Method for producing oilseed meal powder, oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer, animal feed and fertilizer

Abstract

To provide: a technique for producing an oil cake powder using livestock by-products as raw materials; a livestock-derived oil cake powder that can be used as a raw material for feed and / or fertilizer; feed and fertilizer containing the oil cake powder.SOLUTION: A method for producing an oil cake powder includes a step S2 of obtaining an oil cake raw material by eluting and removing oil components through heating and stirring treatment using livestock by-products as raw materials, a step S3 of compressing the oil cake raw material to further remove oil components to obtain pressed oil cake, and a step S5 of pulverizing the pressed oil cake into a powder to obtain the oil cake powder.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 13

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method for producing oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer, oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer, feed, and fertilizer.

Background Art

[0002] Livestock by-products are known to be useful as raw materials for fertilizers and feeds. In December 2021, the law regarding the assurance of fertilizer quality and the like was amended. By this amendment, oil cakes obtained by processing livestock by-products remaining after producing meat from livestock have become marketable as fertilizers and feeds.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0003] In order to use livestock by-products as raw materials for fertilizers and feeds, it is necessary for the processed oil cakes to be powdered. Among livestock by-products, there are, for example, livestock hair and those mixed with livestock skin with hair. However, it is difficult to powder raw materials containing livestock hair and livestock skin with hair, and as far as the inventor knows, there is no appropriate powdering method that can be used as a raw material for fertilizers and feeds.

[0004] One aspect of the present disclosure aims to provide a technology for producing livestock-derived oil cake powder that can be used as at least one of the raw materials for feed or fertilizer. Another aspect of the present disclosure aims to provide livestock-derived oil cake powder that can be used as at least one of the raw materials for feed or fertilizer.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] One aspect of the present disclosure is a method for producing oilseed meal powder for use as animal feed or fertilizer. One aspect of the present disclosure includes at least one or a combination of the following steps: an elution step, a compression pressing step, and a pulverization step. However, it is not limited to these steps and may include other steps. The elution step is a step of obtaining oilseed meal raw material from raw material containing livestock hair. Specifically, it is a step of obtaining oilseed meal raw material by heating and pressurizing the raw material containing livestock hair to elute and remove the oil. The compression pressing step is a step of obtaining pressed oilseed meal from the oilseed meal raw material. Specifically, it is a step of obtaining pressed oilseed meal by putting the oilseed meal raw material into a compressor to further remove the oil. The pulverization step is a step of obtaining oilseed meal powder from pressed oilseed meal. Specifically, it is a step of obtaining oilseed meal powder by pulverizing the pressed oilseed meal into a powder using a pulverizer.

[0006] One aspect of the present disclosure may further include a separation step of obtaining an oil cake raw material for reintroducing the oil removed by the compressor by centrifugation.

[0007] One aspect of the present disclosure is that the pulverization step may include a first step. The first step may be a step for pulverizing the livestock hair contained in the oil cake from a length of 30 mm to 50 mm to a length of 5 mm to 10 mm. The first step may use a first pulverizer for pulverizing the material to be pulverized. The first pulverizer may be, but is not limited to, a tree pulverizer or other pulverizer, as long as it is a device that can shorten the length of the livestock hair in the material to be processed, and the processing method may not be pulverization, or it may be a device that combines pulverization with other processing methods. In this case, the processing method may be at least one of physical processing, chemical processing, or electrical processing, or a combination of several types of processing.

[0008] Furthermore, in one aspect of the present disclosure, the pulverization step may include a second step. The second step may be a step of pulverizing the oil cake powder so that the length of the livestock hair contained in the oil cake powder is less than 1 mm. In the second step, a second pulverizer may be used for pulverizing the material to be pulverized. The second pulverizer may be, but is not limited to, an impact pulverizer or other pulverizer, as long as it can further shorten the length of the livestock hair in the material to be processed, and the processing method may not be pulverization, or it may be a combination of pulverization and other processing methods. In this case, the processing method may be at least one of physical processing, chemical processing, or electrical processing, or a combination of several types of processing.

[0009] One aspect of the present disclosure may further include a crushing step in which the raw material includes an inedible raw material including the hide of the livestock, and the raw material including the inedible raw material is minced to obtain a crushed raw material for use in the elution step.

[0010] One aspect of the present disclosure is that the livestock hair may be at least one of pig hair and cattle hair.

[0011] One aspect of the present disclosure is that the raw material may further include at least one of pig's hooves, pig's hide, pig's kidney, and cowhide.

[0012] One aspect of the present disclosure is a method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer, comprising the steps of: obtaining an oilseed meal raw material by heating and pressurizing a raw material containing animal hair to dissolve and remove the oil; obtaining pressed oilseed meal by further removing the oil from the oilseed meal raw material; and grinding the pressed oilseed meal into a powder to obtain oilseed meal powder in which 90% of the sample volume consists of particles with a particle size of 1073 μm or less.

[0013] One aspect of the present disclosure is that the step for obtaining the oilseed meal powder may include at least one of a first step and a second step. The first step may be configured as a step for crushing the livestock hair contained in the pressed oilseed meal from a length of 30 mm to 50 mm to a length of 5 mm to 10 mm. The second step may be configured as a step for crushing the crushed oilseed meal obtained in the first step into oilseed meal powder in which 90% of the sample volume consists of particles with a particle size of 1073 μm or less.

[0014] According to any aspect of the present disclosure described above, a technology for producing livestock-derived oilseed meal powder that can be used as feed or fertilizer raw material can be realized. Furthermore, a technology for producing pig-derived or cattle-derived oilseed meal powder can be realized.

[0015] One aspect of the present disclosure is a powder containing the hair of a slaughtered animal, wherein the hair is ground into a powder with a length of less than 1 mm.

[0016] One aspect of this disclosure is that the hair may be at least one of pig hair and cow hair.

[0017] One aspect of the present disclosure may further include powders of at least one of the following: hairy pigskin, hairless pigskin, pig hooves, pig kidneys, and hairy cowhide.

[0018] One aspect of the present disclosure is a powder containing the hair of a slaughtered animal, wherein 90% of the sample volume of the powder is pulverized to a particle size of 1073 μm or less.

[0019] According to any aspect of the present disclosure described above, it is possible to provide livestock-derived oilseed meal powder or pig-derived or cattle-derived oilseed meal powder that can be used as feed or fertilizer raw material.

[0020] One aspect of this disclosure is an agricultural and livestock material containing any of the above-mentioned oilseed meal powders as a raw material. Another aspect of this disclosure is a feed containing any of the above-mentioned oilseed meal powders as a raw material. Furthermore, one aspect of this disclosure is a fertilizer containing any of the above-mentioned oilseed meal powders as a raw material.

[0021] According to this, it is possible to reduce the amount of livestock by-products including inedible parts of livestock, and they can be effectively used as materials for agricultural and livestock products, feeds, fertilizers, etc.

[0022] One aspect of the present disclosure is a method for producing oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer, including a pulverization step of obtaining oil cake powder in which the pressed oil cake derived from a raw material containing livestock hair is made into powder. The pulverization step may be a step of pulverizing so that the length of the hair contained in the oil cake powder is less than 1 mm. The pulverization step may be a step of pulverizing the pressed oil cake into powder to obtain oil cake powder in which 90% of the sample volume is composed of particles with a particle diameter of 1073 μm or less.

Advantages of the Invention

[0023] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a manufacturing technology for oil cake powder derived from livestock that can be used as at least one of raw materials for feed or fertilizer. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a manufacturing technology for oil cake powder derived from pigs or cows that can be used as raw materials for feed or fertilizer. According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide oil cake powder derived from livestock that can be used as a raw material for feed or fertilizer. According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide feeds and fertilizers containing oil cake powder derived from livestock as a raw material.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0024] [Figure 1] It is a photograph showing a pig hair and nail mixture which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to one embodiment. [Figure 2] It is a photograph showing pig skin with pig hair which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to one embodiment. [Figure 3] It is a photograph showing cowhide with cow hair which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to one embodiment. [Figure 4] It is a configuration diagram showing an apparatus for manufacturing oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to one embodiment. [Figure 5]This is a photograph showing the state of pigskin with hair after primary crushing, which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to an embodiment. [Figure 6] This is a photograph showing the oil cake raw material after eluting and removing oil from a pig hair and nail mixture, which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to an embodiment. [Figure 7] This is a photograph showing the pressed oil cake after compressing a pig hair and nail mixture, which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to an embodiment. [Figure 8] This is a photograph showing the oil cake raw material (cake) after centrifuging the oil cake raw material and the pressed oil cake after compressing the pig hair and nail mixture after eluting and removing oil from the pig hair and nail mixture, which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to an embodiment. [Figure 9] This is a photograph showing the oil cake powder after crushing a pig hair and nail mixture, which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to an embodiment, in the first step. [Figure 10] This is a photograph showing the oil cake powder after crushing a pig hair and nail mixture, which is a raw material for oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to an embodiment, in the second step. [Figure 11] This is a flowchart showing the manufacturing process of oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to an embodiment. [Figure 12] This is a flowchart showing the pulverization process of pressed oil cake according to an embodiment. [Figure 13] This is a flowchart showing the manufacturing process of oil cake powder for feed or fertilizer according to a modified example. <000​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ The following describes in detail an embodiment of the present disclosure of "oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer" and "a method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer." However, the following description is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, but should be understood as a description of exemplary embodiments. The following description is not intended to unduly limit the scope of the claims, and not all of the configurations described in this embodiment are necessarily essential as solutions.

[0026] In the following description, terms indicating directions such as "up," "down," "left," and "right" are used for explanatory purposes only and do not indicate a method or manner of use unless explicitly stated in the context. Terms such as "first," "second," ... "nth (where n is any natural number)" used in this specification and the claims are used as identifiers to distinguish different elements and do not indicate any particular order or superiority.

[0027] The terms used in the following description are intended solely to illustrate specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Components in any aspect described herein and in the claims are intended to include plural forms unless the context explicitly indicates otherwise. The term “and / or” refers to and is intended to include any and all possible combinations of one or more of the related enumerated elements. The terms “includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and / or “comprising” as used herein and in the claims identify the presence of features, actions, elements, or steps. However, these terms are used not to exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, actions, elements, steps, and / or groups thereof.

[0028] As used herein and in the claims, “range” is limited in the form of a lower limit and an upper limit, and a given range is limited by selecting one lower limit and one upper limit, which define the boundary of a particular range. The range thus limited may or may not include the endpoints, and any combination is possible, that is, any lower limit can be combined with any upper limit to form a range. For example, if the ranges 60-120 and 80-110 are listed for a particular parameter, it is understood that the ranges 60-110 and 80-120 are also conceivable. In this application, unless otherwise specified, the numerical range “a-b” represents an abbreviation of any combination of real numbers a-b. For example, the numerical range “0-5” means that all real numbers between “0-5” have already been listed herein, and “0-5” is an abbreviation of a combination of these numbers. Furthermore, expressing that a parameter is an integer ≥ 2 is equivalent to disclosing that this parameter is, for example, an integer such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, etc.

