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Seed conveying with maximum efficiency and hygiene: Hemp Harvests

Hemp Harvests work with farmers to produce, process and package fine quality Tasmanian hemp, selling their produce as seeds, flour, protein powder or cold-pressed hemp oil. Hemp is a rich source of digestible protein and is a sustainable alternative to animal farming and meat consumption, containing large amounts of vitamins, minerals, and fibre.  It is also anti-inflammatory and hypoallergenic.

 

When Hemp Harvests wanted to establish a plant to processes their wholly Tasmanian product, they turned to a local engineering firm, Metric Manufacturing to help create a strategy and to source the best operating equipment available.

 

Metric Manufacturing are an Australian owned multi-disciplined company that provides innovative engineering solutions to a broad range of industries.  They are committed to using local businesses where possible, and to deliver the best possible engineering solutions at an affordable price to all their customers.

 

Requirements

 

Building the processing plant from scratch allowed Floveyor’s Partner Metric and Hemp Harvest to install the most efficient and advanced system available.

 

The conveying system was required to be clean and reliable and be able to transfer the hemp seeds with minimal degradation.  It needed to have a small footprint and high energy efficiency with a height ceiling of 7.5m.  An essential component was exceptional cleaning capabilities for dry and wet conveying and CIP (clean in place).  Any solution would need to integrate smoothly with bulk bag handling.

 

As the processing equipment had already been ordered, they were also looking for speed of transfer, cost-effectiveness, and low power consumption to not only save costs but also to match the sustainability credentials of the company and product.

 

Action

 

Floveyor, Metric and Hemp Harvest settled on the best solution. Metric took the lead on the integration installation, and commissioning of the Floveyor supplied equipment.  The delicate nature of the seeds required a configured solution from the Floveyor team, based on the F3 AMC and an RFU Bulk Bag Unloader. The Floveyor conveyors had to be fit for conveying with exceptional wet and dry-cleaning ability.

 

Floveyor configured a conveyor that was eminently suitable for conveying the delicate seeds without degrading the product at all.

 

A sample of the seeds was sent to the Floveyor R&D team in Perth, Western Australia, for testing in the equipment.  The process was video-recorded, and results sent to Hemp Harvest and Metric.

 

As well as proving efficient at loading and transporting the seeds, the original Floveyor minimised waste with negligible product retention between batches increasing operational output.

 

The solution required a bulk bag handling integrated system.  Regular cleaning of the system was quickly carried out between product lines which include different types of products and other grades.

 

Conclusion

 

Floveyor were quick to provide the equipment, with a fast turn-around of two months from the point of ordering to delivery. The time from the initial contact between Metric and Floveyor to delivery was six months in total, for an efficient, economic conveying system that met all requirements.  It worked accurately and produced high output with low downtime.

 

No other previously considered solution could both handle the delicate nature of the product and meet the strict cleaning requirements the process demanded.

 

Hemp Harvests are highly satisfied with the equipment and have found it very simple to operate with low after-installation maintenance.

 

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