20 T/H Aquafeed Production Line in Egypt

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Egypt’s Aquaculture Scale Justifies Separate Product Routes

For this customer, the case for local aquafeed production comes from scale and product diversity rather than a single growth-rate claim. Egypt has a large aquaculture industry with strong demand for formulated feed, especially for tilapia and other farmed species. A plant serving shrimp, eel and floating-fish products therefore needs more than one finishing technology.

The customer owns an 81,069 m² site and had previously operated a smaller eel-feed mill focused mainly on grinding and mixing. The expansion target was 90,000 T/Y of sinking pellets and 20,000 T/Y of extruded floating feed. That volume justified a seven-story working tower and parallel process sections instead of a pilot-scale extruder.

The project is best understood as a commercial aquafeed factory in Egypt: the shared front end handles receiving, grinding, batching and mixing, while product-specific downstream routes create the required density, water stability, expansion and coating characteristics.

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The Engineering Problem Was Product Behavior in Water

The first technical discussion centered on finished-feed performance rather than on a headline machine size. Shrimp pellets, eel feed and floating fish feed do not need the same physical structure, even when they share many ingredients.

The existing fish feed production line had limited steam conditioning and could not consistently control the physical properties needed for small sinking pellets. For shrimp feed, fine particles, binding and controlled water stability matter because feed can remain in the water before consumption.

Eel products require a different texture and binding response; shrimp feed needs fine grinding and controlled sinking; floating fish feed requires extrusion, expansion and post-extrusion drying. These are related products, but they cannot be treated as one universal pellet setting.

The new factory therefore uses shared upstream preparation followed by dedicated pelletizing and extrusion routes. That separation is the central engineering decision.

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90,000 T/Y Sinking Feed 20,000 T/Y Floating Feed

The seven-story tower was already part of the site concept, so the process had to fit within fixed vertical clearances while still providing enough bin volume, conditioning time and maintenance access for a 20 T/H aquafeed mill in Egypt.

The final design uses two principal downstream routes inside the same factory, including a sinking fish feed production line in Egypt and a separate extrusion route.

• Line A (90,000 tons per year – Pellets): Double-shaft paddle mixing -> fine grinding -> steam conditioning -> ring-die pelleting -> counterflow cooling -> grading or crumbling as required.
• Line B (20,000 tons per year – Extruded): Double-shaft paddle mixing -> ultra-fine grinding -> twin-screw extrusion -> belt drying -> vacuum coating.

Steam is supplied by two 10 T/H biomass boilers arranged as one duty unit and one standby unit. This gives the factory utility redundancy without implying that both boilers must operate at full load continuously. Steam demand changes with pellet formula, conditioner loading and the active extrusion schedule.

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Protein Meals and Starch Drive the Grinding Strategy

The ingredient system is designed for aquafeed rather than for a generic livestock formula. High fish-meal inclusion, wheat flour, starch, soybean meal, peanut meal and premix materials place more pressure on fine grinding, flowability and storage than a simple corn-soy feed line.

The main external ingredients and internally prepared intermediate mix are:

• Soybean Meal: 20,000 T/Y used as a major protein ingredient.
• Fish Meal: 30,000 T/Y from local and imported supply channels, with storage kept separate because odor, fat and moisture differ from grain meals.
• Wheat Flour: 20,000 T/Y used for energy and binding in selected sinking-feed formulas.
• Corn Starch: 10,000 T/Y used mainly where extrusion and expansion need a stronger starch contribution.
• Peanut Meal: 10,000 T/Y as an additional protein source subject to incoming-quality control.

Grinding challenge: Fish meal and peanut meal can be sticky or heat-sensitive during ultra-fine grinding, so aspiration and controlled feed rate are important for keeping screen loading stable.

Process response: The SWFL-130 ultra-fine grinding section uses dedicated aspiration and sufficient screen area so heat and moisture are removed from the grinding zone instead of accumulating around the screens.

The following table is treated as an annual purchasing and handling basis rather than a strict one-to-one finished-product mass balance:

Raw Material	Annual Consumption (tons)	Function	Storage
Soybean Meal	20,000	Protein Base	Bulk in silos
Fish Meal	30,000	High-value Protein	Bagged in warehouse
Peanut Meal	10,000	Protein Filler	Bagged
Wheat Flour	20,000	Binder / Energy	Bulk
Starch	10,000	Expansion agent	Bagged
Self-made mix	8,000	Internal intermediate; not additional external input	Bagged
Additives	1,000	Vitamins/Minerals	Bagged
Premix	20,000	Custom blend	Bagged
Biomass Pellets (Fuel)	5,000	Separate boiler utility fuel	Warehouse

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Equipment Quantity Reflects Parallel Aquafeed Processing

The project shipped a large package of aqua feed mill equipment in 14 containers from Qingdao to Alexandria. The high equipment count comes from parallel cleaning, fine grinding, pelleting, extrusion, drying, cooling and packaging duties across the 110,000 T/Y program.

