1.5–2.0 T/H Straw Pellets Machine in Indonesia

Why Two Pellet Machines Were Added to the Existing Plant

The customer had already invested in shredding, grinding and drying equipment. Replacing these sections would have added cost without solving the immediate production constraint.

The older pellet press had become the limiting stage. Its output was insufficient for the volume of prepared biomass available, and irregular feeding became more noticeable when the plant changed between lighter fibrous material and denser biomass blends.

Two MZLH520 machines therefore allowed the customer to expand the pelletizing section while continuing to use the existing preparation system.

• Both machines can operate when the upstream section supplies enough correctly prepared material.
• One unit can remain in production while routine inspection or wear-part replacement is carried out on the other.
• Production can be scheduled around different biomass formulations without oversizing one single pellet mill.
• Future expansion can focus on whichever process later becomes the next bottleneck, such as drying, cooling or material storage.

The two-machine arrangement does not automatically mean two unrelated raw materials can always be processed independently at the same time. That depends on whether the plant has separate feeding, buffering, cooling and conveying routes. Where equipment is shared, production is scheduled by batch or material campaign.

Palm Residues Are Not Mechanically Identical

Indonesia's palm sector creates several biomass streams, but a pellet machine does not see all of them as the same material.

Oil palm fronds are relatively fibrous and low in bulk density after shredding. They require controlled chopping and secondary grinding before stable feeding becomes possible.

Trunk-derived material contains a different fibre structure and can arrive with substantial moisture, particularly when obtained from plantation replanting. Drying capacity therefore becomes important before this material is used continuously in pellet production.

Selected palm fibres can also enter the formulation after drying and grinding. Their actual behavior depends on the source, fibre length, remaining oil, ash content and moisture.

Palm kernel shell requires a different decision. PKS is already a relatively dense solid biomass fuel and can often be sold or burned directly without pelletizing. The customer therefore does not automatically send whole shells through the MZLH520. If PKS is incorporated into a pellet formulation, it first has to be crushed to an appropriate particle size and the blend must be evaluated for feeding, wear and pellet formation.

This approach is more practical than assuming every palm-industry by-product gains value simply because it passes through a ring-die pellet machine.

Raw Material Preparation Determines Pellet Mill Performance

The MZLH520 straw pellet making machine is the forming machine, not a substitute for shredding or drying. Stable pelletizing begins before material reaches the feeder.

For the Sumatra installation, fibrous residues are first reduced by the existing preparation equipment. Long fronds and irregular trunk pieces cannot be fed directly into the pellet chamber. They are shredded and subsequently ground until the material can enter the forced-feeding system without wrapping, bridging or creating large fluctuations in motor load.

A working particle size of roughly 3–5 mm is suitable for much of the prepared fibrous biomass in this application, although the exact distribution is adjusted according to raw material and die specification rather than controlled to one absolute number.

Moisture requires the same approach. Material entering the pellet mill is normally conditioned into a relatively narrow low-teens moisture range. Excessively wet biomass can reduce forming stability and increase the load on the die, while overdried material may also become difficult to bind and can increase fines.

This is particularly important for palm biomass because plantation residues can arrive at very different moisture levels depending on their source, storage time and exposure to rainfall.

MZLH520 Configuration for the Indonesian Project

The 3–4 T/H figure describes the combined pelletizing capability of the two machines under suitable production conditions. It is not automatically the capacity of the complete plant.

If the existing dryer can only prepare 2.5 T/H of a high-moisture palm material, for example, adding pellet-mill motor power cannot raise finished output to 4 T/H. The same limitation can occur at cooling, screening or conveying.

For this reason, RICHI treats machine capacity and usable plant capacity as two separate engineering figures.

Why the MZLH520 Fits This Type of Fibrous Biomass

Low-density agricultural fibres do not always fall smoothly into a pelletizing chamber under gravity. Material can accumulate above the inlet, especially when fibre length is inconsistent or bulk density changes between batches.

The MZLH520 biomass pellet machine configuration uses both an anti-bridging feeder and a forced feeding mechanism. Their role is not simply to increase nameplate output. They help present prepared biomass to the pelletizing chamber at a more stable rate.

This matters when processing palm frond fibre or other light agricultural residues because uneven feeding can create alternating under-load and overload conditions even when the main motor has adequate power.

Ring-die selection is equally important. Compression ratio is matched to the actual biomass rather than specified from pellet diameter alone. A die intended for relatively easy-forming material may not perform the same way with a dry, fibrous palm formulation.

The customer therefore treats die specification, moisture, grind size and feed rate as one operating system rather than four independent settings.

The Main Product Is Industrial Biomass Fuel

The customer selected a normal fuel-pellet route rather than trying to use one machine to manufacture several unrelated products.

For the main market, prepared palm biomass is converted into dense pellets for industrial thermal users. Pellet diameter can be selected within the machine's available range according to the receiving boiler and handling system, with 6–10 mm sizes being practical options for many industrial fuel applications.

