Online Aquafeed Production School

The third season of the Credo Online Aquafeed School (OAS) commenced today. The programme is jointly organised by Progressus Agrischools and Perendale Publishers, and sponsored by Agentis Innovations, Tietjen, Andritz, Wenger, PLP Systems and International Milling Directory.

The session began with a warm welcome from Yiannis Christodoulou, Managing Director at Agentis Innovations and also the session moderator for OAS, marking the beginning of the program. Then Roger Gilbert, CEO of Perendale Publishers and the session moderator, introduced the trainers and provided an overview of the course and its structure.

Joe Kearns (top left), Yiannis Christodoulou (top right) and Roger Gilbert during QnA Session

Session 1, led by Joe Kearns, the school moderator and in-house trainer, focused on ‘Plant Design and Aquatic Feeds.’ Joe is the Editor of International Petfood magazine and was previously Vice President of the Aquafeed Division for Wenger. The session comprised three parts:

1. General Plant Layout and Production Flow for Aquafeed:
   • Covered aspects such as ingredient receiving, including raw material reception and product shipping.
   • Explored various types of unloading systems and discussed storage systems, including liquid storage.
   • Illustrated the Aquafeed plant flow through diagrams, detailing ingredient storage and preparation processes.
   • Explained the extrusion process, highlighting its significance.
2. Aquatic Feed Products and Their Advancements:
   • Joe delved into feed ingredient sources and specifications, particularly starch formulation.
   • Discussed different types of Aquatic feeds and feeding options, along with the factors influencing them.
   • Explored extrusion dies, addressing concerns like die blockage and density changes.
   • Touched on achieving optimal performance by fitting the knife perfectly to the die face.
3. Basic Raw Material:
   • Explored key considerations in an aquatic feed extrusion project.
   • Discussed product, ingredients, and raw materials, emphasising ingredient selection.
   • Introduced the flow index test for fish meals and compared the solubility of animal proteins.
   • Analysed the impact of raw material protein quality on pellet quality.
   • Discussed two laboratory tests indicating protein functionality and addressed extrusion quality testing for soybean meal (SBM).
   • Explored the effects of varying vegetable protein levels on extrusion moisture.
   • Presented a method to calculate the true cost of the entire process.

The session concluded with a Q&A segment where Joe addressed participants’ questions.

Roger Gilbert concluded the session by thanking the Sponsors and attendees.

This session will be re-broadcasted this Friday 25 August for the U.S & Latin American audience. To register and watch it, click here.

Session 2 is scheduled for August 29, 2023, at different time slots to accommodate various regions: 14:00 Bangkok Time / 09:00 Central European Time, and for the US and LATAM, 10:00 Chicago Time / 13:00 Buenos Aires Time. You can access it here.

The Aquaculturists

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