International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 6340(Print), ISSN

N 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 6, November - December (2013) IAEME

AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET)

ISSN 0976 6340 (Print) ISSN 0976 6359 (Online) Volume 4, Issue 6, November - December (2013), pp. 249-257 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.7731 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

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EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF FEED PROCESSING UNIT TO REDUCE THE COST OF PRODUCTION

Dr. R. Dillibabu1,
2 1

M. Mareeswaran2

Research Scholar, DoIE, UCE, Anna University, Chennai, India Associate Professor, DoIE, UCE, Anna University, Chennai, India

ABSTRACT The success of livestock farming is largely dependent on the continuous supply of good quality nutritious feeds at competitive price. Feed alone constitute about 60-70 per cent of total cost of production of livestock products. Therefore, it needs more attention though other factors are also important for remunerative return from livestock enterprises. The farmers used to feed the crop residues to the cattle and buffaloes, however, sheep and goat are normally maintained on grazing/browsing with supplementary feeding of broken grains/other byproducts. Therefore, feeding of balanced concentrate feed to these animals was not common, because of low productivity and unremunerative prices for the livestock products. The improved poultry is fed only with concentrated feed. The requirement of food of animal origin like milk, meat and eggs is increasing at a faster rate due to increased awareness about the significance of protective proteins for the maintenance of human health. The farmers realized the importance and started rearing good quality and high productive animals/birds under stall-fed conditions. With the increased demand for livestock products for domestic consumption as well as export, the farmers realized maintaining of quality animals with proper feeding and management. The proportion of crossbred animals or improved strains of birds increased over the years. This has necessitated higher demand for balanced concentrate feed. Presently, various milk unions, poultry corporations/ federations and private companies are supplying both cattle and poultry feed of different qualities and forms (mash/ pellets/ crumbles) to the farmers. Large size poultry farm/dairy farm owners, hatcheries and cooperative poultry units are normally manufacturing their own feed by installing the necessary plant and machinery on the farm. Some of the farmers are still feeding broken grains, cakes, guar, salt, etc. to dairy animals by mixing at home. This cost analysis investigates the problems in the Feed Processing Machinery for its efficiency by Energy Audit. Keywords: Feed Processing, Energy Audit, Productivity, Livestock.
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1.0 INTRODUCTION Feed is produced for a number of animal types such as livestock (including poultry, swine, and ruminants), domestic animals (such as pets), and fish (for aquaculture). Feed mills manufacture pellets or mash (e.g., mixed feed), and these products are shipped in bulk or bagged form. Feed milling facilities may be dedicated to producing feed for either single or multiple species. In the United States, feed mills tend to focus on a single species at a given mill; in other countries, such as India, it is more common to have multiple species feed mills. To operate a feed mill effectively, ingredient storage, conveyance, and proportioning are of utmost importance, and in larger facilities, it is not uncommon for dozens of ingredients to be used in the production of various feed blends. This ultimately leads to challenging process-engineering undertakings. 1.1 Components in Feed Mill Each feed mill facility is unique. No two are identical, because the components, which comprise each, can be assembled in an infinite variety of configurations, and species types can vary, which will affect equipment and processed used. Even so, each feed mill typically consists of nine common major, or primary, operations (which are outlined in Figure 1), and include raw ingredient receiving, distribution, and storage, grinding of whole grain, batching and mixing of the various ingredients, pelleting, final product storage, and load out. 1.1.1 Raw Ingredient Receiving Feed mills typically receive incoming ingredients by both rail and truck (including hopper bottom, bulk solids, and liquids trailers). Rail receiving hoppers, on the other hand, should be designed to provide maximum capacity, but are typically relatively shallow, which will constrain retention volume. Rail and truck hoppers between 1000 to 1200 bu in capacity are common. Because feed mill receiving pits are generally shallow, incoming material, (either from rail or truck) will typically exhibit choke-fed flow into the receiving hopper, which actually is an effective mechanism for controlling dust. Feed mills also commonly utilize truck and rail scales with flow through floors, with the hopper pit and at least one screw conveyor underneath; these systems are typically housed within the same receiving structure, which can be of either steel or concrete construction. Typically, major (such as grain and soybean meal) and minor ingredients (such as lime, brewers grains, etc.) will be received via these systems. Micro-ingredients, such as minerals, are commonly delivered via bulk truck and then pneumatically conveyed to the appropriate storage bins. This type of system requires blowers, delivery lines, receivers, filters, and airlocks; typically one system for each ingredient to be received. It is essential to consider the terminal velocity of each ingredient to adequately size the components of the system. Generally, pneumatic transfer of ingredients requires air velocities between 4000 and 5000 ft/min. additionally; ingredients will sometimes be delivered via bulk bags, which will require a freight elevator (i.e., pallet hoist) in the mill structure in order to transport them to the batching operation. 1.1.2 Raw Ingredient Distribution Ingredients can be transported within the facility via multiple pieces of equipment, including bucket elevators, distributors and gravity-flow spouting, belt conveyors, and paddle and drag chain conveyors. The most common type of conveyor in feed mills, however, is the screw conveyor, because it offers the potential for not only transporting materials, but also offers the potential to accurately meter the various ingredients, which is a functionality that the other conveyor types do not offer.

