Cleaning methods for different pieces of feed mill production equipment (Part 2)

The cleaning methods of different pieces of feed mill production equipment are described in the previous document, and the cleaning method of the other five pieces of equipment will be discussed in this document.

1.Silo handling

The silos is a collective term referring to the steel cylinder silo, room compartment silo, pulverizing silo, ingredients silo, goods-to-be-granulated silo, finished-goods silo, buffer silo, etc. These are examples of storage equipment that reserve a certain amount of raw materials. The steel cylinder silo, room silo and bulk material silo, are generally used to store corn, wheat, soybean meal and other granular materials. Before using the new silo, the steel plate is needed to be swept out into the silo and the remaining screws, mixing strips and concrete blocks of the cement foundation and the ground shall be swept clean, tidied and debris will need to be removed between the unloading port and the scraper. Rice bran and corn will then be used to clean the components until clean and dry. In the process, regularly empty the silos, go into the silos to check whether the cylinder tank has any leaks, clean out the corner material, the lumps and mildew, clean up and reload them with new materials. Appropriate cleaning frequency should be once in every 1-2 months. The pulverizing silo, ingredients silo, goods-to-be-granulated silo and finished-goods silo are generally inside the workshop. Most of them are steel plate welded and assembled,  square in size, so in the angle, the upper part of the cone, the top of the angle iron, the rivets will have gathered some feed. Some of the silos have more dead corners; the material in this part will not move for a long time and will stick to the wall of the silo. Some factories use high-water content ingredients, and steam is gathers at the top of the bunker after crushing, sticking to the dust in the silo. It is often thick and not easily detected. It is noticed until the mildew fall into the silo. All of the above materials should be checked regularly, and the silo will need to be emptied to be cleaned when necessary. After emptying the the silo, it is recommended to clean it using a compressed air machine strapped to a set of bamboo poles or other poles to blow away the residue material with compressed air, then open or wring the scraper to clean off the residue. Wash the silo with fresh raw materials. The residue materials and cleaning materials after the cleaning process can be used again according to quality control.

2.  Cleaning the hoist conveyor equipment

There will be some material accumulation in the hoist base. It is suggested to use corn and wheat grain to clean the hoist once a week. Powdered material should be cleaned daily. Products that may not be cross-contaminated should be cleaned every time. The bottom of the horizontal and vertical transmission equipment and the wall of the pipe may not be clean, but if the above equipment is used normally and if the material is flowing inside, only two parts that will not be able to flow. If this is the case, the cleaning time can be longer. Clean it once a month. When refueling normally, it can be washed with the same method as the silos. It can also be processed in the form of head and tail materials. The pipe wall can be blown with a rubber hammer or compressed air.

3.   Cleaning the feeding mouth

The raw materials should be cleaned after feeding and proceeding to the next process. The feed that sticks to the feeding fence, the wall of the pipe or the material in the bucket should be cleaned up every once in a while and it’s best to clean it up once a day or at least once in three days.

4.    Cleaning the liquid-adding equipment

The oil tank, molasses irrigation, liquid anti-mildew agent and its attached spray pipe, pump filters and nozzles should be cleaned regularly. Oil, molasses, liquid methionine and other raw materials are easily spoiled, so they have to be cleaned once for a certain amount of time according to the characteristics of these raw materials and the factors such as weather and storage conditions. It is very important to formulate a comprehensive cleaning plan for these materials. It is suggested that the liquid-adding irrigation, tank and pipe, pump and so on should be cleaned every three months in the first and fourth quarter, and every 1-2 months for the second and third quarters. The cleaning equipment should be cleaned and dried before using.

5.   Cleaning the other facilities of the feed mill

The feed mill is full of dust and every device can have dust, raw material dust, oil, water and other substances stuck to it. Therefore, the devices that are not listed in this article do not mean they should not be cleaned. For example, the shredder also needs to be cleaned regularly. In addition, the ground, wall, dust and powder of the feed mill can affect the quality of the products. If you are not careful, it will be brought into the feed mill. Therefore, the cleaning of these premises is also crucial.

As stated above, basically all of the equipment in production needs to be cleaned, however, in real life, due to arrangement issues, many pieces of equipment may not be cleaned timely, and make the product quality unstable. This leads to operators constantly receiving complaints, and it is difficult to find the factors causing this. Therefore, enterprises must pay a lot of attention to this issue and ask the production department to cooperate, develop a realistic equipment cleaning plan, track the cleaning process and clean up record and carry out the equipment clearance work to the actual place in order to produce good quality, stable and qualified products.