Efficient production of suitable, best fitting compound-feed pellets

The research project is funded by the German Ministry of Economics and Technology

Project executing organisation:

Duration 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2011

Introduction

Difficult basic conditions of the feed industry which were characterised especially during the past two decades by volatile markets with huge fluctuations in prices for important feed ingredients like cereals and oilseeds at rising price level as well as bottlenecks due to market competition and legal regula-tions raise challenges which the feed producers have to cope with. In addition, the high energy costs, which almost have doubled during the past five years according to the operators, put pressure on the operating result.

Therefore, the feed industry searches for available lower-cost alternative ingredients to replace tradi-tional types of cereals and soy-based protein carriers in feed formulations at least in parts. A formal transfer of the findings on pelleting of the seventies and eighties to the present situation is not possible due to changed basic conditions and customer demands. Livestock owners increasingly require coarser structures of the feed mixtures for pig feed based on recent nutritional research re-sults. According to present knowledge, coarser structures might impair the mixture stability and complicate the pelleting process significantly. A reliable estimation on the influence of the structure therefore requires urgently the inclusion of the technological possibilities and limits of pelleting. While the nutritional questions for the eligible products and substitutes respectively are mainly re-solved, the determination of the process behaviour of these starch or protein containing alternatives has not been subject of scientific investigations so far. Compound-feed plants are not able to carry out necessary systematic investigations by themselves due to the unfavourable basic conditions (just-in-time production usually on single-line multi-product plants) and due to staff shortage.

Goal and approach of the project

Goal of the research project is the determination of material, process and system technical parame-ters in order to develop recommendations for a suitable and more energy-efficient production of pel-leted pig and dairy cattle feed mixtures under special consideration of changed basic conditions and customer demands for short-term conditioning which is mainly used in feed plants. Alternative feed mixtures shall be evaluated with respect to their suitability concerning product quality and safety as well as processing properties. Furthermore, the target results on the influence of the structure on the efficiency of the pelleting process are a urgently necessary supplementation for re-cent nutritional research findings which favour significantly coarser particle-size distributions in pig feeding. However, its technological implementation seems not to be unproblematic. This research project shall provide operationally utilisable findings for a suitable and more energy-efficient production of pelleted conventional and alternative pig and dairy cattle feed mixtures under consideration of structure and material specific differences. In order to achieve the mentioned goals, a multi-stage test programme was established:

Alternative ingredients will be chosen on basis of their availability and analysed before they will be compacted on a laboratory press system for determining the pressability. In order to achieve comparable data, feed mixtures for fattened pigs and dairy cattle of commercial, grain-based composition will be milled in different ways and conditioned with varying saturated steam and then pressed into pellets by means of a pan mill. Alternative mixtures with diverse high substitute contents for soybean extraction meal and conventional cereals will be conditioned with different saturated steam and pressed on a small-scale pelleting plant. A further goal of the research project consists in obtaining statements on the desired achievement of primary particle structures in pelleted feed by comparing the structures before and after pelleting. The achieved results on energy- and cost-effective production of compound-feed pellets based on alternative components will finally be compiled in a guide for practitioners.

Benefits and economic importance

Organising research institute

IFF Research Institute, Frickenmühle 1A, D-38110 Braunschweig