Method and system for spray drying insects
AssigneeAspire Food Group US
InventorsGabe Mott, Serena Harrington, Shobhita Soor, Mohammed Ashour, Michael Todd Hall
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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 whole insects and water;
- converting the slurry into a fluid with no suspended particles greater than 100 microns in size;
- and
- dispensing, by a rotary atomizer, the fluid into a drying chamber.
A method for generating insect based flour comprising:
- heating whole insects;
- generating a slurry from the whole insects by mixing the whole insects while water at a temperature of approximately 140° F. is added to the whole insects at a rate of 2.0 pounds of the water to 1.5 pounds of the whole insects;
- pasteurizing the slurry or the fluid;
- 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 between approximately 10 feet in diameter and approximately 22 feet in diameter and approximately 10 feet tall and approximately 22 feet tall.
A system comprising:
- a mixer having a heating element, a mixing element, and a liquid injection element;
- a shearing element configured to reduce particle size of the liquid injection element below 100 microns;
- a rotary atomizer having a rotary disk having a diameter of between approximately 170 mm and approximately 300 mm;
- and
- a drying chamber including an interior having a diameter of between 10 feet and 22 and a height between 10 feet and 22 feet;
- and
- a management system for controlling a temperature associated with the heating element, a speed of the mixing element, a rate of injection of the liquid injection element, a speed of the rotary disk, and a dispensing rate of the rotary atomizer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.