Effect of Flow Agent Addition on the Physical Properties of DDG with Varying Moisture Content Soluble Percentages

Abstract

Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) is widely recognized as a highly nutritiousanimal feed ingredient. With the exponential growth of the fuel ethanol industry in the past severalyears, significant quantities of distillers' grains are now being produced. To effectively utilize thesefeeds in the domestic market, however, these coproduct streams are increasingly being transportedgreater distances, and must be stored in various structures until final use. Unfortunately, DDGS flowis often problematic, as it frequently becomes restricted by caking and bridging during storage andtransport. This issue may arise from a number of factors, including storage moisture, temperature,relative humidity, particle size, time, or temperature variations. The objective of this study is toexamine the effect of various moisture content levels (10, 15, 20, 25, 30% db) and calcium carbonatelevels (0, 1 and 2% wb) on the resulting flow properties (Carr Indices) of DDGS with varying solublepercentages (10, 15, 20 and 25% db). The results showed that there are some flow issues in DDGSwith increased soluble and moisture content levels. Flow agent (CaCO3) addition did not have asignificant effect in improving the flow properties of DDGS with various soluble and moisture contentlevels. This may be due to no surface affinity between DDGS and flow agent particles or lessinclusion rate of flow agent.