Wood pellets and feed pellets have brought about a lot of benefits to both users and manufacturers. As a result, an increasing number of people prefer to join the queue of making pellets through pellet machine. However, faced with various kinds of pellet machines, they may hesitate to choose an ideal pellet mill.
1. Pellet Mill Classification
As you expect, there are various types and designs of pellet machine. Since there are two types of pellet mill dies, pellet mills are classified into ring die pellet mill and flat die pellet mill. When coming to the practical usage, many people may be curious about which kind of pellet mill is better. Here I will introduce something about the pellet machines.
1.1 Ideal Ring Die Pellet Mill
It is a popular special design, and it has been adopted by many feed factories at home and abroad. The materials are transferred into the conditioner by moveable screw feeder. The conditioner will mix the materials evenly and adjust the raw material moisture to ensure good-quality pellets. Then the raw materials will be distributed into the pelletizing chamber. The rollers in the chamber drive the materials into the holes of the ring die to form pellets. Two cutters are used to cut the pellets as they are squeezed from drum. However, its rotary speed may cause damage to pellets.
There exists difference between making feed and wood pellets. The ring die wood pellet mill adopts imperative feeding device. As the material like wood sawdust, corn or wheat straw is very light, so they need to be pushed into pelletizing chamber by force. Imperative feeder device is just making the machine operate smoothly, and therefore leading a high efficiency working rate. Ring die feed pellet mill does not need any external force to feed the materials. As the grain materials are heavy enough to enter the pelletizing chamber automatically and smoothly.
Ring die pellet mill has both advantages and disadvantages.
There are three main advantages:
1.Large production, nice pellet forming shape and high density (1-1.3%).
2. No additives are needed while pelletizing.
3. The roller and ring die are of balanced wear.
The main disadvantage is the relatively high power consumption.
1.2 Ideal Flat Die Pellet Mill
It is smaller in size than ring die pellet mill. Because of its simple design and operation, flat die pellet mill is much popular with small scale industries and home use. It is suitable for making both wood pellets and feed pellets. When it works, the raw materials fall down from the hopper to pelletizing chamber smoothly just because of gravity. The die is stationery while rollers are rotating, or the rollers are stationery and the die is rotating. When materials fall into the pelletizing chamber, they will be compressed into pellet between rollers and die through the die holes. A cutter on the other side of the die cuts the exposed pellet into regular length. It has a relatively low rotary speed, which can ensure pellets integrity.
Compared with other pellet machines, this can save you much time and trouble. However, flat die pellet mills do have some demerits. During the working process, uneven roller and die wearing can be caused frequently. When this situation occurs, it needs repairing and costs much money. On the contrary, ring die pellet mills will hardly cause this problem. When it does occur, repair cost is still cheaper than that of flat die pellet mills.
2. Pellet Mill Production Efficiency Influencing Factors
The improper technics design and operation can cause bad result, that is, the pellets output can not meet the expected design requirements. Besides, the pellets it produces have rough surface, low hardness, high powder content. Then I focus on the analysis of influencing factors during pelletizing technological process.
2.1 Raw Material
Raw materials affect the granulating effect directly. The materials with high starch content are gelatinized easily. After tempering, they have strong adhesiveness, which is conducive to pellet-forming. As to the materials with high crude fiber content, the addition of certain fat reduces the friction between the materials and the die, which is good for materials to pass through the die holes.
Granularity of crushed raw materials determines the feed surface, the finer the granularity is, the greater the surface is, the faster the materials absorb the water, which is good for tempering and pelletizing.
2.2 Feed Flow
In order to achieve the continuous, regular work, the materials must be sent into feeding device continuously and evenly, thus the materials enter into the pellet mill can meet the requirement of pelletizing. In the actual production process, in order to stabilize the material flow, it is necessary to install a surge bin on the pellet mill.
2.3 Steam Quality
Pelletizing with steam can increase production and improve pellets quality. Steam is the source of added water during tempering process and the heat source of starch gelatinization. We add certain amount of steam during tempering process, which can not only kill the harmful bacteria to ensure the feed health, but dilute the natural binder in the feed to improve feed pellet quality.
Correct pipeline design ensures the proper steam pressure and flux. Meanwhile it effectively prevents condensation water in the pipe from entering the conditioner. If the steam is not pure enough, the pellet mill will cause a series of problems.
2.4 Production Operation
Properly control the clearance between roller and die is the key operation during the pelletizing process. The small clearance makes roller and die wearing seriously. The large clearance affects the materials extrusion between roller and die.
2.5 Die Thickness
During the pelletizing process, whether the materials can be squeezed through the die depends on the magnitude of pressure and friction in the die holes, which have relations with the die thickness. Die thickness also means the length of the die holes. The pressure is high in the longer die holes, which makes the materials easy to be squeezed. The pellets have strong tightness, smooth surface and low powder content.
3. Aspects to Think Before Purchasing an Ideal Pellet Mill
When some people want to buy pellet machine to produce wood pellets or feed pellets, they always have to take several aspects into consideration.
First, buyers should have a clear purpose. They should be clear whether their purchasing of pellet mill is to start a business or for family use. If they tend to start a business, ring die pellet machine is a good choice since ring die pellet machine has a larger output and continuous production capacity. If their aim is for home use, then a flat die pellet machine is a better choice since flat die pellet machine is easy to operate and move and the cost is lower compared with ring die pellet machine.
Second, buyers should decide whether they are going to make wood pellets or feed pellets, since there is a definite distinction between wood pellet machine and feed pellet machine. Due to the fact that wood pellets and feed pellets require different processing procedures, an explicit awareness is crucial for choosing the corresponding pellet machine.
At last, buyers should take their budget into consideration. Whether to start a business or for family use, a practical budget is necessary. A good advice is to do a research before heading to the market to purchase a pellet machine. Purchasing a pellet press from companies that have already established a good reputation regarding the quality as well as price can save buyers a certain amount of money.
4. Ideal Pellet Mill Developing Trend
At present, countries all over the world show much concern for global warming and put national emphasis on low-carbon economy. Industry of pellet mill in many countries is showing an increasing growth. Wood pellet mill is featured by its environmental benefits. It turns straw and wood pellets to fuel, which not only increases the income of farmers, but also protects the environment. Feed pellet mill is used to crush corn, soybean, straw, grass, rice husks and other objects to get pellets for fowl and marine creatures. It has a wide range of usage in a majority of farmers and feed industry for its benefits as pellet. Due to special benefits, pellet mill is getting more and more attention by relevant industry and it has a potential trend in international market.
The knowledge of pellet mill is obviously necessary for us to choose the perfect machine. We are rich in pellet milling technology. Please visit our website for further knowledge of pellet mill and other processing machines if you are interested. We are dedicated to giving you the first-class service.
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