[0029] Numerical terms modified by “about,” “approximately,” “nearly,” and “substantially” as used in this specification and in the claims are understood to include the numerical value itself and the numerical values ​​before and after it. For example, when “about 3” is written, “3” and the numerical values ​​immediately following it may be included in “about 3,” as long as they possess the technical features of the invention as disclosed herein. Similarly, when “substantially identical B to A,” B may be included in the scope of “substantially” even if it differs from A, as long as it shares the same technical features as the invention as disclosed herein.

[0030] Manufacturing apparatus for oilseed meal powder for raw materials and animal feed or fertilizer [Figures 1-10]

[0031] The oilseed meal powder manufacturing apparatus 10 described herein as an "apparatus for manufacturing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer" is an apparatus for manufacturing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer from "livestock by-products" which are raw materials.

[0032] Oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer is an example of its use and may include any of the following: oilseed meal powder for animal feed, oilseed meal powder for fertilizer, or oilseed meal powder for both animal feed and fertilizer. Here, "feed" refers to food consumed by living organisms such as animals and fish, and examples include pet food, fish feed for aquaculture, and animal feed. "Oilseed meal powder for animal feed" is oilseed meal powder used as a raw material for animal feed and can be used as a raw material for pet food, fish feed, and animal feed, for example. "Fertilizer" refers to fertilizer used for soil improvement and soil eutrophication, and oilseed meal powder for fertilizer can be used as a raw material for soil conditioners and eutrophicants, for example. These uses are examples and are not limited to them; it can also be used as a raw material for other uses other than animal feed and fertilizer.

[0033] Oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer may be made from livestock by-products. Examples of livestock include pigs, cattle, wild boars, horses, sheep, goats, and other livestock, and their by-products can be used as raw materials. In this embodiment, the case in which livestock by-products of pigs or cattle are used as raw materials will be described in detail, but the invention is not limited to these. Livestock by-products of pigs include pig hair and pig hides with hair. Livestock by-products of pigs may further include a mixture of pig hair and claws, pig hides (hairless), and pig kidneys. Livestock by-products of cattle include cow hair and cow hides with hair. Oilseed meal powder for fertilizer is manufactured using at least one of these livestock by-products as a raw material. Oilseed meal powder for animal feed is manufactured using a combination of two or more of these livestock by-products as a raw material.

[0034] "A combination of two or more types" as used here may refer to a combination of different parts derived from a single livestock species (e.g., only pigs or only cattle), or a combination of parts derived from multiple livestock species (e.g., pigs and cattle). In other words, oilseed meal powder for feed made solely from pig livestock by-products or oilseed meal powder for feed made solely from cattle livestock by-products are also included in embodiments of this disclosure.

[0035] The raw materials can be broadly divided into "first raw materials" and "second raw materials." When producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer from "first raw materials" and "second raw materials," they may be processed separately or together. "First raw materials" are inedible raw materials that include skins, and may include, for example, pigskin with hair, pigskin without hair, and cowhide with hair. "Second raw materials" are inedible raw materials that do not include skins, and may include, for example, pig hair, pig hooves, pig kidneys, and cow hair.

[0036] As shown in Figure 1, the pig hair and hoof mixture is a mixture of pig hair and pig hoofs. The pig hair and hoof mixture used as raw material can be one that has not undergone any pretreatment such as crushing. The pig hair is obtained by cutting it from pig hides obtained after slaughter and butchering. The pig hair used as raw material has not undergone any pretreatment such as crushing, and its length is, for example, about 30 to 50 mm.

[0037] As shown in Figure 2, the hairy pigskin is pigskin with hair still attached, obtained through slaughter and butchering. The hairy pigskin used as raw material is obtained by cutting during slaughter and butchering, and no special pre-processing is performed. Its size varies depending on the butchering method, but as an example for ease of understanding, it is approximately 600-1200 mm in length and 1000-1300 mm in width.

[0038] The hairless pigskin is obtained from slaughter and butchering. The hairless pigskin used as raw material is obtained by cutting during slaughter and butchering, and no special pre-processing is performed. Its size varies depending on the butchering method, but as an example for easier understanding, it is approximately 300-400 mm in length and width. The pig kidneys are obtained from slaughter and butchering, and no special pre-processing is performed.

[0039] As shown in Figure 3, the hairy cowhide is cowhide with the hair still attached, obtained through slaughter and butchering. The hairy cowhide used as raw material is obtained by cutting after slaughter and butchering, and does not undergo any special pre-processing. Its size varies depending on the butchering method, but as an example for ease of understanding, it is approximately 1800-2200 mm in length, 1800-2500 mm in width, and 20 mm or less in thickness.

[0040] As described above, all of the raw materials are by-products of slaughter and butchering, and with this embodiment, oilseed meal powder of the quality described later can be produced without any pre-treatment as a pre-processing step before manufacturing oilseed meal powder. Note that the above raw materials (pig hair, pig hide with hair, pig hair and claw mixture, pig hide (hairless), pig kidney, cow hair, cow hide with hair) are examples, and other pig and cattle body tissues obtained as by-products of slaughter and butchering may also be included as raw materials.

[0041] As shown in Figure 4, the oil cake powder manufacturing apparatus 10 includes a crusher 11, a chopper 12, a pressure vessel 13, a compressor 14, a centrifugal separator 15, a first pulverizer 16, and a second pulverizer 17.

[0042] The crusher 11 is a device that performs primary crushing on raw materials as a pretreatment for finely chopping them. The raw materials used are primarily the "first raw material." The raw materials may also include the "second raw material."

[0043] As the crusher 11, for example, a twin-shaft crusher can be used, but it is not limited to this, and other crushers can be used. In this embodiment, an example of using the following twin-shaft crusher as an example of the crusher 11 will be described. The twin-shaft crusher has two screws. Each of the two screws is shaped like a shaft and has a rotating blade on its outer circumference. The two screws are arranged adjacent to each other so that their axial directions are parallel. The two screws are configured to be able to rotate independently around their respective shafts. As a result, the twin-shaft crusher is configured to pass the raw material between the two screws so as to draw it in. The twin-shaft crusher then crushes the raw material by tearing with the rotating blade and by shearing as it passes between the two screws. As shown in Figure 5, the twin-shaft crusher can crush the raw material to a size that can be processed by the chopper 12 used in the next process. The crusher 11 can be any device, not limited to the example twin-shaft crusher, as long as it is possible to crush the raw material to a size that the chopper 12 can process.

[0044] Chopper 12 is a device that performs secondary crushing on raw materials, making them even finer than primary crushing. Chopper 12 is used to mince raw materials to obtain crushed raw materials. In particular, "first raw materials" that have been primary crushed are used as raw materials. The raw materials may also include "second raw materials".

[0045] As the chopper 12, for example, a meat chopper can be used, but it is not limited to this, and other choppers can be used. In this embodiment, an example using the following meat chopper as an example of the chopper 12 will be described. The meat chopper has a body, a roll, a knife, a plate, and a fixing ring.

[0046] The body is a hollow cylindrical shape. The body is configured to accommodate rolls, knives, plates, and raw materials inside its hollow interior. The meat chopper is configured to feed raw materials from the first end of the body in the axial direction (direction of the cylinder) upstream toward the second end of the body in the axial direction toward the downstream. The rolls, knives, and plates are arranged inside the body in this order from upstream to downstream. The rolls, knives, and plates are arranged coaxially inside the body with respect to the axis from upstream to downstream. The rolls and knives are configured to be able to rotate together around an axis.

[0047] The roll functions as a feed rod, moving the raw material from the upstream side to the downstream side. The roll has an axial shape, and is provided with helical projections that protrude radially outward from its outer surface. As the roll rotates, the helical projections are configured to push the raw material axially from upstream to downstream.

[0048] The knife, paired with the plate, functions to cut the raw material. The knife has multiple blades extending radially outward from the center of the axis. The knife may have a cross shape with, for example, four blades, or a star shape with five or six blades. The knife functions as a rotating blade, with the blades rotating around an axis.

[0049] The plate has the function of setting the coarseness of the grind (mincing) of the raw material. The plate is disc-shaped. Multiple holes are formed in the plate, penetrating in the direction of the plate's thickness (upstream-downstream direction). The diameter of the holes is, for example, 30 mm. The edges between the plate surface and the holes are formed to be sharp. The plate functions as a fixed blade. The surface of the plate is positioned so that the blade of the knife lightly touches it.

[0050] A meat chopper combines the above-described components and is configured to finely grind (mince) the raw material, which is pushed in by the spiral projections of the rolls and passes through the holes in the plate, with a knife. The meat chopper is configured to process the raw material into crushed raw material with a larger surface area through secondary crushing. Therefore, the meat chopper can form crushed raw material that extracts oil and fat with higher efficiency in the pressure vessel 13 used in the next step. As long as it is possible to form crushed raw material that extracts oil and fat with higher efficiency in the pressure vessel 13, various devices other than the illustrated meat chopper can be used for the chopper 12.

[0051] The pressure vessel 13 is a device that has a predetermined internal volume and body dimensions and creates a pressurized environment by holding gas at or above a predetermined gauge pressure inside it. The pressure vessel 13 is used to obtain oilseed meal raw material shown in Figure 6 by heating and pressurizing the raw material to dissolve and remove liquid oil. As raw material, at least one of, for example, a "first raw material" that has been secondary crushed and a "second raw material" including pig hair and pig hooves shown in Figure 1 is used. As the pressure vessel 13, for example, a double-boiler structure pressure vessel 13 can be used, but is not limited to this, and other pressure vessels can be used. In this embodiment, an example using the following double-boiler structure pressure vessel 13 as an example of the pressure vessel 13 will be described. The pressure vessel 13 has an outer boiler, an inner boiler, a high-pressure gas inlet, a stirring device, a hopper, and a ball valve.

[0052] The pressure vessel 13 has a double-walled structure in which an inner kettle is housed inside an outer kettle. The pressure vessel 13 is configured to be able to seal the space formed between the outer kettle and the inner kettle, as well as each of the inner kettle, to the outside air, and is pressure-resistant. The inner kettle has a predetermined internal volume and is configured to accommodate materials to be processed, such as solids and liquids. The inner kettle has a cylindrical shape, for example, with a diameter of 1500 mm and a height of 2200 mm. The outer kettle is provided with a high-pressure gas inlet. The high-pressure gas inlet is located, for example, 1345 mm from the bottom end of the outer kettle. The high-pressure gas is introduced between the outer kettle and the inner kettle. The agitator is a device for agitating the materials to be processed housed in the inner kettle. The agitator has an agitator body. The agitator body is located within the area of ​​the inner kettle.

