Straw Pellet Production Line In South Africa

RICHI MACHINERY

overview

This is a 0.8-4t/h straw pellet production line in South Africa project.

On May 19, 2021, with the signing and effectiveness of the contract, a straw feed pellet production line with a designed capacity of 0.8 to 4 tons/hour was officially launched in the Free State Province of South Africa.

This is not a simple agricultural investment, but a transformation attempt initiated by a South African livestock entrepreneur who is firmly rooted in the countryside in the face of a series of practical problems such as high forage costs, unstable feed ingredients, and serious waste of raw materials.

At that time, he did not intend to “build equipment” or “enter the factory”, but the repeated loss of control of forage supply and the market fluctuations caused by drought year after year eventually prompted him to embark on the road of “granulation” of straw. As it turns out, this pellet line not only saves more than 30% of feed expenses for his ranch, but also ignites the enthusiasm of surrounding farmers to use agricultural waste to make their own feed.

Here, with this straw pellet production line in South Africa project as the center, we will tell how a local rancher cooperated with RICHI in the process of transforming feed production, and combine South Africa’s agricultural structure, resource advantages and feeding needs to deeply restore a real, referenceable and replicable straw pellet feed factory construction process.

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Project Background

The investor of the straw pellet production line in South Africa project is a local rancher in South Africa, located in the western part of the Free State Province, which is famous for grazing cattle, sheep and horses. However, he has encountered a lot of troubles in recent years-every dry season, the price of grass has skyrocketed, and it is difficult to collect and store; and the purchased grass powder often contains impurities and large fluctuations in moisture, resulting in a decrease in animal feeding rate and affecting fattening efficiency.

At first, the rancher just wanted to improve his own feed structure and tried to use baled straw instead of hay, but the feeding results were not ideal. Once at an agricultural exhibition, he came across a demonstration video of biomass pellet equipment and realized that the large amount of corn stalks, sorghum stalks and other waste materials he disposed of every year were actually “gold”. He came up with the idea of ​​building his own straw pellet line.

After two months of market research and comparative analysis, he finally contacted us through the Internet and officially signed an equipment purchase contract in mid-May 2021 for US$92,300, which opened the technological leap from “grass” to “grain”.

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Raw materials come from farmland: corn stalks, sorghum stalks, and hay as the base

In feed production, the ease and stability of raw materials often determine the quality and cost of feed.

As one of the major agricultural countries in Africa, South Africa widely grows corn, sorghum, and legumes, especially in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and other provinces, which provides a natural advantage for the source of raw materials for straw pellet feed. The customer mainly uses the following raw materials for this straw pellet production line in South Africa:

• Corn straw: A large amount of corn straw left after the autumn harvest every year is the main force of local agricultural waste. It has coarse fibers but moderate sugar content;
• Sorghum straw: Similar to corn straw, slightly sweet and good palatability;
• Forage dry materials (such as alfalfa and Panama grass): After purchasing hay pellets, mix them appropriately to adjust the protein content;
• Rice husk and wheat straw (a small amount): auxiliary addition to enhance the compactness of the pellet structure;
• A small amount of mineral additives, salt, molasses water: improve flavor, shelf life, and nutritional structure.

The above raw materials are all produced by the customer’s local farm or purchased locally. Some raw materials such as sorghum straw will be crushed and screened after drying to ensure that the moisture content of the raw materials is not higher than 15%, which is convenient for stable pelleting.

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Detailed explanation of the whole line process: production logic “customized” for straw

The biggest difference between feed pellets and fuel pellets lies in the dual requirements of “nutrition + palatability”. Although the raw materials are rough, they must be finely crushed, modulated, and mixed to finally be made into high-fiber pellets suitable for cattle, sheep, and horses.

According to the raw material composition and purpose of the customer, we have designed the following process flow for this straw pellet production line in South Africa:

1. Raw material reception and initial cleaning: corn stalks, sorghum stalks and other raw materials are sent to the straw crusher through the baler to remove weeds, metals and other impurities;
2. Crushing section: the coarse straw is crushed to 6-8mm in the hammer mill to improve palatability and compression efficiency;
3. Drying and buffering: if the moisture content of the naturally dried raw materials exceeds the standard, it is pre-dried for a short time through the hot air drying system;
4. Mixing section: protein powder, minerals, molasses liquid, etc. are added and mixed in proportion to ensure balanced nutrition;
5. Pelletizing system: compressed into 8mm pellets by the ring die straw pellet machine for easy intake by ruminants;
6. Cooling and screening: the pellet temperature drops to room temperature in the cooler, and then the powder is removed by screening;
7. Packaging link: the pellets are automatically weighed and put into bags, 20kg/bag, suitable for ranches and retail markets.

The straw pellet production line in South Africa uses a combination of analog screen display + manual switching control in the control system to adapt to the current situation of limited initial investment and traditional operating habits of customers. It can be upgraded to a PLC intelligent system in the later stage.

