Animal Feed Machine Line

Animal Feed Machine Lines: Mixing, Pelleting, Extrusion and Drying

An animal feed line turns raw grain, oilseed meals and additives into a product an animal will eat, in a form that can be stored and transported. Between the intake pit and the packed bag sit grinding, batching, mixing, conditioning, pelleting or extrusion, drying, cooling and liquid addition. WUXI HASEN supplies those machines — individually or as a complete line — for compound feed, ruminant feed, aquatic feed and biomass pellets. Pellet mills and mixers in the range we supply cover 3 to 18 tonnes per hour, within complete turnkey grain processing and feed plants. We work from Wuxi, China as an export supplier: we source the equipment, check it before it ships, and stay with the project until the line produces feed to the specification it was ordered to.

This page covers the feed line itself. If the grain has to be flaked or cracked before it goes into the mixer, see Flaking Mill Equipment; if the material is going to a flour mill rather than a feed mill, start from Flour Mill Machines.

What an animal feed line actually does

Every feed line is a sequence of the same steps, whatever the species and whatever the pellet size.

Grinding. Raw materials are reduced to a particle size the mixer can handle and the animal can digest. Grinding is usually the largest single consumer of power on the site, so the screen and rotor combination is chosen for the material rather than for the machine.

Batching and mixing. Ingredients are weighed and mixed to a formula — the point where the cost of the feed is actually decided, because an error in the mix is an error repeated in every tonne that follows.

Conditioning, pelleting and extrusion. Steam and water are added, and the mash is pressed through a die, or extruded where the product has to float, sink or hold together in water.

Drying, cooling and finishing. Hot pellets are dried and cooled to a stable moisture, then crumbled, coated or sprayed with liquid nutrients, and packed. Cooling and drying are where most under-specified lines lose quality after a perfectly good pelleting stage.

The equipment we supply

Each machine below is listed with its duty and, where the maker publishes one, its model. Where a detail is not shown, the machine is built to the capacity of the plant rather than sold from a fixed catalogue; the full technical data sheet for any model is available on request.

Screw extruders

A screw extruder controls the density of the finished product, which is what decides whether aquatic feed sinks or floats, and that is why the machine is specified by the density range it has to hold and not only by its output. The single-screw machine is the classic arrangement: material is promoted and extruded by friction between the screw and the cylinder, with an anti-arching feed system, a DDC double-axis differential conditioning system, steam and liquid addition, and the extruding section arranged to give a stable run at low running cost. The twin-screw machine has an "8"-shaped screw section, so material is promoted and extruded between two meshing screws; the material does not bond or run backwards, screw speed can be adjusted to the material, and the machine self-cleans. That makes the twin-screw the usual choice for high-value, high-fat aquatic feed, and for pet food carrying a high proportion of meat pulp or fresh meat.

Ring die pellet machines

A ring die pellet machine is the standard pelleting machine for compound feed. The version we supply uses an inverted-triangle (▽) twin-motor drive, which lowers the machine and reduces the floor area it takes, and loads the main shaft bearing more evenly so the bearing life is longer. The granule door is stainless steel, and the maintenance points are arranged so that routine work can be done without disturbing the die alignment.

Ruminant feed pellet mills

The ruminant feed pellet mill is set up for cattle and sheep feed, where the pellet has to carry a high proportion of roughage. It is fitted with a safety interlocking device, and the conditioning section can be specified as single-layer, multi-layer, dual-axis differential or a combined arrangement, which is the part of the machine that decides how well the starch cooks.

Single shaft paddle mixers

The single shaft double-convective paddle mixer (HHDJ) completes a batch in about 90 seconds. The inner and outer double-layer blade arrangement throws the material in two directions at once, and the mixer discharges through a full-length door along the bottom of the trough, which keeps residue low and prevents one formula carrying over into the next. It is built in carbon steel or stainless steel, and is used for feed additives and premixes as well as for feed, and in the chemical, pharmaceutical, pesticide, dye and food industries.

Crumbling systems

A crumbling system breaks pellets down to a uniform crumb rather than grinding them — the difference between a crumb and a meal matters most in layer feed, and it is why the machine uses a uniform distribution device and a material treatment chosen for the job. Multiple combination modes are available, and the machine is set up for the particle size you are packing.

