Using Rotary Dryers for Animal Feed

animal feed dryer

Animals play an important role in our society. Livestock produce natural resources such as fur, wool, and
leather as well as providing food like eggs, milk, and meat. To provide enough of these resources,
massive farms are the homes of over 1.6 billion animals in the US alone and 70 billion world wide. To
feed this massive quantity of livestock, large portions of crop by-/co-products and food wastes are being
used. These include rinds, hulls, stems, leaves, stale breads, pastries, and other components that are
unwanted for human consumption but perfectly safe for animals. Using food waste not only ensures
that there is plenty of food for livestock, but it also minimizes environmental pollution from landfills. But
to be shelf stable as animal feed, the food waste must first be processed.


A large majority of food waste that is used in animal feed is plant matter. This means that the material
will have a high moisture content and must be dried. Rotary dryers are a perfect solution for this. Rotary
dryer systems run continuously, allowing them to dry large volumes of material. A burner provides heat
through a combustion chamber so that the plant material is not damaged by the flame, and a higher
control of product temperature is achieved. The natural rolling of material within the drum and
interaction with flights helps break up clumps and allows even drying. The rotary dryer can be added
directly downstream to any other process equipment such as shredders, mixers, or separators, making it
an easy addition to any process.


Vulcan® Drying Systems designs custom rotary dryer systems based on the needs of the customer. This
ensures that the customer gets a correctly sized unit that meets their wanted moisture levels and
pollution outputs. Vulcan® systems can include a feed hopper, feed/discharge conveyors, rotary kiln
with burner, and pollution control (cyclone, baghouse, venturi scrubber). Vulcan® provides a step-bystep manual specifically made for each unit that includes safety measures, general components,
handling and storage, initial set up instructions, and all other information needed to get your drying
system up and running.


The article below talks more about the benefits of using food waste as animal feed and understanding
their effects.
Related Article: https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/turning-food-wasteinto-feed-benefits-and-trade-offs-for-nature