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Compatible with multiple types of pellets: not “only straw”

Although this straw pellet production line in South Africa mainly produces straw feed pellets, it can also be flexibly expanded to the following types of pellet products through mold and parameter adjustment:

• Chicken and pig pellet feed: add fine crushing section and vitamin premixing module on the basis of existing equipment;
• Peat soil conditioner pellets: mix organic fertilizer and sawdust for soil improvement;
• Biofuel pellets: add sawdust and straw to the ratio to achieve the output of high calorific value fuel pellets;
• Cat litter pellet raw materials: higher requirements for crushing and screening accuracy, but good adaptability of the equipment itself.

Customers have tried to export some sorghum stalk pellets to Namibia as a substitute for horse farm grass since 2022, indicating that the straw pellet plant has the ability to produce export-grade feed pellets.

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main equipment configuration

In order to achieve the design goal of flexibility and high productivity, the customer purchased the following key equipment within a budget of US$92,300:

• Mobile straw crusher (can handle wet materials)
• Hammer mill SFSP56×40
• Horizontal ribbon mixer
• Ring die pellet machine MZLH350 (45kW)
• Counterflow cooler SKLN11×11
• Vibrating screen SFJH series
• Automatic packaging scale (single scale)
• Pneumatic dust removal system
• Control cabinet and frequency conversion starting system

The overall equipment of straw pellet production line in South Africa is durable and easy to operate and maintain. According to customer feedback, the replacement cycle of the ring die is about 800 hours, the maintenance cycle of the screen is 300 hours, and the average annual downtime for maintenance does not exceed 3 days.

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Resonance of industry and ecological value: Outlook of the South African straw pellet market

South Africa is a typical mixed agricultural and animal husbandry economy with a solid foundation in the feed industry, but it has long relied on imported protein raw materials and concentrated feed. In recent years, under the advocacy of carbon emission reduction and sustainable agriculture, straw roughage pellets have become the focus of policy encouragement.

Taking the Free State Province as an example, the province’s corn planting area exceeds 700,000 hectares, and the annual straw resources produced are close to 5 million tons, a large amount of which is directly burned or abandoned, resulting in serious waste.

By building a small pellet line similar to this straw pellet production line in South Africa project, not only can the resource utilization of agricultural waste be realized, but also forage production and ranch operations can be integrated, the proportion of feed procurement can be reduced, and the ability to resist risks can be enhanced.

In addition, the South African government’s current agricultural subsidies have support clauses for “agricultural waste recycling”, “roughage localization” and “pastoral feed”. We recommend that customers apply for green farm certification later to obtain tax reduction and export support policies.

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From initial inquiry to contract signing: a true cooperation record

Although the customer did not leave a formal written consultation record at the time, we have fully retained the transaction timeline in the project file:

1. From March 2021, the customer contacted the equipment information through the online exhibition video;
2. In mid-April 2021, we received the first letter from the customer about the purpose, structure, production capacity and site layout of the straw pellet equipment;
3. In early May 2021, the two parties completed the confirmation of process parameters, the preparation of the technical list and the quotation negotiation;
4. On May 19, 2021, the project was officially completed with a contract amount of US$92,300;
5. From June to August 2021, the equipment was shipped and the customer’s local construction was carried out simultaneously;
6. In early September 2021, the trial production and commissioning were completed and officially put into use.

Today, this straw pellet production line in South Africa has been running stably for 3 years, with a cumulative output of more than 12,000 tons of pellets and an average daily output of 3.6 tons. The pellet sales have covered six surrounding towns and become a model project for the diversification of regional animal husbandry feed.

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Suggestions for innovative development from the perspective of South Africa

Based on the practice of this straw pellet production line in South Africa project and the current situation of rural South Africa, we specifically put forward the following suggestions at the end of the project:

Promote “cooperative model pelleting”: unite 5-10 farmers in the surrounding area to establish a pellet processing cooperative, concentrate raw materials, and share equipment;

Create a “feed + energy” complex: configure a small pellet stove next to the pellet line for local heating, drying, and hot water use;

Introduce the concept of “pellet pasture demonstration area”: ​​add labels such as “zero waste agriculture” and “carbon neutral breeding” to product packaging to attract environmentally friendly buyers;

Expand the “customized nutritional pellet” service: prepare personalized pellet products according to the animal species and growth stages of different farmers.

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Conclusion: The multiple values ​​of a straw pellet line

The significance of this 0.8-4t/h straw pellet production line in South Africa has long exceeded the initial cost-saving and feed control goals. It not only realizes the on-site transformation of raw materials, but also promotes the reconfiguration of rural resources, the integrated development of agricultural and animal husbandry industries, and the grassroots rooting of technology and sustainable concepts.

In the future, we believe that more South African farmers, ranchers, and agricultural cooperatives will stand on the shoulders of this rancher, see the true value of “farm residues,” and take a crucial step toward modern agriculture.