[0053] A hopper is positioned above the inner kettle. This hopper has a structure capable of containing raw materials. The hopper may be integrated with the pressure vessel 13 or it may be a separate unit. A ball valve is attached to the lower end of the inner kettle at its radial center. By opening the ball valve, the liquid contained in the inner kettle can be discharged to the outside of the pressure vessel 13. The oilseed meal raw material shown in Figure 6 can be obtained from the inner kettle after the liquid material has been discharged. The oilseed meal raw material contains numerous oilseed meal lumps ranging from approximately 30 mm to 50 mm in size, as shown in Figure 6. The oilseed meal lumps are formed as lumps of a mixture of hair and skin.

[0054] As described above, the pressure vessel 13 can place the raw material to be processed, which is immersed in a liquid of oil and fat, under a high-temperature, high-pressure environment. Furthermore, by placing the raw material under a high-temperature, high-pressure environment, the pressure vessel 13 can extract oil from the raw material. The pressure vessel 13 can then separate the heated and pressurized raw material into oil and fat and oilseed meal raw material.

[0055] The compressor 14 is a device that separates the liquid from the liquid-solid mixture of raw materials and concentrates the solid content. The compressor 14 is used to remove the liquid oil from the oil cake raw material, which is a liquid-solid mixture. Furthermore, the compressor 14 is used to remove the liquid oil from the oil cake raw material (cake) (Figure 8) after the oil has been removed in the centrifugal separator 15 described later. As the compressor 14, for example, an expeller that performs continuous compression by the rotation of a screw shaft can be used, but it is not limited to this, and other types of compressors can be used. In this embodiment, an example using the following expeller as an example of the compressor 14 will be described. The compressor 14 only needs to be able to remove the oil contained in the oil cake raw material until it is below a predetermined amount, and is not limited to an expeller, but may be other types of devices, such as a ball clamping machine.

[0056] The expeller comprises a cage, a worm, a raw material inlet, a liquid discharge port, and a compressed material discharge port. The cage is a hollow cylindrical shape. The expeller is installed with the cylindrical axis of the cage extending horizontally. The cage is configured to accommodate the worm and oilseed meal raw material inside its hollow interior. The expeller is configured to send the oilseed meal raw material downstream, with the first end of the cage in the axial direction (axial direction) being upstream, and the second end of the cage in the axial direction being downstream. A raw material inlet is provided at the first end of the cage. The raw material inlet extends upward along a vertical line from the first end of the cage. Therefore, the expeller is configured so that the oilseed meal raw material introduced into the raw material inlet is continuously supplied to the first end of the cage.

[0057] The worm feeds the oilseed meal material from the upstream to the downstream side and also functions as a pressurizing rod that pressurizes the oilseed meal material toward the second end of the cage. The worm has an axial shape that extends in the axial direction of the cage, and is provided with helical projections (screw blades) that protrude radially outward from its outer surface. The worm is configured to be rotationally driven around its axis. Therefore, the expeller is configured such that, as the worm rotates, the oilseed meal material is transported along the helical projections and displaced in the axial direction of the cage and worm from the upstream end to the downstream end.

[0058] The diameter of the worm shaft is larger on the downstream side than on the upstream side. In contrast, the diameter of the screw blades is the same on both the upstream and downstream sides. As a result, the length of the gap between the cage and the worm shaft, or in other words, the depth of the groove from the outer edge of the screw blade to the outer surface of the worm shaft, decreases from the upstream side to the downstream side. Furthermore, the spacing between adjacent screw blades in the axial direction is narrower on the downstream side than on the upstream side. This worm configuration allows the expeller to compress the oilseed meal raw material, gradually increasing the compression ratio of the oilseed meal raw material from the upstream side to the downstream side.

[0059] The cage has liquid discharge holes. These are numerous through-holes that penetrate the bottom wall of the cage, connecting the outside to the inside of the cage. The liquid discharge holes are configured to allow the liquid oil, separated from the oilseed meal raw material by compression with a worm, to pass through and be discharged to the outside. A press discharge port is formed at the second end of the cage. The press discharge port is configured to discharge the pressed oilseed meal, shown in Figure 7, which is the solid material (cake) remaining after the oil has been removed from the oilseed meal raw material inside the cage. The pressed oilseed meal is in the shape of a cracker (disc). Pressed oilseed meal can be made with or without animal bones. Pressed oilseed meal without animal bones is also called a livestock processing by-product, and in the case of pigs, it is also called a pig processing by-product. Pressed oilseed meal with animal bones is also called meat and bone meal.

[0060] If the oil content of the pressed oil cake is not sufficiently removed, the oil may seep out during crushing by the first crusher 16 and the second crusher 17 described later, and the materials being crushed (pressed oil cake and crushed oil cake powder) may stick together and solidify (clogging) within the apparatus. However, since the compressor 14 properly removes the oil content of the pressed oil cake, efficient crushing becomes possible in the first crusher 16 and the second crusher 17.

[0061] As described above, the compressor 14 can extract liquid oil not only from the oil cake raw material but also from the oil cake raw material (cake) (Figure 8) after the oil has been removed in the centrifugal separator 15 described later. The compressor 14 can obtain pressed oil cake in particular from the oil cake raw material (cake) after centrifugal separation. For this reason, since the oil cake powder manufacturing apparatus for animal feed or fertilizer of this embodiment has a compressor 14, the yield of oil cake powder for animal feed or fertilizer can be increased.

[0062] The centrifugal separator 15 is a device that uses centrifugal force to separate a liquid from solid particles suspended in that liquid. The centrifugal separator 15 is used to obtain oilseed meal raw material (cake) (Figure 8) remaining in the liquid from the liquid discharged from the pressure vessel 13. Furthermore, the centrifugal separator 15 is used to obtain oilseed meal raw material (cake) remaining in the oil from the liquid removed by the compressor 14. As the centrifugal separator 15, for example, a decanter-type centrifugal separator that performs solid-liquid separation in a continuous manner by a slight difference in rotation between the outer bowl and the inner screw conveyor can be used, but is not limited to this, and other centrifugal separators can be used. In this embodiment, an example of using the following decanter-type centrifugal separator 15 will be described. The centrifugal separator 15 should be able to obtain oilseed meal raw material (cake) containing meat pieces, fat lumps, proteins, etc. from the liquid discharged from the pressure vessel 13 and the oil from the liquid removed by the compressor 14 (hereinafter referred to as "liquid, etc."). The centrifuge 15 is not limited to a decanter-type centrifuge, but may be of another type, such as cylindrical, disk-type, or vertical.

[0063] A decanter-type centrifuge comprises an outer bowl, an inner screw conveyor, a supernatant outlet, a precipitate outlet, and a raw liquid supply pipe.

[0064] The outer bowl is a hollow cylindrical shape. The outer bowl may have a shape that combines, for example, a cylindrical shape and a frustoconical shape. The decanter-type centrifuge is installed so that the cylindrical axis of the outer bowl extends horizontally. The outer bowl is configured to accommodate an inner screw conveyor and liquids inside its hollow interior. The decanter-type centrifuge has a first end on one side in the axial direction of the outer bowl and a second end on the other side in the axial direction of the outer bowl. The outer bowl may have a frustoconical shape, for example, located on the side of the second end. A supernatant outlet is formed at the first end of the outer bowl, spaced radially from the cylindrical circumferential wall of the outer bowl. A precipitate outlet is formed on the circumferential wall, for example, the frustoconical shape, on the side of the second end of the outer bowl.

[0065] The inner screw conveyor has an axial shape that extends in the axial direction of the outer bowl. The inner screw conveyor is arranged coaxially with the outer bowl. A raw liquid supply pipe is formed inside the inner screw conveyor. Therefore, one side of the inner screw conveyor is hollow and cylindrical in its axial direction, while the other side is solid and columnar. The inner screw conveyor has a through hole that penetrates from, for example, the first end of the outer bowl to an intermediate position in the axial direction of the inner screw conveyor. The through hole opens radially outward from the inner screw conveyor at the boundary between the hollow and solid parts of the inner screw conveyor.

[0066] Thus, the stock solution supply pipe is composed of a through-hole that passes through the inside of the inner cylinder screw conveyor. The stock solution supply pipe is configured to supply a liquid substance, which is the stock solution, from the outside of the decanter-type centrifuge to the inside of the outer cylinder bowl. The stock solution supply pipe only needs to be able to supply the liquid substance to the inside of the outer cylinder bowl, and may be configured to introduce the liquid substance from the second end side of the outer cylinder bowl.

[0067] The outer bowl has a mechanism that allows it to rotate around an axis. This gives the outer bowl the function of applying centrifugal force to the liquid or other substance inside. When centrifugal force is applied to the liquid or other substance, the precipitate of solid particles accumulates on the inner wall of the outer bowl, and the supernatant liquid of the oil or other substance collects towards the radial center of the outer bowl. For this reason, the decanter-type centrifuge is configured so that the supernatant liquid of the oil or other substance passes over the supernatant liquid outlet at the first end of the outer bowl and is discharged to the outside.

[0068] The inner cylinder screw conveyor has helical projections (screw blades) on the outer circumference of its axial shape. The inner cylinder screw conveyor is configured to be rotationally driven around its axis. The inner cylinder screw conveyor has a mechanism that rotates at a speed slightly slower than that of the outer cylinder bowl. Therefore, the decanter-type centrifuge is configured such that, as the inner cylinder screw conveyor rotates, the sediment of solid particles accumulated on the inner wall of the outer cylinder bowl moves along the helical projections, from the first end of the outer cylinder bowl towards the second end, in the axial direction of the outer cylinder bowl. The decanter-type centrifuge is then configured so that the sediment of solid particles is dewatered as it passes through the frustoconical circumferential wall and discharged from the sediment discharge port. That is, the sediment discharge port is configured to discharge the oil cake raw material (shown in Figure 8) to the outside after the oil has been removed from the liquid. The oil cake raw material (cake) is formed as a mass of mixed hair and skin, as shown in Figure 8. Its size varies depending on the amount of solid matter contained in the material added.

[0069] As described above, the decanter-type centrifuge can process not only the liquid discharged from the pressure vessel 13, but also the oil in the liquid removed by the compressor 14, separating it into an oil supernatant and a precipitate of solid particles. In particular, the decanter-type centrifuge can obtain oilseed meal raw material (cake) remaining in the liquid oil. Thus, because the oilseed meal powder manufacturing apparatus for animal feed or fertilizer of this embodiment has a decanter-type centrifuge, the yield of oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer can be increased. Furthermore, because the oilseed meal powder manufacturing apparatus for animal feed or fertilizer has a decanter-type centrifuge, the purity of the oil as a by-product can be increased, improving the quality of animal feed oils and fats that can be used as a product.