Section	Equipment Name	Qty	Key Spec / Feature
Cleaning	Cylinder Pre-cleaner	14	Removes stones and rope from bulk trucks
	Permanent Magnetic Drum	14	8000 Gauss, protects the hammer mills
Grinding	Micro Grinder (SWFP66X)	7	For coarse grinding (800-1000 microns)
	Ultra-fine Grinder (SWFL-130)	20	For shrimp feed (200-250 microns)
Mixing	Double-shaft Paddle Mixer	14	2 tons/batch, CV < 5%
	Liquid Adding System	2	For fat and molasses
Pelleting	Gear-driven Ring Die Feed Pellet Machine	6	Six-machine pelleting section; 110kW main motor per source configuration
	Conditioner	6	Long-term retention (3-4 minutes) for eel feed
Extruding	Twin-screw Extruder	6	High-torque gearbox, specific for sinking/floating
Post-processing	Belt Dryer	6	3-stage drying, moisture down to 10%
	Vacuum Coater	6	For high-fat shrimp feed (up to 15% oil)
	Counterflow Cooler	12	22×22 and 25×25 sizes
Packaging	Auto Packing Scale (S-50)	14	20kg and 5kg bags
	Palletizing Robot (Kuka)	7	1200 bags/hour

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Shrimp Eel and Floating Fish Feed Need Different Process Windows

Aquafeed production is not one fixed recipe translated into different pellet diameters. Particle size, conditioning, die resistance, expansion, drying and oil application all change with the finished product.

For the Shrimp Feed (Pelletizing technology):
Small sinking pellets around 1.2–2.0 mm require very fine raw-material preparation and enough binding to survive handling and controlled immersion.

• The issue: High fish-meal content and very small die openings can raise press resistance and reduce throughput.
• Our adjustment: A multi-stage conditioner increases steam contact and evens the mash before the die; temperature and residence time are controlled by formula instead of being fixed at one extreme setting.
• Result: Commissioning focused on repeatable water stability and pellet integrity by batch rather than on one promotional PDI or immersion-time figure.

For the Eel Feed (Pelletizing + High fat):
Eel formulas need a softer, cohesive product response after wetting, so die selection and post-process fat handling differ from shrimp feed.

• The issue: A standard high-compression die can make the finished product harder than the intended eel-feed texture.
• Our adjustment: Die compression and roller speed are selected for the formula and pellet diameter rather than copying the shrimp-feed setting.
• Result: The finished product is released against the customer’s texture, binding and water-behavior specification.

For the Floating Fish Feed (Extrusion technology):
Tilapia and other floating-feed applications depend on controlled expansion and density, not only on cutting the product to size.

• The issue: Starch level and raw-material moisture can change expansion response from one formula to another.
• Our adjustment: Operators tune twin-screw speed, water/steam addition, die pressure and cutter speed together, then match the belt-dryer profile to the actual extrudate moisture.
• Result: Production release is based on repeatable floatability, density and final moisture rather than one idealized test value.

Utilities Must Support Fine Grinding Extrusion and Drying

The aqua feed production line has a much heavier utility profile than a conventional compound-feed plant because ultra-fine grinding, extrusion, belt drying and coating operate alongside the sinking-pellet section.

• Power: Approx. 10–12 million kWh/year planning basis for the complete factory, subject to the actual mix between pelleted and extruded products.
• Water: Used for boiler makeup, conditioning, extrusion, cleaning and exhaust treatment; the exact annual balance is tracked through the plant utility system.
• Steam: Two 10 T/H biomass boilers are installed as duty/standby units, with real steam consumption changing by formula and active production route.
• Fuel: The project basis includes about 5,000 T/Y of biomass pellets as boiler fuel; actual use depends on steam demand and boiler efficiency.

US$2.35 Million Completed Project Investment

The financial distinction that matters is equipment cost versus completed fixed investment. The imported machinery package is only one part of a seven-story, 20 T/H aquafeed factory.

Total Equipment Cost (CIF Alexandria): US$1,850,000

The equipment package includes:

• All major mechanical equipment listed for cleaning, grinding, mixing, pelleting, extrusion, drying, cooling, coating and packing.
• Control cabinets and selected electrical components, with part of the field cabling sourced locally.
• The two 10 T/H biomass boilers and associated steam-generation equipment.
• Startup spare parts for high-wear items such as dies, rollers and cutting components.

Local fixed-investment scope was about US$500,000:

• Civil work for the seven-story process tower and supporting steel structures.
• Local installation labor working under project supervision.
• Electrical installation and site interfaces completed by local contractors.

Total FIsh Feed Mill Project Investment: approximately US$2.35 million.

