15–16 T/H Poultry Feed Pelletizer for Industrial Feed Production in Saudi Arabia

Four Pellet Mills for Industrial-Scale Production

The project was driven by three operational priorities: maintaining a high hourly output, reducing unplanned stops and simplifying maintenance across the company's equipment fleet. The new mills were integrated into existing production facilities rather than installed as a completely new feed manufacturing line.

Project Item	Details
Project location	Dammam region, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Customer profile	Large-scale commercial poultry feed manufacturer
Reported annual production	Approximately 400,000 tons across the company's facilities
Equipment supplied	Four SZLH508 ring die pellet mills
Main motor power	160 kW per mill
Individual nominal throughput	15–16 T/H on suitable formulations
Combined nominal throughput	60–64 T/H for four mills operating in parallel
Primary application	Broiler feed pelleting, with additional configurations for other feed types
Project scope	Pelleting equipment replacement and integration with existing systems

Why the Plant Replaced Eight Older Mills with Four New Units

The customer's previous equipment relied on older drive arrangements and required regular attention to belts, adjustments and wear components. These maintenance tasks added to the workload of the plant's engineering team and made production planning more difficult.

The SZLH508 was selected for its gear-driven transmission, industrial-duty construction and compatibility with the customer's existing process. Consolidating the pelleting section also created an opportunity to simplify equipment access and reduce the space occupied by the machinery.

The replacement decision addressed several practical requirements:

• Higher output per machine, reducing the number of pellet mills required for the target production volume.
• Gear-driven power transmission, eliminating the routine belt-tensioning work associated with the retired belt-driven units.
• Ring die interchangeability for different poultry feed formulations and pellet diameters.
• Accessible maintenance points for inspection, lubrication, roller adjustment and die replacement.
• Compatibility with the existing grinding, mixing, conditioning, cooling and finished-feed handling systems.

For an industrial feed plant, the benefit of a higher-capacity pelletizer is not determined by rated throughput alone. The upstream mixer and conditioner must deliver a stable feed stream, while the cooler, screener and conveying equipment must handle the resulting output. The complete process needs to be balanced around the production rate of the pelleting section.

SZLH508 Technical Configuration and Production Capacity

The four machines were configured around the customer's broiler feed production requirements. Each SZLH508 uses a 160 kW main motor and a ring die selected according to the product's pellet diameter, formulation and conditioning conditions.

Technical Item	Specification or Project Configuration
Model	SZLH508
Main motor power	160 kW
Quantity	4 units
Nominal capacity per unit	15–16 T/H on suitable feed formulations
Combined nominal capacity	60–64 T/H
Broiler starter die	3.0 mm
Broiler grower die	3.5 mm
Broiler finisher die	4.0 mm
Layer feed die	4.5 mm
Die material specified for poultry feed	Chromium stainless steel

Production capacity varies with the recipe, incoming particle size, moisture, die compression ratio, steam conditioning and the physical characteristics of the mash. The plant therefore uses product-specific operating parameters rather than assuming that every feed formulation will achieve the same hourly output.

Ring Die Selection and Conditioning Parameters

The customer purchased several ring dies to support different feed specifications. Smaller pellet diameters were allocated to starter feed, while larger diameters were used for later broiler stages and layer feed. The compression ratio and conditioning settings were adjusted according to the intended product and its pelleting behavior.

Parameter	Broiler Starter	Broiler Grower	Broiler Finisher	Layer Feed
Pellet diameter	3.0 mm	3.5 mm	4.0 mm	4.5 mm
Die compression ratio	1:13	1:12	1:11	1:10
Reported production rate	13–14 T/H	14–15 T/H	15–16 T/H	15–16 T/H
Conditioning temperature	85–90°C	85–90°C	80–85°C	70–75°C
Steam addition	6–7%	6–7%	5–6%	3–4%

These figures represent the project's reported operating parameters, not universal settings for every feed formulation. In particular, conditioning temperature and steam addition need to be validated against ingredient composition, moisture, hygiene requirements and pellet quality. Starter feed may also require a subsequent crumbling stage when the final product specification calls for crumbles rather than intact pellets.

Feed Formulations for the Saudi Market

The customer's poultry feed formulations rely substantially on imported maize, soybean meal and other feed ingredients. The production team uses different ingredient proportions according to the nutritional requirements of the intended bird category and the specifications of its feed customers.

The following formulations are examples associated with the project.

