|
Manufacturing Process
The seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) is delivered and stored
on a storage ramp on the factory grounds. All incoming seaweed is issued
a delivery number, which is used to identify where each load of seaweed
was harvested. Four tonne of "wet" seaweed is required to produce one
tonne of seaweed meal. The seaweed is fed into a hopper and washed with
seawater to remove any silt or sand. The seaweed is then conveyed into
the factory to be milled.
A hammer mill pulverises the seaweed, which is then fed into dryers
that are heated. The temperature applied to the seaweed is regulated
to achieve sufficient evaporation of the surface and embedded water
and to ensure the temperature of the seaweed reaches 75C. The seaweed
meal leaves the rotary dryer after thirty minutes and has now achieved
moisture content of 12% - 14%. From here the seaweed meal is fed via
underground suction lines to the fine milling plant, where the product
is broken down into customer specifications.
Once inside the finitemilling plant, seaweed meal is milled to further
break down the product. The meal is then fed through a series of screens,
which sieve the product into the required specificaon. The product falls
into a 1 tonne bag, after which it is brought to the bagging plant.
A batch load of 20 tonne is produced and assigned a batch number, which
is used to identify the load when it is shipped to its final destination.
The seaweed meal product is finally bagged into 1000kg, 25kg or 20kg
bags, depending on customer requirements. Each bag is labeled with the
appropriate batch number. All finished product is placed on a 1200 x
1000mm pallet.
All finished product is brought to the store where it is stored in a
numbered bay until the product is finally shipped.
|
