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A
ustralian stock feed company implements online moisture analysis for quality control

23rd February 2010

A large Australian stockfeed manufacturer has adopted MoistScan® technology to maximise quality control at its feed pelletizing plant in Western Australia.

The company produces 60,000 tonnes of specially formulated feed pellets each year for feedlots and for stock feed for the live cattle and sheep export business. The provision of quality feed plays an integral role in ensuring that stock are healthy before they board a vessel, and when they walk off.

Critical to quality control is moisture. The company makes a feed pellet which consists of lupins, wheat, barley, triticale and straw. The grains are milled in a hammer mill before being mixed with finely chopped straw in a horizontal spiral mixer. The raw meal is then fed to a mash tank which feeds a conditioner. In the conditioner the mixed meal is directly pre-heated with dry steam. The steam preheats the meal to the preferred temperature and moisture content for pelleting according to the formulation of the mixture. During pelleting the temperature of the meal rises. Moisture during conditioning and in the final pellet is central to quality as it ultimately affects the amount and nature of starch and protein in the raw materials and the binding qualities of the pellet. This all affects the available energy and digestibility of the feed.

By “getting the moisture right” the nutritional value of the pellet is maximized as to is the operational efficiency of the pelleting process.

The company “scoured the marketplace” to find a solution however nothing suitable was found. After discussing the project with Callidan sales division our engineering division went about designing an online moisture analyser capable of measuring the moisture in the meal as it was being transported to the conditioner by an auger at the bottom of the mash tank. This required the fabrication of special antenna and housings that fitted the curvature of the bottom of the mash tank. It also required a program logic that would “blank out” any interference from the flight of the auger on the microwave reading.

Using Callidan’s MoistScan® microwave technology, the customized antenna creates a microwave zone of analysis that measures all the material being conveyed by the auger to the conditioner. The moisture percentage is output as a 4-20mA current signal which is fed into the plants computer. Here is it used in a feed forward control loop to regulate the addition of dry steam to the conditioner such that the moisture in the pellet after it is extruded is 16%.

This is just one example of where Callidan instruments engineering division has custom designed an analyser for a client where on off-the-shelf solution could not be found. Many applications that we encounter have application-specific issues which need to be taken into consideration. First and foremost, we ensure that we understand what it is that our client wants to achieve through online moisture analysis. We seek to understand your process and the variables which may affect the performance of the instrument. With the customers end in mind, we then are in a position to develop the ideal solution.



ENDS..

Measuring moisture in wood waste in a screwfeeder

22nd February 2010

Online moisture analysis specialist Callidan Instruments recently custom built a moisture analyser for a large US company that generates industrial steam and electrical power from waste biomass.

Late in 2009, the company contacted Callidan through their East Coast US distributor Kanawha Scales and Systems when they “came up blank” after scouring the market place for an online moisture anlayser to suit their application.

The US Company recycles and reuses the waste generated by agriculture, construction, felled trees and a variety of other sources, reducing both solid waste and atmospheric pollutants. Biomass waste is currently unnecessarily filling landfills or burned or left to decompose at the production site, increasing air pollution.

Measuring and controlling moisture in the biomass waste is integrally important to the energy generation process. The material is delivered, pulverized, stored and dried before being blown into a cyclonic combustor where it is combusted to produce steam for electricity generation.

The moisture of the pulverized wood waste has a direct affect on the efficiency of the dryer and the combustion process. The wood waste is fed into the dryers by screwfeeders. To keep a tight control on the moisture the engineering team wanted to measure the moisture in real time and wanted to measure it as close to the inlet of the dryers as possible. In the screwfeeder was the obvious choice.

Callidan Instrument engineering division went about designing an online moisture analyser capable of measuring the moisture in all the material as it was being conveyed in the screwfeeder. This required the fabrication of specials antenna and housings that fitted to tube of the screw. It also required specialist programming to “blank out” any interference from the flight of the screw on the microwave reading.

Using Callidan’s MoistScan® microwave technology, the customized antenna creates a microwave zone of analysis that measures all the material in the screwfeeder. The moisture percentage is output as a 4-20mA current signal which is fed into the plant DCS. Here is it used in a feed forward control loop to regulate the operation of the dryer. The ultimate objective is to ensure that the pulverized biomass is at the ideal moisture before it is fed to the cyclonic combustor.


ENDS


Historical News


Title Date
MoistScan® online moisture analyser makes big impact in Russia 05/03/09
MoistScan® technology proves beneficial in process control 07/04/09
Online moisture analysers installed to improve sinter production efficiency 08/04/09
MoistScan® online moisture analyser helps improve coke manufacturing 16/04/09
Online Moisture Analyser Achieves Test Report Approval in IECEx Certification 18/05/09
Online Moisture Analyser Easy to commission, calibrate and service 26/06/09
New Bulk Sample Moisture Analyser a Boon for Process and Quality Control 17/08/09
Major International Mining Company Approves MoistScan® for use on Copper 17/09/09
Portability makes at-line moisture analysis easy and efficient 21/09/09
Custom Built Analyser for measuring wood waste in a screwfeeder 22/02/2010
Stock feed company implements online moisture analysis for quality control 23/02/2010


 

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