An Apparatus for Improving Mixing Homogeneity of Medicated Feeds and Premixes

Abstract

The mixing homogeneity of mixed fodders’ basic ingredients with mineral, vitamin, and medicinal preparations is extremely significant since it provides up to one third of the increase in productivity of livestock and poultry. In international practice, the homogeneity of components' distribution is estimated by the coefficient of variation V_c, where V_c < 3% is excellent quality of a mixture, 3% < V_c < 4% is good quality, and 4% < V_c < 5% is satisfactory quality. In order to achieve these values, the fluidized bed mixing method is proposed; it is carried out in three stages in the proposed apparatus containing a chopper-mixer for the primary premix preparation, where the ratio of premix to filler is 1 : 1 or 1 : 3. The first stage is a mixing period of 40–60 s; the resulting mixture is then discharged to a main mixer, the filler is added in a 1 : 50 ratio, and they are mixed for 2–3 min, which is the second stage; at the third stage, all filler (mixed fodder) is added, and they are mixed for 3–4 min. The apparatus has been tested in production conditions—it has shown the mixing homogeneity of 94–95% that corresponds to the coefficient of variation V_c of 4–6% and 7–15% in the applied mixers.