Egg shell powder overview

Egg shell powder is dried powder made from grinding discarded eggshells. It contains 94.54% calcium carbonate, 1.15% protein, 4.36% magnesium carbonate, and calcium phosphate. It has many benefits for health, garden, and skincare. Widely applicable in the fields of food calcium source addition, animal feed addition, daily chemical processing, fertilizer, etc., you can also use it in recipes or crafts. The production and utilization of eggshell powder, turning waste into treasure, has important economic value for the sustainable development of circular ecology.

Egg shell powder benefits

Egg shell main nutritional value includes the following aspects:

  1. Calcium: Eggshell is a natural source of calcium, with over 900 milligrams of calcium per gram of eggshell powder, making it easier to absorb compared to other sources of calcium.
  2. Protein: Eggshell powder contains a large amount of protein, with approximately 35-40 milligrams of protein per gram, which contains all amino acids, especially lysine and methionine.
  3. Phosphorus: Eggshell powder also contains an appropriate amount of phosphorus, containing about 200 milligrams of phosphorus per gram, which is a necessary nutrient for maintaining the health of bones and teeth in the body.
  4. Vitamin D: Eggshells are rich in vitamin D, and egg shell powder also retains this nutrient. Vitamin D helps promote the absorption and utilization of calcium.
  5. Magnesium: Eggshell powder also contains an appropriate amount of magnesium, which is about 10 milligrams per gram. This is an important mineral that helps the body grow normally and maintain tissue.

How to make egg shell powder?

Making egg shell powder process is simple. Mainly includes:

Egg shell cleaning and disinfection Eggshell drying → egg shell powder grinder → sieving → packaging → finished product

1 . Egg shell cleaning and disfinfection

Cleaning eggshells is aimed at removing the majority of pollutants and bacteria from them, but there are still a small amount of bacteria, especially intestinal pathogens, present. To ensure product quality, the eggshell should be disinfected to minimize the bacterial count on the eggshell. The general disinfection methods for eggshells include bleaching powder solution disinfection, potassium permanganate solution soaking method, phosphoric acid as an antibacterial agent treatment method, and peroxidase catalytic disinfection method, etc.

2. Eggshell drying

There are two methods: natural sun drying and heating drying with dehydrator. Natural sun drying refers to exposing the eggshell to the sun to evaporate its moisture. In order to evaporate the moisture faster, the eggshell should not be laid too thick (preferably less than 3 centimeters), and should not be flipped at first. After the moisture evaporates, it should be turned over and sun dried.

Heating and drying refers to drying the eggshells in a dehydrator.  Spread the eggshells on the drying trays, pull into the dehydrator,  close the door. set temperature 80-100 ℃, drying for about 2-3 hours.

3. Eggshell grinding machine

Stainless steel powder grinder machine can grind egg shells into fine powder easily.

How to choose the suitable egg shell grinding machine?

  1. According to capacity. Capacity can be 10kg/h to 1t/h for your choose.
  2. According to final powder size.  For 10-120mesh size, multi function powder grinder is ok. For high fineness 60-400mesh, can use ultra fine powder grinder.
  3. According to your budget.  Small business starters can choose the small model. While professional egg processing plant, can choose the pulverizer grinding unit.
  4. Special requirement: cyclone discharger, cooling system etc. can be customized.
dehydrator machine

Dehydrator machine for drying egg shells

Small powder grinder for small business

Large pulverizer for egg shells

Ultra fine powder grinder for 400mesh eggshell powder

Egg shell powder VS bone meal

If egg shell powder has a competitor, bone meal will definitely rank first. Are they same? can egg shell powder substitute for bone meal? The answer is NO. Bone meal and egg shell powder differ in multiple aspects:

  1. Ingredients: The main component of bone meal is calcium phosphate, while eggshell powder mainly contains calcium carbonate. Both of these substances contain certain nutrients, but the specific content and types of other active ingredients may differ.
  2. Source and characteristics: Bone powder generally refers to the ash burned from animal bones, which is in a powdered form; If the eggshell is directly ground into powder, it is not easy to preserve and is fragile. Usually, it is processed through high-temperature steaming, drying and other processes before being made into powder.
  3. Usage: Bone meal is mainly used as agricultural fertilizer and can also be used as a filler in hemostatic drugs; Eggshell powder is more commonly used in handicraft decoration and food calcium supplements.

Overall, although both can be used as feed and have certain efficacy value, there are many differences in their sources, properties, uses, and processing methods, which need to be applied according to specific situations.

How to use egg shell powder？

  1. Food additive: crushing eggshells into eggshell powder with a mesh size of over 200 and adding it to food for human calcium supplementation.
  2. Animal feed additive: crushing eggshells into eggshell powder with a mesh size of over 80 and adding it to animal feed, it is rich in nutrients such as calcium and phosphorus, which has a good effect on promoting animal growth and health.
  3. For pharmaceutical: It can be used as raw materials for pharmaceutical and health products (calcium supplements) preparations, such as calcium acetate, calcium citrate, calcium lactate, calcium oxide, etc.
  4. Egg shell powder for teeth: It can also be used for oral hygiene, especially for dental health. Eggshell is a natural abrasive that can remove stains and spots from teeth, keeping the surface of teeth smooth and clean, has certain potential applications in children’s toothpaste.
  5. Eggshell powder can also be used as a pet insect repellent. Fleas, various parasites, and other insects inside the pet’s body can be eliminated through eggshell powder. Just mix some eggshell powder into pet food.
  6. For baking and food industries, eggshell powder, as a natural additive, has the function of enhancing gluten, enhancing the nutritional value of foods such as bread and cake.
  7. Eggshell powder mixed with alkaline powder (5:1) can be used to make cleaning powder; It can be used as a grinding agent in the enamel industry.

Eggshells account for 10% to 12% of the total weight of eggs. Currently, the resource of eggshells in China is about 4 million tons per year, with a utilization rate of about 15% (about 600000 tons), and over 3 million tons are disposed of as garbage, which not only wastes valuable resources but also pollutes the environment.

In countries such as the United States and Japan, eggshells are widely used, while in China, other applications of eggshells are still in the development stage. Making egg shell into powder, this processing is of simple technology, low cost, and high sales volume. With the continuous development of the breeding industry, comprehensive processing and utilization of poultry eggshell will have great potential.

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