In this section:
Australasian Experimental Stockfeed Extrusion Centre
The Australasian Experimental Stockfeed Extrusion Centre (AESEC) has a comprehensive range of feed making equipment and is the only Research and Development (R&D) facility of its kind in Australia. The AESEC is located on the Roseworthy Campus of The University of Adelaide and was established in 2001 by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), with support from Wenger Manufacturing Inc, Allied Industries Pty Ltd, UAS Industries, The University of Adelaide and the Aquaculture CRC Ltd. The centre-piece of the AESEC is the Wenger X-85 cooking extruder (with pre-conditioner and liquid injection system) coupled with a two stage drying system and a UAS Industries vacuum infusion system (VIS).
Services offered
The AESEC staff and infrastructure assist in the development of the Australasian feed and food sectors by providing services in the following areas:
• expert advice and consultancy
• product research and development
• contract and collaborative research and development
• toll manufacture of non-commercial quantities of extruded and cold pressed feeds
• commercial facility hire
• training
• evaluation of aquafeeds in replicated tank trials at SARDI Aquatic Sciences Centre at West Beach, Adelaide
Cost benefits of using the AESEC
Product R&D of extruded feeds using commercial-scale equipment is expensive as it leads to production down-time, is time-consuming, uses large quantities of raw materials and produces a large amount of waste. The Wenger X-85 provides an economical alternative for product R&D, with process settings fully scalable to commercial production machinery. As little as ½ to 1 tonne of ingredients are sufficient for pellet development processes. However, once the process and extruder configuration has been defined, production runs as small as 50 kg are possible with minimal waste.
Technical capabilities
The Wenger X-85, two stage dryer and UAS VIS is capable of manufacturing a range of extruded products with
• ingredient throughput of 100 to 600 kg/h
• pellet diameters of 1.2 to 20 mm
• controlled bulk densities (floating or sinking properties)
• incorporation of fat & oil (fat levels exceeding 30% using VIS)
• micro-ingredient addition
• pellet coating
The AESEC also has the capability to formulate diets; source, grind and mix ingredients; and manufacture products using cold pressed milling machinery.
For more information contact
Dr David Stone
Subprogram Leader - Aquaculture Nutrition & Feed Technology
Manager – SARDI AESEC
SARDI Aquatic Sciences
Tel: +61 8 8207 5350
Fax: +61 8 8207 5481
Email: David.Stone@sa.gov.au
http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/aquaculture