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1.1.3 Raw Ingredient Storage The two major materials of construction are used for feed mills are concrete and steel. Concrete feed mills are typically slip formed, and most prevalently used for large-scale facilities. Steel feed mills are especially common for smaller-scale facilities, and typically assembled from bolted bin construction, because they are sold as modular units, but they may occasionally be welded. Welded bins are usually shop fabricated due to the economics of shop techniques compared to field fabrication. Regardless of the type of construction, no two facilities are identical; the combinations for the layout of feed milling structures are vast, and are predominantly influenced by client preferences, more than any other single factor. 1.1.4 Grinding Prior to utilization in feed formulations, whole grain must be ground to reduce particle size. Grinding systems are generally located directly under whole grain storage bins, in a separate room within the mill facility, or in a separate grinding building adjacent to the mill structure. Hammer mills are the most common type of milling equipment, and can have diameters as large as 750 in, screen areas as large as 7000 in2, operating speeds up to 3600 rpm, effectively producing hammer tip speeds up to 21,000 ft/min, and require up to 600 hp. Most hammer mills are typically installed with an air system, which includes air inlets (to control dust from the process) integral to the hammer mill, a plenum under the grinder for airflow, and a filter, located outside of the grinder building, for dust collection. These systems typically require 1 to 2 cfm/in2 of screen area. 1.1.5 Batching In order to produce particular feed mixtures, appropriate quantities of specific ingredients must be transferred out of storage and transported to the mixer. This is the function of the batching system. For all major and minor ingredients, the equipment used to accomplish this includes screw feeders (e.g., screw conveyors), which provide excellent proportioning control, and are thus the conveyor of choice for this operation, and scale hoppers, which are hoppers mounted on load cells above the mixer. These hoppers range in size from one ton up to 5 tons, and must be designed with slopes greater than 60o, to prevent ingredient build-up. For ingredients that require precise quantities (e.g., minerals, antibiotics, etc.), micro-ingredient systems are used. These are very small stainless or mild steel bin clusters with small feeder screws. Bulk bag and hand dump stations are also frequently used to add ingredients to the feed mixture. All of these components must work in concert to provide the necessary quantities of various ingredients for specific feed mixtures. To avoid pressure differentials between the mixer and the scale hoppers during operation, which can prevent proper flow of material into the mixer, venting must be provided between them. Venting ductwork should be installed with a slope greater than 60o (to prevent dust build-up), and should provide an air velocity less than 500 ft/min (to prevent ingredient entrainment). 1.1.6 Mixing To produce specified feed mixtures, most modern feed mills utilize horizontal batch ribbon mixers, which have bottom gates that dump directly into a conveyor (typically a paddle drag) that transfers the mixed feed (e.g., mash) to a bucket elevator, where it is elevated and distributed to appropriate storage bins. Mash resides in storage until needed for pelleting, bagging, or direct bulk load out. Ribbon mixers vary in size, but can be constructed as large as 700 ft3 in capacity. Most operate at a speed of approximately 40 rpm. Key to mixing operations is mixer cycle time, which includes time required to fill (from the batching scales), to mix, to discharge, and to wait for another batch to begin (i.e., dead time). Most mixers can achieve a cycle time between five and 10 min, depending on mixer efficiency, which thus amounts to a mixing capacity of 6 to 12 ton/h.
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1.1.7 Pelleting Pelleting is a process intended to densify feed ingredients, which will improve storage, handling, and shipping behavior, and to improve the feed nutritionally by increasing the palatability and feed efficiency in the livestock. Typically mixed feed (e.g., mash) is transported from the mash storage bins to a pre-conditioner, where it is mixed with steam so that it is more amenable to the pelleting process. Residence time in a conditioner of 20 sec is recommended, but various plants often use longer times. After conditioning the feed particles, they are then introduced into the pellet mill, where a rotating roller forces the ingredients through circular die openings, which typically have diameters smaller than in. Modern pellet mills can have die diameters up to 42 in, with effective pelleting surfaces of 1600 in2, can produce pelleted feed at a rate of up to 50 ton/h, and can consume up to 800 hp. After processing, the pellets are then cooled (horizontal or counter flow coolers are generally used), so that pellet temperature is reduced to ambient (in order to avoid spoilage problems), screened to removed fines and broken pellets, and then conveyed to storage, after which they will either be bagged or loaded out in bulk. 1.1.8 Final Product Storage Bulk feed materials are typically stored in bins, which are adjacent to, and similar to, those used for whole grain and other raw bulk ingredients, so the previous discussion regarding bulk storage is germane. Load out bins are clustered within a load out bay, which is typically a separate section of the mill tower. Bagged feed, on the other hand, will require warehouse storage space. Commonly located adjacent to the mill structure, a warehouse is generally constructed of either concrete (precast, tilt-up, or slip formed) or steel. When designing warehouse systems, it is important to provide adequate space, both for material storage, as well as maneuvering room for forklift trucks. The amount of required storage will depend on many factors, including production capacity, frequency of inventory turnover, number of individual products, space required for bagged feed ingredients versus final product storage, space required for empty pallets or other materials, and, not of least importance, client preference. As a general rule of thumb, for each one ton of bagged product, which is the approximate capacity of one pallet, the designer should provide approximately 16 ft2 of floor space, as a minimum. Additionally, in practice, aisles are typically 8 ft wide for forklift travel only, and 12 ft wide for forklift working space (i.e., turning, stacking, etc.). 1.1.9 Load out Load out systems for feed mills are generally different from those used in grain elevators. The two most common options for feed mills include reversible screw conveyors and weigh lorry systems. Collection screw conveyors can have either multiple discharges, or an additional translating shuttle screw conveyor, in order to fill multiple locations in feed delivery trucks. These systems require a truckload out scale to achieve proper truck fill. Capacities can often exceed 300 ton/h for large facilities. Weigh lorry systems, which have rail-mounted traveling scales in order to fill multiple feed truck locations, often have hopper volumes between two and six tons, and can achieve load out capacities greater than 100 ton/h. Whichever system is implemented, however, it is essential to provide adequate clearance and access platforms so that the load out equipment can be serviced and repaired.

