What is a Meat Bin?

Question

I read that about 19 billion pounds of valuable products such as fats, oils and proteins are produced every year in the US by rendering. What equipment is at the very beginning of the rendering process?

Answer

A meat bin holds raw materials such as meat, bones, heads, condemned carcasses, and other products to be rendered. Multiple screws are located under a meat bin to meter the materials through magnetic separation and to the pre-breakers/grinders and to the cookers. Also, in case of a break-down in the downstream process, a meat bin holds raw materials while repairs can be made.

Meat bins vary in size and design. In a poultry plant, a meat bin may be 10-foot by 10-foot with a single screw feeder. In a beef plant, the meat bin may be 24-foot wide by 40 foot long with a multiple-screw feeder consisting of up to eight screws. In either case, meat bin screws are the heaviest built screws in the plant. Meat bin screws run quite slow with high horsepower, creating a tremendous amount of torque. In many meat bin applications, flight thickness can be ¾-inch and mounted on 8-inch XXH pipe with 5-7/16-inch diameter shafts. The drive units always have variable speed drives for adjusting feed rate.

KWS is the source for complete systems as well as replacement components for the Rendering Industry.

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