Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus and method to recover spent lime from various manufacturing processes, such as sugar manufacturing from sugar beets and sugar cane, for use as a nutritional flowing agent for poultry and animal feeds, comprises a first holding bin for receiving expended lime cake from a lime lagoon, a second holding bin for receiving expended lime cake from dewatering stockpiles, a rotary kiln dryer, a cyclone dust collector, a negative-air-pressure dust collector, and a product storage bin. As the lime cake is processed through the rotary kiln dryer, the lime cake is dried at a temperature having an upper limit such that the nutritive value of the lime cake is not destroyed. In the kiln, a substantial portion of the lime cake is converted to dust particles suspended in air, which air is directed through one or both of the collectors to collect and remove the suspended particles therefrom. The lime cake which does not become air-borne in the rotary kiln dryer is, nevertheless, mechanically broken down into its constituent particles. Conveyors transport the finished, dried, particulate lime with its nutrients from the kiln and from the collectors to the product storage bin for further distribution.

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First Claim