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Fig. 1: Layout of Feed Processing Unit 2.0 RESULTS

Comparative Production Day vs Night Shift

60 50 Production in M.T. 40 30 Day Shipt 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 Day 20 25 30 35 Night Shift

Fig.2: Comparative Production Day shift vs Night Shift

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Diesel cost/M.T.

Maintenance cost/M.T.

E.B.Cost/M.T.(pellet/Crumbs)

E.B.Cost/M.T.(Mash) Actual Standard Cost/M.T. in Boiler

Units consumption/M.T.(Pellet)

Units consumption/M.T.(Mash)

50

100

150

200

250

Cost in Rs.

Fig.3: Comparative cost between Actual and Standard

Table 1: Cost of E.B. Units in Agro Industry Sl.No Time 1 6AM to 6PM 2 6PM to 10PM 3 10PM to 6AM Cost/Unit Rs.3.70/MT Rs.5.55/MT Rs.2.55/MT

Table 2: Production Shift Timings Sl.No Description 1 Day shift 2 Night Shift Timings 9AM to 6PM 8PM to 5AM

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Table 3: Production Report

Average Production in M.T Mash Pellet Total Plant Running hours Pellet Mill Hammer Mill Productivity of P.M Productivity of H.M. E.B.Consumption Total Units consumed Units consumption/M.T. Units consumption/Hour Diesel Consumption in Lts Boiler Generator Total Rate of Consn in Boiler Cost/M.T. in Boiler Cost of Production in Rs. E.B.Cost E.B.Cost/M.T. Maintenance cost Spares consumption D.G.Spares consumption Total Maintenance cost/M.T. Diesel cost For boiler For D.G. Total Diesel cost/M.T. Processing Charges Processing Charges/M.T. Total cost Total cost/M.T. 136.081 1024.331 1160.412 221.000 246.000 4.635 4.717 36940.000 31.834 150.163 4750.000 1500.000 6250.000 4.637 153.212 200260.000 172.577 40025.000 0.000 40025.000 34.492 156940.000 49560.000 206500.000 177.954 494461.800 426.109 941246.800 811.132

3.0 CONCLUSION It is observed that the production in the night shift is low comparing with the Day shift from Fig.2. The table 1 gives the cost of Electricity unit is less between 10PM to 6AM the suggestion is given to the Manager to change the shift timings of night shift from 10PM to 7AM to reduce the cost of Electricity. The performance is less compared with the standards from Fig.3. Table 3 gives the performance of the plant.