[0070] The first crusher 16 is a device that crushes the material to be crushed to a predetermined particle size. The first crusher 16 has a crushing function that can effectively cut hair-like objects, especially those with an elongated shape. The first crusher 16 is used to first crush oil cake into flakes to obtain oil cake powder shown in Figure 9. As the first crusher 16, for example, a chipper-type wood crusher can be used, but it is not limited to this, and other crushers can be used. Furthermore, the first crusher 16 may be other devices that do not crush or other devices that combine crushing with other processing methods, as long as they can shorten the length of livestock hair in the material to be processed. In this case, the processing method may be at least one of physical processing, chemical processing, or electrical processing, or a combination of several types of processing. In this embodiment, an example using the following chipper-type wood crusher as an example of the first crusher 16 will be described. A chipper-type wood crusher is a device that crushes woody raw materials, especially softwood, into flakes with blades to produce wood chips (cutting chips). As a tree shredder, not only chipper-type (knife-type) devices may be used, but also shredder-type, chipper-shredder-type, and other devices. Furthermore, the first shredder 16 can be any device, not limited to a tree shredder, as long as it is capable of shredding the livestock hair contained in the oil cake to a length of at least 5 mm to 10 mm. The tree shredder has a hopper, a shredding chamber, a shredding rotor, a screen (perforated metal), and a discharge port.

[0071] The hopper is an inlet for supplying the oil cake, which is the material to be crushed, to the crushing chamber. The crushing chamber is configured to accommodate the crushing rotor and the oil cake. The crushing rotor has the function of crushing the oil cake into pulverized pieces by rotating. The crushing rotor is cylindrical in shape. The crushing rotor is positioned so that its cylindrical axis extends perpendicular to the direction in which the oil cake is supplied and horizontal to the ground. Chipper knives are fixed to the outer circumference of the crushing rotor, extending along the cylindrical axis to the full width of the crushing rotor. The chipper knives function to cut, shave, and crush the oil cake as the crushing rotor rotates. The oil cake powder, which has been shaved into pulverized pieces by the chipper knives, is contained in the crushing chamber.

[0072] The screen has a filtering function that allows only the oil cake powder, which has been reduced to a particle size below a predetermined size after the oil cake has been crushed, to pass through. The screen is installed below the crushing rotor. The screen is formed in the shape of a plate. Multiple through holes are formed in the screen, penetrating in the direction of the screen's thickness.

[0073] The diameter of the through-hole is set to, for example, 3.0 mm or more and 3.5 mm or less. In the tree shredder used in this embodiment as an example of the first shredder 16, when the material to be shredded is wood, the diameter of the through-hole is set to, for example, 7-8 mm. This is designed to match the fiber structure and hardness of wood. However, unlike wood, bristles such as pig hair and cow hair have high elasticity and flexibility, and are difficult to cut, only deforming under compressive and impact forces. Furthermore, due to their elongated shape, bristles pass through the through-hole more easily than wood fibers. For this reason, with a through-hole of 7-8 mm, which is the design value for a typical tree shredder, the bristles pass through without being sufficiently cut, making efficient shredding difficult. When the diameter of the through-hole is too large, there is a problem in that pig hair, cow hair, and claws are difficult to shred when the material to be shredded is livestock by-products, making it difficult to efficiently obtain the desired shredding effect. On the other hand, if the diameter of the through-hole is too small, it may put a load on the first crusher 16, slowing down the processing and potentially reducing the crushing efficiency of livestock by-products.

[0074] Therefore, when the material to be crushed is livestock by-products, setting the diameter of the through-hole to, for example, 3.0 mm or more and 3.5 mm or less eliminates the problem of pig hair, cow hair, and claws being difficult to crush, making it easy to efficiently obtain the desired crushing effect. In particular, when the diameter of the through-hole is 3.0 mm, it is preferable that pig hair, cow hair, and claws are crushed more reliably without reducing the crushing efficiency of livestock by-products.

[0075] The first crusher 16 has a mechanism for continuously crushing oil cake that is too small to pass through the perforations of the screen within the crushing chamber. Specifically, the first crusher 16 is configured such that the oil cake is broken down into fragments smaller than the particle size required to pass through the perforations of the screen by repeated crushing by high-speed rotating chipper knives and by high-speed collisions with the walls constituting the crushing chamber. The first crusher 16 is configured so that the oil cake powder that has passed through the perforations of the screen is discharged from the discharge port.

[0076] Here, we can also consider a configuration in which the oil cake powder manufacturing apparatus for animal feed or fertilizer according to this embodiment does not have the first crusher 16.

[0077] However, the livestock by-products that are the raw materials for the oilseed meal powder used for animal feed or fertilizer in this embodiment include hair-like materials such as pig hair and cow hair. The hair-like materials have an elongated shape in which their radial length is extremely short compared to their longitudinal length. Furthermore, because the hair-like materials are elongated and flexible, they have the characteristic of simply deforming rather than being easily cut by the compressive or impact force of an impact-type crusher such as the second crusher 17.

[0078] These characteristics of the fibrous material pose a problem during the grinding process. The through-holes in the screen of the second grinder 17, described later, have a diameter of, for example, 2.5 mm to 3.0 mm. In contrast, the thickness of the fibrous material is thin, for example, 0.25 mm. Therefore, if the fibrous material is oriented longitudinally with respect to the through-hole, it will pass through the through-hole even if its total length is long. Furthermore, the fibrous material is flexible and deforms under compressive force, allowing it to enter the through-hole. As a result, there is a risk that the fibrous material will pass through the through-hole without being cut.

[0079] Furthermore, due to their elasticity, the fibrous material may simply bend or crush inside the second crusher 17 without being effectively cut. Therefore, if the oil cake is fed directly into the second crusher 17 without going through primary crushing by the first crusher 16, the oil cake may not be crushed to a size smaller than the desired particle size. On the other hand, if the diameter of the through-holes in the screen of the second crusher 17 is made smaller, the oil cake powder will have difficulty passing through the through-holes, which may lead to a decrease in manufacturing efficiency and clogging.

[0080] In contrast, the oilseed meal powder manufacturing apparatus for animal feed or fertilizer according to this embodiment has a first crusher 16, which allows for the pre-crushing of elongated fibrous materials and the like in the pressed oilseed meal in the lengthwise direction. The first crusher 16 uses a device with strong cutting force, such as a wood crusher, which makes it possible to effectively cut flexible and elastic fibrous materials. As a result, the oilseed meal powder fed into the second crusher 17 will not contain extremely elongated fibrous materials and the like. Therefore, the first crusher 16 can adjust the oilseed meal powder fed into the second crusher 17 to a size range suitable for crushing by the second crusher 17. This improves the processing efficiency of the second crusher 17.

[0081] The first crusher 16 may be equipped with a dust collector to collect the powder that scatters when the pressed oil cake is fed into the hopper. The powder collected by the dust collector is filled into, for example, a flexible container bag. The powder filled into the flexible container bag is mixed with the oil cake powder discharged from the discharge port of the first crusher 16. In this way, the production apparatus for oil cake powder for animal feed or fertilizer according to this embodiment has a dust collector, which can increase the yield of oil cake powder for animal feed or fertilizer.

[0082] As described above, the first crusher 16 can crush the oil cake, which is the material to be crushed, to a particle size or smaller than a predetermined size. Furthermore, the first crusher 16 can crush the oil cake to a size that can be processed by the second crusher 17 used in the next process.

[0083] The second pulverizer 17 is a device for further pulverizing the oil cake powder that has been pulverized in the first stage into a finer powder, thereby obtaining the oil cake powder shown in Figure 10. The second pulverizer 17 has the function of pulverizing the material to be pulverized into a fine powder by applying a combination of mechanical forces such as impact force and shear force. As the second pulverizer 17, for example, an impact pulverizer can be used, but it is not limited to this, and other pulverizers can be used. Furthermore, the second pulverizer 17 may be other devices that do not use pulverization as a processing method, or other devices that combine pulverization with other processing methods, as long as they can further shorten the length of the livestock hair in the material to be processed. In this case, the processing method may be at least one of physical processing, chemical processing, or electrical processing, or a combination of several types of processing. An impact pulverizer is a device that pulverizes the material to be pulverized by applying an impact force. As an impact pulverizer, for example, a pulverizer, atomizer, or pin mill can be used. If the second pulverizer 17 is a pulverizer, atomizer, or pin mill, it is preferable that the oil cake powder can be efficiently pulverized. However, the second pulverizer 17 is not limited to a pulverizer, atomizer, or pin mill; other mechanical pulverizers can be used. In this embodiment, an example using the following pulverizer as the second pulverizer 17 will be described. The pulverizer has a hopper, a screw feeder, a pulverizing chamber, a rotor, a pulverizing hammer, a liner, a screen, and a discharge port.

[0084] The hopper is the input port for the primary pulverized oilseed meal powder, which is the material to be pulverized. The screw feeder functions as a feed rod that sends the primary pulverized oilseed meal powder from the lower end of the hopper towards the pulverizing chamber. The screw feeder has an axial shape and is provided with helical projections that protrude radially outward from its outer surface. The pulverizer is installed so that the shaft of the screw feeder extends horizontally. As the screw feeder rotates, the helical projections push the primary pulverized oilseed meal powder axially from the lower end of the hopper into the pulverizing chamber.

[0085] The grinding chamber is configured to accommodate a rotor, a grinding hammer, a liner, a screen, and the primary-ground oil cake powder. The rotor is cylindrical in shape. The rotor is positioned so that its cylindrical axis extends perpendicular to the direction in which the primary-ground oil cake powder is supplied, and horizontally to the ground.

[0086] A crushing hammer is attached to the outer circumference of the rotor. The crushing hammer is U-shaped (stirrup-shaped). The two legs of the U-shaped crushing hammer are pivotably attached to the rotor with an axis in the direction along the cylindrical axis of the rotor. Multiple crushing hammers are provided in parallel in the axial direction of the rotor. The number of crushing hammers is not limited to four, fewer than four, or more than four in the axial direction of the rotor. Multiple crushing hammers are provided spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the rotor. The number of crushing hammers is not limited to sixteen, fewer than sixteen, or more than sixteen. The rotor is configured to rotate around its axis. The rotor is configured to rotate at a peripheral speed of, for example, 100 m / s. The peripheral speed of the rotor may be configured to exceed, for example, 110 m / s, 130 m / s, or 150 m / s.

[0087] A liner is provided on the inner surface of the grinding chamber, opposite the upper half of the rotor. The liner has multiple uneven surfaces that extend along the axial direction of the rotor. The oil cake powder, which has been primarily ground, is secondarily ground between the grinding hammer, which rotates around the rotor axis, and the liner. That is, the high-speed rotating grinding hammer applies an impact force to the bristles. The oil cake powder, launched by the grinding hammer, receives a further impact force upon impact with the liner. A strong shear force is generated in the narrow space between the grinding hammer and the liner. The vortices generated by the uneven surface of the liner generate shear forces from multiple directions. Thus, the pulverizer, acting as the second crusher 17, functions to secondarily crush the oil cake powder that has been first crushed, through these combined mechanical actions.

