Design of an antioxidant supplement for the agricultural industry. Design of the process and the different equipment to create the production plant

Abstract

Nowadays, meat industry has as one of its main objectives to optimise animal growth and its life quality, so that this has an effect on the quality of the meat and products that are commercialised. The criteria considered by customers when it comes to choose among different meat products are the organoleptic properties: colour, taste and texture. In order to improve the organoleptic properties of the different meat industry’s products, investment and development must be centred on the farm animals’ diet. One of the last improvements that has been introduced in the production of animal fodder is the use of antioxidants. This project will be centred in the poultry group and it will consist of designing an antioxidant supplement that can be added to the feed used in this industry in order to improve the quality of its meat. The design of the production process for this product will also be addressed. Regarding the product’s formula, vitamin E has been chosen as the active ingredient of the product due to its numerous advantages over the other possible antioxidants. Silica will be used as the solid carrier that adsorbs the liquid antioxidant and maltodextrin will be used as filler. Out of this formula, 38% in weight will be silica, 58% will be vitamin E and 4% will be maltodextrin. The concentration of tocopherol in the final product, using international units, is 575 IU. It has been decided to work in campaigns. There will be 4 campaigns per year, each campaign will consist in 15 batches, and each of it will produce 130 kg of final product. This will allow to win about 10% of market share. The process used to produce this product has been also designed. In order to do this, the operation conditions have been selected, and P&ID and Flowsheets have been attached to the project. An explanation to how the plant is going to work complements these documents