1–3 T/H Aqua Feed Pellet Cooler in Ecuador

Why a Small Shrimp Feed Line Still Needs Careful Cooling

Aquafeed cooling is not simply a matter of lowering product temperature.

After extrusion, shrimp feed typically passes through drying to remove excess moisture and stabilize the product. The dried feed then requires cooling before final screening, storage or packaging.

This sequence is particularly important for small-diameter products because the feed has already experienced several mechanical and thermal stages before it reaches the cooler.

If the cooling and discharge section is poorly matched to the product, the feed may generate additional fines or experience uneven final temperature and moisture.

The Ecuador customer therefore needed a cooler that could handle approximately 1.5 T/H without creating another mechanical bottleneck after the belt dryer machine.

SKLF11×11 Matches the 1.5 T/H Feed Line

The 1–3 T/H reference range places the customer’s 1.5 T/H line comfortably inside the cooler’s nominal operating window.

This is preferable to selecting a unit whose maximum rating exactly equals the normal production rate.

Actual cooling performance depends on more than tonnes per hour.

Bulk density, pellet size, incoming temperature, moisture, bed depth, airflow and ambient conditions all influence how the product behaves inside a counterflow cooler.

For this reason, RICHI does not assign one fixed cooling time to every shrimp-feed SKU.

The Cooler Works After the Dryer, Not Directly After Extrusion

The aquafeed post-processing sequence needs to remain clear.

Extrusion uses heat, pressure, moisture and mechanical shear to create the desired physical structure of the feed.

After leaving the aqua shrimp fish feed extruder, the product normally still contains more moisture than is suitable for stable storage.

The dryer removes the required amount of water.

The cooler then reduces the temperature of the dried product before it moves into downstream handling.

The process is therefore:

ingredient preparation → mixing → extrusion → drying → cooling → screening → coating where required → final handling and packaging.

If oil or other liquid is applied after drying, the exact position of coating relative to cooling depends on the product and process design.

The cooler should not be expected to remove the large water load that belongs to the dryer.

Small Shrimp Feed Requires Gentle Mechanical Handling

Small-diameter shrimp feed can be more sensitive to mechanical damage than larger feed pellets.

However, pellet size alone does not determine fragility.

Extrusion conditions, formula composition, starch behavior, drying conditions, bulk density, pellet hardness and porosity all affect physical strength.

Research on extruded aquafeed shows that process method, formulation and post-extrusion drying can all significantly change pellet durability, density, hardness, water absorption and water stability.

This means the counterflow pellet cooler should be evaluated as one part of the complete physical-quality system.

A harsh transfer point can create fines, but a weak extrudate cannot be made mechanically durable by the cooler alone.

For the Ecuador project, the engineering goal is therefore to minimize unnecessary impact and compression after drying while maintaining stable product flow through the cooling chamber.

Discharge Design Matters, but Screw Conveyors Are Not Automatically “Wrong”

The old installation used a screw-type transfer arrangement at the discharge side, and the customer wanted to reduce unnecessary mechanical stress on the finished feed.

A gravity-based or lower-impact discharge route can be advantageous for fragile products because it avoids some of the continuous shearing action associated with auger transport.

However, it is too simplistic to state that every screw conveyor destroys micro-pellets.

Damage depends on screw diameter, speed, fill level, clearance, pitch, product hardness and transfer geometry.

The new arrangement is therefore selected around gentle product transfer rather than around a claim that one discharge technology always produces zero breakage.

The same principle applies downstream.

Even if the cooler discharge is gentle, high drop heights, narrow chutes, aggressive bucket elevators or poorly selected screens can still generate fines.

Cooling Time Depends on Bed Depth and Airflow

Counterflow cooling is strongly influenced by pellet-bed depth and the ratio of cooling air to pellet mass flow.

Published research on counterflow feed-pellet cooling identifies those two variables as among the most important parameters controlling cooling rate and moisture loss.

This is why the customer does not operate the SKLF11×11 according to a fixed rule such as “1 mm feed always needs 6–8 minutes.”

Smaller products can exchange heat quickly because of their surface-area-to-volume relationship, but actual cooling still depends on product structure, bed behavior and air distribution.

Commissioning therefore follows the actual product:

1. measure dryer outlet temperature and moisture;
2. confirm cooler feed rate and bulk density;
3. establish a stable material bed;
4. adjust airflow and discharge frequency;
5. measure outlet temperature and moisture after steady operation;
6. check fines before and after the cooler to determine where breakage is occurring.

This approach is much more useful than assigning cooling time from pellet diameter alone.

