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January | February 2014 Successful moisture control in aquatic feeds

International Aquafeed is published six times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom. All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. Copyright 2014 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1464-0058

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FEATURE

Successful moisture control in aquatic feeds

by Roger E. Douglas, director of engineering, Drying Technology, Inc., Texas, United States

uccessful moisture control of aquafeed can be seen through the safety of the product and in its profitability. Feed products must be dried sufficiently in order to prevent growth of microorganisms after the packaging process. However, over-drying the products will result in poor production yields and energy losses. The two challenges for feed manufacturers are 1) to find the highest moisture content for a given product that will still prevent growth of moulds and other microorganisms, and 2) to find a drying control method that will help achieve and maximise that moisture content. The first challenge requires the feed manufacturer to determine the highest possible target and upper moisture limits for each individual product. One of the main reasons to keep moisture content as high as possible

is profitability. The incremental amount of water left in the product can be considered a production increase, and energy is saved by not having to remove it. However, for reasons of product stability and safety it is important to set an upper limit on the feeds moisture content. The water activity and moisture content of a specific product are related values, but are calculated in different ways. Both centre on the free water or free moisture, in other words the water that is readily available for biological use. Moisture content is a measurement of the total free and bound water in the product, whereas water activity only takes into account the free water. Bacteria, mould and yeast all require moisture for growth and each microorganism has a minimum water activity, below which it would not grow. Therefore, for a safe product that will not develop mould during storage, the water activity level should be below the minimum value for some or all types of microorganism. Table 1 lists some major microorganisms and the minimum water activity level that makes their growth viable.

Table 1: Typical minimum water activity

levels for common microorganisms (Source: Fontana, 2000)

Water Activity Microorganisms generally inhibited

0.950

Pseudomonas, Escherichia, Bacillus, Clostridium perfringens, some yeast

Salmonella, C. botulinum, 0.910 Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, some moulds 0.870 Many yeasts Most moulds (mycotoxigenic 0.800 penicillia), Staphylococcus aureus, most Saccharomyces 0.750 Most halophilic bacteria, mycotoxigenic aspergilla

0.650 Xerophilic moulds 0.600 Osmopholic yeasts, few moulds

Constructing an isotherm
Water activity values are a more accurate reflection of the stability and safety of feed products than the total moisture content. Many food

Figure 1: Typical water isotherm for a product

and feed industries use 0.65 as a minimum water activity value in manufacturing their products, each of which will have its own relationship between moisture content and minimum water activity value. By analysing product samples at various moisture content levels, a water isotherm can be constructed, plotting moisture content against the water activity value (see Figure 1). The moisture content for any given water activity value can then be determined with accuracy. The moisture content corresponding to the industry standard 0.65 water activity can be different for each product. Relative differences in the raw materials used can affect the amounts of free and bound water it contains, producing unique isotherms for each formulation. In fact, the formulation used can be a

12 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | January-February 2014

FEATURE helpful tool in increasing the moisture content allowed by the minimum water activity. Moreover, the water isotherm and moisture sample data can be used to calculate the moisture target and the upper control limit. For most dried products, the portion of the isotherm at and well below the critical water activity value of 0.65 is linear, giving a proportional relationship between water activity and moisture content. A simple linear equation can therefore be used to determine the water activity value from the moisture content, or vice versa. The isotherm in Figure 1 shows that a moisture content of 8.92 percent will give a water activity of 0.65. For this product, then, 8.9 percent would be the upper control limit. To give an example, using a standard deviation of 0.6 and the above upper control limit of 8.9 percent, and three standard deviations, you would receive a target moisture level of 7.12 percent. With current dryer control methods, only 0.14 percent of moisture samples would have a chance of exceeding the upper control limit. Many users of statistical process control methods will use 2 or 2.5 standard deviations in the target moisture calculation, giving targets of 7.42 percent and 7.72 percent respectively (see Table 2). The key values here are the percentage of samples that may be statistically above the upper limit.
Table 2: Results of altering the number of

