# US 5,346,714 A · Method of recycling waste food materials into useful byproducts

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- Number: US 5,346,714 A
- Document ID: US5346714A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 08/077,126
- Filed: 1993-06-14
- Granted: 1994-09-13
- Earliest claimed: 1991-11-12
- Assignees: SSDE Technologies Corporation
- Inventors: Thomas J. Peters
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5346714A

## CPC

- A23K 40/25: by extrusion
- A23K 40/20: by moulding, e.g. making cakes or briquettes
- B03B 9/061: {the refuse being industrial}
- B09B 3/30: involving mechanical treatment (involving an extraction step B09B3/80)
- B09B 3/35: Shredding, crushing or cutting
- B09B 2101/02: Gases or liquids enclosed in discarded articles, e.g. aerosol cans or cooling systems of refrigerators
- Y02P 60/87: Re-use of by-products of food processing for fodder production
- Y02W 30/52: Mechanical processing of waste for the recovery of materials, e.g. crushing, shredding, separation or disassembly
- Y02W 30/82: Recycling of waste of electrical or electronic equipment [WEEE]
- A23K: FODDER
- B03B: SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
- B09B: DISPOSAL OF SOLID WASTE NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02W: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT

## Abstract

Food contents are separated from ferrous metal cans for conversion into useful byproducts by lacerating the can bodies into strips of metal to expose their contents, advancing along a vibrating conveyor section through a liquid spray, followed by magnetic separation to remove the metal strips and separately collect the food contents and metal strips for recycling. In order to convert the food contents into animal feed, the contents are first dried to reduce their moisture level either by mechanical dehydration or by the addition of bulking agents and then advanced through an extruder section to convert the food contents into dry particle form.

## Claims

### Claim 1

The method of recycling waste food materials into useful byproducts comprising the steps of:
drying said food materials by dehydrating for a time interval necessary to reduce the moisture content to less than 25%;
extruding said food materials in an oxygen-free atmosphere at an elevated temperature level sufficient to sterilize said food materials;
cooling said food materials; and
thereafter tumbling and drying said food materials to reduce said food materials to particle form.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, including the step of introducing a bulking agent into said food materials prior to the extrusion step, and blending said bulking agent and said food materials into a homogeneous mass.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, including the step of extruding said food materials at an elevated pressure level followed by reduction in pressure prior to cooling said food materials.