compartment fed by gravity from the intermediate charging compartment through a lower charging valve.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12 in which the upper 5 and lower charging valves are operatively linked whereby opening of one valve closes the other.

14. Apparatus for producing a substantially dust-free powder-like composite feed additive supplement by a process as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 and 10 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.