Analysis of Retention Time and Steam Pressure Variations in the Conditioning Process on the Moisture Content of Feed in the Packaging Process

Abstract

Pellets are compressed feed, compacted through a mechanical process. Pellets can be molded in the form of lumps and small cylinders with different diameters, lengths, and levels of strength. The right moisture content value will maximize the quality of the pellets and increase the value of the Pellet Durability Index(PDI). Many factors affect the moisture content in the feed such as changing the steam pressure configuration, adding moisture to the mixing process, changing the retention time configuration, and other methods. The method tested was to provide variations on the configuration of retention time and steam pressure on the Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) which aims to determine the increase in moisture content in the feed. Variations of retention time configuration tested were 50 seconds, 55 seconds, 60 seconds, 65 seconds, 70 seconds with variations in the Steam pressure configuration in the test were 1.4 bar and 1.6 bar. The test results prove that the retention time of 65 seconds with a steam pressure of 1.4 bar is the best configuration with an increase in moisture content of 2.67% with a difference in moisture content of bagging to the mixing of -0.46.