1.0-1.2 T/H Sugarcane Bagasse Cat Litter Pellet Machine in Thailand

Thailand is the world's second-largest sugar exporter, with sugar mills concentrated in the northeastern provinces of Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, and Nakhon Ratchasima.

A large sugar mill in Khon Kaen had a consistent supply of bagasse—the fibrous residue left after crushing sugarcane. Most of the bagasse was burned in the mill's boilers to generate steam and electricity. However, the mill produced more bagasse than the boilers could consume, leaving thousands of tons of excess wet bagasse at 45-50% moisture.

The mill manager decided to dry and pelletize this surplus into cat litter. Bagasse fiber is naturally absorbent, lightweight, and completely biodegradable. It also contains natural saponins that help control odors. The mill already operated rotary dryers and hammer mills for their bagasse fuel preparation line.

What they needed was a sugarcane bagasse cat litter pellet machine in Thailand that could convert this dried, abrasive, high-silica fiber into a dust-free 5mm pellet without added binders.

After evaluating options from China and Europe, they purchased one MZLH420 pellet mill from RICHI (from the second series, without a conditioner). RICHI has supplied similar bagasse pelletizing systems to sugar mills across Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The ring-die mill with a heavy-duty forced feeder has proven itself for high-silica, abrasive sugarcane bagasse.

The mill was selling surplus dried bagasse fiber to local mushroom farms for very low prices (1,500 baht per ton, about $45 USD).

The manager calculated that pelleted bagasse cat litter could wholesale for 25,000 baht per ton ($700 USD) domestically and 40,000 baht per ton for export to Japan. 

Sugarcane bagasse consists of 45-50% cellulose, 25-30% hemicellulose, and 15-20% lignin, with 5-8% silica (which makes it abrasive). The mill dries bagasse to 10-12% moisture in their existing rotary dryer using waste heat from the boiler.

The dried fiber is hammer-milled to 3-8mm particle size. The high silica content (from soil picked up during harvesting) accelerates die wear, requiring hardened components.

RICHI Machinery addressed the mill manager's concerns through on-site material testing in China, a video demonstration in Indonesia, an abrasion analysis report, and a forced feeder test.

The sugarcane bagasse cat litter pellet machine in Thailand that the Khon Kaen mill purchased has the abrasion-resistant design and forced-feeder capability that high-silica sugarcane fiber demands.

One MZLH420 bagasse  pellet machine, a 1:4.5 compression die, and a bagasse surplus that was selling for 1,500 baht per ton. That was enough to create a 69 million baht premium cat litter business, turning Thailand's sugarcane waste into a flushable, biodegradable litter now exported to Japan and Singapore.