Abstract: Scapula harvester for operating on a poultry carcass including instruments for breaking tissue connections and for harvesting scapula bones that connect to the poultry carcass. The instruments may include back knives and release hooks arranged to operate concertedly such that the back knives cut along and eventually assume a stationary position adjacent to the poultry spine for fixing the poultry carcass in position with the scapula bones directed upwards. The release hooks may execute a down and up movement while the back knives are stationary, wherein during the up movement the release hooks detach the scapula bones from the poultry carcass so as to harvest the scapula.

Abstract: A rotary collider air mill apparatus that uses accelerated air moving at high velocities as the primary reduction medium is described. The apparatus produces turbulent air currents and shear waves within a polygonal housing whereby solid particles introduced into the housing repeatedly collide with each other and are fractured into smaller particles. An exemplary rotary collider air mill apparatus may include a polygonal housing having a front plate and a back plate and 5 or more side plates, a drive shaft passing through the central portion of the polygonal housing, a sprocket mounted on the drive shaft and having arms extending radially from a central hub, and 3 or more blade sections attached to the arms. The rotary collider air mill apparatus is scalable upward or downward in sizes ranging between 12 inches and 144 inches in diameter with the housing and internal mechanisms sized proportional to one another.

Abstract: Solid waste that includes a mixture of wet organic material and dry organic material can be are separated using mechanical separation to produce a wet organic stream enriched in wet organics and a dry organic stream enriched in dry organics. The separated wet organic stream and dry organic stream are separately converted to renewable or recyclable products using different conversion techniques particularly suited for the separated wet and dry organic streams.

Abstract: The method and systems efficiently extract recyclable materials from a mixed solid waste stream. The methods and systems use sizing, density and dimensional separation to produce intermediate waste streams that are enriched in particular recyclable materials. The recyclable materials can then be efficiently sorted from the individual intermediate streams using mechanized sorting equipment.

Abstract: An continuous meat grinding reclaiming system that comprises a primary meat grinder unit and a secondary meat grinding unit for continuously and simultaneously processing a meat batch in a single processing run. The primary meat grinder unit is designed to grind a batch of meat by initially separating or extrapolating pure meat from the meat that contains bone; collecting the pure meat into a container; and transferring the meat that contains the bone to the secondary meat grinder unit. The secondary meat grinder unit is designed further grind the batch of meat by separating additional pure meat from the meat that contains the bone; collecting this additional pure meat into the container with the original pure meat; and discard any remaining “undesireables”. The meat grinding reclaiming system also provides an inventive variable valve reducer for controlling the flow of the undesireables through the secondary transfer pipe.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for separating joined components, purifying liquid, promoting interaction between two or more components and improving combustion. The apparatus has a housing, a rotor inside of the housing, a plurality of protrusions extending from the rotor, a shaft coupled with the rotor and a prime mover for rotating the shaft. Fluid within the housing cavitates as the rotor rotates and the protrusions move through the fluid. Cavitation causes joined components within the fluid to separate, kills undesirable organisms within the fluid, promotes interaction of components within the fluid and improves combustion of a liquid fuel. The fluid and components may also be subjected to abrasion and centrifugal and impact forces for separating the components, purifying the fluid, promoting interaction of the components and improving combustion.

Abstract: A first, exemplary embodiment has a first container (spice rack) to organize and house the spices. On the outside of this container, there is a plurality of buttons with each button corresponding to each spice in a plurality of second containers (spice container) mounted on a Lazy Susan device. When a button is pushed, the appropriate spice will come out of the selected second container. Each button corresponds to a barcode. Each spice container will have a barcode on it representing the spice within the spice container and a scanner on the inside of the first container will scan each barcode until it comes to the barcode that corresponds to the button hit.

Abstract: A method for processing unseparated egg shells is provided. The method includes placing the unseparated egg shells in a fluid tank containing a fluid mixture, applying cavitation to the fluid mixture to thereby assist in separating the egg shell membranes from the egg shells, and recovering the egg shell membranes. Preferably, the fluid mixture is recirculated to thereby provide for continuous processing of unseparated egg shells. The method may further include drying the egg shell membranes to produce dried egg shell membranes which may then be vacuum packaged for storage and/or transport. The dried egg shell membranes may then be subjected to an extraction process for extracting at least one type of polypeptide from the egg shell membranes. Collagen, hyaluronic acid, or amino acids of interest may be extracted from the egg shell membrane and purified for numerous uses.

Abstract: The invention relates to processing apparatus and methods and in particular, but not exclusively, to an apparatus that may be used to process a wide variety of feed materials by one or more of milling or grinding, mixing, blending, separation, drying and sterilisation. In a preferred embodiment there is provided a feed material processing apparatus (1) comprising: a chamber (2); at least one inlet (4) in flow communication to an upper region of the chamber (2); a rotor (3) located within the chamber (2) that is rotatable about a substantially vertical axis by a rotation drive (11), wherein the rotor (3) promotes a circulatory flow of feed material and/or gas within the chamber (2); at least one outlet (5) in flow communication from a lower region of the chamber (2). Preferably the apparatus (1) comprises at least one feature located laterally on the rotor (3) to promote the circulatory flow.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for separating the organic membrane portion of waste egg shells from the hard inorganic mineral portion thereof, so that each can be used or further processed as desired, thereby addressing the environmental and economic issues associated with disposing of waste egg shells. The membrane and shell are separated by first processing waste eggshells so as to yield small waste eggshell particles. During this processing, the waste eggshell particles are at least slightly abraded, whereby the linking structure between the membrane and shell is at least partially disrupted. Thereafter, the waste eggshell particles are conveyed to a device, which isolates the two components based on their size and weight differences. The methods listed above can provide products from the eggshell waste including precipitated calcium carbonate, membrane, protein, amino acids, collagen and other important components.

Abstract: A food disposal system for installation on a drain of a commercial kitchen sink enables segregation of oil/grease from effluent flows from the drain. A housing collects effluent flows containing water, oil/grease, and solids from the drain, and a macerating pump has an inlet connected to an opening of the housing and an outlet connected to a sanitary drain. A greasy water outlet extends to an oil/grease separator from an outlet on the housing above the macerating pump inlet, and a hot water backflush source enables hot water to flow into the housing.

Abstract: Off-notes normally associated with chocolates made from ingredients containing dairy powders can be avoided using a dry mill in connection with a modified atmosphere to reduce the particle sizes of the ingredients. The modified atmosphere may be air at a temperature of about 65° C. to about 120° C., or an atmosphere having less than about 5.0 percent oxygen.