[0088] One reason why cutting trichomes has been difficult with conventional techniques is their characteristic of being difficult to cut when a force is applied from a single direction; they only deform. In this embodiment, this problem is solved by the action of multiple forces, enabling efficient cutting of trichomes.

[0089] The screen has a filtering function that allows only oil cake powder that has been pulverized to a certain particle size or smaller after secondary pulverization to pass through. The screen is installed below the rotor. The screen is formed in the shape of a thin plate. Multiple through holes are formed in the screen, penetrating in the direction of the screen's thickness.

[0090] The diameter of the through-holes is typically set to, for example, 2.5 mm to 3.0 mm. Generally, impact pulverizers are designed to pulverize materials into powder, and the diameter of the through-holes in their screens is typically set to, for example, 1 mm. However, when the material to be pulverized is livestock by-products, there is a problem in that short pig hairs remain without being pulverized, making it difficult to efficiently achieve the desired pulverization effect. On the other hand, if the diameter of the through-holes is too small, it can overload the pulverizer, slowing down the process and potentially reducing the pulverization efficiency of livestock by-products. Furthermore, if the diameter of the through-holes is too small, there is a risk that the material to be pulverized may clog the through-holes in the pulverizer screen. Therefore, when the material to be pulverized is livestock by-products, setting the diameter of the through-holes to, for example, 2.5 mm to 3.0 mm eliminates the problem of pig or cow hair remaining and makes it easier to efficiently achieve the desired pulverization effect.

[0091] The pulverizer is configured to further pulverize the oil cake that cannot pass through the screen's perforations in the pulverizing chamber. Specifically, the pulverizer is configured to break down the initially pulverized oil cake powder into a fine powder with a particle size smaller than that that can pass through the screen's perforations by repeatedly pulverizing through impact from a high-speed rotating pulverizing hammer and pulverizing through shear between the pulverizing hammer and the liner. The pulverizer is then configured to discharge the oil cake powder that has passed through the screen's perforations from the discharge port.

[0092] As described above, the pulverizer, acting as the second pulverizer 17, can pulverize the oilseed meal powder, which is the material to be pulverized, by the first pulverizer 16, to a particle size or smaller than a predetermined size. Furthermore, the pulverizer, acting as the second pulverizer 17, can pulverize the oilseed meal powder, which is the material to be pulverized by the first pulverizer 16, to a size suitable for use as feed raw material (pet food).

[0093] As described above, this embodiment provides a technology for producing pig-derived or cattle-derived oilseed meal powder that can be used as a raw material for at least one of animal feed or fertilizer.

[0094] Method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer [Figures 11-13]

[0095] First embodiment [Figures 11-12]

[0096] The method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer according to this embodiment includes a crushing step (step S1), an elution step (step S2), a compression pressing step (step S3), a separation step (step S4), and a powdering step (step S5), as shown in Figure 11.

[0097] The crushing process is a process (step S1) in which raw materials, including the "first raw material" as a "livestock by-product" obtained from slaughter and butchering, are minced to obtain crushed raw materials for use in the elution process. The length of the crushed raw materials cut in the crushing process affects the oil elution efficiency in the subsequent elution process. Therefore, the crushing process is significant because it processes the raw materials into crushed raw materials with a larger surface area, thereby forming crushed raw materials that can elute oils and fats with higher efficiency.

[0098] In the crushing process, primary crushing of the raw material is performed first. As the raw material, for example, pigskin with pig hair attached, measuring 1200 mm in length and 1300 mm in width, as shown in Figure 2, is used. A "second raw material" including pig hair and pig hooves, as shown in Figure 1, can also be used. A twin-shaft crusher is used as the crusher 11 for primary crushing. The raw material is caught in the two screws of the twin-shaft crusher and crushed to a size that can be processed by the chopper 12 used in the next process (Figure 5). Primary crushing allows for effective secondary crushing of the raw material.

[0099] When using cattle by-products as raw materials, for example, as shown in Figure 3, hairy cowhides measuring 1800-2200 mm in length and 1800-2500 mm in width are used. For primary crushing, a crusher 11 is used, similar to when pigs are used as raw materials, and the raw materials are crushed to a size that can be processed in the next step.

[0100] The raw materials may be prepared by pouring hot water over the mass of raw materials to soften them, then drying them in a dryer to separate them into individual pieces before feeding them into the crusher 11, or they may be fed into the crusher 11 all at once without any pretreatment.

[0101] In the crushing process, the raw material is then subjected to secondary crushing. As a raw material, for example, as shown in Figure 5, pigskin with pig bristles attached, measuring 800 mm in length and 200 mm in width, is used. A "second raw material" including pig bristles and pig hooves, as shown in Figure 1, can also be used. A meat chopper, acting as chopper 12, is used for secondary crushing. The raw material is pushed towards the plate by the spiral projections of the meat chopper's rolls and cut by a rotating knife as it is pushed out of the holes in the plate. The raw material becomes crushed raw material cut to a length of approximately 50 mm or less.

[0102] In the case of cattle by-products, secondary crushing involves processing the raw material after primary crushing (for example, hairy cowhide measuring 1300-1500 mm in length and 400-800 mm in width) using chopper 12. The crushed raw material after processing is then cut into lengths of approximately 60 mm or less.

[0103] The elution process is a process of obtaining oilseed meal raw material from raw material containing livestock hair (Step S2). Specifically, it is a process of obtaining oilseed meal raw material by heating and pressurizing the raw material containing livestock hair to elute and remove the oil. The amount of oil and fat eluted from the crushed raw material in the elution process affects the yield of the oilseed meal powder finally obtained in the subsequent powdering process. Therefore, the elution process is significant because it processes the crushed raw material into oilseed meal raw material from which the oil and fat has been appropriately removed, thereby forming oilseed meal raw material that can increase the yield of oilseed meal powder.

[0104] In the elution process, for example, a pressure vessel 13 with a double-walled structure is used. Feed oil is introduced into the inner wall. If the amount of feed oil is too small, it becomes difficult to extract the oil from the raw material. Conversely, if the amount of feed oil is too large, the relative amount of raw material to be eluted decreases, thus reducing the efficiency of the elution process. For this reason, the amount of feed oil to be introduced should be, for example, 1 m³ 3 It is said that by appropriately adjusting the amount of feed oil and fat introduced into the inner pot in this way, the oil and fat can be reliably extracted from the raw materials, and the extraction process can be carried out with high efficiency.

[0105] The raw materials are introduced into the feed oil liquid from a hopper above the inner pot, for example, by a screw. The raw materials used are, for example, at least one of a "first raw material" that has been secondary crushed and a "second raw material" which includes pig hair and pig hooves as shown in Figure 1. The amount of raw materials introduced is, for example, 300 kg. An agitator is placed in the feed oil liquid. The agitator rotates to distribute the raw materials evenly within the feed oil liquid. The rotation speed of the agitator (mixing speed) is, for example, 100 revolutions per minute.

[0106] With the raw materials and feed oils and fats placed in the inner pot, a high-temperature, high-pressure gas is introduced between the outer and inner pots through the high-pressure gas inlet. For example, steam is used as the gas introduced into the pressure vessel 13. The steam introduced between the outer and inner pots is, for example, at a gauge pressure (positive pressure) of 6 atmospheres. When the high-temperature, high-pressure steam comes into contact with the outer surface of the inner pot, the temperature of the raw materials and feed oils and fats rises, and the internal pressure of the inner pot also rises. The raw materials are processed by placing them in a temperature environment of, for example, 120°C for 30 minutes or more. The raw materials become oilseed meal raw materials as the oils and fats dissolve into the feed oils and fats. As shown in Figure 6, when the raw materials are of pig origin, the crushed raw materials become, for example, oilseed meal raw materials of 30 mm to 50 mm after the oils and fats have dissolved. When the raw materials are of cattle origin, the crushed raw materials become, for example, oilseed meal raw materials of 30 mm to 60 mm after the oils and fats have dissolved.

[0107] The oil and grease eluted in the pressure vessel 13 are discharged to the outside of the pressure vessel 13 by opening a ball valve located at the bottom of the inner casing. When discharging the oil and grease from the inner casing to the outside, the stirring speed of the agitator is gradually reduced. The stirring speed of the agitator is set to, for example, 100 revolutions per minute in the initial stage of oil and grease discharge, and to, for example, 80 revolutions per minute in the final stage of oil and grease discharge.

[0108] When the stirring speed of the agitator in the feed oil liquid is reduced, the centrifugal force acting on the oilseed meal raw material in the feed oil liquid is weakened. When the centrifugal force acting on the oilseed meal raw material is weakened, the oilseed meal raw material moves toward the radial center of the inner pot. In this case, if the deceleration (negative acceleration) of the stirring speed of the agitator is large, for example, if the stirring speed of the agitator is reduced in a step function manner from 100 revolutions per minute to 80 revolutions per minute, the oilseed meal raw material will move toward the radial center of the inner pot all at once, and there is a risk that the ball valve will become clogged. As a result, there is a risk that the oil dissolved in the pressure vessel 13 will not be discharged to the outside of the pressure vessel 13. For this reason, it is preferable to reduce the stirring speed of the agitator in a ramp function or sigmoid function manner. This suppresses the accumulation of oilseed meal raw material toward the radial center of the inner pot, and allows the oil to be efficiently discharged to the outside of the pressure vessel 13.

[0109] The compression pressing process is the process of obtaining pressed oil cake from the oil cake raw material (step S3). Specifically, it is the process of feeding the oil cake raw material into the compressor 14 to obtain pressed oil cake from which the oil has been further removed. The elution process and the compression pressing process together are also called rendering. The oil content remaining in the pressed oil cake from which the oil has been further removed in the compression pressing process is directly related to the pulverization efficiency and prevention of clogging in the subsequent powdering process. Therefore, the compression pressing process is significant because it processes the oil cake raw material into pressed oil cake from which the oil has been appropriately removed, thereby forming pressed oil cake that is less prone to clogging and can be pulverized efficiently.

[0110] In the compression pressing process, an expeller is used as the compressor 14. The oilseed meal raw material obtained in the elution process (Figure 6), that is, the oilseed meal raw material remaining after the oil has been discharged in the pressure vessel 13, is fed into the raw material inlet of the expeller. The oilseed meal raw material is pushed from the upstream side to the downstream side by the screw blades of the expeller's worm. The compression ratio of the oilseed meal raw material is gradually increased as the gap between the cage and the worm shaft gradually narrows, the spacing between adjacent screw blades in the axial direction gradually narrows, and more oilseed meal raw material is fed in one after another. As a result, the oilseed meal raw material is pressed and the oil is removed. With the oil removed, the oilseed meal raw material becomes pressed oilseed meal as shown in Figure 7.

