Feed Milling Equipment

Feed Milling Equipment

Sometimes in a general overview, talking about feed milling equipment or feed milling process is talking about the entire production line or process to transform raw material into animal feed. This general overview includes storing and handling, milling or grinding, mixing, pelleting, and cooling. But here, we will focus on the milling or grinding process that reduces the particle size in animal feed production.

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Milling and drying machine for fine powders

When you need to produce ultra-fine powders, the milling and drying process employed is what ensures the consistency of your...

Stone mill for coffee beans

Traditional milling of coffee beans or seeds, with a stationary bedstone and a turning runner stone which actually does the ...

Reclaim crusher

Waste products and rejected materials are inevitably generated from any gypsum products manufacturing process. This efficien...

complete production line to make wood and food pellets

Complete pellet line

Large industries are shifting towards more environment-friendly technology, such as recycling wastes and utilizing them as a...

a pellet mill to produce wood, food and feed pellets

Industrial pellet mill

At the industrial level, the application areas of pellets range widely in fields such as feeds, biomass, wood chips, sawdust...

Hammer mill

A hammer mill crushes aggregate material into smaller pieces; the most common applications can be found in food, chemical, p...

Compact granulator for cuttable products

When working with plastics, film, and other cuttable products, you can benefit from a custom-designed granulator.

Fine cutting mill

When you want to mill soft to medium-hard plastics in the fineness range of several hundred µm to 2 mm, a fine cutting mill ...

Pelleting press for biomass

Utilization of biomass for energy and other applications requires consistent and reliable compaction to increase bulk densit...

Solid biomass screening and crushing equipment

Biomass fuels come in many forms and often include impurities that can damage equipment and cause process disruptions.  Succ...

Laboratory fine impact mill

A laboratory fine impact mill is used for fine and ultrafine grinding, for defibration, and for cutting soft materials.

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Fine impact mill

Universal in operation for the size reduction of soft materials in the range 50 µm to 5 mm. Most applications are to be foun...

Mill for calcining gypsum

Quality of gypsum and stucco products are highly influenced by the quality of the calcining process employed in production. ...

What are you making?

Poultry feed

Fodder

Feed concentrates

Feed premixes

Soybean meal

brown powder

Cottonseed meal

Fishmeal powder

Extruded aquafeed

Floating pellets

Sinking pellets

Cricket protein

Black soldier fly larvae

Black soldier fly protein

brown rope in close up photography

Mealworm protein

Wet pet food

Making.com - Dry pet food

Dry pet food

Rapeseed oil

Brewers grain

Molasses

Canola meal

Alfalfa meal

brown pellets for fish feed

Slow sinking pellets

Composition,With,Raw,Square,Cutlets,On,A,Light,Background.,Natural

Raw pet food

Meat-bone-meal-close-up

Meat and bone meal

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The feed milling can have two configurations in the production line: pre-grinding or post-grinding

There are two configurations of the grinding system in the animal feed production line: one is called pre-grinding and the other one post-grinding. The pre-grinding or pre-milling configuration happens before mixing the raw material, often used in places where cereals grains are available and at low cost. On the contrary, the post-grinding or post-milling happens after mixing the raw material and is used in places where cereals are expensive, and the formulated raw materials often vary due to their availability. Choosing the best configuration depends on the raw material to use, its availability, the volume, and the dedicated space for storage.

Pre-grinding is good when the facility produces one or few feed products

The pre-grinding or pre-milling system is not connected to the feed production line; therefore, the grinding capacity can be less than the capacity of the feed mill, and the production program can be different without affecting the process. These give the advantage of doing maintenance without affecting the animal feed production process. But the facility should produce one or few products in order to use efficiently the grounded material. It is important to have a big storage capacity for each raw material grounded, so the milling equipment can operate at full capacity and for long periods. To have more flexibility to operate, you can have multiple milling equipment to process different single materials at the same time. With this configuration the hammer mills or rotor mills are smaller and have smaller motors than in post-grinding, meaning in most cases a lower requirement of horsepower, sometimes even with a lower overall energy consumption.
Post-grinding is the most common configuration in a feed mill plant The post-grinding or post-milling system is the most common configuration in a feed mill plant due to its flexibility in terms of formulation. This process allows you to mill a wide range of materials simultaneously and keep a uniform particle size. In the post-grinding, hammer mills need to have a higher capacity than the entire feed mill line not to affect the production capacity. This means higher horsepower requirement and higher energy consumption than in pre-grinding. But this is still a less expensive option for a feed mill facility.

Size reduction needs to be according to the feeding animal palatability and digestibility requirements

The milling equipment reduces the size of the particles, removes some moisture, and in post-milling, it blends the materials. In the feed grinder machine, the gap between the hammer or the roller and the screen needs to be adjusted depending on the desired particle size, according to the requirements of palatability and digestibility of the livestock and the formulated raw materials. If you want fine particles the gap needs to be small, if you want coarse particles the gap should be bigger. Producing fines requires more energy consumption and may cause quick wear in the hammer and the screen. Besides, dust can be formed from fines during the process, turning into an explosion hazard. But fine grounded material contributes to a better agglomeration and homogeneity of the mix, as well as easy absorption of fat and coating, thus a better pellet quality.

Aspects to consider in the milling process

The first aspect to consider in the milling process is the design of the process itself. Not only choosing the right mill machine but the related equipment to it, such as the feeder, the air extraction system, the conveyors, the controllers, and the magnets. To choose the right equipment it is important to consider the physical characteristics of the raw materials to grind, the difference in size before the mill and after grinding, the moisture content, and the temperature sensitivity. At the same time, consider the mill technology; the operation requirements, maintenance, and safety. Take into account the volume of material to grind per day and the different feed formulations, to decide the production capacity of the mill, which should be compatible with the capacity of the feeder, the air extraction system, and conveyors. Also, consider the requirements for speed and horsepower to choose the motor.

Use sensors and magnets for the safety of the operation

The safety of the operation requires the installation of a magnet before the milling equipment, to protect it from any piece of metal that can cause great damage to the machine. A metal detector for non-ferrous materials and a pre-cleaner will add extra safety to the process, and clean all of them on a regular basis. Use sensors and switches that are able to stop the milling machine immediately if they detect explosion hazards and severe vibrations. Install sensors and controls for temperature, speed, volume, or weight to manage the overall operation. Nowadays automation will help with efficiency, productivity, and safety, as well as reducing the environmental footprint of the process.

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Feed
Processes
Milling