1-2 t/h Ostrich Pellet Production Line for Lucerne Grower Feed

A 1-2 t/h ostrich line turning lucerne into pellets

Four duties run in sequence on this line: cut lucerne fibre to a length a die will accept, weigh three materials of different bulk density into one mash, press grower pellets at 12 to 20 percent moisture, and cool and grade the pellet.

The tonnage figure is stated at grower diameter. Close the die to a smaller hole and the press gives less; open it and it gives more. Diameter, moisture and fibre share move the number before the motor does.

Three forms leave this line: a whole 6 mm pellet, a whole 8 mm pellet, and crumble from running 8 mm pellets through the crumbler. The first two are one die change apart; the third adds the crumbler and the grading screen.

Table 1: Main machine and auxiliary list for a 1-2 t/h ostrich pellet production line.

The press carries a stainless steel feeder with variable speed drive, and a lubrication system that oils the rollers, main shaft, gear and bearings on a cycle rather than by hand, which keeps the daily walk-round short on a 1-2 t/h frame.

Fibre length from the screen governs the die

Fibre does not sit still in a formula. It changes length in the mill, appetite for water in the conditioner, and friction in the die. The links run in one order, each setting the next.

A coarse screen keeps lucerne strands long

A hammer mill can cut lucerne into short strands or beat it into flour, and the screen under the rotor makes that choice. Coarse enough and the strands stay long enough to bind a pellet; too fine and the same material becomes dust that wets out on the die face and blinds it.

Cut, not flour: strand length carries the strength of the finished pellet.

A shorter hole for long lucerne fibre

Compression ratio is hole length divided by hole diameter, and it decides whether a fibrous mash passes or plugs. Long fibre needs a shorter effective hole: enough squeeze to bind, not so much that friction pushes die temperature to scorching. A grain die stalls on a half lucerne ration, and the stall reads on the ammeter before it reads on the pellet.

Lucerne meal takes water later than maize

The catalogue states the entry condition for this press family plainly: material ground to a meal, 12 to 20 percent moisture. Fibre sits at the slow end of that band, because it takes water in later than ground maize does, so conditioner retention time decides where the mash leaves it.

Dry mash polishes the die and then blocks it. Wet mash leaves a soft pellet that smears across the cooler deck.

Two grinding passes for lucerne and grain

Maize and soybean meal break down against a screen in one pass. Lucerne needs a cutting action, and it wants its own grinding stream rather than the grain hopper. Two passes into one mixer is the practical arrangement on a high fibre ration.

The 22 kW mill at 3-4 t/h carries a moderate lucerne share. Where lucerne takes the larger part of the mix, the 37 kW unit at 5-6 t/h gives the section headroom, and the hammer mill screen for lucerne is chosen for strand length, not throughput.

Batching lucerne, maize and soybean meal by weight

Bulk density splits this formula three ways: soybean meal sits between the light lucerne meal and the heavy maize. Volume batching reads that difference as error, so the plant weighs each material and sizes the bins by volume rather than by tonnes.

Two routes fit a 1-2 t/h plant. Batch mixing runs 250 kg, 500 kg or 1000 kg per batch at 5.5, 11 or 18.5 kW, and suits a plant changing formula often. Continuous mixing on a 3 kW horizontal mixer at 2000 kg/h suits a plant holding one ration for weeks.

Running a lucerne share above half the formula? Send the percentage breakdown and the target rate, and the grinding section and the die both get sized against it.

A 22 kW ring die working a 1-12 mm band

The press is where the fibre bill lands. The 1-2 t/h frame carries a 22 kW main drive, a 0.55 kW feeder and a 1.5 kW conditioner, and works a 1-12 mm die band. The next frame at 37 kW takes the same die logic to 3-5 t/h. Both sit in the wider range of ring die and flat die pellet machines.

The feeder sets rate, the conditioner sets water

Main drive, feeder and conditioner are sized as a set and all three are ordered with the press rather than added afterwards. The conditioner is the only place where water and heat enter before the die. The feeder is the only place where rate is set: too fast and the die floods, too slow and it starves, and the ammeter on the main drive reads the difference before the pellet does.

Four dies from 6 to 12 mm in the crate

The standard set is four dies: 6, 8, 10 and 12 mm. The 1-12 mm band is machine capability, not the stock list. Grower feed runs on the 6 or the 8 mm die, and each die is made to that single hole size, because a die is a hole size and not a range.

Grit in the lucerne opens the die hole

Lucerne carries grit into the die chamber. Wear opens the hole and shortens effective length, so the compression ratio the die was ordered with drifts down while the pellet quietly softens. A plant watching only tonnage meets the drift in the bag.

A counterflow cooler without cracked pellets

Cooling decides whether a lucerne pellet holds together or leaves as fines. The 1.5 kW counterflow cooler handles 1-2 t/h and matches the press, and the air path through the bed sets how fast the surface dries. A pellet pulled down hard case-hardens and cracks at the spout.

The grading screen then lifts fines out and returns them to the mixer. Fines return is not loss; it is how a durable pellet is made. A plant chasing zero fines gets a softer pellet and dust at the bottom of every bag, and the bagging station after screening is where that shows first.

The 62.5 kW line on a 10 by 3 metre floor

Two builds sit on the catalogue sheet, and both run the same eight steps: elevating, grinding, mixing, pelleting, cooling, crumbling, grading, then finished bin with fan.

Option 1 loads into a 20 ft container

Option 1 draws 62.5 kW, stands on 10 x 3 x 6 m, travels in one 20 ft container and runs with 2-3 operators. Its pellet band is 1-12 mm, wide enough for grower feed without a second press.

Option 2 takes a 40 ft container

Option 2 draws 65.5 kW on 12 x 4 x 8 m, which is a 40 ft footprint. The extra 3 kW and the longer building buy working room, not a higher rate.

Table 2: Two line options at 1-2 t/h, same process, different building and container.

Larger plants exist above this band and change the building question, not the process one. The other line capacities above 1-2 t/h start at three times this floor area.

Is the grower die 6 mm or 8 mm?

Grower feed sits at 6-8 mm, and both holes are on the standard die list. The choice is operational. A 6 mm pellet leaves less at the trough and costs rate in the die; an 8 mm pellet runs easier and can be reduced afterwards.

The crumbler takes 8 mm whole pellets down to crumble at 1-3 t/h. Crumble suits a feeding system that spreads feed wide, whole pellets suit a trough where a bird can pick. Running both from one die means the crumbler rolls lift clear for whole pellets and close for crumble.

380/400 V 50 Hz on a farm generator

South African sites run 380/400 V at 50 Hz, and motors, starters and cabinet are built to it. The 62.5 kW figure is connected load, and starting decides whether a farm supply holds: the grinder and the press never come up together, and the sequence runs from the discharge end back.

On a generator the order is stricter. Cooler fan and elevator first, then the press, then the grinder last, with a pause between starts so the set recovers.

From the crate at Durban to the first pellet

This is a container exercise before it is an engineering one. Option 1 loads into one 20 ft container and moves by sea to Durban, crated for the lift at each end.

On site the order is fixed: set foundation marks, level the press frame, align the elevator, duct the cooler fan, land the cabinet, then run every motor empty before material enters. Mash runs first, the die warms on mash, and the first pellet is judged by hand before the bagging scale is set.

Seven questions on fibre, moisture and dies

Send the lucerne share, target rate and pellet diameter, and the scope comes back with the screen, the die pair and the container plan.