Ambient +3–5°C Is a Reference Target, Not a Fixed 29°C Result

As with other counterflow cooling applications, a final product temperature several degrees above ambient can be used as a practical commissioning reference under suitable conditions.

That does not mean the SKLF11×11 will always discharge feed at exactly 28–30°C.

Guayaquil has warm and humid conditions for much of the year, so ambient air entering the cooler can already be relatively warm.

The achievable product temperature therefore moves with weather, humidity and air supply.

If ambient air is 26°C, an outlet in the high twenties or low thirties may be reasonable under suitable conditions.

If incoming cooling air is substantially hotter or more humid, the product cannot be expected to reach the same fixed number.

The customer therefore monitors the difference between ambient and outlet product temperature rather than operating around one absolute temperature target.

Water Stability Is Created Upstream, Not by the Cooler

Water stability matters commercially in shrimp feed, but the cooler is not the primary machine that creates it.

Shrimp-feed physical stability depends strongly on formula, ingredient functionality, extrusion or pelleting conditions, starch transformation, binder use, density and drying.

Research comparing shrimp feeds has shown that processing route and formulation can materially affect water stability.

Cooling can influence final physical condition, but it should not be marketed as the machine that guarantees water stability.

In some shrimp-feed processes, post-conditioning and controlled thermal treatment before final cooling are used specifically to influence pellet structure and water stability.

That is a separate process decision from the basic cooling function.

For this Ecuador project, the cooler is responsible for reducing product temperature and stabilizing the feed before downstream handling.

Water stability remains a complete-process quality parameter.

Fine Feed Requires a Full Fines-Control Audit

If a plant reports excessive fines, the correct engineering response is to identify where those fines are generated.

The customer should compare samples at several points:

after extrusion, after drying, before cooling, after cooling, after screening and after final conveying.

This reveals whether the main damage is caused by weak extrusion, over-drying, cooler discharge, excessive drop height or downstream transfer.

The same approach prevents unsupported claims such as “15–20% breakage fell to 2–3% because the cooler was replaced.”

If the customer has before-and-after sieve data, that improvement can be quantified.

Without those measurements, RICHI focuses on reducing unnecessary mechanical stress and providing a cooling system sized to the real production rate.

Screen selection is also critical.

A fine shrimp-feed SKU requires screening equipment designed around the actual particle dimensions. It is not appropriate to assume that one universal 0.8 mm mesh belongs inside the cooler or that standard 3 mm openings would automatically lose 10–15% of the product.

Aqua Feed Pellet Cooler in Ecuador

This aqua feed pellet cooler in Ecuador project uses one RICHI SKLF11×11 counterflow cooler on an approximately 1.5 T/H shrimp feed production line in the Guayaquil area.

The model has a reference capacity of approximately 1–3 T/H and a 1.5 kW discharge motor.

The cooler is installed after the drying section and before final screening and packaging.

This process position is important because extruded shrimp feed needs moisture removal before final cooling.

The customer produces small-diameter shrimp feed, so mechanical handling is evaluated carefully throughout the downstream system.

RICHI does not guarantee a fixed breakage rate, fixed eight-minute cooling period or fixed 29°C outlet temperature.

Instead, the cooler is commissioned around actual product bulk density, pellet dimensions, dryer outlet temperature, moisture, bed depth, air-to-product flow and ambient conditions.

The discharge arrangement is selected to reduce unnecessary mechanical stress, while downstream transfer points are checked at the same time.

For another buyer searching for an aqua feed pellet cooler in Ecuador, shrimp feed cooler, aquafeed counterflow cooler, 1–3 T/H feed cooler, SKLF11×11 cooler or shrimp pellet cooling machine, RICHI first checks whether the product is extruded or conventionally pelleted.

Useful project information includes extruder or pellet-mill output, dryer output, product diameter and length, bulk density, dryer outlet temperature, dryer outlet moisture, required final product moisture, ambient temperature and humidity, available installation height, airflow system, screen specification and the current discharge or conveying method.

If the plant produces approximately 1.5 T/H, the SKLF11×11 is a logical capacity match.

If the product is extremely fine or fragile, RICHI also evaluates the complete transfer path rather than assuming cooler replacement alone will solve fines generation.

If the line produces multiple shrimp-feed sizes, each SKU may require different airflow, bed-depth and discharge settings.

For an Ecuador shrimp-feed project, send RICHI Machinery the line capacity, feed size range, extrusion method, dryer conditions, current fines percentage at several process points, ambient conditions and downstream handling arrangement. These parameters allow the aqua feed pellet cooler to be selected around the actual physical behavior of the product rather than pellet diameter alone.