Broiler Starter Feed

Ingredient	Inclusion Rate	Primary Function
Ground maize	45%	Energy supply
Soybean meal	25%	Protein supply
Wheat flour	10%	Starch and binding contribution
Vegetable oil	5%	Dietary energy
Fishmeal	5%	Protein and amino acid contribution
Wheat bran	4%	Fiber contribution
Premix	6%	Vitamin and mineral supplementation
Total	100%

Broiler Finisher Feed

Ingredient	Inclusion Rate	Primary Function
Ground maize	55%	Energy supply
Soybean meal	20%	Protein supply
Wheat flour	8%	Starch and binding contribution
Vegetable oil	7%	Dietary energy
Fishmeal	4%	Protein and amino acid contribution
Wheat bran	3%	Fiber contribution
Premix	3%	Vitamin and mineral supplementation
Total	100%

Actual commercial formulations must be balanced by a qualified feed nutritionist. The ingredient percentages shown here describe example recipes and should not be treated as complete nutritional recommendations for every flock, breed or production stage.

How the Four Pelletizers Fit into the Existing Plant

The equipment replacement was designed to retain usable machinery upstream and downstream. The resulting process follows the established feed manufacturing sequence:

1. Raw material receiving and storage: maize, soybean meal and other ingredients are received, inspected and transferred to the appropriate storage systems.
2. Grinding: hammer mills reduce the grains and other suitable ingredients to the particle size required by the formulation.
3. Batch mixing: twin-shaft paddle mixers blend the ground ingredients and minor components into a uniform mash.
4. Pelleting: conditioned mash is distributed to the four SZLH508 mills, which operate in parallel according to the production schedule.
5. Cooling: hot pellets pass through coolers to reduce temperature and moisture before downstream handling.
6. Screening: fines are separated from finished pellets, with recovered material handled according to the plant's process design.
7. Finished-feed handling: accepted product moves to bulk storage, load-out or bagging, depending on the order.

The production planning system allocates suitable feed batches among the available mills. This helps the plant coordinate die selection, recipe changeovers, maintenance windows and the downstream cooling capacity.

The production director reported that four new SZLH508 units replaced eight older pellet mills. According to the project feedback, the consolidation reduced the floor space occupied by the pelleting equipment by approximately 50% and labor requirements by around 40%. These are site-reported results and depend on the previous layout, staffing model and scope of the replacement.

Capacity Planning for a 400,000-Ton Annual Production Target

The combined nominal capacity of four SZLH508 mills is 60–64 T/H when running formulations that support the stated individual output range. This rating is broadly consistent with an annual production scale of approximately 400,000 tons when the mills operate for long daily shifts over most of the working year.

Planning Indicator	Project Basis
Number of pellet mills	4
Combined nominal output	60–64 T/H
Indicative operating schedule	20 hours per day, 6 days per week
Indicative annual production before downtime	Approximately 374,000–399,000 tons
Actual saleable output	Depends on product mix, maintenance, operating efficiency and market demand

The annual figures above are theoretical planning estimates based on nominal throughput and the stated operating schedule. They do not represent a guaranteed annual output. Smaller starter pellets, recipe changes, die replacement, cooler limitations and other process constraints can reduce actual production.

For this reason, capacity verification should cover the complete process rather than the pellet mills alone. A line operating at 60 T/H requires the grinding, mixing, steam supply, cooling, screening and conveying sections to support the same overall material flow.

Operating Feedback After the Equipment Upgrade

During the follow-up period, the production director reported improved equipment availability and lower electricity consumption per ton compared with the retired pellet mills. The company also identified cooling capacity as an important limitation when running the replacement equipment at higher throughput.

Operating Indicator	Reported Result
Pelleting equipment availability	Approximately 97% uptime during the reported first year
Specific electricity consumption	Approximately 18% lower per ton than the retired equipment, according to the customer
Equipment consolidation	Four new mills replaced eight older mills
Maintenance approach	Scheduled servicing and product-specific die changes
Main process issue identified	Existing coolers were undersized for the increased throughput
Corrective action	Cooling capacity was upgraded before continuing at the intended operating rate

The reported electricity saving is a customer comparison rather than a universal performance guarantee. A reliable comparison should use equivalent feed formulations, product output, operating hours and measurement boundaries for both the old and new equipment.

Maintenance Experience and Ring Die Service Life

At industrial scale, maintenance planning has a direct effect on production scheduling. The plant's experience highlighted the importance of matching wear components to the feed formulation and maintaining sufficient spare parts inventory.

• Starter dies: the customer reported a service life of approximately 1,400 operating hours for the 3.0 mm die.
• Grower dies: the reported service life for the 3.5 mm die was approximately 2,000 operating hours.
• Finisher dies: the customer reported that the 4.0 mm dies had produced more than 30,000 tons of feed.
• Layer dies: the 4.5 mm dies were reported to remain in good condition after approximately 4,500 operating hours.

