Perc Pans-

Many plants in the USA and around the world no longer use batch rendering cookers to render byproduct material. Instead, continuous cooking or evaporation systems are utilized that process larger volumes in shorter timeframes. However, this is not always feasible given the volume of product, the desired quality of output, or the resources available to the renderer. In that case, a well-run batch rendering plant is still perfectly capable of processing hundreds of thousands of pounds of material in a week, generating profitable product for sale by the renderer.

One of the critical pieces of equipment in a batch plant is its percolation (perc, perk, cooked product) pan or bin. For this blog, I will refer to them as perc pans.

After cooking in the cooker, it is necessary to discharge product on its way to either milling and or pressing. This is in the case of both meat and feather hydrolzying applications. The perc pan is simple in principle, but can be quite a nightmare to operate if not properly designed and installed. A simple collection bin at the door of the cooker is insufficient for most of today’s rendering purposes.

Alloy perc pans are designed to be used to catch product from batch cookers but we do have a continuous plant that used it as well.  Here is what an Alloy Perc Pan can do for you:

1. It eliminates the need for individual pans under each cooker.  So one pan can replace (2-7) individual pans depending on the size of the plant.
2. It reduces product bridging when compared to pans that have one or two screws in the bottom of them.  This prevents the dangerous task of having operators need to shove cooked product down into the screws.
3. With a cover, the pan increases safety and reduces the likelihood of operators getting burned.
4. It automates the batch process, with the pan can be set at the perfect speed to feed presses, reducing run-around of product and fines that are generated by taking material to the presses more than once.
5. Retains heat of the product very well making pressing easier and more efficient.  The product is not broken up and exposed to air it stays in one mass retaining heat.
6. Eliminates pan down time during operations.  A failure of a screw will not take the pan out of service as the result of redundancy by having 4 screws and multiple drives.
7. Improved design eliminates or greatly reduces raking of fines.
8. Large Volume- the pan can hold many cookers’ worth of product so it reduces operational problems associated with smaller pans or individual pans.  You will not be seeing idle time in cooking that result from pan capacity constraints.
9. Pre-Press effect- The Alloy pan has more fat drainage than any competitors device and the end of the pan has tubes.  The combination of drainage area and plug style discharge promotes excellent free-flowing fat removal prior to pressing.
10. Alloy has a 60-year history on building this product, so all the bugs are already worked out.  Your pan will work as intended from day one.
11. Long useful life- Many Alloy perc pans operate for 40 years or more so it gives good value.
12. Custom designed to fit your plant. This is critical in plant layout situations where cookers are not perfectly aligned or space considerations are paramount.
13. Application engineers to complete perc pan layout in your facility and to properly design press feed and fats/fines systems.
14. Field installation crews to install the new pans and remove your old ones. This can be a challenging operation and experienced professionals can make a difference in downtime and overall utilization. Alloy has that experience.
15. Most parts in stock are typically in stock in our factory.

If you are interested in the Alloy Continuous Perc Pan, please talk to one of our application engineers and we can provide you with more of the technical details and prepare a quotation.