The Extru-Technician, Summer 2017
Outside factors affecting formulation Ingredient availability and physical characteristics are two crucial factors affecting aquafeed formulation but they are not the only ones Here are a few of the many factors to consider Species Cold water and carnivorous species tend to require feeds high in proteins and fat while herbivorous omnivorous and warm water species are better able to utilize carbohydrates for growth Life stage Larval stages have completely different needs than adult stages This applies to both the nutritional pro le and physical attributes of nished feed The aquaculture environment Whether the sh are being raised in raceways ponds or netted ocean pens affects both their nutritional needs and which 6 Summer 2017 feed characteristics to prioritize Sinking feed may be preferable in a netted pen so that it does not drift out of the containment area For species that prefer oating feeds the oat time can vary depending on the environment In a less crowded pond situation where the sh are spread out over a large area oating feeds need to oat for a longer period to give sh time to locate the pellets Floating feeds are also much easier to manage because they can be seen by personnel Customer preferences Different customers have different priorities and preferences Although aquaculture is a sciencebased eld its still small enough that some things can be learned only through experience One farmers experience in a particular aquaculture facility may lead to a preference for oating feed while a farmer raising the same species in another location may prefer sinking feed even though the setups appear similar Customers may demand a speci c ingredient or attribute sending the manufacturer back to the drawing board to dial in new parameters for the extrusion process Transport Aquafeed manufacturing is hyperspecialized in many parts of the world In some cases customers hand feed all of their products In others highly automated transport and feed systems are required to deal with the volumes and challenges present Customers may be hundreds of miles away from their suppliers which means feed needs to travel long distances and go through multiple handling and transfer points Feed should be able to stand up to this handling without disintegrating or losing valuable nutrients Raw materials can vary from batch to batch Variations in supplier processes can cause variation in their product Changes in commodities markets unfortunately lead to necessary changes in formulations While least cost formulation practices offer real value they can create hurdles to making feed characteristics constant and predictable Even minor changes to formulations can sometimes create problems Solutions for the future of aquafeed Fortunately process equipment innovations provide tools to help manufacturers deal with the challenges of balancing necessary formulation changes with the physical attributes required by end users More and more options are becoming available for managing the competing priorities involved in manufacturing aquafeeds Specializing in a narrow range of products for particular species makes it easier to con gure processes that result in feed with the desired characteristics Multipurpose production lines are certainly another option The advantages are straightforward in that a wider range of products can be developed on the same line The primary disadvantages revolve around Downtime during equipment con guration changes Compromises to ideal con gurations to achieve acceptable performance with hybrid con gurations Working with Extru Tech manufacturers can determine their production priorities and make the choices that will lead to maximizing value Many manufacturers have been successful at not only
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