These service-life figures are specific to the customer's operating conditions. Actual die life depends on ingredient abrasiveness, die material, compression ratio, moisture, operating practices and maintenance. The production team should use measured wear and pellet quality, rather than elapsed time alone, to decide when a die requires replacement.

The project maintenance plan also emphasized the following practices:

• Inspect rollers, dies and transmission components at scheduled intervals.
• Follow the specified gearbox lubrication and oil-change schedule.
• Check steam delivery and conditioner performance before adjusting feed rate to compensate for unstable pellet quality.
• Maintain the cooler, screeners and conveying equipment in line with the actual mill output.
• Keep appropriate spare dies, roller shells and critical wear parts available to limit production interruptions.

Additional Feed Applications of the SZLH508

Beyond broiler feed, the SZLH508 can be configured for other conventional livestock feed applications when the raw material characteristics, formulation, die specification and operating parameters are suitable.

Feed Application	Typical Pellet Diameter	Configuration Considerations
Cattle feed	5–6 mm	Consider fiber content, conditioning and die compression.
Camel feed	6–8 mm	Adapt pellet dimensions and formulation to the intended ration.
Sheep and goat feed	4.5–6 mm	Match particle size and pellet durability to the feed composition.
Duck feed	4–5.5 mm	Confirm the required pellet size and processing conditions.

The SZLH508 is a ring die pellet mill for conventional feed pelleting. It is not a substitute for a dedicated extruder used to produce floating fish feed, and it is not the appropriate standalone solution for specialized sinking shrimp feed that requires a different process configuration.

Shipment and Installation in Dammam

The SZLH508 poultry feed pellet machines were shipped from Qingdao, China, to King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam. The reported sea transit time was approximately 28 days, with total transit taking around 35 days when handling and inland delivery were included.

Because the equipment was integrated into existing facilities, installation planning had to account for the available floor space, foundation requirements, electrical connections, steam supply, product transfer routes and the interface with the existing coolers.

Before commissioning, the project team needed to verify that:

• The foundations and equipment clearances met the installation drawings.
• Electrical protection and cabling were appropriate for the installed motors and operating conditions.
• The steam system could supply the required flow and pressure during peak production.
• The downstream coolers and conveyors could handle the combined output of the operating mills.
• Maintenance access remained available around the pellet mills after installation.

The cooling-system upgrade was particularly important. A higher-capacity feed pellet machine cannot deliver its full production benefit if hot pellets accumulate downstream or the cooling section becomes a bottleneck.

Technical Support Provided for the Replacement Project

RICHI's support covered equipment selection and the integration issues associated with replacing multiple older mills in an operating plant.

• Production assessment to compare the existing eight-mill arrangement with four higher-capacity units.
• Layout review to confirm the proposed equipment arrangement and maintenance access.
• Cooling-capacity assessment to identify the limitations of the existing downstream equipment.
• Energy-consumption comparison based on the customer's production requirements.
• Steam-system assessment for the conditioning requirements of the selected feed products.
• Spare-parts planning for each pellet mill and its expected operating schedule.
• On-site commissioning support from two RICHI engineers over a six-week period, as reported for the project.

This approach allowed the customer to focus the investment on the pelleting section while retaining functional equipment elsewhere in the production process. It also provided a structured basis for identifying the auxiliary upgrades required to support the new operating rate.

Further Expansion in Saudi Arabia

Following the replacement program, the company planned to purchase two additional SZLH508 feed pellet mills for a new facility in Jeddah. It was also evaluating the SZLH558 for a proposed higher-capacity plant intended to support an annual production target of approximately 500,000 tons.

Any further expansion will need to consider the complete production balance, including raw material handling, grinding, mixing, conditioning, steam generation, cooling, screening and finished-feed dispatch. Machine selection should be based on the required product mix and expected operating schedule rather than annual tonnage alone.

Industrial Poultry Feed Pelleting Solutions for Saudi Feed Manufacturers

This project illustrates how a targeted pellet mill replacement can modernize an established feed manufacturing operation without requiring a complete factory rebuild. Four SZLH508 ring die pellet mills gave the Saudi customer a combined nominal pelleting capacity of 60–64 T/H, with different die configurations available for its poultry feed products.

For feed manufacturers evaluating a poultry feed pelletizer for industrial feed production in Saudi Arabia, the key selection factors are the required hourly output, pellet dimensions, raw material characteristics, conditioning requirements, downstream cooling capacity and maintenance strategy. A well-matched system must deliver consistent feed quality while keeping the complete production line balanced.

RICHI Machinery supplies ring die pellet mills and supporting equipment for commercial feed manufacturing. Contact RICHI with your target production capacity, feed formulations, pellet specifications and existing plant layout to discuss a suitable equipment configuration for your industrial feed production project.