[0111] If the oilseed meal raw material is compressed too much during the pressing process, it may become difficult to discharge the pressed oilseed meal from the press outlet. On the other hand, if the oilseed meal raw material is not compressed enough during the pressing process, it may not be possible to effectively remove the oil from the oilseed meal raw material. However, in the pressing process, the oilseed meal raw material is compressed appropriately, so that the pressed oilseed meal from which the oil has been effectively removed can be smoothly discharged from the press outlet.

[0112] Furthermore, if the oil content of the pressed oil cake is not sufficiently removed during the compression pressing process, the remaining oil content may stick to the perforations of the screen during the subsequent powdering process, potentially clogging the holes and preventing the pressed oil cake from being properly pulverized. However, the compression pressing process ensures that the oil content of the pressed oil cake is properly removed, allowing for efficient pulverization during the powdering process.

[0113] In the compression pressing process, it is preferable to compress the oil cake until the oil content remains at, for example, less than 12.7%, in order to efficiently pulverize the oil cake in the powdering process. Furthermore, in order to prevent the oil cake from solidifying in the compression pressing process and becoming difficult to discharge from the compressor 14, and to efficiently pulverize the oil cake in the powdering process, it is preferable to compress the oil cake until the oil content remains at, for example, 10.2% to 12.7%, and from the viewpoint of achieving the best quality processing, it is particularly preferable to compress it until the oil content remains at 10.2% to 10.9%. The oil content remains can be determined by the diethyl ether extraction method based on feed analysis standards, which is applied in the field of organic fertilizers.

[0114] The raw material inlet of the compressor 14 can also accept the oilseed meal raw material (cake) (Figure 8) from which the oil has been removed by the separation process described later. This allows the compression pressing process to produce pressed oilseed meal from which the oil has been removed from the oilseed meal raw material (cake) after centrifugal separation. Thus, because the method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer in this embodiment includes a compression pressing process, the yield of oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer can be increased.

[0115] The separation process is a step (step S4) in which the oil removed by the compressor 14 is centrifuged to obtain oilseed meal raw material (cake) for reintroduction into the compressor 14. The oilseed meal raw material (cake) separated in the separation process from the oil that would not otherwise be used as raw material for oilseed meal powder becomes additional raw material in the subsequent compression pressing process and affects the processing efficiency of the compression pressing process. Therefore, the separation process has significance in that it provides raw material that allows for additional oil removal in the compression pressing process by efficiently separating and recovering the solid particles contained in the oil.

[0116] In the separation process, a decanter-type centrifuge 15 is used as the centrifugal separator. The oil removed in the compression pressing process is supplied to the inside of the outer bowl of the centrifugal separator 15 from the raw liquid supply pipe. The oil is separated into a precipitate of solid particles and a supernatant liquid of oil by the rotation of the outer bowl of the decanter-type centrifuge. At this time, the precipitate of solid particles accumulates on the inner wall of the outer bowl. The precipitate of solid particles is conveyed toward the precipitate discharge port by the screw blades of the inner screw conveyor of the rotating decanter-type centrifuge. The liquid oil removed in the compression pressing process becomes oil cake raw material as shown in Figure 8 by recovering the solid particles remaining in the oil. This oil cake raw material is used as raw material in the compression pressing process.

[0117] In most cases, the centrifugal separator 15 is used to obtain oilseed meal raw material (cake) remaining in the liquid from the oils and fats eluted in the elution process. However, in the method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer according to this embodiment, the oil removed by the compression pressing process is also used as raw material in the separation process. As a result, in the separation process, oilseed meal raw material (cake) remaining in the oil can also be obtained from the oil removed by the compression pressing process. Therefore, because the method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer according to this embodiment includes a separation process, the yield of oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer can be increased.

[0118] The powdering process is the process of obtaining oilseed meal powder from the pressed oilseed meal (Step S5). Specifically, it is the process of obtaining oilseed meal powder by crushing the pressed oilseed meal into a powder using a pulverizer.

[0119] In the pulverization process, a pulverizing device 20 is used (Figure 4). The pulverizing device 20, as shown in Figure 4, includes, for example, a first pulverizer 16 and a second pulverizer 17. The pressed oil cake shown in Figure 7 is supplied to the pulverizing device 20. The pressed oil cake is pulverized by the pulverizing device 20. By pulverizing the pressed oil cake to a particle size below a predetermined size, it becomes oil cake powder for animal feed or fertilizer, as shown in Figures 9 and 10.

[0120] The process described herein includes at least one of the following steps, or a combination thereof: an elution step, a compression step, and a powdering step. However, it is not limited to these steps and may include other steps. Each step can be performed independently, and the order of the steps can be changed or some steps can be omitted as needed.

[0121] According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a technology for producing oilseed meal powder derived from pigs or cattle that can be used as a raw material for at least one of the following: animal feed or fertilizer.

[0122] The powdering process, as shown in Figure 12, may include a first step and a second step. That is, the powdering process of this embodiment can obtain oilseed meal powder by progressively grinding the material to be ground. The first step can be a process for grinding the hair-like material, such as animal hair, contained in the pressed oilseed meal from a length of 30 mm to 50 mm if the raw material is of pig origin, and from a length of 30 mm to 60 mm if the raw material is of cattle origin, to a length of 5 mm to 10 mm in both cases (Step S51). The length of the hair-like material cut in the first step affects the improvement of grinding efficiency in the subsequent second step. Therefore, the first step has significance in that it adjusts the dimensional range to enable efficient grinding in the second step by cutting the elongated and elastic hair-like material, which is difficult to grind in the second step alone, to a predetermined length in advance. The second step can be a process for grinding the hair-like material, such as pig hair or cattle hair, so that its length is less than 1 mm (Step S52). The particle size of the oilseed meal powder crushed in the second step directly affects the quality of the oilseed meal powder. Therefore, the second step is significant because it applies a combination of mechanical forces, such as impact force and shear force, to the material to be crushed, thereby producing an oilseed meal powder that is easy to use for animal feed or fertilizer. Furthermore, the second step may also be a step to crush the crushed oilseed meal obtained in the first step into oilseed meal powder in which 90% of the sample volume consists of particles with a particle size of 1073 μm or less.

[0123] The first step can be primary crushing using a first crusher 16 to crush the oil cake. Multiple first crushers 16 can be installed depending on the amount of oil cake to be powdered. In this case, a chipper-type wood crusher is used as the first crusher 16.

[0124] In a chipper-type wood chipper, the hopper is supplied with, for example, disc-shaped oil cake (Figure 7) obtained by the compression pressing process. The oil cake is supplied to the chipping chamber of the chipper-type wood chipper. In the chipping chamber, the oil cake is pressed against the chipping rotor. The oil cake is scraped by knives fixed to the outer circumference of the rotating chipping rotor. The oil cake powder, which becomes fragments as the oil cake is scraped by the chipper knives, is collected in the chipping chamber. The chipping chamber is provided with a screen having multiple through-holes. The diameter of the through-holes is set, for example, in the range of 3.0 mm to 3.5 mm. If the fragments of oil cake powder cannot pass through the through-holes of the screen, they are repeatedly crushed by the high-speed rotating chipper knives, or by colliding at high speed with the walls that make up the chipping chamber. The fragmented oil cake powder is reduced to a particle size that can pass through the screen's perforations (Figure 9), and is discharged from the outlet after passing through the screen's perforations.

[0125] In this process, for example, the trichomes contained in the oil cake derived from pigs are crushed from a length of 30 mm to 50 mm to a length of 5 mm to 10 mm, and the trichomes contained in the oil cake derived from cattle are crushed from a length of 30 mm to 60 mm to a length of 5 mm to 10 mm.

[0126] The pulverization process, by including the first step, allows for the pre-pulverization of elongated, hair-like structures and other materials within the oil cake in the longitudinal direction. As a result, the oil cake powder (Figure 9) introduced in the second step will not contain extremely elongated, hair-like structures and other materials. Therefore, the first step can standardize the oil cake powder introduced in the second step to a size range suitable for pulverization in the second step.

[0127] In the first step, the powder that scatters when the pressed oil cake is fed into the hopper can be collected by a dust collector. The powder collected by the dust collector is then filled into, for example, a flexible container bag. The powder filled into the flexible container bag is mixed with the oil cake powder discharged from the discharge port of the first crusher 16. In this way, in the method for producing oil cake powder for animal feed or fertilizer according to this embodiment, the yield of oil cake powder for animal feed or fertilizer can be increased by using a dust collector.

[0128] As described above, in the first step, the oil cake to be crushed can be crushed to a predetermined particle size or smaller. Furthermore, in the first step, the oil cake can be crushed to a size that can be processed in the subsequent second step.

[0129] Oilseed meal powder produced by the first process method from livestock by-products, such as a mixture of pig hair and claws, pigskin with hair, pigskin (without hair), and pig kidneys (inedible parts of pigs), is suitable for use as fertilizer due to its high nitrogen content. Furthermore, oilseed meal powder produced by the first process method from livestock by-products, such as a mixture of pig hair and claws, pigskin with hair, pigskin (without hair), and pig kidneys (inedible parts of pigs), is suitable for use as animal feed due to its high protein content. By including at least one of livestock hair and claws in the raw materials, the processed product (output), oilseed meal powder, can have a composition containing, for example, more than 70% protein.

[0130] These characteristics are not limited to livestock by-products derived from pigs, but are also exhibited similarly in oilseed meal powder produced from inedible parts of cattle, such as cow hair and cowhide with cow hair attached. In other words, cattle-derived oilseed meal powder also has a high protein and nitrogen content, making it suitable for both fertilizer and animal feed. Furthermore, these properties are not limited to by-products derived from pigs or cattle, but are similarly applicable to oilseed meal powder made from inedible parts of other livestock such as sheep and goats.

[0131] The second step can be a secondary pulverization using an impact-type pulverizer, which is a second pulverizer 17, to pulverize the oil cake powder obtained in the first step to a particle size smaller than that of the first pulverizer 16. For example, the second step can be a step in which the hair-like material is pulverized to a length of less than 1 mm, starting from a length of 5 mm to 10 mm in the case of pork-derived material, and also starting from a length of 5 mm to 10 mm in the case of beef-derived material.

[0132] In the hopper of the pulverizer, which functions as an impact pulverizer, the oil cake powder (Figure 9) that has been primary pulverized in the first process is fed. The oil cake powder is sent to the pulverizer's pulverizing chamber by the pulverizer's screw feeder. In the pulverizing chamber, the oil cake powder collides with a pulverizing hammer that is pivotably mounted on the outer circumference of a rotating rotor. The rotor's rotation speed is, for example, 4200 revolutions per minute. The pulverizing chamber is equipped with a screen with multiple through-holes. If the powdered oil cake powder cannot pass through the through-holes of the screen, it is repeatedly pulverized by collisions between the pulverizing hammer, liner, and oil cake powder particles, and by the shear force of vortices generated by the gap between the pulverizing hammer and the liner and the uneven shape of the liner. The powdered oil cake powder becomes smaller than the particle size that can pass through the through-holes of the screen (Figure 10), and is discharged from the discharge port when it passes through the through-holes of the screen. In both pork-derived and beef-derived raw materials, this process grinds the fibrous material to a length of less than 1 mm.

