Bedding is a key component in fostering comfortable, healthy animals in the animal husbandry industry. Whether working with manure bedding, sand, or otherwise, ensuring a clean source of bedding by managing moisture levels is essential to optimizing animal well being and production.

FEECO is the leading provider of the industry’s most robust bedding dryer systems. Our bedding dryers are engineered to significantly reduce moisture, pathogen, and bacterial content without over drying, so dust is avoided.

Bedding Dryer Operation

Drying can be carried out using either a rotary dryer or fluidized bed dryer, with each drying system offering its own advantages. In both cases, drying temperature is carefully controlled with sensors to manage moisture levels of inlet and outlet material for consistent bedding quality. 

Rotary Dryer Operation

In a rotary dryer setup, moisture-laden bedding is fed into a rotating drum, through which heat is passed.

As a direct dryer configuration, the material being processed and the heat are in direct contact with each other, providing efficient heat transfer. Advancing flights, along with a slight slope, help to convey material away from the inlet, at which point lifting flights (material lifters), pick up the material, carry it over, and drop it through the air stream as the drum rotates. This cascading of material, known as a curtain, maximizes heat transfer efficiency between the material and combustion gases.

One of the benefits of utilizing rotary dryer technology is the dryer’s tolerance for feedstock variation – a common issue when working with bedding materials.

Fluid Bed Dryer Operation

In a fluid bed dryer, material is continuously fed into a vessel with a perforated gas distributor plate at the bottom. Heated air is passed through the plate at a predetermined temperature and velocity, suspending the solids in a fluidized state. This promotes mixing of the solids and increases the surface area exposed to the air for a thermally efficient system. 

In both dryer systems, a hopper and conveyor setup feeds material into the dryer at a controlled rate. Exhaust ductwork removes the heated air, along with any fine particles and the dried bedding is discharged from the dryer system onto a conveyor for offtake. 

These systems are flexible in fuel type, with burners that can accommodate diesel, propane, natural gas, electricity, or waste heat. They are designed for efficiency, ease of maintenance, and simple operation.

In addition to dryers, FEECO also offers a range of bulk material handling equipment to support the dryer and the transport of bedding around the facility. 

Bedding Dryer Applications

FEECO bedding dryers offer an optimized, reliable solution for managing bedding moisture levels in a variety of materials, including:

• Sand
• Digested or composted dairy manure
• Recycled manure solids / Coarse manure fibers
• Digested hog manure
• Paper sludge
• Chicken litter
• And more…

Bedding dryers are particularly common on dairy farms where they reduce the moisture content and bacteria levels of manure coarse fibers after processing via anaerobic digestion. The dried bedding is ideal for fostering comfortable, clean cows in a freestall setting for optimal milk production and quality, while also allowing the farmer to gain value from their waste materials. 

Process Development for Bedding Dryers

As a result of the substantial variation in feedstock, coupled with the diverse needs of the bedding industry, FEECO offers comprehensive testing services for bedding products.

Through dryer and/or flight testing in the FEECO Innovation Center, the process variables necessary to size the desired capacity unit can be determined. Testing allows the most efficient solution to be identified for scale-up.

Bedding Dryer Parts & Service

As the preferred manufacturer of bedding dryer technology, FEECO has a comprehensive parts and service program to support bedding dryer maintenance. Our Customer Service Team can assist with a variety of field services, process and equipment audits, spare parts, and more.