Pelletizing makes loose fibrous biomass easier to meter, transport and store, but it does not automatically improve every combustion property of the original raw material. Ash content, chlorine, alkali metals and calorific value still depend on the biomass entering the plant.

This is why raw-material control remains important even after a stable pellet has been formed.

Not Every Palm Residue Should Be Blended Into the Same Pellet

A common mistake in multi-biomass projects is to assume that mixing more residue types automatically improves the product.

The Sumatra processor evaluates blends according to both mechanical behavior and the fuel specification required by the buyer. A fibrous component may help one pelletizing condition while a high-ash or contaminated component may make the finished fuel less attractive for another boiler.

Soil contamination is particularly important for field-collected material such as fronds and trunk residues. Mineral contamination increases ash and can also accelerate wear in grinding and pelletizing equipment.

The customer therefore separates unsuitable loads rather than relying on pelletization to hide poor raw-material quality.

How the Two Pellet Mills Connect With the Existing Process

The installed equipment works as one section of a larger material-preparation system:

1. Oil-palm residues are sorted according to material type and condition.
2. Long or oversized material passes through the existing shredding stage.
3. Secondary grinding reduces the material to a size suitable for controlled feeding.
4. The existing dryer is used when incoming moisture is above the pelletizing range.
5. Prepared biomass enters buffer storage before being distributed to the two MZLH520 machines.
6. The ring-die pellet mills compress the material into the required fuel-pellet diameter.
7. Hot pellets are cooled before screening, storage or packing.

The buffer between preparation and pelletizing is useful because shredders, dryers and pellet machines do not always run at identical instantaneous capacities. A short interruption upstream does not immediately have to stop both pellet mills if sufficient prepared material is available.

Cooling Capacity Has to Match Two MZLH520 Units

Adding a second biomass pellet mill increases more than the electrical load of the production area. It also increases the maximum quantity of hot pellets that the downstream system may have to receive.

Pellets leave the ring die warm and relatively vulnerable to deformation. Adequate cooling is needed before prolonged storage or bagging.

The existing cooler and conveyors therefore have to be checked against the combined output of both MZLH520 machines. If downstream capacity is lower than the pelletizing section, the two machines cannot simply remain at their highest throughput continuously.

This is one reason the client chose gradual expansion through standalone equipment: each stage can be upgraded when actual operating data shows where the next restriction occurs.

Wear Is Monitored by Raw Material, Not Just Operating Hours

Palm biomass can vary considerably in contamination and abrasiveness. The customer therefore does not replace dies and rollers according to one universal number of production hours.

Operators monitor die condition, roller wear, pellet appearance, motor load and production rate. A clean fibrous batch can behave differently from plantation residue containing substantial soil or hard mineral contamination.

Routine inspection also includes the forced feeder because long fibres or poorly ground material can affect feeding before they create a problem inside the pelletizing chamber.

For this installation, improving upstream material control can be as important for wear life as simply selecting harder pellet-mill components.

Shipment to North Sumatra Through Belawan

The two pellet machines were prepared for ocean transport from China to Belawan, North Sumatra. Belawan provides a practical maritime gateway for equipment destined for this part of Sumatra and avoids routing the machines through a more distant Indonesian port before inland transport.

RICHI Machinery supplied the technical information required for site preparation, including machine dimensions, electrical requirements, foundation information and interface details. The customer's forwarding and local project teams could then coordinate customs clearance and transport from the port to the processing facility.

Because this was an equipment-expansion project rather than construction of a completely new plant, particular attention was given to the positions of the existing conveyors, prepared-material bins and downstream cooling system.

What the Customer Gains From the Two-Machine Layout

The main operating benefit is flexibility in the pelletizing section rather than an unsupported claim of a fixed percentage reduction in production cost.

The customer now has two machines that can share the required production load. During lower-volume periods, one machine can operate while the second remains available. During heavier production campaigns, both can be used provided the preparation and downstream systems can sustain the combined material flow.

Maintenance scheduling also becomes easier because servicing one pellet mill does not necessarily remove all pelletizing capacity from the factory.

Most importantly, the company can evaluate actual performance with several palm-biomass formulations before deciding whether its next investment should be another pellet mill, a larger dryer, additional raw-material storage or a higher-capacity cooling and conveying section.

Planning a Straw Pellets Machine in Indonesia

This straw pellets machine in Indonesia project shows why pellet-mill selection should begin with the real condition of the biomass rather than with a general label such as “straw” or “palm waste.” Fibrous oil-palm residues, trunk-derived material, palm fibre and crushed shell fractions can require different preparation even when they ultimately enter the same type of ring-die pellet machine.

For a similar Indonesian biomass project, RICHI Machinery would first review the exact raw materials, incoming size, moisture range, contamination, required pellet diameter, hourly output, working hours, existing crusher and dryer capacity, available cooling system and intended fuel market.

These details determine whether one MZLH520, two parallel units or another MZLH model is the appropriate choice. They also show whether purchasing only a biomass pellet machine is sufficient or whether the real production constraint is still located in raw-material preparation, drying or downstream cooling.