B&T Technologies and its affiliated companies provide Jet-Pro® pelletizting and fluidized-bed drying systems to dry and dehydrate pre- and post-consumer food waste into animal feed.  We provide equipment and engineering services to design and construct large scale food waste-to-animal feed plants. 

Food-to-Feed Process

  • History and Testing
    The first pilot treatabilitity studies to convert food waste to animal feed were done with Walt Disney World resort waste in 1995 at Jet-Pro, Inc.'s R&D facilities in Atchinson, KS. Field trials were performed using dehydrated food waste derived from Disney resort waste at the University of Florida.

    A second set of field trials was conducted in 1996 at the University of Florida in Mariana, FL using dehydrated, pelleted plate waste from a production plant using the Jet-Pro textured drying process at Nutrifeed in Clermont, FL.   Products from the Clermont, FL facility were tested and approved for animal feeding by the Florida Department of Veterinary Medicine. (see below - paper by Professor R. O. Myer et. al. Evaluation of dehydrated restaurant food waste products as feedstuffs for finishing pigs)

    Additional testing was conducted by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture/Division of Animal Health on pelleted, dehydrated food waste from a Jet-Pro food waste processing plant in Perth Amboy, NJ.
    Posted Oct 26, 2019, 11:33 AM by William Moss
  • Food Wastes that can be processed into Animal Feed

    Pre-Consumer (Manufacturing) Food Waste



















    Pre-consumer food waste can be blended/texturized to make high fat and or high protein animal feed by blending combinations of wet and dry materials.  Some of the best food wastes that can be processed into animal feed includes:
      • Bakery Waste
      • Reject Cheese
      • Dairy Processing By-Products (ice cream, whey)
      • Potato Processing Residuals
      • Snack Food Residuals (tacos, tortillas, corn or potato chips)
      • Jams/Jellies
    Food waste can also include supermarket waste (meat trimmings, produce, deli waste), food processing waste (especially vegetable waste), and fish and cannery waste.  These products are not normally considered to be by-products animal feeds.

    There are numerous other by- or co-products of other industries currently fed to animals, examples being brewers and distillers grains, beet pulp, citrus pulp, soy hulls, and cottonseed.
    Posted Dec 30, 2016, 5:10 PM by William Moss
  • Plate Waste (Post-Consumer Food Waste)

    Plate Waste (Post-Consumer Food Waste)


    Post-consumer food waste is plate waste that is scraped from the plate after eating. Americans generate approximately 100 pounds (wet) per capita per year. Societies with family style eating (South Korea, China) generate even more - almost 250 pounds (wet) per capita per year.

    Plate waste is unique because it requires further processing to meet mandated federal sanitation requirements called out in the Federal Swine Protection Act.   Jet-Pro conditioning meets these requirements for additional processing.
    Posted Dec 31, 2016, 5:38 AM by William Moss
  • Food and Drug Adminsitration Plate Waste Exemption for Animal Feed
    The plate waste exemption for animal feed ingredients was defined in the original 1997 BSE restriction published by US FDA in 21DFR589.2000 on June 5, 1997 as FR 30976 and amended on April 25, 2008 as FR 22756.

    (a)Definitions --(1)Protein derived from mammalian tissues means any protein-containing portion of mammalian animals, excluding: Blood and blood products; gelatin; tallow containing no more than 0.15 percent insoluble impurities and tallow derivatives as specified in 589.2001; inspected meat products which have been cooked and offered for human food and further heat processed for feed (such as plate waste and used cellulosic food casings); milk products (milk and milk proteins); and any product whose only mammalian protein consists entirely of porcine or equine protein

    (b)Food additive status. The Food and Drug Administration has determined that protein derived from mammalian tissues for use in ruminant feed is a food additive subject to section 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act). The use or intended use in ruminant feed of any material that contains protein derived from mammalian tissues causes the feed to be adulterated and in violation of the act, unless it is the subject of an effective notice of claimed investigational exemption for a food additive under 570.17 of this chapter.