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4.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Authors gratefully acknowledge the Management and the Employees of Godrej Agrovet Limited for allowing us to take readings and providing facility for completing the analysis. REFERENCES Conference Proceeding [1] Kurt A. Rosentrater, Gregory D. Williams, Design Considerations for the Construction and operation of Feed Milling Facilities, ASAE/CSAE Aicultnnual International Meeting, Paper No: 044144, Aug2004.

Journals/Periodicals Wilabja Ghosu, B.S. Bhandari, Supria Sharmal, The Extent of Processing of Agricultural Products: Towards creating a Statistical database in India, The Journal of Industrial Statistics (2013), 2(1), 24-36. [2] Purushottam Nayak, Problems and Prospects of Rice Mill modernization A case Study, Journal of Assam University, Vol.1, No.1, pp 22-28, 1996. [3] P. Nalini, Problems and Prospects of Rice Mill Entrepreneurs-The concept frame work, Namex International Journal of Management Research, Vol.1, Issue No.1, Dec 2011. [4] Ioan Cucu, Ciprian Cucu, Modern Management Methods for Equipment Maintenance, Annales Universities Apulensis Series Oeconomica, 11(2), 2009. [5] Pawan Kumar Dhiman, Amita rani, Problems and Prospectus of small scale Agro based Industries An analysis of Patiala District, International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol.1, Issue 4, Aug 2011. [6] Renuka Mahadevan, Productivity Growth in Indian Agriculture: The role of Globalization and Economic Reform, Asia-Pacific Development Journal, Vol.10, No.2, Dec 2003. [7] David A. Fairfield, Preventive Maintenance programs that work, National Grain and Feed association plant operations Bulletin, Vol.10, No.2, Nov 2008. [8] Omo Bowale Mobolaji O, Problems Facing local Manufactures in the Nigerian Agro Allied Machine Fabrication Industry, ATDF Journal, Vol.7, Issue , 2010. [9] Oladejo, Joana Adefemi, Economic Analysis of Feed Mill Industry in Lagos State, Nigeria, IJRME, Vol.2, Issue 4, Apr 2012. [10] Aslam Chinarong and Dr.B.Yamuna Krishna, Trends and Progress of Aqua Feed Industry in Asia a Study with Special Reference to Indian Aqua Feed Industry, International Journal of Management (IJM), Volume 3, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 59 - 64, ISSN Print: 0976-6502, ISSN Online: 0976-6510. [11] Elpidio Oscar Benitez Nara, Samuel Koch, Jorge Andr Ribas Moraes and Andr Luiz Emmel Silva, Technical Maintenance of World Class Increase the Availability of Equipment, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4, Issue 4, 2013, pp. 319 - 326, ISSN Print: 0976 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 6359. [12] Ravi Terkar, Dr. Hari Vasudevan and Dr. Vilas Kalamkar, Enhancing Productivity Through Cost and Lead Time Reduction in Remanufacturing, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 286 - 297, ISSN Print: 0976 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 6359. [1]

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Books
[1]

Charles E. Ebeling, An Introduction to Reliability and Maintainability Engineering, First Edn, Mc Graw-Hill, 1997.

Technical Reports [1] [2] [3] Fred Fairchild, Preventive Maintenance for Feed Processing Facilities and Equipment, Department of Grain Size and Industry. Keith C. Bennke, Feed Manufacturing Technology: Current Issues and Challenges, Kansa State University. Pilar Santacoloma, Alaxandra Rottger, Florence Tartance, Business Management for Small Scale Agro-Industres, Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations, Rome, 2009. R.P.Kachru, Agro-Processing Industries in India-Growth, Status and Prospects, Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Mark D. La Grange, Feed Mill Production Feasibility Study for Southern Afghanistan, Chemonics International Inc, 2005.

[4] [5]

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