[0133] As described above, in the second step, the oilseed meal powder, which is the material to be crushed and was first crushed in the first step, can be crushed to a particle size or smaller than a predetermined size. Furthermore, in the second step, the oilseed meal powder that was first crushed in the first step can be crushed to a size suitable for use as a feed ingredient.

[0134] Oilseed meal powder produced by the second process method from livestock by-products, such as a mixture of pig hair and claws, pigskin with hair, pigskin (without hair), and pig kidneys (inedible parts of pigs), has a high nitrogen content and can therefore be used as a fertilizer. Furthermore, oilseed meal powder produced by the second process method from livestock by-products, such as a mixture of pig hair and claws, pigskin with hair, pigskin (without hair), and pig kidneys (inedible parts of pigs), has a high protein content and can therefore be used as a feed ingredient. By including at least one of livestock hair and claws in the raw materials, the processed product (output), oilseed meal powder, can have a composition containing, for example, more than 70% protein.

[0135] Furthermore, these characteristics are not limited to livestock by-products derived from pigs, but are also exhibited similarly in oilseed meal powder produced from inedible parts of cattle, such as cow hair and cowhide with cow hair. In other words, cattle-derived oilseed meal powder also has a high protein and nitrogen content, making it suitable for both fertilizer and animal feed. Moreover, these properties are not limited to by-products derived from pigs or cattle, but are similarly applicable to oilseed meal powder made from inedible parts of other livestock such as sheep and goats.

[0136] The oilseed meal powder produced by the first process (Figure 9) has most of its fibrous parts and other components in size of about 1 mm or less. However, when using oilseed meal powder as animal feed, a higher level of fineness may be required. In contrast, the oilseed meal powder produced by the second process (Figure 10) is particularly easy to use as animal feed because it is ground to a shorter length, especially the fibrous parts and other components.

[0137] As described above, according to one aspect of this disclosure, a technology for producing swine or cattle-derived oilseed meal powder that can be used as a raw material for at least one of animal feed or fertilizer can be provided.

[0138] Modified example [Figure 13]

[0139] Modified examples of the above embodiments will now be described. Parts identical to those of the above embodiments will be omitted from the description, and only parts that can be modified and implemented will be described.

[0140] The method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer according to the above embodiment can also be modified by omitting the separation step (step S4), as shown in Figure 13. By omitting the separation step, the time, effort, and cost associated with the separation step can be reduced. In other words, by omitting the separation step, the oilseed meal raw material can be quickly advanced to the next step, the compression pressing step. Similarly, by omitting the separation step, the pressed oilseed meal can be quickly advanced to the next step, the powdering step. Furthermore, if the purity of the oil removed from the oilseed meal raw material in the compression pressing step is high, there is a risk that solid particles will hardly be separated from the oil in the separation step. In such cases, by omitting the separation step, the cost-effectiveness can be maintained. Therefore, according to this modified example, oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer can be produced more quickly, more easily, and more cheaply.

[0141] Oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer [Figure 10]

[0142] The oilseed meal powder of this embodiment is a powder containing hair from a slaughtered animal, wherein the hair is ground into a powder with a length of less than 1 mm. Furthermore, the oilseed meal powder may be a powder containing hair from a slaughtered animal, wherein 90% of the sample volume is ground into a powder with a particle size of 1073 μm or less.

[0143] Such oilseed meal powder can provide livestock-derived oilseed meal powder that can be used as a raw material for at least one of either animal feed or fertilizer.

[0144] The hair contained in the aforementioned powder may be at least one of pig hair and cow hair.

[0145] The aforementioned powder may further include powder of at least one of the following: pigskin with hair, pigskin (without hair), pig's hooves, pig's kidneys, and cowhide.

[0146] The oilseed meal powder of this embodiment can be provided as pig-derived or cattle-derived oilseed meal powder that can be used as a raw material for at least one of animal feed or fertilizer.

[0147] According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide agricultural and livestock materials containing any of the above-mentioned oilseed meal powders as a raw material. Furthermore, it is possible to provide feed containing any of the above-mentioned oilseed meal powders as a raw material. In addition, it is possible to provide fertilizer containing any of the above-mentioned oilseed meal powders as a raw material.

[0148] According to this, the amount of waste from livestock by-products, including inedible parts of livestock, can be reduced and effectively utilized as agricultural and livestock materials, feed, fertilizer, etc.

[0149] The oilseed meal powder of this embodiment, which can be used for at least one of animal feed or fertilizer, can be further classified into two types based on the difference in raw materials used: oilseed meal powder produced using inedible parts of livestock as raw materials, and oilseed meal powder produced using both inedible and edible parts of livestock as raw materials. There is also oilseed meal powder obtained by mixing oilseed meal powder produced using inedible parts and oilseed meal powder produced using edible parts after they have been produced separately.

[0150] As a result, the feed or fertilizer of this embodiment may include forms in which oilseed meal powder derived from inedible parts of livestock is used as a raw material, forms in which oilseed meal powder manufactured using both inedible and edible parts of livestock is used as a raw material, and forms in which a mixed powder obtained by mixing oilseed meal powder manufactured using inedible parts and oilseed meal powder manufactured using edible parts is used as a raw material. [Examples]

[0151] The method for producing oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer, and the oilseed meal powder for animal feed or fertilizer, will be described in more detail and specifically below with reference to examples. These examples illustrate specific embodiments of the above-described embodiments and are intended to objectively demonstrate the technical effects of this disclosure. However, this embodiment is not limited to the following examples.

[0152] Example 1: Observation of the surface shape of oil cake powder [Figures 7, 9-10, 14-15]

[0153] The shape and particle size of the oilseed meal powder were observed visually and using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Visual observations were conducted on samples at three stages: the pressed oilseed meal (the stage prior to the powdering process), the oilseed meal powder obtained in the first process, and the oilseed meal powder obtained in the second process. SEM observations were conducted on samples at two stages: the oilseed meal powder obtained in the first process and the oilseed meal powder obtained in the second process. SEM observations were performed at 150x magnification. Each sample was coated with a gold film for SEM observation.

[0154] As shown in Figure 7, hair-like structures such as pig hairs with a length of 30 mm to 50 mm were found in the oil cake, which is the stage before the powdering process. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 7, claws were observed in the oil cake at the locations indicated by the arrows in the image.

[0155] As shown in Figure 9, hair-like structures such as pig bristles with a length of 5 mm to 10 mm were observed in the oilseed meal powder obtained in the first step. As shown in Figure 14, elongated (large aspect ratio) particles were observed in the oilseed meal powder obtained in the first step, at the locations indicated by the arrows in the SEM image. These were presumed to be hair-like structures that remained unground. On the other hand, as shown in Figure 9, almost no claws were found in the oilseed meal powder obtained in the first step.

[0156] As shown in Figure 10, the oilseed meal powder obtained by the second step contained almost no hairs or claws. As shown in Figure 15, the oilseed meal powder obtained by the second step also showed particles that were nearly circular (spherical) in shape, small in size, and uniform in size, as observed in SEM images. The oilseed meal powder produced by the method of the second step of this disclosure was found to be particularly easy to use as animal feed because the length of hair-like structures and other particles was shortened during pulverization.

[0157] Example 2: Measurement of particle size distribution of oil cake powder [Figures 16-17]

[0158] The volume-based particle size distribution of oilseed meal powder was measured. The sample used for measurement was oilseed meal powder (powder) obtained by the second process as shown in Figure 10. A laser diffraction scattering particle size analyzer (LMS-2000e, Seishin Corporation) was used to measure the particle size d (μm) of the oilseed meal powder. A laser diffraction scattering particle size analyzer can determine the particle size distribution (particle size distribution) by irradiating particles with laser light, causing diffraction, and analyzing the diameter of the resulting diffraction ring and the light intensity distribution using Fraunhofer's optical diffraction formula. The oilseed meal powder was dispersed into individual particles by dry dispersion, and then its particle size d was measured. The ultrasonic level was set to 0. The particle size d of the oilseed meal powder was measured in the range of 0.020 μm to 2000 μm.

[0159] For the particle size distribution range of particle size d, a logarithmic scale obtained by logarithmically transforming particle size d was used. One interval of the range of particle size d (μm) is the base 10 logarithm of particle size d p (common logarithm, i.e., p = log 10 The values ​​were set to 100 equal parts between 0.010 μm and 10000 μm so that d) remains constant at 0.06.

[0160] The particle size d of each particle of oilseed meal powder, measured by a laser diffraction scattering particle size distribution analyzer, was classified into one of the aforementioned particle size d intervals according to the measured value. Then, the midpoint between the lower and upper limits of each interval was considered as the representative particle size dr, and the volume of a sphere with this representative particle size dr as its diameter was calculated.

[0161] The particle size d of the oilseed meal powder was measured three times from the same sample. The three measurements of particle size d yielded approximately the same value. The frequency (%) of the particle size distribution was then calculated as the average value of the particle size d measured three times.

[0162] Figure 16 shows the volume-based particle size distribution of the oilseed meal powder (powder) obtained in the second step. Figure 16 shows both the frequency distribution and the cumulative distribution of particle size d of the oilseed meal powder. The horizontal axis of the figure is the particle size d (μm) on a logarithmic scale (common logarithm). The vertical axis of the figure shows the relative frequency (%) of oilseed meal powder with the particle size d (representative particle size dr) on the left (first axis) and the cumulative relative frequency (%) of oilseed meal powder with a particle size of d or less (below the sieve) on the right (second axis). In Figure 16, a line with two upward-convex peaks, that is, a line exhibiting bimodality with two peaks in the distribution, represents the frequency distribution. On the other hand, a monotonically increasing line in Figure 16 represents the cumulative distribution. In the measurement of the particle size d of the oilseed meal powder, a significant number of oilseed meal powder particles with a particle size d in the range of 5.754 μm to 2188 μm were detected.

[0163] First, referring to the cumulative distribution, we can directly read the proportion of particles with a specific particle size d or smaller in the total volume. Among these, specific cumulative values ​​d0.1, d0.5, and d0.9 are widely used as indicators. d0.1, d0.5, and d0.9 represent the 10% volume particle size, 50% volume particle size, and 90% volume particle size, respectively. These are sometimes commonly denoted as D10, D50, and D90, respectively.