Sample variance
The target moisture value must also take into account variance between samples. Here, the moisture sample history can be used to calculate a standard deviation: 3 standard deviations from the average will account for nearly 100 percent of samples. The moisture target can then be calculated using the upper control limit and the number of standard deviations required. Target moisture = UCL N(s.d.) UCL: Upper control limit N: No. of standard deviations s.d.: Standard deviation of the product samples

standard deviations on target moisture calculation

Target moisture UCL Number of Standard standard deviation deviations % above UCL

As seen in the equation above, a reduction in the standard deviation will result in an increase in the target moisture. The results of this are increased production and energy savings. Assume, for example, that through improved dryer control the standard deviation was reduced by 30 percent, to 0.42 (see Table 3). The new target moisture would be 7.66 percent, 0.54 percent higher than the previous figure of 7.12. As this shows, improved dryer control obtained by drying with cooler temperatures and being careful not to over-dry the product can allow a safe increase in average moisture levels, resulting in a 0.5 percent production increase. Cooler drying temperatures would also result in energy savings.
Table 3: Number of standard deviations vs

target moisture, with improved standard deviation values

Target moisture Number of Standard % above standard deviation UCL deviations

7.12 7.42 7.72

8.92 8.92 8.92

3 2.5 2

0.6 0.6 0.6

0.14 0.62 2.28

UCL

With a method of calculating target moistures and upper control limits in place, we can give attention to optimising dryer control to reduce the moisture variance.

7.66 7.87 8.08

8.92 8.92 8.92

3 2.5 2

0.42 0.42 0.42

0.14 0.62 2.28

A/S

January-February 2014 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 13

FEATURE package based on a model derived from first principles. The Delta T model, Moisture = K1(T)p K2/Sq relates the product moisture exiting a dryer to the temperature drop (T) of the hot air after contact with the wet product, and the production rate or evaporative load (S). The model solves the two main problems with sensing and control by producing a rugged, reliable, inside-the-dryer moisture sensor, and a control algorithm that precisely adjusts the dryer temperatures for evaporative load changes. Figure 2 illustrates an example of the soft sensor location, compared with the present standard moisture sample methods of online moisture meters and hand-sampling. As previously discussed, the reduction of standard deviation is in part tied to the reduction of dead time in the process, and therefore to the location of the sensor.

Figure 2: Locations and dead times of moisture sensing

Consumer benefit
With the combined approach of finding the highest moisture content that product safety allows and using a moisture sensing/ control method, the average product moisture can be optimised. The opportunity to sell more water is too financially beneficial to ignore. For example, a 0.5 percent increase in average moisture content for a feed plant producing 25,000 tons per year at $800/ton would realise $100,000 extra sales revenue. The increase in moisture would also bring with it significant energy savings. Figure 3 shows actual moisture sample data before and after the advanced moisture control system was implemented in the feed dryer. The new regime achieved a 35.5 percent reduction in the moisture variances standard deviation, and a 0.5 percent increase in the actual moisture level of the product. Regardless of the formulation of feed products, the water activity value can be used to find the highest possible moisture content while protecting against mould growth, and do this in a relatively short period of time. The method of storing products at different moisture contents for months at a time, and continually checking for microbial growth throughout the period, is long and tedious for determining each individual upper moisture limit. Advances in sensors and process control provide the ability to control dryers and related equipment to produce the highest quality and safest product for your customers.

Figure 3: Actual results of improved moisture control

Lowering dead time, improving control

Even when the dryer is well maintained and running well, a main reason for poor moisture control is the timeliness and accuracy of the moisture sensing and the resulting control changes. The usual practice for most manufacturers is to periodically take moisture samples, using these for feedback to adjust the dryer temperatures. A few have had success with online moisture sensors, however, these are always after the dryer exit or after-the-fact. In either case, the dead time the time it takes for a load change entering the dryer to be detected is long, and detection of moisture changes only take place after the product has left the dryer. By lowering the dead time, or by sensing the load changes earlier in the drying process, control changes could be made in a timelier manner, lowering the standard deviation. The standard deviation of the moisture samples is proportional to the dead time and, as

previously stated, lowering the standard deviation allows the target moisture to be increased. Sensing moisture changes earlier in the dryer and making immediate control changes would reduce the dead time and improve moisture variance. In recent years, advances in process control and modelling have improved the drying process: for example, a soft sensor now exists that can measure and detect changes inside the dryer. Soft sensors use measurable process inputs and a mathematical model to produce a measurement of a process variable that cannot be measured directly with a hardware sensor. In this particular case, the soft sensor uses dryer temperatures to derive a measurement of product moisture while the product is still in the dryer. By detecting the moisture changes in this way, control adjustments can be made immediately, and moisture correction can begin before the product leaves the dryer. The Delta T Moisture/Dryer Control System is one such soft sensor and control

MORE

INFORMATION:

Roger Douglas roger@moisturecontrols.com Website: www. moisturecontrols.com

14 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | January-February 2014

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