Commercial evaluation should use current local costs rather than a fixed payback claim:

• Raw-material cost must be calculated from the actual annual formula mix and supplier contracts.
• Finished-feed price varies by shrimp, eel and floating-fish specification, bag size and distribution channel.
• Gross margin changes with fish-meal inclusion, energy use, finance cost and product mix.
• Annual production target: 110,000 T/Y across the two aquafeed routes.
• Profitability should be modeled after distribution, taxes, working capital, maintenance and utility costs are included.

The project therefore uses the fixed completed investment as the factual benchmark and leaves payback to the customer’s actual sales and cost model. A large aquafeed factory should not be marketed with a guaranteed first-quarter recovery period.

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Dust Sealing Became an Installation Requirement

The main equipment arrived through Alexandria before inland delivery to the project site. Mechanical installation then had to account for the dry, dusty conditions around the industrial area rather than assuming the same enclosure practice used in a humid feed mill.

Fine airborne dust can enter exposed bearings, control cabinets and junction boxes before the factory even begins producing feed. The installation team therefore treated sealing and panel cleanliness as startup requirements rather than post-commissioning maintenance.

Installation response: Higher-sealing protection was applied where exposure justified it, and control panels were kept under positive clean-air management where practical. Cable entries and junction boxes were checked before energizing the line.

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Four Weeks of Training Covered Process Not Just Buttons

The 60-person operating team works across continuous shifts, so training had to cover raw-material inspection, process control and maintenance rather than only machine start/stop procedures.

The training program was organized over four weeks.

Each week focused on a different operating risk.

• Week 1: Safety, incoming-material identification, moisture measurement and contamination control.
• Week 2: PLC recipes, routing logic, alarms, interlocks and safe response to jams.
• Week 3: Preventive maintenance, die and roller inspection, extruder wear checks and dryer housekeeping.
• Week 4: Recipe changeover, steam adjustment, extrusion settings and product-specific quality checks.

Training on the floating fish feed extruder machine emphasized what to do before a blockage escalates: stop or reduce feed correctly, stabilize the barrel, follow the shutdown sequence and keep wet mash from entering downstream equipment uncontrolled.

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Egypt’s Aquaculture Base Supports a Multi-Product Feed Factory

The market case is not that local production always wins automatically. It is that a large aquaculture sector creates enough product diversity to justify local sinking and floating-feed capacity when the producer has dependable raw-material sourcing and distribution.

Three commercial factors are especially relevant:

1. Transport: Aquafeed is a dense recurring input, so distance between mill and farm materially affects delivered cost and inventory planning.
2. Currency exposure: Local manufacturing can reduce finished-feed import dependence, but imported protein meals or additives can still create foreign-exchange risk.
3. Product segmentation: Egypt’s farmed-fish sector includes large tilapia volumes alongside other species, creating demand for both floating and sinking feed technologies.

For a shrimp feed mill in Egypt or a floating fish feed plant in Egypt, the buyer opportunity comes from matching feed performance to farm practice—not from assuming one unsupported annual market-growth percentage.

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The Value Is in Process Integration

The customer needed more than a collection of machines. The risk in a complex aquafeed plant is that each section can meet its own nameplate rating while the full process still fails on grinding, steam, drying, cooling or material transfer.

The engineering question was therefore: Can the conditioner, extruder, dryer and cooler hold the required residence time and load at the same production schedule?

Those answers come from process calculations, equipment volume, steam balance and the physical behavior of each formula—not from copying a standard line for a different species or climate. Site conditions and product mix stay part of the calculation.

The supplied project scope centers on:

• Process design: Seven-story gravity-assisted layout with separate sinking and extrusion routes.
• Steam system engineering: Duty/standby biomass boilers, distribution, trapping and insulation sized around real conditioning demand.
• Commissioning support: On-site setup, operator training, recipe transition and wear-part planning for the supplied equipment package.

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Start With Annual Tonnage by Feed Type

This 20 T/H aquafeed production line in Egypt is designed around 110,000 T/Y of finished feed, not around an unsupported claim that the plant must always run at 20 T/H. The capacity margin is there for fine grinding, small pellet sizes, extrusion variability and maintenance.

The plant can produce eel, shrimp and floating fish products because the downstream routes are separated after common upstream preparation.

For another aquaculture market, the same engineering principle applies even when the ingredients or species change: define the product split, annual operating hours, particle-size target, moisture and fat level before selecting the pellet mills or extruders.

For a fish feed production line in Egypt, the most important checks are the fine-grinding load, steam balance, dryer residence time, cooler capacity and post-coating requirement—not the headline extruder motor alone.

Continuous operation also requires planned spare capacity, maintenance windows and trained shift coverage; 24-hour production is an operating system, not a promise that equipment never stops.

Send the annual tonnage by shrimp, eel and floating-fish product together with pellet diameter, ingredient list, moisture range and site dimensions. Those inputs are enough to determine whether the project needs a dual-line configuration or a simpler single-route aqua feed mill in Egypt.