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US 11,026,439 B2Granted
Method and system for spray drying insects
AssigneeAspire Food Group Ltd
InventorsGabriel Mott, Serena Harrington, Shobhita Soor, Mohammed Ashour, Michael Todd Hall
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In some examples, a system may be configured to generating flour having a uniform particle size of less than 100 Microns from whole insects. For example, the may include generating a slurry from whole insects by adding water while blending the whole insects using one or more mixers to generate an insect slurry. In some cases, the water is added to the insect parts to reduce the viscosity and to assist in separating the whole insects into parts. In some cases, the insect slurry may be filtered.
Claims20
A method for generating insect-based flour comprising:
- generating a slurry from insects classified as Gryllidae by spraying the insects with water for a period of time greater than one hour, prior to reducing a size of suspended particles of the slurry;
- mixing the slurry by an impeller of a mixer set to a first rate of approximately 1140 RPMs or greater for a first period of time at a temperature of approximately 140° F. in the mixer;
- after the first period of time has elapsed, mixing the slurry by the impeller at a second rate of approximately 1800 RPMs or greater for a second period of time at a temperature of approximately 140° F. in the mixer;
- processing the slurry by a first shear device at a first rotational speed of between 35 HZ and 60 HZ;
- reheating the slurry to 140° F.;
- processing the slurry by the first shear device at a second rotational speed of between 50 HZ and 80 HZ to reduce the size of the suspended particles of the slurry to less than 100 microns;
- and
- dispensing, by a rotary atomizer, the slurry into a drying chamber to generate dried particles.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- heating crickets by rinsing with water at a temperature of between 35° F. and 80° F. for a period of greater than two hours and less than three hours;
- generating, at a mixer, a first slurry from the crickets by mixing the crickets while water at a temperature of approximately 140° F. is added to the crickets at a rate of 2.0 pounds of the water to 1.5 pounds of the crickets, the mixer including an impeller that is initially set to a rate of 1140 RPMS and increased to a rate of 1800 RMPS after a period of time elapses;
- generating, at a first shear device, a second slurry, the second slurry having a particle size of less than 100 microns and the first shear device having a rotational speed of between 35 HZ and 60 HZ;
- pasteurizing the second slurry;
- and
- dispensing at a rate of between approximately 1500 pounds per hour and 2000 pounds per hour, by a rotary atomizer having a disk with a diameter of between approximately 170 mm and approximately 300 mm and rotating at a speed of between approximately 5000 RPMs and approximately 25,000 RPMs, the slurry into a drying chamber to generate a resulting product;
- drying the resulting product;
- and
- filtering the resulting product to remove any product greater than a desired particle size using at least two cyclones and at least two mesh sifters.
6 more elements
A method for generating insect-based flour comprising:
- generating a slurry of water and insect by spraying insects classified as part of Gryllidae family with water for a period of time greater than one hour;
- converting, by a mixer and a first shear device, the slurry of water and insects parts into a fluid with no suspended particles greater than 100 microns in size by passing the slurry through the mixer and the first shear device at least two times, a speed of the mixer set by a management system between a rate of 1000 RPMs and 1600 RPMs on the first pass through the mixer and between a rate of between 1400 RPMs and 2000 RPMs on the second pass through the mixer;
- pasteurizing the fluid;
- dispensing, by a rotary atomizer utilizing a rotary disk, the fluid into a drying chamber, a speed of the rotary disk at between approximately 10000 RPMs and approximately 20,000 RPMs;
- and
- separating dry particles produced by the drying chamber.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.