1T/H Fish Feed Extrusion Line in Egypt

Project background

Egypt's aquaculture faces three unique challenges:

1. The first is the high temperature environment. The water temperature in summer often reaches 30-32℃, which requires the feed to have extremely high stability in the water;
2. The second is the high breeding density. The intensive cage breeding model requires the feed to float for at least 8 hours;
3. The most important thing is the strict foreign exchange control. The cost of imported feed has risen by more than 45% in the past two years due to exchange rate fluctuations.

The customer originally used wet feeding of powdered feed, with a feed conversion rate (FCR) as high as 1.9, and the problem of eutrophication of water bodies became increasingly serious due to feed loss.

Customer demand analysis

At the beginning of the cooperation, the customer explained why he wanted to purchase floating fish feed extruders and supporting equipment.

• First, establishing an independent fish feed production line can reduce feed costs from US$650 per ton to about US$400. Based on an annual demand of 3,000 tons, it is expected to save US$750,000 per year.
• Second, it is necessary to optimize the formula for local tilapia species, control the protein level at 28-30%, and adjust the energy-protein ratio to 8.5-9.0kcal/g. These special needs are difficult to meet through standardized imported feed.
• The most important thing is to ensure the security of the supply chain. In 2022, due to international logistics delays, feed shortages caused about US$120,000 in breeding losses.

In terms of aqua feed machine selection, the customer put forward three core requirements:

• Must adapt to Egypt's frequent power outages, and maintain basic production even when there are an average of 4-6 power outages per day;
• The raw material system must be flexible and able to handle cheap alternative raw materials that are easily available locally, such as cottonseed meal and poultry by-product meal;
• The entire fish feed extrusion line in Egypt design must be compact, with an area of no more than 15×8 meters, to adapt to the common narrow and long plant layout in Egypt.

Raw material system and production process

The customer has developed a raw material formula system with Egyptian characteristics. The protein source uses a combination of imported fish meal (20%) and local poultry by-product meal (18%), which not only controls costs but also ensures the balance of essential amino acids.

The energy raw materials mainly use Egyptian domestic wheat (30%) and rice bran (12%), which are first processed by a hammer mill to a fineness of 80 mesh to ensure digestion and absorption rate. To improve the durability of the particles, 5% cassava starch and 2% guar gum are added as natural binders. This formula can make the particles stable in water for more than 12 hours.

According to customer needs, the production process of this fish feed extrusion line in Egypt we designed for customers uses wet single-screw extrusion technology, which is a realistic choice considering the high energy consumption of dry process in Egypt's high temperature environment.

1. In the raw material pretreatment stage, various components are fully mixed by a twin-shaft paddle mixer, and 28-30% water is added for conditioning.
2. After mixing, the material enters the single-screw wet type fish feed extruder machine and is extruded at a die temperature of 105-110℃ and a pressure of 3.5-4.0MPa. The specially designed porous die structure makes the particles produce uniform microbubbles to ensure good floating properties.
3. The extruded fish feed pellets immediately enter the three-layer belt dryer and are dried at 85℃ for 25 minutes to reduce the moisture content to less than 10%.
4. Finally, 6-8% of fish oil and vitamin premix are evenly added through a sprayer.

Product specifications and breeding adaptation

With this new fish feed extrusion line in Egypt, customers will produce two specifications of floating feed to meet the needs of different growth stages. The particle size of juvenile feed is 1.5-2.0mm, the protein content is 30%, the fat content is 8-10%, and the floating time is required to be no less than 10 hours at a water temperature of 32℃, and the stability in water is 12 hours.

The loss rate is <15%. The particle size of adult fish feed increases to 3.0-4.0mm, the protein content is slightly reduced to 28%, but the energy density is increased, and special attractants are added to increase the feeding rate. All products must meet two key indicators: starch gelatinization degree>85% to ensure digestion and absorption, and particle crushing strength>10N to withstand mechanical damage during transportation and feeding.

In view of the special breeding environment in Egypt, the feed formula has also made a number of adaptive adjustments. 0.3% vitamin C and 0.1% vitamin E are added to enhance the ability to resist heat stress; 1.5% bentonite is used as a toxin adsorbent to deal with the possible risk of raw material mildew; the phosphorus content is especially controlled within the range of 1.2-1.5% to reduce the eutrophication pressure of the water body.

These adjustments improved the feed conversion rate from the original 1.9 to 1.5, shortened the breeding cycle by 15 days, and significantly improved the economic benefits.

Technical advantages of fish feed extrusion line in Egypt

After evaluating several international suppliers, the customer finally chose RICHI's wet single screw extrusion system. This decision was based on five core technical advantages. The power adaptability design solves the pain point of Egypt's unstable power grid.

The equipment is equipped with a flywheel energy storage device to maintain the operation of key systems for 15 minutes after power failure. The wide voltage design allows normal operation within the 300-450V fluctuation range. The intelligent sleep function ensures that the equipment is automatically protected in the safe state during unexpected power outages.

The raw material adaptability is excellent, and the specially designed screw combination can handle local cheap raw materials with a fiber content of up to 15%, such as cottonseed meal and rice husks.

By optimizing the compression ratio and shear strength, the durability of the pellets can be guaranteed even with a low fish meal formula with 28% protein. All contact parts are made of 316 stainless steel, which has a corrosion resistance three times higher than 304 stainless steel, and is perfectly adapted to the high humidity environment of the Nile Delta.

The entire Egypt fish feed mill project adopts a modular design, covers an area of only 14×7 meters, and reserves space for future expansion, reflecting a deep understanding of the conditions of the Egyptian factory.

If you are interested in this fish feed extrusion line in Egypt project, want to know more about the equipment, watch the operation video, feel free to contact RICHI MACHINERY!