Cool feed stabilisers

An SWDJ series feed stabiliser is a counter-flow cooler used after extrusion on aquatic fish and shrimp feed, where the pellet has to hold together in water for long enough to be eaten. The discharge is hydraulically flipped, so the pellets leave the cooler without being broken; the material contact parts are 304 stainless steel; and the cooler is offered with either a slide valve or a flap discharge to match different feed types. The box is octagonal so there are no cooling dead corners, with an adjustable stainless cone inside to spread the feed evenly.

Liquid addition and spray systems

The liquid addition and spray system adds molasses, oil and other liquid nutrients to feed without turning the mixer into a sticky mess: the spray arrangement is designed so that there is no agglomeration and no residue left in the mixer. Liquid addition is automated rather than done by hand, and the system runs from a host computer or touch screen with printable data reports. Batching accuracy is stated at 0.1% static error and under 0.3% dynamic error, with automatic batching and raw-material consumption reports.

Drying systems

The partition horizontal dryer takes the surface moisture off extruded feed. It uses a high-temperature polyester mesh belt with an effective opening of 0.4 mm, which suits the small particle sizes of extruded aquatic feed and gives an even air distribution across the bed. Drying is zoned along the length of the dryer, so the wet, hot end and the drier end are controlled separately: the discharge temperature stays low and more nutrients survive the process. A single wet discharge port controls moisture removal, with circulation air paths above and below the belt. Automatic moisture removal, temperature control, valve adjustment, formula records and remote monitoring are all part of the control package.

Biomass pellet equipment

The PMT series biomass granulator, including the PMT7065, is supplied for biomass pellets, solid fuel moulding and waste pelletising, where the same pelleting principle is applied to material that is not feed. It uses a single motor, and the feeder, modulator and hexagonal door are made in 304 stainless steel. The same machine can granulate pure grass powder for ruminant feed, which is useful where a plant wants one line to serve two products. Biomass pellets made this way are used in residential heating equipment, power plants and boiler plants.

What we need from you to specify a feed line

Send these eight items and we can usually come back with a machine list rather than another round of questions:

• Species and feed type — compound, ruminant, poultry, aquatic, or biomass pellets

• Formula outline, and the proportion of roughage, fat or liquid in it

• Output wanted, in tonnes per hour or tonnes per day

• Pellet or crumb size, and the density range if the feed has to float or sink

• Grinding requirement, and the raw materials that have to be ground

• Steam available at the plant, and at what pressure

• Power supply: voltage, phase and frequency

• Destination port, and whether the machine ships alone or with the rest of a line

If you are adding capacity to a plant that is already running, send the output and the layout of the existing line as well. Matching new equipment to machines that are already installed is routine for us, including where those machines came from another source.

FAQ: animal feed machine lines

What is the difference between a pellet mill and an extruder?

A pellet mill presses conditioned mash through a die to form a pellet. An extruder works the material harder under pressure and shear, which cooks it further and lets the density be controlled — so an extruder is used where the feed has to float, sink, or stay intact in water.

How do I decide between a single-screw and a twin-screw extruder?

The single-screw machine suits standard aquatic feed and is simpler to run. The twin-screw machine handles high-fat, high-value feed and pet food with a high meat content, because the two meshing screws convey without bonding and clean themselves.

Why does cooling and drying matter so much?

Pellets leave the press hot and moist. If they are packed before the moisture and temperature are stable, they cake in the bag and can grow mould. That is why the cooler and the dryer are specified together with the press rather than added afterwards.

Can you supply a single machine, or only a complete line?

Both. We supply single mixers, pellet mills, extruders and dryers where a plant is being extended or de-bottlenecked, and complete turnkey feed lines for new projects.

What capacity can you cover?

Pellet mills and mixers in the range we supply cover 3 to 18 tonnes per hour, within complete grain processing and feed plants. Where a larger single unit is needed we will say so honestly rather than quote something that does not exist.

How do I get a quotation?

Send us the species, the formula outline, the output you want and the pellet size you need. We will come back with the machines we would propose for that line, and the information we still need from you.

Talk to us about your feed line

Tell us what you want to produce, how much of it per hour, and what the pellet has to do in the feeder or in the water, and we will come back with the machines we would propose. Grinding, mixing, conditioning, pelleting, cooling and liquid addition are usually all part of the answer, so it helps to send the whole flow rather than one machine at a time. You can also see the equipment that prepares the grain before the mixer in Flaking Mill Equipment, or contact us directly.