    Posted Mar 22, 2014, 2:43 PM by William Moss
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Jet-Pro® Equipment

  • Jet-Pro Textured Drying Process



















    According to a Franklin and Associates (1998) survey conducted for the Environmental Protection Agency, food waste contributes 10% or 21.9 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW). Only about 2.4 % of this total is recycled.

    Food waste’s high nutrient content makes it a potential animal feed. Most analyses reveal food waste to have high protein and fat content, both in excess of 20%. Any animal feeding problems relate primarily to animal health concerns, moisture content, and nutrient availability. The Jet-Pro textured drying process addresses the health concerns (by heat processing the feed to destroy pathogens) and drying/dehydrating the product. The dehydrated food waste needs to be dried to 10% moisture to ensue long-term (3-6 month) storage.

    The patented Jet-Pro textured drying process:  mix dry and wet feedstuffs until the moisture content is suitable to extrude the mixture into uniform spaghetti-like strands - typically 1/4-in. for food waste. The ideal moisture to pelletize is between 35-55%. Less moisture, and the material will clog a low extrusion press. More moisture and the pellet strands deform and spread out on cleated conveyor or falling onto the fluidized bed.

    Fluid bed drying dries the product without burning the organic material.  A high convection heat transfer rate keeps the surface temperature of the pellet at the wet bulb temperature of the gas phase - typically 160-170 °F - until the moisture inside the pellet falls below 10% moisture.



    Posted Mar 23, 2014, 6:04 PM by William Moss
  • Mixing/Texturizing

    Mixing (Texturizing)


    Texturizing is the mixing of wet and dry feedstuffs until the moisture content is suitable to extrude the mixture into uniform spaghetti-like strands - typically 1/4-in. for food waste. The ideal moisture is between 35-55%. Less moisture, and the material will clog a low extrusion pelletizer. More moisture and the pellet strands deform and spread out on cleated conveyor or falling onto the fluidized bed.

    Pre-consumer food waste plants have multiple sources of wet and dry feedstocks.  The operator has to manage several tasks - maintain a uniform moisture of the mixture in the ideal range for pelletizing; use the wet and dry feedstocks in correct proportion without allowing the wet materials to spoil; and texturize a mixture which will have a merchantable nutrient content. Wet raw materials - like wet potato flakes; spent eggs, reject cheese, ice cream and residuals from whey processing - have a 3-4 day shelf life.  And dairy products need to be refrigerated. There are huge penalty costs for the food-to-feed formulator if he has to pay thrid parties to dispose of his spoiled product.

    Post-consumer food waste plants have a different problem.  Their feedstock is too moist to pelletize - typically 75-85% moisture.  Operators must add dry materials - either dry bakery waste or agricultural byproducts such as wheat middlings or rice hulls.  Dewatering in belt presses or screw presses is an option, but the dirty filtrate from dewatering operations has a very high soluble organic concentration (typically 100,000+ mg/l BOD), creating additional waste processing issues.
    Posted Dec 31, 2016, 5:38 AM by William Moss
  • Pelletizing (Low-Pressure Extruding)

    Pelletizing


    Pelletizing is a low-pressure extrusion process that transforms the food waste slurry into a uniform shape - spaghetti-like strands.  This enables uniform drying of the product in the fluid-bed dryer.  By having all product with the same rod diameter, the material dries evenly.
    Posted Dec 31, 2016, 6:14 AM by William Moss
  • Fluid-Bed Drying

    Fluid-Bed Drying


    Fluid-bed drying uses warm air (typically 325-375 °F) at very high upflow velocity - 800-850 cfm/sq ft (equal to a superficial air upflow velocity of 13-14 ft/s). The high air flow results in high convective heat removal from the surface of the pellet, keeping the surface at the wet bulb temperature of the pellet  (typically 165-175 °F). This prevents the organic material from burning, which is typical in conduction type heating devices like rotary dryers.

    A drag chain conveyor gently pushes the pellets through the drying chamber.  Pellets move through the dryer in "plug flow" style, so that each pellet has nearly identical residence time in the dryer.  Drying time for food waste is typically 7-10 minutes.
    Posted Dec 31, 2016, 6:32 AM by William Moss
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