Shrink Production Management Best Practices

Pelleting
Minimum conditioner time >15 seconds.
Accomplished by changing conditioner pick angles and / or
slowing rotation of conditioner if required. Some picks will
probably need to be placed at a negative angle to feed flow
direction. This will increase the amount of material carried in
the conditioner at any given time. Inspect material distribution
inside conditioner by stopping conditioner under full load and
opening it. Measure retention time by operating mill at full load
and dropping 1/2 liter of corn into feeder end of conditioner
and timing until corn flow is heavy (not first or last kernels).
If no access to feeder end of conditioner stop conditioner and
feeder under full load and let it empty. Start conditioner and
feeder manually at normal operating feeder setting and time
until normal heavy flow is discharged from conditioner. For
further information refer to Pellet mill conditioning.
Steam harness design per CAN specifications.
Specifications are available at
http://can.cargill.com/prodeng/specman/drawing.htm
see files 550, 550EQ1, and 550EQ2.
Drawing 550 is attached below. For further information please
refer to Steam Quality.
Boiler operating pressure.
In combination with steam harness, set boiler operating pres-
sure equal to 100 psi (14.5kPa) and reduce to 20 - 30 psi
(2.9 4.3mPa) at steam harness pressure regulator. The drop
in pressure will cause water to fall out just prior to the pellet
mill and be caught by the 2nd separator. This provides very
dry steam and the lower pressure will allow more accurate
addition. Steam quality should allow only 1% moisture increase
per each 20 degrees F temperature rise.
Die % open area.
Not directly related to shrink, but can affect shrink to the extent
it influences die friction. The % open area recommendation
depends on product mix and current die friction.
Recommendations are:
Die Friction % open space
< 20 degrees F 40+
20 - 30 degrees F 36 38
30 40 degrees F 32 35
40 50 degrees F 30
Determine die friction by sampling at conditioner exit and at
die exit, measure temperatures and determine delta T.
% open area = (total hole area) / (inside die area) * 100
inside die area = (3.1415) * (inside diameter) * (track width)
hole area = (3.1415 / 4) * (hole diameter * hole diameter) *
(hole count)
Production rate will increase in linear relationship with % open
area. Die tensile strength will decrease with increased open
area, so if breakage or rollovers have been concerns increasing
% open area will aggravate these problems. For additional
information go to Die Friction Studies and to Pellet Die Open
Space.
Die Thickness.
Thinner dies reduce die friction and therefore reduce shrink
(increase gain). There are no hard and fast rules because
effects of thinner dies vary with formulation. In many cases
PDI can be maintained or improved when using thinner dies
because higher temperatures can be attained at the conditioner.
Ideally, we want to use steam as opposed to die friction to
gelatinize starch. Thinner dies will generally reduce pellet density.
Component Maintenance.
Routine inspection of roll adjustment, die and roll wear,
conditioner paddle tip to wall clearance, steam separator
and trap operation, steam bustle condition, cone and scraper,
etc. are all important to optimizing the system and will have
an effect on shrink. For more information click on Pellet Mill
Checklist Sample Inspection and Checking Steam Trap
Operation.
Hydration.
CAN policy is to hydrate pelleted rations only, no meal formulas.
Hydration will reduce die friction, reduce energy consumption,
and increase throughput. Policy has been there should be no
net plant gain due to hydration and maximum pellet gain
(cooled pellet moisture - mash moisture before hydration)
of .5% For more information click on Hydration Policy.
Cooling
Cooler management.
Airflow recommendations (per tph) are 1000 cfm for horizontal
coolers and 800 cfm for counter-flow coolers. Add 200 cfm to
these ranges for cooling flakes. Higher airflow coupled with
lower bed depths will reduce shrink. Objective is to get airflow
within the above ranges and then reduce bed depth to reach
pellet temperature to + 10 degrees of ambient air temperature.
Vertical coolers have been demonstrated to contribute to shrink
because the bed depth (width) is not adjustable. Mechanical
leveling devices are available for counter-flow coolers to help
ensure consistent airflow through the pellets. It is important the
bed is kept level. For more details go to Cooler Operation and
Pellet Cooling.
Grinding
Aspiration system should provide 1.25 to 1.5 cfm per square
inch of hammermill screen. For additional information click on
How to Correct Common Hammermill Problems.
Screen open area should be minimum of 36% on hole size of
< 8/64 and 40% on hole size > 8/64. For additional information
click on Determining Hammermill Screen Area.
Management
Shrink control checklist.
This is an excellent tool to identify shrink sources and is
available at Shrink Control Checklist.
Annual shrink plan.
Each location is to develop an annual shrink control plan.
Contact Leonardo Vivas if you would like a sample plan.
Miscellaneous
Lined bags.
Based on a study we have determined that adding plastic
liners to bags reduce loss. If you are adding weight to bags to
compensate for moisture loss you should consider using lined
bags. In our study the cost to add liners was about $1/ton and
cost to add .5 lbs. per bag was $2/ton. Use your own cost data
to determine break even.
Key Shrink Management
Best Practices
Optimum Conditioner Retention Time.
Steam Quality: Steam Harness Design per CAN
specifications and Boiler Operating Pressure.
Die Friction: Percentage of Open Area and Die
Thickness.
Maintenance Management.
Hydration Management.
Cooler Management.
Grinding Operations.
Packing, i.e. used of lined bags, laminated bags.
Pelleting/Flaking/Extrusion
Finished product moisture objectives have
been set up and are being achieved.
Coolers and dryers retention times and air
volume are adjusted to finished product
moisture objective.
Moisture testing is completed per Q. A.
requirement of 4-6 tests/month on each
pellet cooler.
Grinding
Maximize screen open space compared to hole size. 36% min.
open space on screens of 6/64-8/64. 40% min. open space on
screens 8/64 and higher.
Grinder aspiration system sized between 1.25 - 1.5 c.f.m. per
square inches of hammer mill screen.
Does the plant have regular sieve testing of micron size of ground
products. Have standards been established.
Hammer mill screen area is sized correctly to mill horsepower.
For 3600 RPM mills, minimum of 8 square inch/hp. For 1800 RPM
mills, minimum of 12 square inch/hp. For plants with 50 htz
motors, RPMs will be 3000/1600.
Pelleting
The percent of fines that is bypassing the die into the cooler is less than 3%.
Compare plant's die friction with open space of die.
Open Space Die Friction
40%+ Less than 20 deg. F
36-38% 20-30 deg. F
32-35% 30-40 deg. F
30% 40-50 deg F
Pellet certification completed by all pellet operators and supervisors.
Cooler bed depth
Less than 15 inches for counterflow (even bed depth for pellets)
Less than 24 inches for cubes on counterflow
For horizontal 3-6 ins. for pellets
8-10 ins. for cubes
Cooler CFM
As compared to tons/hr measured with cooler underload
For horizontal 900-1000 CFM/ton
For counterflow 650-800 CFM/ton
CANA- 128 (3/04) 2004 Cargill Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.