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Heat Recovery
A carbon neutral approach to enhancing the nutritional value of animal feed
Meal cooler( left) and heater( right). Courtesy of Solex Thermal Science.
As concerns around food and environmental safety continue to reshape the animal feed industry, producers are under increasing pressure to eliminate chemical treatments while maintaining product quality and energy efficiency. In response, Dutch-based co-operative Royal Agrifirm, in partnership with Solex Thermal Science, has pioneered an innovative, chemical-free process for treating animal feed using radio frequency waves and advanced heat recovery systems.
By Jean-Marc Reichling, Stan Pala and Sven van der Heide, Solex Thermal Science
Background Animal feed processing has come under intense scrutiny in recent years as consumer advocacy groups, environment organizations and regulatory bodies have heightened concerns about food and environmental safety. The primary ingredients of feed can be traced back to the oilseed industry where, during processing, the oil( vegetable) is removed from the seed and the remaining oilseed cake or meal acts as the main protein source for animal feed. Once extracted, the cake and meal have historically been treated by formaldehyde and other chemical additives to modify the nutritional value while also acting as an antimicrobial that prevents the spread of viruses and bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli.
Over the last several years, an increasing number of jurisdictions worldwide have restricted or banned the use of chemicals such as formaldehyde, prompting operators to replace it with a variation of enzymes and heat treatment.
The challenge regulation With the recent regulation changes concerning the treatment of animal feed, new challenges have emerged. Some methods, however, create a reaction between the animal feed and the added reagent. Excessive heating, meanwhile, often leads to protein that is less digestible – or, in many cases, a product that is not homogeneously heated. The heat treatment process is also energy intensive, resulting in significant operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Dutch-based co-operative Royal Agrifirm recognized an opportunity to create an efficient, safe and reliable method to treat the meal without chemicals while also increasing the nutritional value for its use as or for being processed into the animal feed. Core to the process of producing this new-generation rumen by-pass protein was what Agrifirm labelled as its Greenwave technology, a chemical-free process that heats the feed to approximately 130 ° C through radio frequency waves. Agrifirm identified that to effectively reduce overall primary energy consumption in this production www. heat-exchanger-world. com Heat Exchanger World June 2025
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