0.4-0.5 T/H Mixed Agricultural Straw Cat Litter Pellet Machine in the United Kingdom

Challenges of British Straw Pelletizing

British wheat and barley straw is different from the clean, woody biomass often used in Chinese or European litter mills. It contains higher levels of field dust and silica (up to 6-8% ash content).

When pelleted dry, this creates two problems:

• Excessive die wear
• A dusty final product that fails UK pet safety standards

The client initially considered buying a standard wood pellet mill, but those machines rely on natural lignin binding, which British straw lacks in quantity after a wet harvest season.

They needed a ring-die pelletizer without a conditioner — specifically the MZLH350 model from the second series — but with two critical modifications:

• Heavy-duty forced feeder to push the fluffy straw mixture into the die
• Specialized high-compression die (1:6 ratio) to create a hard, low-dust pellet without steam or binders

Why the Client Chose the MZLH350

The startup tested several small-scale pellet mills from local farm supply stores. None worked. The fluffy mixture simply bridged above the hopper, and the flat dies could not produce a smooth enough pellet for cat litter.

The RICHI engineering team recommended the MZLH350 straw pellet making machine for cat litter production because it has:

• A 37kW main motor
• A 350mm ring die
• A breaking feeder that pre-compresses the light material before it enters the forced feeder

This design prevents bridging and ensures stable feeding performance.

The client chose this single unit because their target output was modest (5-8 tons per week), and they valued reliability over speed.

Equipment Specifications

Technical Verification and Customer Confidence

The startup owners were skeptical. They had been told that straw could not be pelleted dry.

RICHI responded by sending a lab report using actual straw samples from their local supplier in East Anglia. The analysis showed that while the lignin content was low (12%), the combination of wheat and oat straw provided enough fiber interlocking if the die was engineered with a specific compression ratio.

RICHI then arranged a video call with a farm in Northern Ireland that was using an MZLH350 to make horse bedding from mixed straw.

The client watched the machine run and saw the dust collection system working.

Finally, RICHI Machinery provided a small-scale wear test prediction, estimating that the die would need replacement after 800 tons due to the high silica content. The client appreciated the honesty.

Shipping and Installation

The MZLH350 was shipped in a 20-foot container from Qingdao in February. The port of destination was Felixstowe, the UK’s busiest container port.

Sea freight took 32 days. Customs clearance at Felixstowe took 3 days.

Import duty on machinery from China to the UK is 2.7%, and VAT is 20% (recoverable). The total landed cost was 16% above the FOB price.

From Felixstowe, the machine traveled 70 miles by truck to the startup’s facility.

Installation took two weeks, with remote guidance from RICHI’s UK service partner in Manchester.

Current Production Performance

The startup is now running the MZLH350 for two shifts, producing 12 tons of cat litter per week.

The final product is a 6mm cylindrical pellet with a surprisingly low dust level (under 0.5% fines), largely due to the compression ratio and the breaking feeder smoothing out the fiber lengths.

The production manager noted that the only operating variance is the moisture of the incoming straw. If farmers deliver bales over 18% moisture, the pellets swell.

The solution was a simple moisture meter at the intake.

Customer Feedback

The manager’s concluding feedback:

“The RICHI machine handles the variable fiber length better than any agricultural pelletizer we tested. It doesn't care if the batch is 100% barley or 100% wheat. The forced feeder just pushes it through.”

Market Opportunity in the UK

For any entrepreneur sitting on a mountain of corn stalks, rice straw, or wheat straw in the UK, the same opportunity exists.

The mixed agricultural straw cat litter pellet machine in the United Kingdom that the Suffolk startup purchased is not the largest model, but it has the forced-feeder durability that dusty, light, low-lignin agricultural waste demands.

One MZLH350, a three-straw blend without chemicals, and a commitment to circular economy. That was enough to create the first truly low-carbon, homegrown cat litter on the British market, turning field residues into a premium pet product that cuts out the middleman in Gothenburg.