[0164] d0.1 refers to the particle size d at which the cumulative relative frequency of the volume distribution reaches 10%, starting from the smallest particle size d. From another perspective, d0.1 refers to the maximum particle size at which 10% of the sample volume is represented. Similarly, d0.9 refers to the particle size d at which the cumulative relative frequency of the volume distribution reaches 90%, starting from the smallest particle size d. From another perspective, d0.9 refers to the maximum particle size at which 90% of the sample volume is represented. Similarly, d0.5 refers to the particle size d at which the cumulative relative frequency of the volume distribution reaches 50%, starting from the smallest particle size d. From another perspective, d0.5 refers to the maximum particle size at which 50% of the sample volume is represented. Furthermore, d0.5 refers to the median particle size d (median particle size).

[0165] The d0.1, d0.5, and d0.9 of the oilseed meal powder (powder) obtained in the second step had particle sizes of 31.86 μm, 130.4 μm, and 1073 μm, respectively. In other words, 10% of the oilseed meal powder obtained in the second step consisted of particles with a particle size d of 31.86 μm or less. Similarly, 50% of the oilseed meal powder obtained in the second step consisted of particles with a particle size d of 130.4 μm or less, and 90% of the sample volume consisted of particles with a particle size d of 1073 μm or less. That is, according to the present invention, it was shown that even though raw materials containing animal hair were used, and it is difficult to powder raw materials containing animal hides with hair attached, 90% of the sample volume was pulverized to less than 1 mm.

[0166] Next, referring to the frequency distribution, it is possible to directly read the proportion of particles of a specific particle size d in the total volume. One indicator that represents the characteristics of the frequency distribution is the mode. The mode is the value that appears most frequently in the particle size distribution (frequency distribution). In other words, the mode is the peak of the particle size distribution (frequency distribution). In the particle size distribution, the particle size d corresponding to the mode is called the mode diameter (most frequent diameter). Here, in the particle size distribution, as mentioned above, the central value between the lower limit and upper limit in each interval of particle size d is considered to be the representative particle size dr. Therefore, the mode diameter is the central value of a given interval.

[0167] As shown in Figure 16, the relative frequency of particle size d in the oilseed meal powder was 4.31% in the range of 79.43 μm to 91.20 μm. This relative frequency was the maximum value, or mode, within the overall distribution. Therefore, it was found that particles with particle size d in this range were the most abundant in the particle size distribution of the oilseed meal powder. Furthermore, the mode diameter of the oilseed meal powder was 85.32 μm, which is the central value of particle size d in the range of 79.43 μm to 91.20 μm.

[0168] Furthermore, the volume of oilseed meal powder with a particle size d between 34.67 μm and 208.9 μm accounted for more than 50% (51.42%) of the total volume. This result clearly shows that more than half of the volume of oilseed meal powder is composed of particles with a particle size d within this range.

[0169] As shown in Figure 16, the oil cake powder (powder) obtained by the second process exhibited a bimodal distribution with two peaks in the volume-based particle size distribution, as described above.

[0170] As shown in Figure 16, a large distribution of oilseed meal powder particle sizes d was observed in the range of 5.754 μm to 549.5 μm. Furthermore, oilseed meal powder with particle sizes d within this range accounted for 79.31% of the total volume. Therefore, it was found that approximately 80% of the oilseed meal powder volume was composed of particles with particle sizes d within this range.

[0171] On the other hand, as shown in Figure 16, a distinct distribution was also observed in the range of oilseed meal powder particle size d from 549.5 μm to 2188 μm. Within this range, the relative frequency of oilseed meal powder particles in the interval from 1096 μm to 1259 μm was 2.95%. This relative frequency was the maximum value (maximum value), i.e., the mode, within this range. The mode diameter of oilseed meal powder in this range was 1178 μm, which is the central value of particle size d in the interval from 1096 μm to 1259 μm.

[0172] It is important to note that, as shown in Figure 16, in volume-based particle size distributions, the frequency (%) of oilseed meal powder with larger particle sizes d (right side of the figure) is higher than that of oilseed meal powder with smaller particle sizes d (left side of the figure), even for the same number of particles.

[0173] For example, assuming that the relative frequency (%) based on volume is the same for particle sizes d between 1905 μm and 2188 μm and particle sizes d between 10.00 μm and 11.48 μm, if the number of particles in the former is 1, then the number of particles in the latter will be approximately 6.9 million. Therefore, if even one particle with a particle size d of 2000 μm (2 mm) is mixed into the oil cake powder, the volume will increase by approximately 6.9 million, equivalent to the volume of a particle with a particle size d of 10.00 μm.

[0174] Based on the above, although the oilseed meal powder (powder) obtained in the second process showed a single concentrated distribution in the range of particle size d from 549.5 μm to 2188 μm, it is premature to conclude that the oilseed meal powder contains a large amount of particles with a particle size d within this range.

[0175] Therefore, next we will examine the trend of particle size distribution based on the number of particles rather than on volume. Figure 17 shows the particle size distribution based on the number of particles of the oilseed meal powder (powder) obtained in the second step. Similar to Figure 16, Figure 17 shows both the frequency distribution and the cumulative distribution of particle size d of the oilseed meal powder. The horizontal axis of the figure is the particle size d (representative particle size dr) (μm) displayed on a logarithmic scale (common logarithm). The vertical axis of the figure shows the relative frequency (%) of oilseed meal powder with the particle size d (representative particle size dr) on the left (first axis) and the cumulative relative frequency (%) of oilseed meal powder with a particle size d or less (below the sieve) on the right (second axis). In Figure 17, a line with two upward-convex peaks, that is, a line exhibiting bimodality with two peaks in the distribution, represents the frequency distribution. On the other hand, a monotonically increasing line in Figure 17 represents the cumulative distribution.

[0176] When the oil cake powder (powder) obtained in the second process was examined using a particle size distribution based on the number of particles, the cumulative relative frequency exceeded 50% in the range of 13.18 μm to 15.14 μm (representative particle size dr = 14.16 μm), accumulating from the smaller particle size d. Similarly, the cumulative relative frequency exceeded 90% in the range of 30.20 μm to 34.67 μm (representative particle size dr = 32.44 μm), accumulating from the smaller particle size d. Furthermore, the cumulative relative frequency exceeded 95% in the range of 39.81 μm to 45.71 μm (representative particle size dr = 42.76 μm), accumulating from the smaller particle size d. And, the cumulative relative frequency exceeded 99% in the range of 69.18 μm to 79.43 μm (representative particle size dr = 74.31 μm), accumulating from the smaller particle size d.

[0177] Furthermore, when examining the particle size distribution of the oil cake powder (powder) obtained in the second process based on the number of particles, the number of particles with a particle size d exceeding 631.0 μm (corresponding to a representative particle size dr of 677.7 μm) is less than 0.001% of the total number of particles. Similarly, the number of particles with a particle size d exceeding 955.0 μm (corresponding to a representative particle size dr of 1026 μm) is less than 0.0003% of the total number of particles.

[0178] Thus, in the volume-based particle size distribution (Figure 16), larger particles with a particle diameter d are exaggerated, and a single concentrated distribution was detected in the range of particle diameter d from 549.5 μm to 2188 μm. However, as shown in the number-based particle size distribution (Figure 17), particles with a particle diameter d in this range were only a small number (0.001%) of the total particles. Furthermore, 99.9997% of the particles had a particle diameter d of less than 955.0 μm (corresponding to a representative particle diameter dr of 1026 μm). Therefore, it has been demonstrated that the method of this disclosure can grind 99.9997% of the particles to less than 1 mm, even when using raw materials containing animal hair and despite the difficulty of pulverizing raw materials containing animal hides with hair.

[0179] As shown above, the results of this embodiment reveal that the oilseed meal powder obtained by the manufacturing method of this disclosure consists of 90% of particles with a particle size of 1073 μm or less, and 99.9997% of particles have a particle size of less than 955.0 μm, based on the number of particles. This indicates that raw materials containing livestock hair, particularly raw materials containing livestock hides with hair, which were difficult to process with conventional techniques, could be effectively pulverized. With conventional techniques, it was technically difficult to obtain a uniform and fine powder from such raw materials. However, by combining the first and second steps of this disclosure in the pulverization process, it became possible to effectively pulverize the hair-like material to a length of less than 1 mm. As a result, it was demonstrated that oilseed meal powder can be pulverized to a size suitable for use as a feed ingredient (pet food).

[0180] The oilseed meal powder produced by the second step of this disclosure was shown to be particularly suitable for use as animal feed because it is ground to a short length, especially the length of the hair-like structures. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the oilseed meal powder produced by the second step of this disclosure exhibits excellent properties as a fertilizer due to its high protein content (over 70%) and nitrogen content. Therefore, this disclosure demonstrates that it is possible to provide a technology for producing livestock-derived oilseed meal powder that can be used as a raw material for at least one of either animal feed or fertilizer.

[0181] Although embodiments and examples of the present invention have been described in detail above, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications are possible without substantially departing from the novel aspects and effects of the present invention. Therefore, all such modifications are considered to fall within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0182] 10. Oilseed meal powder manufacturing apparatus 11. Crusher 12 Chopper 13 Pressure Vessels 14 Compressor 15. Centrifugal separator 16. First Crusher 17. Second crusher 20 Powdering Unit d particle diameter dr represents particle diameter

Claims

1. A step of obtaining an oilseed meal raw material by heating and stirring livestock by-products including animal hair to dissolve and remove oil, A step of obtaining pressed oil cake by compressing the aforementioned oil cake raw material to further remove the oil content, The process includes a step of grinding the aforementioned oil cake into a powder in multiple stages to obtain oil cake powder. A method for producing oilseed meal powder.

2. A step of obtaining an oilseed meal raw material by heating and stirring livestock by-products as raw materials to dissolve and remove oil, A step of obtaining pressed oil cake by compressing the aforementioned oil cake raw material to further remove the oil content, The process includes the step of grinding the aforementioned oil cake into a powder to obtain oil cake powder, The oil residue contained in the oil removed in the process of obtaining the pressed oil cake is obtained by centrifugation and added to the process of obtaining the pressed oil cake. A method for producing oilseed meal powder.

3. The process of obtaining the oil cake powder is as follows: A first step involves crushing the oil cake to make the livestock hair contained therein 5 mm to 10 mm in length, The process includes a second step of reducing the length of the livestock hair to less than 1 mm by crushing, A method for producing oil cake powder according to claim 1.

4. The aforementioned raw materials include inedible materials, including animal hides. The process further includes mincing the raw materials containing the inedible raw materials to obtain crushed raw materials for use in the process of obtaining the oil cake raw materials, A method for producing oil cake powder according to claim 1.

5. The aforementioned raw materials are at least one of the following: pig hair, cow hair, pig hooves, pig hide, pig hide with hair, pig kidney, cow hide, and cow hide with hair. A method for producing oil cake powder according to claim 1.

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