Background/Requirement
In the gelatin manufacturing process (reference AF24) a by-product
is created after gelatin is extracted from animal skin. The
solids are dewatered with a centrifuge and then sold to pet
food manufacturers as protein supplement. After the centrifuge,
the product is sifted for lumps and contaminants such as strings
and plastic. Large lumps and contaminants are discarded as
waste. The customer was looking for a way to size reduce the
large moist lumps so that they could eliminate the waste and
replace the labour intensive Vibratory Sifter.
Process Overview
The solids remaining after the gelatin extraction are centrifuged
and screw conveyed to Vibratory Sifter to sift off lumps and
plastic strings/pieces - packaged in gaylords for shipping
to pet food manufacturers as protein supplement. (See AF25
for more details on this).
Equipment Recommendations
Replace the sifter with the Comil for the protein fraction solids.
The Comil easily size reduced the moist lumps which ranged in size from 0.5"-2" (12.7mm - 51mm),
down to 1/8" (3mm) pieces. Plastic pieces and strings were collected in the Comil and did not pass
through the screen.
Comil Performance
The entire product stream from the screw conveyor can be
fed into the Comil. Product that was properly sized passed
through the Comil without further sizing.
The rate required was very low, where a Comil would
have been sufficient. However, due to the size of the lumps
(some as large as 2" or 51mm in diameter), a larger
Comil inlet opening was required.
Summary
Benefits of using the Comil:
| 1. |
Replaced the manual operation of sifting. |
| 2. |
Increased revenue by converting previously wasted product
into saleable product. |
| 3. |
Reduced waste removal costs. |
| 4. |
The Comil also provided the security screening required
for screening-off plastic pieces and strings. |
| 5. |
If product is to be dried, it will do so more efficiently
because the larger lumps have been eliminated. |
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